Warhammer Tank

Why do Salvaging and Talisman Making Suck so much?

The other night I got super frustrated. I am only level 16 but I fell way behind in salvaging and talisman making.  

Basically what happened is two things.

First, by the time I picked up salvaging I couldn't salvage anything I picked up.  I did manage to keep a few things in my bag that helped a bit but not much.  Those "easily salvagable" things that drop just don't drop all that much and the failure rate is stupid.  As of a 2 nights ago my salvaging was at level 6!

Second, if you go with just what drops for you, and take the armour if it's an option for the quest reward, you'll rapidly outlevel your salvaging ability.  That is, you'll be picking up items you have no hope of salvaging.  You have to go stick them in the bank and wait.

With this in mind it makes it awefully hard to make a talisman if you have no fragments.

But here are some other complaints.  The same ones I submitted in open beta.

• The drop rate for salvaging stuff is retarded.
• I hate having to head in to the nearest town to get crap talisman mats 
• Or, worse, if you want decent but overpriced mats you need to run, then fly, then run, all the way to the AH 
• The Talisman making window sucks, bad.  The order you have to put them in especially.  You need to be able to right mouse click on mats in your bag. 
• You can't "mass produce" talismans.  If I have mats for twenty items, like I did last night.  I should be able to just do them all without getting carpal tunnel. 
• Talismans don't stack.  So the retardly useless ones I can make now dominate my bagspace and they sell for far far far less than the cost of the mats. 

  So the other night, after realizing that I was never going to solve this problem my self, I flew back to the first warcamp and bought a bag full of the cheapest green renown gear I could.  I blew about 5 gold and got my Salvaging to about level 45 and Talisman making to 26.

Now if only I could get my guildmates to get me some mats from Scavaging for cheap...

How to Tank in RVR

So I'm looking after my two little kids this weekend by myself, trying to get my butt out the door for a run.  The last couple days I've been trying to squeeze in some actual gametime, hence the lack of posting.

However, as I've been playing I've been working on my renown, basically be queueing up for the Mourkain scenario constantly as I've been questing.  For some reason I really like it and had some laugh out loud moments while I cut a swath through clothies.

Based on that limited experience here's a list of tips on how to Tank in RVR in Warhammer.

• Wear a Sheild - You're way more survivable this way.  Going with a two hander, I think, is only going to be really worth it later on in the game when you're speced for it. You won't generate that much more dps and will die way faster.  
• Throw up Gaurd - First, your squishies expect it.  They won't thank you for it but it helps and it'll help your team win.  They heal you, gaurd them. Or in my case, Save da' runts. 
• Don't Over Extend - When I die it's usually because I rush forward and get caught behind enemy lines.  Be the front line, don't get out of range of the heals and dps.  If you do, they'll likely fall back and you have the meat sheild title before you know it. 
• Go toe to toe with Melee DPS -  Your first option is to pick up the slightly less mobile enemy. Get in thier way and do your best to make them fight you. 
• 2nd Target, Ranged -  Go after the ranged DPS if you have another DPS with you, preferably ranged, plinking away at your target.  If you don't have that you'll get kited around like a fool.  In my experience if another dps is on them they stop moving more, or get snared etc and it's a fast fight.
• Healers - You can't solo them.  Your only hope is to get them to run away and stop healing long enough that your team can take out the opposing front lines. 
• Disrupt - By charging in on someone who is looking comfortable you can change the flow of the battle.  Keep pushing them back and try and break their line.  Change targets often unless they are low on health.
• Debuff! - Because you aren't the dps monster you think you are, make sure the first thing you do is debuff your target and if you can, buff the group. That's your priority to increase the effectiveness of the team. 
• Be unpredictable, it's fun - Some of the most fun I've had is when I've violated these rules. Run around behind the lines, take a partner and hang out at the spawn point, make it your mission to kill a particular player with a bad name or guild name as many times as you can. 

  One thing is for sure, is that premade groups are a ton more effective than Pugs in scenarios. If you can get a couple guildmates in vent and get queued up.  When Destruction got rocked on Vortex there were enevitably 5 or 6 players from the same guild actually playing as a team.

Hope that helps.  Say hi if you see me over on Vortex!
  

Forum Follies

Syp over at the very popular Waaagh blog made a post that intrigued me and got me to thinking.  Is it a given that the "official" or in this case "de facto official" forums become useless whinefests where finding the good posts is like finding an honest politician? You might find one but you'll never trust it because of the company it keeps.

So what I thought I'd do, prior to logging in to actually play tonight... (sigh) is do a quick study of the forums and see what I find.

So here are the top 3 non-sticky posts over on the tank career forums at WarHammer Alliance.

Black Orc

Playing the class as intended - All is right with the world and I rock.  Look at me. Actually not a bad post actually.
My thoughts on BO levels 1-21 - All is right with the world and I love my class.  Please nerf me.
Very confused BO/Chosen - I am asking the same question that's been posted about a billion times but in this case without actually asking a question.  What class should I play?

Ironbreaker
How do you stop people from jumping over you? - I'm short and can't handle it.  My hit box should be the same height as an Elf with a silly hat.
Wow do we get screwed on reknown - I think we need buffs, my tears are providing a third world country with water.
Ironbreaker Tier 1 RvR - Great post but it's a wall of text.  I'm still suffering after having read it.

Chosen
Chosen as dps class? - I don't get why a tank can't do as much damage as a DPS class.  Please agree!
Five Chosen One DoK not one uses guard - You all suck, I, therefore, rock.
2h?- I don't get why a tank can't do as much damage as a DPS class.  Please agree!

