i'll take some RvR to go, please

As you all know there's been some info roaming around about the soon(?) to come RvR packs.

There's bits and pieces about this scattered all over the place. Enough to get my mind crunching some ideas, but not nearly enough to give us definitive knowledge about the stuff.

It's obviously Skaven themed. That much Andy and Carrie have disclosed and it's one of the few questions that they have openly answered.

Andy put up a thread on the official forums for people to ask questions and he's been answering them (you can read it here) and I find it funny that he openly says "no" to subjects like the racial capitals, but he says "we are not ready to discuss that" to things like fortresses.

One thing is for sure, I was thinking of how cool it would be to bring the Fortresses back but in another area, and have them host relics like the DAOC ones, but he already said that there are not going to be Relics as they don't want to give the strongest side even more power =(

What follows is a rant about what I'd

love to see as the result of 1.4 and the RvR packs. It's based on the information that I've read online, but it's more of a wishful thinking rant than a factual future.

According to the concept artwork (that you can see above) the new skaven area looks like it could be a network of underground tunnels.

Add to that the fact that they say the new area is going to be part of the campaign.

Also, on the forum thread i linked to before, one person asked "where is the new area gonna be situated on the world map?" to which Andy answered "it's going to be on the world map" (or something in those lines)

At first i thought he was making a smart remark, cuz obviously everything on the world is on the world map... but then it got me thinking...

what if the new skaven area is BELLOW everything we already know in T4??

think of this... there are 3 pairings. each with 3 zones. making a total of 9 T4 maps that are RvR enabled.

The new area could simply be a chain of tunnels that go underground, bellow the T4 as we know it today, linking all tiers and all zones together. A mesh of pathways that have diferent exits for each one of the 9 maps we have today.

They also told us that they are keeping the keeps and the BOs but they're gonna change the way the campaign advances, and that they're removing some of the locking mechanisms for the zones.

AND they wanna break off the zerg.

So. with all this in mind, my idea is as follows.

Imagine there are no zone locks. Only Pairing locks.

to lock a Pairing, you have to controll all BOs and Keeps on that pairing.

but the zones themselves do not lock. and you don't need to advance from Chaos Wastes to Reikland to lock the pairing.. you just have to controll it all, but in no particular order.

Let's consider that destro starts taking keeps and BOs in Chaos Wastes.

We take both keeps and all BOs.

We don't lock the zone cuz they don't lock anymore

We decide to move on to Praag, so we send some Warbands there to take the keeps and battle objectives BUT!!! we must leave some warbands behind in chaos wastes to defend the already controlled keeps and BOs because Order could just run back and take them away from us.

BAZINGA!!!! the zerg is broken. we need to split our forces to be able to defend shit :P

Now.. we manage to take control of Praag as well, and we try to advance into Reikland, but there's order there.. so we end up having a big fight... and obviously, as order is there, people in Chaos Wastes come up to help... leaving just one warband to defend Chaos Wastes (you twats.. you're gonna lose us a zone!!)

all of a sudden... ZOMGFACEPALM!!!!

a warband of Order goes un-noticed through the skaven tunnels. they go right into Chaos Wastes, where there's only a warband of Destro there trying to defend everything... MISTAAAAAKE!!!

all of a sudden there's order in chaos wastes and in reikland.. and Destro is sandwiched between those two zones... the shaaaame.

only way destro could have prevented this??? by having a warband of destro controlled skavens roaming in the underground tunnels, trying to catch order as they were trying to sneak by!!!!!

so. bottom line is.

no more zone lockings.. you can controll any BO and Keep freely of zone locks, and if you manage to capture all of them, you lock a pairing.

underground tunnels that you can use to stealthly go from one zone to another zone, and the oposing faction can try to block your way by playing skavens

that's what i'd like =)

Creamy Glory indeed.

oh yhea, on another note. to use the tunnels you'd have to gain access to them. the side that has access to them can roam them freely, and the side that doesn't have controll can only go there as skavens, to prevent the other side from using them.

that's all

cheers

Zealot: Path of the iPhone®

Yes, after 25 years someone gave me a nickname.

So, I've been asked about my specc a lot lately. Seems that when you start edging closer to rr70 ppl start taking you more seriously. Not that my healing has changed much but there you go.

