The next level of questing

Elnia at the Pink Pigtail Inn has some excellent and interesting advice for Blizzard's quest designers (or whoever they hire for the current position). As big a component as game quests are in the game, they haven't been innovated on much since the game's release. Blizzard has played around a little bit with allowing us to repeat certain quests, and they've streamlined the group questing mechanic, but other than that, quests are pretty much the same: pick up a task, do it, and bring it back for a reward.

So how can it be done differently? Elnia has some great ideas: she asks for quests that span a little farther, that push players through a storyline that might even follow them all the way up to 80 (of course, there are quests like that, though they're few and far between -- and not all players have the patience to finish them). Rewards could be mixed up, too -- instead of the old gold and XP, how about some profession skill, or a tradeoff of badges based on certain quests done. Finally, Elnia suggests that every quest in the game become repeatable. Questing is paced to keep us interested in from 1-60, but we all know how the game works now -- why not let us do some of our favorite quests over more than once?

I'd suggest we go even farther -- Warhammer Online offers Public Quests that are an interesting twist on the usual "go kill boars" mechanic. I'd like to see branching quests with more than one outcome -- maybe a moral choice to make that affects the storyline of the quest you're doing. And talking real pie-in-the-sky here, I'd like to see questgivers treat you different based on the way you look or maybe what title you've got equipped. If you've got "Jenkins," they might not expect you to do much, but with "Champion of Ulduar" over your head, they should probably be groveling at your feet.
Tags: badges, blizzard, boar-killing, branching, branching-storylines, elnia, innovation, moral-choice, pink-pigtail-inn, professions, public-quests, questing, quests, reward, story, suggestions, tasks, the-missing-diplomat

Warhammer Thulf the Quest Giver

Source: stuntystomper.blogspot.com
Those that follow my adventures from pre-WAR know i have always played MMOs on a roleplay server when i had the chance. I'm not a hardcore roleplayer, but i like the immersion and dislike people standing around in the major city talking about the Superbowl or having names like xXPowerBarbie13Xx. In addition its great that you can run into player driven events any day. With AoC being a PvP centric game we had some issues the political/diplomatic kind on the RP server tho, an attack always became a major affair of state when you just wanted to have some nice PvP. Therefore the decision for WAR to move to a "normal" server.

From the Witching Night event i still had tons of those Leather Mask of the Gobbo items. Since quite a while i had the idea to pose with Thulf as a quest giver in the greenskin newbie area and hand them out.

What better occasion than a lot of Choppas running around there? On Friday early evening i placed myself at the Snouts' Pens in Mount Bloodhorn and posed as a quest giver - asking for grey trash items from the Stunties to bolster the greenskin supplies. One thing i realised: The chat messages have to be quite short, if you add too many item links, those will make the message too long and it won't display. Therefore i had to shorten my message a bit. In addition to some pre-thought of lines for communication i also used the OrcTalk addon for slang flavour...

I know on "normal" servers players often are not that open for roleplay, as they're not used to it or don't have any interest in it. In addition the english servers are cross-cultural and some players don't speak english that well.

I had no expectations for this experiment and was prepared to stand there lonely for a while. I posed as a quest giver for around 40min and had two or three really nice conversations. I only handed out a few masks as many players were just running past, busy with their newbie quests, not reading the chat or not being interested in any interaction. Only one conversation i can describe as roleplay, the rest was people wanting to do the "quest" but needing pointers or high level players on their alts that already had masks themselves, but thought its a cool idea. As it was early evening the area was not bustling with activity the whole time tho. The result was okayish, but not great. I guess I'll try it again once everyone can create a Choppa and see how it goes then.

I can only encourage everyone to add to the server life with player driven events, be it regular 6vs6, player quests or just any other event that is open for others to participate.
More Warhammer Hacks

Warhammer Ragbag & Bitter Rivals

Since the EU servers crashed completely (again) and we're stuck at the initializing screen since quite a while, i thought i'll update my blog with a new ragbag. (Source: stuntystomper.blogspot.com) Some of the pics are from wierd bugs i encountered after patch 1.2, seems it was just temporary glitches tho as i did not encounter them again.

Talking about glitches: On Karak-Azgal a group encountered a weird bug... they wiped at the skeleton sub-boss in BWE and afterwards the tank had an aura that attacked friendly mobs. After some killing of other players and aggroing the large ancient protector bird inside IC, this resulted in killing the whole leadership crew inside the Eternal Citadel. He wanted to become king instead of the king. Forum thread is here and there is a youtube video as well. I thought this was funny, worldfirst kill of a king. Although IMO now we have to shoot him, being a traitor to Destruction and all... i know others had the bug as well and some got suspended for abusing it to kill other players.

