Warhammer Tank

Over 50,000 Page Views

Crazy!  This blog has over 50,000 pageviews.

How many people are still playing WAR?  Quite a few people I know have gone back to WoW.

Me?  I'm trying to level up my running, and won't commit to another MMO for some time.

Oh, and if anyone wants this domain, and the post content, just let me know.

Last Post - Signing off

I would like to say thanks to all of you who read my stuff, sent me emails and posted comments.  I hope I amused you at least a little bit. I've enjoyed maintaining this blog and appreciate the encouragement.

I'll still be playing Warhammer, just to get that out of the way.  I like the game, and as long as I can get in and find a group for some RVR I'll be tanking this and that, hopefully making it to 40 before long.  You'll find me kicking around Volkmar, running around scenarios looking for squishies.

The main reasons I am going to stop posting are pretty simple.

Mainly, it's about time.  I am going to be starting my own company with a couple partners in the new year and that is taking a lot of time.  Time that I'd rather be spending playing than writing about wanting to play.

I also don't have time to research like I used to for WoW.  I just can't get to the various forums and keep up to speed on the latest theory crafting and guides.  Essentially, I'm going super casual for the foreseeable future.

I'm also trying to get in shape to run a Marathon.  That also cuts into family time and I need to trim out all the excess at this point.  

Maybe someday I'll be back, who knows, I'll leave this blog up for a while just in case.

Take care, may your enemies stay rooted, and may the heals never be late.

Adhar

Mount Gunbad - Fun for Tanks

Just a quicky.

As a testament to just how slow I am at leveling. I took my first few steps into the Gunbad instance tonight and dinged 28.

I found it one of the better areas for a tank that I've been in recently.  Often I find that the mobs at my level really don't hit that hard, and they are always solo pulls.

In Gunbad the champions hit you like they mean it at least and there are a fair number of multiple add pulls.  It's not really that hard but makes you work more like a tank, managing the pulls, and trying to keep multiple adds off your heals and dps.

I would like to see a bit better aoe threat gen on my Black Orc.  I don't feel like I can do much but rotate my dps around to build aggro.  And the abilities that do some AOE damage don't really look like in on the animations.  I want more spinning and chopping.  That's one thing I liked about AoC was the animations.

If you haven't gone over there yet, I'd say don't wait for till you're 27 like I was.  If you have a full group 23 is fine to get started and achieve success.

Till next time!

When is a Tank Not a Tank?

It's been two days since I logged into Warhammer but it feels like two decades.  I desperately need to get rolling and punt some people into the lava and blow off some steam.

RL has dealt me a couple swift kicks Right in the Jibblies. I've had some health issues pop up in the family and I got shown just how ineffective my personal organization system really was.  Don't worry, nobody is going to die.  I mainly just need to take a few days and reorganize.

Once I get out from the mountain of tasks I have I'll be back to my regular posting schedule, hopefully this weekend.

If all goes well I'll be in Tier 4 sometime early next week, about a month after I expected I'd be there.

My Honeymoon - Yeah it's done

Now don't get me wrong.  I still very much like Warhammer Online.  I find it more interesting than World of Warcraft and I feel that I can still have fun while being a bit more casual about it but the happy times where I want to shower WAR with affection have slowly faded away.

I think my feelings are mirrored by a variety of posters in the blogosphere.  Boatorius, Arbitrary Snasfg Werit, and others.  

So, what do I like about WAR?  From a Tank's perspective

• I can play solo if needed, I don't die often and can grind with zero downtime
• I can add some value in scenarios and punt people into lava which makes me laugh
• There's lots to do, quest, scenarios, um... PQs
• Grouping is fun, and I have a dps and a healer who keep me coming back. 

But what don't I like?

• Leveling is slow as hell.  It's retarded. 
• There's no open RVR.  What I did find was super fun but there's not enough. 
• Crafting Blows but everyone knows this 
• All the loading between zones destroys a sense of place. I love WoW flights where I can look around and sight see
• Server Pop is sliding.  My current guild is shedding people like crazy. 
• There's not a lot of "must have tank" mobs around except for PQs which are relatively empty atm and I have yet to step foot in an instance. 

  At the present time I kind of worry about the critical mass WAR is getting. It totally deserves to get more WoW converts.  I know WAR needs a couple of patchs to polish things up but I wonder if it has that long before it becomes an AoC but without the precipitous dropoff in subscribers. 

I'm not Dead!

In case anyone out there is wondering, I've not given up posting.  If I don't post for a few days I always feel incredibly guilty and figure I should be posting something terribly insightful about Warhammer.  

But because this blog is focused on tanking, and I'm not leveling anything close to quickly, I don't have any terribly new insights, although I do have a couple posts I'm working on.

I am having fun in Warhammer, but I don't fell compelled to log in and grind away.  I don't want to ruin the game for me.  Although I do believe that I'd like to see an MMO that doesn't have levels, only gear checks.

Right now I'm trying to stay balanced and spread my time around a bit.