My specc looks like this with 3 more points spent in the alchemy tree (wardb doesn't account for the extra specc points you get with every 10 rrs). Bear in mind that the Warping the Spirit tactic has had its effect changed and now makes Tzeentch's Cordial have a % (20%?) chance to increase the target's armour for 1056 and reduce his armour penetration by 10% for 10 seconds. This chance applies with every tick of the HoT so, with a bit of luck it will refresh itself down to the last tick.

I'm now the proud owner of 2 Tyrant pieces: the shoulders and the belt. Still wearing Sentinel chest piece (Assasin's Suit or whatever it's called. The one that looks like a BW on its appearance) mainly because I'm only rr68. And Darkpromise never drops for me. Ever. Hands and boots are Warlord and I'm wearing a spiffy Cowl of the Fist with a Mask of the Bloodletter appearance. Wicked. I've got all 4 ToVL glyphs, the semi-crappy LoTD cloak, a rr65 SC weapon and a rr55 SC focus.

------!! SELF-INTERVIEW TAIIMMEEE!!!11eleven!-------

Q: I've heard Zealots are better off focusing on ST (Single Target) healing and not group heals. Why did you go for Dark Rites?

A: I would rather have my groupheal crit everyone for 2.5k than take as long a cast time on an Elixir of Dark Blessings for a possible 5k for the simple fact that the only thing taking a serious beating that can wait that long is a turtling tank. Also, bombing being a very current problem I gotta face the fact that every single person in my party is likely to be hit at exactly the same time. So, yes, Zealot's ST is VERY good and VERY strong, especially because, unlike the Shaman (the DoKs don't even count for ST when not dps specced), Zealots can specc specifically for ST but grouphealing is essential especially if you find yourself being the only healer in your party.

Q:Would you bet on Willpower or Wounds for survivability?

A: Tricky. I'll be the first one to admit it, I'm a very squishy Zealot. Mostly due to the fact that I stacked Willpower until I had it softcapped without my Willpower buff. Still, if I'm running with a good group that will assist me when I'm targeted, squishiness is no longer much of a factor. Also, they might say Shamans excel at survivability and DoKs have better armour but Zealots have Embrace the Warp (not to be confused with Warping Embrace even though the icons appear to be the same). Yes the cooldown is terrible but, odds are, after you use it Order will just give up on you. Another thing crucial to upping your survivability is location and spatial awareness, but more on that later.

Q: What stats are most important for a healing specced Zealot?

A: Willpower primarily (no-brainer that one) and Healing crit. Healing crit is essential and is actually something I'm lacking. At 23ish% I'm still nowhere near where I want to be (please God, Mythic, anyone, I need those DP boots. If they were to magically appear in my mailbox I wouldn't tell a soul. I swear!) It's essential not only for the obvious reason (you heal more, duh) but for 2 of my tactics: RB (you get AP back on healing crits) and BoC. With RB proccing off groupheals I can pretty much spam DoP nonstop and throw TCs and a LA around and not even care that my AP ritual doesn't apply to me. BoC just makes healing all around that much easier. It also makes my FoC crit for over 1k with just 8 points spent in Alchemy. For an insta cast cheap heal that's just awesome.

Q: Is it worth it buying more than one Ritual? Like say, the AP and the DR one?

A: I would have to say no. It's just not worth a specc point imho. If you feel your regular healing isn't cutting it, I'd go for the healing one. If you can do ok without it go for the AP one. It will make your party kill stuff faster. This "stuff" includes stuff hitting you.

Q:What about for PvE? Are Zealots any good at PvE healing? What specc do you go with when healing LV or ToVL?

A: Zealots are the quintessential PvE healer. We have so many useful things for PvE, it's scary. The selfres is useful when you wipe, obviously. You can up a tank's wounds for 60 seconds which is useful for bosses that have a hard first strike. The new Warping the Spirit works wonders because of the extra armour. Tzeentch's Talon helps a ton with dps races and so does the AP ritual. And if you're ST specced PvE is where you'll truly shine as a steady flow of Elixirs can keep your tank up against almost anything.

