Since its inception, Warhammer Online's greatest strength and selling point has been its Realm vs. Realm (RvR) gameplay between the forces of Order and Destruction. With the upcoming 1.3.5 patch, RvR is poised to claim its rightful birthright with 100% RvR city sieges (in the past, city sieges have been a mix of RvR and PvE). Yesterday, Mythic posted a slew of "In Development" notes pertaining to 1.3.5, specifically outlining their plans for the new edition of city sieges.
WAR's new city sieges now have a maximum battle time of two hours, feature a respectable 24v24 population, and offer plenty of rewards, including a PQ-style chest roll for the winners. Once a player joins the fray, they'll be automatically put into a warband and pointed toward the battle.
City sieges take place over three stages, each with specific objectives and a time limit. In stage one, the invaders will attempt to breach the palace gates while the defenders try to stave them off. This is accomplished on both sides by waging war over linked control points that function as a tug-of-war between the forces. Moving on to the second stage, each side has the win condition of either escorting their warlord to the palace gate or defeating the enemy warlord. Depending on how stage two ends, stage three will take place either in the palace or at the city's gates, and involves killing the enemy's king. One of the neatest parts of this final stage is that four players on each side will be chosen to be "Champions" -- highly buffed characters with a special new ability.
The new city sieges sound streamlined, dynamic and -- dare we say it? -- a bloody good time for all. You can check out the proposed development notes for this patch on WAR's forums.
Reader Comments (38)
Posted: Apr 14th 2010 5:09PM (Unverified) said
Sounds nice, but am I the only one who thinks this is just... too little, too late? Especially after that billing snafu, I just don't think Warhammer has a lot of face left.
Reply
Posted: Apr 14th 2010 6:13PM GenericPerson said
I'm with you. You'd think that initial outline they'd have figured this out since RvR was their big deal. Always seemed to me that once they turned the epic city sieges into nothing more than a battleground the game pretty much lost the only thing it had going for it.
Reply
Posted: Apr 14th 2010 6:31PM (Unverified) said
no thanks, i'd rather not get hacked and over-billed by the thousands
Reply
Posted: Apr 14th 2010 7:19PM Deadalon said
Here is the thing...RVR is a huge failure cause faction population is not balanced. Turning the game into one sided ZERG to go to a 24vs24 where over 50% of the 24 have no oposition to fight - kinda says it all.
What we really can say here is... 100% one faction per server ! Thats RVR Mythic style for you.
Reply
What we really can say here is... 100% one faction per server ! Thats RVR Mythic style for you.
Posted: Apr 14th 2010 8:42PM (Unverified) said
I'm with you. Before giving us patch notes, how about they return the money they stole from me and pay for all my overdraw fees?
So far they refunded 19/26 payments. I posted on the Mythic forums and the thread was locked because other people had the same problems.
Pathetic. Why would someone trust a company that can't even manage billing to work on such a complex game?
Honestly, this was the last straw. I could put up with the crappy balance and bomb squads killing you in moments, but this broke my back and cost me real money, time I could have spent on other things, and made me look like a fool on a date when I could not pay our bill. Always fun to know that you own your bank a few hundred dollars, and even more fun when you are told you have no money and your date has to pay.... Awesome!
Fudge you Mythic. You lost my business. I am going to Turbine. At least they have good support, don't steal your money and have fun gameplay. As of three day's ago I am playing the Lord of the RIngs Online trial and actually enjoying the story, gameplay, community, and having my questions answered by GM's!
If you want to see how the Archmage should have turned out, give the LOTRO Rune Keeper class a try. These guys know how to make a game! Want to see what they should have done with the KotBS? Try out the Warden class. The game is just plain fun!
Reply
So far they refunded 19/26 payments. I posted on the Mythic forums and the thread was locked because other people had the same problems.
Pathetic. Why would someone trust a company that can't even manage billing to work on such a complex game?
Honestly, this was the last straw. I could put up with the crappy balance and bomb squads killing you in moments, but this broke my back and cost me real money, time I could have spent on other things, and made me look like a fool on a date when I could not pay our bill. Always fun to know that you own your bank a few hundred dollars, and even more fun when you are told you have no money and your date has to pay.... Awesome!
Fudge you Mythic. You lost my business. I am going to Turbine. At least they have good support, don't steal your money and have fun gameplay. As of three day's ago I am playing the Lord of the RIngs Online trial and actually enjoying the story, gameplay, community, and having my questions answered by GM's!
If you want to see how the Archmage should have turned out, give the LOTRO Rune Keeper class a try. These guys know how to make a game! Want to see what they should have done with the KotBS? Try out the Warden class. The game is just plain fun!
Posted: Apr 14th 2010 5:20PM Crsh said
Hrm.. I played at launch, I played last year for a couple of months, and again for a month earlier this year: I have never, ever seen a successful city siege.
There's always either a population problem (for example, the first r40 gameplay I did as Order, we were outnumbered 3 to 1 on the server) or one side that abuses the multi-instance mechanism for an easy win/defeat (either way), etc. Now that servers are consolidated and fairly balanced, it's players that are MIA.
I understand it's not supposed to be easy, but you'd think every player would manage to play through this major event at least once; the whole RvR concept only works if you have a healthy population, that's no longer the case, sadly.
Reply
There's always either a population problem (for example, the first r40 gameplay I did as Order, we were outnumbered 3 to 1 on the server) or one side that abuses the multi-instance mechanism for an easy win/defeat (either way), etc. Now that servers are consolidated and fairly balanced, it's players that are MIA.
