Case study: why lower tiers are more fun

People are always talking about how the quality of gameplay plummets in T4. I am going to try to elaborate on this because I feel that this is one of the weakest points of WAR. The fact that people are experiencing a significant and noticable decrease in their gaming experience is a gigantic hint to some of the fundamental problems in WAR. From here on, note that I only speak for myself. As much as I hate the RVE endgame, I believe the problem is not because of Fortresses or Keeps or BOs, or any of that RVE bullshit.

The problem is combat and mechanics.

Somewhere between Tier 3 and Tier 4, almost every class begins to get armed with the The Cheese: disables that last a long time, AOE CCs, and powerful AOE damage. Prior to this, no one person had the power to do enough damage to single-handedly slaughter multiple people simultaneously. There was also limited CCs such as silences or stuns, so for the most part, classes had to rely on good ol' fashioned single-target damage. There were fewer AOE snares and disables, so everyone was free to run around and brawl. No one felt helpless for losing control of their characters due to CC.

Furthermore, there was not enough damage that someone would be vaporized within one GCD. But yet, people died, and fights were won and lost --- even though damage was lower, it was never a stalemate. In any prolonged fight, eventually people would fight smarter and do a better job of focusing fire and selecting targets. And that was what made fights fun. There would be clash and a battle. But without crazy damage, the battles could mature and people could got a few good licks in. There's also enough time to experience the joy of a "tough" battle, and being able to go through a process of figuring out what is going on, who we're fighting, and rallying the mob to outsmart the enemy. Thus, giving every fight (even over something as boring as a BO) a chance to blossom into an epic fight.




Fights like these will NEVER happen in T4, because of the AOEs and CCs. Note that in the first video, Order and Destro were fighting in close quarters. In T4, it would have played out like the following: AOE CC (frustrated victims), AOE damage (dead victims). T4 combat deprives the players of the chance to see battles mature into "epic battles". Another thing to note in the video is the number of people fighting. Even though the number is large, it doesn' feel "zergy", because no one gets "steamrolled". And that is key. Large-scale combat can be fun. It is not fun in T4 because of the "steamrolling" effect from AOEs and CCs. Large-scale combat is fun in the lower tiers because of the absence of them. And take a look at all the melee careers! Look at how happy they are being useful and swinging their weapons.

BTW, Shamans are overpowered :) Our shammies had no problems holding our own in T3, even though we were only lvl 20 and 22. Check out what I picked up yesterday at level 21: Gork's Barbs. Shamans get AP drain + healing debuff? Damn. Lylia picked up I'll Take That! with only 6 Mastery Points. My Zealot needed 10 Mastery Points to get something similar, but inferior: Boon of Tzeentch (requires Harbinger and has 5s cooldown). Other stuff to come in this tier are RunAway, EEEEK! and Gork Sez Stop. Shamans have the tools to disassemble any class.

In other news, Aion Beta opens today!

Fishing for fights in Tier 4 and twin gobbo power in Tier 2

I raged again yesterday and swore never to do another Scenario (I got tired of: being a 'support class' to the PUG, being a helpless boring healbot, and The Cheese™). So, since Scenarios are the only thing Lylia finds fun in T4 now, she logged on her Shaman today instead of her Sorceress while I went around fishing for fights for a little bit:





But Tier 4 is not something that sits well when taken in anything other than very small doses. I went to detox by watching some TV and caught the sweet finale of Out of the Wild on Discovery. Then, having had enough of Tier 4 for the day, I joined Lylia on her Shaman (Tum) on my Shaman (Bzzt) for some Tier 2 double gobbo action:



Lylia's Shaman got her Wolf mount and last name today!



Of all the things I will leave behind in WAR, the thing that makes me sad is not being able to see our Shamans grow up :( But then again, considering how fowl the endgame is, maybe that's for the best. They get to spend forever in the best levels of their lives!