BRB AFK

For those of you who wait on pins and needles for me to post please do not be concerned.  I've been slammed at work and now am out of town with the little orcs.  

I'll definately have some time this week to do some planning and writing so I'll be back on track shortly.  Of course, I won't have time to work on my leveling but it'll mean I come back at it with renewed vigor on Sunday.

What I think is happening is that I'm falling into my typical MMO leveling routine. I behave differently once I hit end game and I can mark out fun goals for myself and the team.  When I'm leveling I am basically just watching the xp bar.  Guild chat gets neglected, fun little side adventures get neglected, and variety is non existant.

On the variety side however Warhammer is a nice change from my previous MMO experiences.  By being able to level in Open RVR, Questing, and in Scenarios you can mix it up a bit and still make progress and I must thank Mythic for that.

Being a tank hasn't slowed my leveling progress all that much but it has a bit.  Tanks get less xp and renown in scenarios and RVR but I think it might be, on average 5% less, especially if you ensure you have the quests for killing players and such.

So, I'll hopefully write some posts this weekend, and will be back in game on Sunday.

My New Guild Is Brutal!

I've managed to sneak into a guild that has more than 3 people logged in at any one time!  It's a really nice shift and while I haven't taken the time to get to know very many people it's good to have guild chat regularly tick by with hello's and welcome's and "who wants to go take a keep" type messages.

It's got me thinking about why MMO's have staying power.  You can talk about balance, gear, leveling, bugs all you want.  You need community.  If you have a strong community, and plenty of friends or at least people to play with, you'll have a winner.  It's like a giant snowball that keeps on rolling.  My personal prediction is that once more players in Warhammer get to 40, they'll have more time to focus less on leveling and small group stuff and will have more time to spend on community.  And that'll be great for the game.

So you'll see me rolling with the Brutality tag over on Vortex.  Seems like a good bunch that is going to have a real impact on the server. And, given my experience in scenarios the last few days it's a real requirement!

Lately, it seems, that destruction is getting rocked in scenarios and doesn't own very many keeps.  I don't know what it is but it seems to have really changed in the last couple days, and, Order is getting bonuses on Vortex because the population is low relative to the more beautiful Destruction.

Black Gaurd and Knights of the Blazing Sun are back!

You've probably already read the news here. Patch 1.1 promises to contain a few things that will make those of us who enjoy tanking in mmo's very happy with Mythic's commitment to us.

The first news is that in this patch, scheduled for December, the two cut tanking classes will be back. It's huge news and I'm very surprised it happened.  If they were going to come back I expected that Mythic would do it in an expansion where you'd have to pay more to get them.  Kudo's to them for bringing them back so quickly.

So the Black Guard will line up against the SwordMaster, and the Knight of the Blazing Sun will line up against Chosen. 

Others have said that this will fill some gaps but I don't really see it that way.  I like having more options, but I don't see there being any real lack of tanks in the end game so this will just mean more choice and more for Mythic to Balance.  All in all good, but it won't change the end game.  It'll just be more fun.

From here on in the Knight of the Blazing Sun will be known as KoBS, as in corn on the...

Secondly, they are giving us Main Assist, and Target of Target.  This will help everyone use tanks more effectively in all kinds of situations.  Bottom line is that this functionality is a requirement.  It's nice to know it's coming.

Third, is improved drops and RVR "influence"  I think that this will mean that Tanks won't get the short end of the stick on gaining renown from RVR, either open world or scenarios. We'll have to see but the hope is there that we'll be brought onto a more even footing with DPS and Healers.

Oh, and if you're reading this check out my custom google search on the right hand side.  And let me know if it gives you crazy results.  I've tried to tweak it so you only get warhammer results when you search with it.  Feedback appreciated.

Nude in the Wild - Most Fun Tanking Ever

Last night was the most fun I've had in WAR so far.  

My regular guildmates were off, so I decided to run some senarios and take off all my clothes.  I felt free and liberated.  Not that Orcs really have to worry about sex or anything.

I was level 21/22, and I ran Blackfire Basin and Doomfist Crater or whatever they are called a few times each.  I just hung out and grabbed the quests for them.  The queue times were short which kept things interesting.

I was really surprised.  Of course I died much more than normal, but if I had but one healer anywhere nearby I could be virtually as effective as when I had gear.  There were lots of times when I went for ages without dieing.  I even got into the habit of doing a /laugh at my opponent as they were slowly beaten to a pulp.

So thanks to the healers who didn't think it was a total waste to keep little adhar alive!

I got quite a few tome unlocks. 

• Dealt 500 damage over career while unarmored
• Dealt 5,000 damage over career while unarmored
• Dealt 50,000 damage over career while unarmored
• Received 500 damage over career while unarmored
• Received 5,000 damage over career while unarmored
• Received 50,000 damage over career while unarmored
• Use an ability 100 times while unarmored
• Been targeted 100 times while unarmored 

So, be it resolved that I am going to do as much as this game as possible naked.  I want all the naked tome unlocks.