I understand it's not supposed to be easy, but you'd think every player would manage to play through this major event at least once; the whole RvR concept only works if you have a healthy population, that's no longer the case, sadly.
Posted: Apr 14th 2010 6:18PM (Unverified) said
I know WAR doesn't have much of a pop left, but since when was 24v24 respectable? I mean seriously... this is a CITY siege. I just can't get over just how far the ball was dropped on this game. But I do think it's great that Paul Barnett has crawled back under the rock that he came from. WAAAGH!
Reply
Posted: Apr 15th 2010 1:40AM (Unverified) said
Haha, 24v24 is pretty weak for a full scale CITY siege. Hell, even WoW has 40v40 in Alterac Valley...
Reply
Posted: Apr 14th 2010 6:16PM (Unverified) said
Man..i followed WAR for over a year before it was released and even was in closed beta for about 6 months. THIS is what i wanted end game to be. Too bad i quit over a year ago because of a boring tier 3 and 4. Tier 1 was awesome though.
Reply
Posted: Apr 14th 2010 6:25PM (Unverified) said
24 vs...24
Pathetic. Absolutely and utterly underwhelming. The capital of the warhammer old world under seige, ultimate bastion of order, defended by 24 people.
God help us, it's like you aimed low and still fell about three miles short. Let's represent the eternal war for the fate of an entire world with a 24 vs 24 skirmish.
Sorry, three skirmishes. It's about as far from the spirit of the source material as it's possible to get without involving hello kitty somehow.
Devs, if you had an ounce of respect for the world you proport to bring to life, you'd all become slayers.
Reply
Pathetic. Absolutely and utterly underwhelming. The capital of the warhammer old world under seige, ultimate bastion of order, defended by 24 people.
God help us, it's like you aimed low and still fell about three miles short. Let's represent the eternal war for the fate of an entire world with a 24 vs 24 skirmish.
Sorry, three skirmishes. It's about as far from the spirit of the source material as it's possible to get without involving hello kitty somehow.
Devs, if you had an ounce of respect for the world you proport to bring to life, you'd all become slayers.
Posted: Apr 14th 2010 6:26PM Its Utakata stupid said
I think this will be interesting to see how 20 or so players left, who wisely chose not to pay War sub by credit card, seige a city 100%.
Reply
Posted: Apr 14th 2010 6:51PM Dandmcd said
Has the author of this news ever seen the size of Altdorf or the Inevitabel City? Seriously, 24 vs. 24 is pathetic, and I thought 40 was way to few now! The cities should have never been instanced, Altdorf should have been designed just like Praag to be a wide open city to battle in, or there should have never been instanced city sieges.
I always thought the battle should have ended at the fortress outside the city, and if your side takes down the fort, then you can loot and plunder the city and chase out the enemy of their lost city. There should have been no king fights, or city scenarios happening like there are now.
Reply
I always thought the battle should have ended at the fortress outside the city, and if your side takes down the fort, then you can loot and plunder the city and chase out the enemy of their lost city. There should have been no king fights, or city scenarios happening like there are now.
Posted: Apr 14th 2010 7:04PM Deadalon said
The conclution to a RVR is a 24vs24 !!! kinda says it all really.
It really sounds to me that Mythic is reacting to the Billing scandal by throwing everything possible into this pile of none tested list.
Now... let me remind everyone what happend in 1.3.3. and 1.3.4. Endless numbers of bugs including some that made entire class mecanics worthless for over a wee. Some scenarios freezing for over 2 weeks !!... Flying lions - Mobs dissapearing into walls. Items showing up in strange places (shield for coosen was on his feet !)
Now... again.. take a look at the list and then imagine if Mythic is gonna be able to even create 24vs24 scenario without screwing up once more. I highly doubt it. And thus... I will continue to play my PVP for free in T1. Some 24vs24 will not change that....
Again... RVR ends in a 24v24 scenario...
Reply
It really sounds to me that Mythic is reacting to the Billing scandal by throwing everything possible into this pile of none tested list.
Now... let me remind everyone what happend in 1.3.3. and 1.3.4. Endless numbers of bugs including some that made entire class mecanics worthless for over a wee. Some scenarios freezing for over 2 weeks !!... Flying lions - Mobs dissapearing into walls. Items showing up in strange places (shield for coosen was on his feet !)
Now... again.. take a look at the list and then imagine if Mythic is gonna be able to even create 24vs24 scenario without screwing up once more. I highly doubt it. And thus... I will continue to play my PVP for free in T1. Some 24vs24 will not change that....
Again... RVR ends in a 24v24 scenario...
Posted: Apr 14th 2010 7:11PM (Unverified) said
After getting billed 16 times and them only refunding 14. Mythic can go blow a goat.
Reply
Posted: Apr 14th 2010 7:49PM (Unverified) said
Wasn't high on anything Mythic made due to Buffbotts (i.e. paid, developer sanctioned cheating) in DAoC. Billing-gate has solidified that I wouldn't trust them to change my cats litter tray, nevermind actually pay them for their wares.
Reply
Sorry, you must be logged in to leave a comment.
Featured Stories
The Daily Grind: What dead game would you play in a second if it revived?
Posted on Feb 12th 2012 8:00AM
The most popular posts
in the last 7 days
- WoW loses another 100,000 subscribers 151 comments
- The Daily Grind: What's the highest sub fee you'd pay? 85 comments
- BioWare kicks off Star Wars: The Old Republic Q&A Fridays 72 comments
- Earthrise shutting down today 69 comments
- Star Trek Online unpacks Cardassian mystery boxes 60 comments