The Bitter Rivals live event is close to an end, so better finish the remaining tasks now if you want to flag your account for Choppa/Slayer access or want those titles. To flag your account with max event INF you can leave two tasks out. The Twisting Tower scenario had some really good ideas in it (base jumping, transformation, etc.) but the layout could have been better IMO. The Reikland Factory had a very good layout concerning access to all parts. Did you know that you can just jump off the tower if you want to keep your transformed state a tad longer? With the pie throwing back in game, its also possible again to obtain the two titles "Pie Assassin" (killing blow with a pie) and "Death by Pie" (get killed by pie).

The live event overall was okayish i would say, but i really wish Mythic will put some more work into the event tasks. Its the same boring stuff all over again most of the time. I know some kill tasks and collect tasks are designed to draw people into oRvR and try out the new scenario, but why not come up with something more unique? It would be easy to spice up some tasks with scripted events. Like the Slayer/Choppa attacks, but a bit more. Beside the cool "Stuntie Stompa" title, i thought the "treasure map hunt" was a great addition. There are three different map pieces to obtain: Bloodstained Map Piece, Glyph-covered Map Piece and Sand-stained Map Piece - those you can get in RvR, from some champ/hero mobs and also from the Slayer/Choppa NPCs that roam the greenskin zones. Once you finished the map, you can use it to start a small quest chain. At the end of the quests you'll get the title "Navigator of the Sands" and the final map as a pocket item, that does nothing (yet?). Would be cool if the map will obtain some kind of function once the Land of the Dead zone is released.

What more to mention about Bitter Rivals? The Slayer/Choppa NPCs can also drop a Broken Axe, using it will give you the title "Oathrender".
A sidenote on the Stinky Troll Bait reward (from event INF): When you use it (has 5 charges) it will generate an extra item inside your bag, called Boulder Throwing Troll - that is a huge kickass troll "siege engine", throwing boulders. Awesome! I have this idea stuck in my head about using those for an ingame game called Bouldertroll™, maybe I'll work on this further. ;) Just don't use it before you need it, else you'll be stuck with additional items. I used one and they look really cool (see picture). The Choppa/Slayer NPCs can also drop Redfang Grog sometimes.

Meanwhile the EU got a 10 days trial offer for WAR as well. Makes me wonder if/how we'll be able to get access to those recruit-a-friend pets the US has. If GOA works out a similar program for the EU *after* the trial offer, it will be hard to get those as people will have used the trial offer already. Hum...

While i haven't engaged in any capitol combat after patch 1.2 i hear some rumours about the first PQ acting very shaky and the boss mobs being a bit overpowered now.

There has been some heated discussion about the pick lock ability (you can bypass the postern door) in addition with the banner rez, as apparently some people exploited it and rez people inside the keep when all doors are still strong. Having an additional rez ability at hand for non-healer classes can be nice sometimes, especially in PvE. The main ingredient for the new rez potion meanwhile cost 15g at the guild vendor. I doubt i like anyone enough to spend that much gold on them. ;)

Should you not have realised it yet: Everyone can meanwhile read the official US Warhammer forums. They are still "beta" and some layout/color scheme issues IMO need to be improved, but at least they work alright from the looks of it. My personal guess is we'll have to wait until they move out of beta before the EU gets their own forums.

With patch 1.2 there are some addons that stopped working or some function that were disabled by Mythic. Luckily many of them got fixed to work properly: zMailMod broke with the patch. I saw this coming and cleaned up my mailboxes before the 1.2 patch. But rejoice: Despite z00g not playing WAR anymore, he uses a trial account right now to fix the mod. The first version is up already, tho the mass collecting function seemed shaky to me, not sure if it was the mod or the mailserver. If you're a cultivator, you should check out the new & improved version of Miracle Grow Remix from Irinia, which has some awesome improvements like queueing additives and such. Also check out the thread with the latest beta version here. If you use Crafting Info Tooltip, there is a beta version (with eg. the new seeds included) available here.

Talking about addons, i found this addon recently: Bloody Mess. The mod adds a gore effect to all damage done and received. While i don't use it myself i thought its creative nontheless. :)

On a personal sidenote: I started trading 175/200 apothecary mats for rare hybrid plants. If you're interested to acquire some of those plants you don't have access to, especially being a Butcher, poke me if you want. Maybe we can work something out.