SwordMaster
Swordmaster DPS? - I don't get why a tank can't do as much damage as a DPS class.  Does it get better?
Regarding Swordmasters, a question: - My guild won't let me tank!  Are they right?
wtf - they nerfed Nature's Blade proc graphic - I have a minor complaint and I think Mythic sucks.

So all in all, standard stuff.  2 decent posts out of 12.  Frankly I've given up reading the forums over there.

I am thinking of having some tanking specific forums hosted here.  I should probably try and gauge the level of interest.

And now to play.

What Just Happened?

Tonight, I managed to find some time to game.  RL is really getting in the way but I'm ok with that.  I need to level my running a bit before I level my Orc.

So I did a few scenarios tonight and hit level 10.  Somehow, and I'm not really sure why, but I got a whole lot more survivable, and managed to kill some people.  It definately made it a lot more fun.

I logged in the other day and found my former WoW guildies, who I came to WAR with, have joined up with a guild.  And, they are all about 10 levels higher than me.  So I'm missing out on grouping up.  One of my best experiences in WoW was my first instance with my friends. I wish there was a bit more of that early in WAR.

Well I need to be heading to bed...

This just in! Tanks don't DPS!

I didn't get much time in game tonight.  That makes me grumpy.  But, I had a good night and here's why. 

Now this doesnt have much to do with Tanking but I liked the fact that I could jump in game, run and turn in a couple quests, and, while doing so, queue up for a scenario.  It definately made maximum use of my time.

When I was in the scenarios there's a few things that caused me to swear.  And here they are in no particular order.

• Heal the big green Orc!  Seriously.  All the Swordmasters were getting heals!
• If you see a tank beating on someone please don't dps the guy beside him.  I'm on the healer.  He needs to die. (on that note is there a target of target in WAR?) 
• Let the tanks get up front.  I had this little goblin who kept moving to stand in front of me when I was trying to protect him.  If you can't see SCROLL OUT! 
• Fight on the flags, unless it's to knock the sissys with bows off of their pretty little perch way up there.
• Oh, and I'm not going to kill this ironbreaker on my own.  Don't run by or I'll be here all night!  I'm not even wearing a two-hander

  

I'm out for the night.  Happy leveling. 

First Night down, Ready to roll again

We'll I got in last night and hooked up with my guildies and got to level 6, renown rank 5.  It was lots of fun but I'm cursing my system.  I have an ATI X1900, an Athlon 3800+ and 2 GB of RAM.  It's not quite enough IMO.

Anyway I'm on the Vortex server, Adhar is my Orc, and he'll be my main for the forseeable future.  Addhar is my chosen and you might see me on him a tiny bit.  Please give a wave if I run by!

Please don't post here if you kill me.  Otherwise there'll be a billion posts in a matter of days.  :-)

There's really not too much to say from a tanking perspective in the first 6 levels except that I prefer wearing a shield in RVR.  Much more survivable.

Anyway... enough posting... back in game I go.

Adhar

Only a few more hours

Here I sit! Nothing to say...

Waiting for the standard edition headstart.  And work to finish up tomorrow.  

And to top it off my kids seem to have eaten my reciept for the preorder.  I hope ebgames has my card on file cause it'll suck if I can't get my actual copy for some reason.

Which Tank to Choose? - Some helpful links

I've been getting a lot of google hits from folks who are looking for information on the different tanking careers.  Most of them are somthing like "Ironbreaker vs. Swordmaster vs. Black Orc vs. Chosen"

So what I figure I'll do is post up some links to the best posts on Warhammer Alliance.  There are some good contributors over there.  And there is also some junk to filter through. I'll also include some links to a few of my favorite blogs.  

So, for all you A.D.D. types who want a quick hit of information, here you go.

The Calm Before the Storm

WOW! 1200+ Views today!  It looks like everyone is doing some final reading while getting ready to jump in game in the next week.  Last night when I was in game the server populations were fairly low, compared to previous days.

Thanks for the comments and emails.  I really appreciate it and plan on giving as much information as I can here on the state of the tank nation in Warhammer.

I'm very open to suggestion.  If you have issues or complaints you want me to cover let me know!  I've got a couple ideas on how to improve this site, and on a contest or two.  So subscribe in your favorite reader and stay tuned!

Tank Popularity - Pre Launch Statistics

 

So the results are in!

Click the graph at the right to see the details.

I found the results interesting as all of you have voted in the last couple of days. 

Initially the Swordmaster was much lower and it was the Ironbreaker that was leading the pack.  As the open beta progressed, the Black Orc moved up from 3rd spot and eventually took the lead.

I think these results accurately reflect the amount of interest and complaints posted on the forums over at WarhammerAlliance

Lots of people are finding the Black Orc and the Ironbreaker more fun, and powerful, in the early levels than thier realm counterparts.

There were 432 Votes.  This means that the results should be accurate plus or minus 4%, 95% of the time.

Results came in from all over the world, mainly The US, Canada and Europe.  Interestingly there were no results from Mexico or South America.  Africa was represented with 2 votes from South Africa.

There were a couple votes from the Middle East, Thailand, and one from South Korea.

The most northerly tank you'll find is a Swordmaster from Finland.  Naturally the guy from Moscow is going to go Chosen, and probably invade the Ukraine...

Folks from Hawaii are friendly, there's only Order to be found there.

All in all the careers are pretty close, except for Swordmaster.  Either Elves are too wimpy looking or that career isn't as well done as it could be, hopefully it balances out over time.