Tactics wise I only swap something out to slot in Subtlety, seeing as Guards are better spent on something other than me and I dont wanna die. I don't bother respeccing to ST for PvE anymore. Just not worth the money and my specc is good enough atm to handle both situations.

Q: What would you say is the Zealot's biggest fault?

A: Until 1.3.6 I would say it was its complete lack of dps viability when healing specced. Now, I really couldn't say. I haven't tried turning my Harbinger on at all, seeing as I don't need to damage anything. For leveling a Zealot, it might have been a good change but, then again, I don't know any Zealots who are PvE solo-leveling so it's true usefulness is lost on me. At the moment, I'm completely satisfied with how things work on my Zelly.

Absent Sara is absent!

Chicken Chaser

We still haven't moved. Turns out the former owners had this fetiche about nails ad drills so in the smallest room of the house you can find more than 30 holes drilled in the walls. Painful.

And my mother's cat decided to jump out of a 5th story window. She lived but running to and from the cat hospital has been another adventure.

And yet, amidst all that I rolled something I'd never rolled before. A tank.

I deleted my Chosen and rerolled Blackguard. Ooooh he's so sweet. He can take on anything and nothing can take him. Watch them run in fear when I break loose of the snares and taunt them. I get it now, the whole "over-extending" thing. You're all forgiven.

I have to say this as well. I'm very happy with this new guild thing I found, this Skill Frenzy or what was it. Things are going well. As I always say, "Frenzy provides" and I've been doing my best to provide as well.

I have been on plenty non-fail LV, VL, BE/BB, BS runs (but still no boots. shock. horror.)

We fail at sense of direction though and got lost on our way to Altdorf. We ended up in this strange place where we were afflicted with a strange plague.

By the way, loving the new appearance thing. I can now dress up as a Blood Wizard, or a Bright Letter. Something. However the game is still showing some unacceptable graphic bugs. Not mentioning that Chosen shield that always seems to be facing inwards, you have the WH outfit which... just doesn't look quite right.

Ok, well, I'm off to go tank stuff in the face and winge a bit because I got shot.

My tetanus shot was 2 years overdue.

Rotation

We're in the process of buying a house and moving stuff around from 3 (possibly 4) different locations on a tight budget.

Enough said, right?

PTS Against All Odds test

As you may know, last night there was a PTS event.

The event was mainly to test two things, which were the Against All Odds buff and the removal of the friendly colision .

I am actually pleased with the way the test came out.

The AAO buff was showing roughly 170% when we had 3 Warbands against Order's 4 Warbands, which was a nice buff that will hopefully draw people to the fight even when the numbers aren't favourable.

The colision test was the one i was most aprehensive about. I am one of the few that actually liked the friendly colisions, mainly because it added to the realism of the game.

The main part of the test consisted of placing large ammounts of people inside Eataine's manor (together with the rest of the battle, obviously) and having more than one full warband inside manor is usually a pain in the ass because no one can move.

It was nice cuz the tanks managed to move close to the door and we DPS classes managed to position ourselves correctly to spam some AOE at the door. On normal behaviour (pre 1.3.6) we wouldn't have been able to do that cuz no one would be able to move :P

Another good thing about not having friendly colisions was that since there are far less calculations to be done, all of the RVR experience felt smoother and less laggier.

After the test there was the mandatory Q&A with the devs that shed some light regarding some subjects. I am not gonna go into much detail about the Q&A because Gaarawarr is posting a transcript of the thing, so you can read it there :) (oh and brulgnir has the mp3 of the session in case you wanna listen to it)

It was a very pleasant Q&A if not for the fact that someone decided to troll it (i still think it was Frenzik, who since last night i consider to be a major wanker) and spammed a shit ton of loud racket to disturb the session, and kept changing his name to go further down the name list to try and get his question answered. (Obviously Andy kept ignoring his question, because as he say at the start of the session, they wouldn't answer to trolling questions)

All in all it was a very pleasant test and Q&A (despite Frenzik) and after most left, Testpig, Gaarawarr, myself, and 4 or 5 more people stood arround just chatting and sharing our views on the current state of things, PQs, the new Warfront rewards, addons, Bombing in general, and we tossed some ideas into the table about what could be Mythic's big announcement.

Well, this thing kept me up till 8 AM, so, imma go get me some sleep.

Cheers.

Epikk