Missing Warhammer Solo Content

Missing Warhammer Solo Content? I want Mythic to fix RvR and endgame content to have fun with my buddies. You know what? Me too! BUT what is there to do in WAR when you log in during off-hours, when everyone else is busy doing stuff you're not up to right now or groups are full? Is there anything you can do solo that's fun? And I'm talking about a rank 40 character that does not have to level anymore. Sure, you can join the odd scenario solo, but it really depends on your class and some luck how that will turn out. Often it's not much fun to solo join scenarios. In oRvR chances are, you'll run into a warband and get stomped. I know what some say, its a MMO - you should play with others. But sometimes you just want to idle around and do something on your own. What options are there else or should there be?

Crafting
If your crafting skills are not maxed yet, sure you can train these... but crafting in WAR is very, very easy so that won't last long. You can start to hunt for ingredients, but you don't really need to as there are only few consumables you really need. I always run around with stacks of those potions i can use for tanking, but neither is it hard to hunt for them nor is grinding mats that much fun. In WAR there is no real hunt for recipes either, so being busy trying to acquire that odd recipe you're missing is not an option. The pre-launch proclaimed "experimental" side for crafting does not really exist in WAR.
You could try to earn money with your crafting skills, but at the moment crafted things like potions are worth pretty much nothing. Talisman makers can make a few bucks and sure you can sell raw ingredients, but nothing really gives you the "feeling" you created something valuable that is worth selling and showing off proudly at the auction house. Crafting in WAR right now is not a fun experience once you get the hang of it and the "products" are only of limited use. The ingame economy is quite broken compared to other games.

Warhammer Solo Content
Once you hit rank 40 there are not many quests still worth doing. Most likely you'll have solved all existing epic quests with rank 37 or right after. Why not have some loooong and epic rank 40 questline to immerse in? In Age of Conan you had this very long and character defining main quest line you were following all the way up to max. level. Some epic rank 40 questlines with a good story to tell, a few nice rewards along the way and some epic challenges would be great. In AoC there were many instances for that questline you had to enter solo and no one else could help you with. Some of them had good challenges concerning the appearing fights and you had to utilize your character properly to beat them. Talking about those instances, why not have a duo dungeon? I know many play with their girlfriend/wife or best friend. A challenging dungeon for two players could be fun as well. Could be like an epic PQ, maybe 30-40min long, repeatable once a day. And i really don't care if you can only find social clothing in there, just want something unique.

Tome unlocks
Of course there are tome unlocks you can hunt as well. But most are pretty useless when it comes to character development and just fluff. I like fluff, but killing thousands of NPCs (for the unlocks not everyone has) is not that much fun. And once you scouted the existing world there is not so much more to see.

Beside renown, right now there is only so much to do when soloing. Shouldn't there be at least some things to do? I really hope they'll pimp crafting some more. I read in some comment from a dev that they'll have another look at crafting (especially apothecary) again. Let's hope they'll fix the highest tier potions and maybe add some fun (transformation, speed, etc.) potions. IMO it should be possible to advance your characters devlopment solo in some more ways. And if its an epic questline that's highly entertaining, that's fine with me as well. The rewards can also be of a cosmetic nature... new dyes, cool cloaks, trophies, maybe some character customizing stuff you can apply like the CE stuff. Do you log in sometimes to discover everyone else is busy/offline? What do you do? What do you WANT to do?

Ragbag, EU Dev Chat & EU PTS R40 Templates

Right now there is a lot of misinformation spread when it comes to the difference between EU and US service and upcoming features. There ARE issues, i talk about them regularly as i think the EU customers should have access to the same features and service then the US got and that not months afterwards.

PhoenixRed posted a larger article at the Warhammeralliance about "The Treehouse of WAR Customer Service" and the problems between EU & US service. You can read my answer in the thread (here). Regis at Wizards & Wenches, a fellow EU blogger, talks about some of the issues in his blog here. Despite the issues you'll find in those threads (and that i have myself), i feel there are a few facts people often mix up or are misinformed about. You can read more critic at the above threads, but here are some infos...

Facts
# Due to timezone and translation into four other languages, GOA usually is one day late with updates, patches and info. (Question remains if this delay could be prevented if they would get a day headstart from Mythic)
# Official Forums: While people are afraid (due to the lackluster GOA website) the EU forums won't be of the same quality then what the US hosts, GOA promises (credible) they'll be equal and of the same quality then the US offers.
# While people are afraid the split between EU/US forums will take us (EU) further away from the developers, it does not have to be that way. GOA already mentioned they'll get dedicated forums for better direct access to the developers so they can ask questions the EU community has and also relay issues the EU community points out faster.
# Did you realize there will be an EU dev chat on the 19th of March? I know i missed it, as i read the herald announcement right before and they looked the same more or less. Thanks to Nic for pointing it out to me. GOA states the EU dev chats will be a regular thing.
# GOA states they have access to all promotional stuff Mythic does. EU WILL get access to dog/wolf pets and EU players WILL definately get a shot at the special Choppa/Slayer heads. GOA works this out at the moment and we should see news on it soon. While its obvious that different marketing campaigns will have a different focus/timing, question remains why Mythic/GOA can't work this out ahead so details are ready at the same time, would prevent an uproar like we see at the forums now.

Overall things could get much better soon, but deeds will show, not talk and promises. And to be honest i fail to understand why GOA/Mythic don't come more forward with correct informations aggressively spread over the forums to counter all the negative opinions, when some are formed purely due to uninformed players.

With the upcoming official forums, GOA offers you to change your nickname that will be displayed with them. Go and check what you entered back then and change it if necessary.

Since we were discussing findings on the PTS in the forum these day, we found out that the EU PTS indeed has been running on an older build then the US server. For the testers this is very confusing as we talk about the same things but about different numbers with our fellow US players. GOA says it was because Mythic wanted the EU PTS to focus test different things. Well, might be so, but it still is confusing and why can't the focus test run with the current build? Talking about the EU PTS, it was just updated to the latest build and also available now R40 Templates for Choppa/Slayer, equipped with fitting gear. Go crazy!

Did you know that with 1.2 the quest part of your tome can have more then one page? I did not either until i read it over at the Captain's Blog.

Some of the new blue items inside Lost Vale will be repairable tokens all classes can use. It remains to be seen how useful those really will be, but at least for RvR where wards play no role, this could be viable. More info and some stats here.

Are you thinking about doing your own podcast? Or need some pointers which programs to use? CoTCast has some tools & guidelines for you. CoTCast is by far the funniest WAR podcast i know, check it out if you haven't. Hmm.. maybe i should record them a bumper if i can come up with something. ;)

Source: stuntystomper.blogspot.com

The Quest for 7 Warhammer Seeds

The Quest for 7 Warhammer Seeds - Zeronova scours Ravenraid, Salzenmund and Beeckerhoven in Chapter III and IV portions of the Chaos vs. Empire pairing to find 7 skill level 25 seeds. In the process, she acquired almost 50% of the experience points toward level 12 on kills alone. It can be safely said that the various Empire spearmen, trackers, guards, greatswords, handgunners, and the like, have a good chance of dropping skill level 10 leeches for apothecaries. I can attest to this by virtue of accumulating 2 full pots (stacks) of leeches - 40 of them.


And yes, she killed lots of other things too - wolves, boars, sprites, spiders, deer, rats, birds, and well…she probably should have taken Butchering and not Scavenging…

All of this netted some vendor level 1 seeds; 2 level 15 seeds, and 1 skill 25 seed…meanwhile prices in AH for skill 25 seeds are starting to go…up - now 2 gold for one.

She found lots of other useful stuff…dirt, water, talisman components, potions and so forth… Lots of leeches. And Mudmaggot LIKE LEECHES. Especially LOTS and LOTS of LEECHES. Why? They’re great for healing potions. But, more importantly - you want enough healing potions that you can put them on your action bar and know that it’s not going to have to be replaced every time. A stack of 10 or 20 healing potions is a nice thing to have.

So - standardization of healing potions is very useful in PVP for non-healing classes. I tend to keep the “heal over time” potions for my healers - between their own heals, heal over times, a heal over time potion, and their morale abilities - they can go on suicide-take-the-flag missions in scenarios and maybe even have half-a-chance of living.

Ahhh….and that was the limit of my patience for grinding, so I turned to the web to learn a few interesting things. There’s a goblin that offers a quest - reward is only for about 100 xp and a seed - cultivating it continues to produce new seeds (provided one doesn’t get a critical failure). Also, level 1 seeds can get you to skill level 50 - it just takes a while longer. And, that is the route I’m going to take…

Warhammer Patch 1.2 Highlights

Warhammer Online producer Jeff Hickman has written a terrific overview of the Warhammer v1.2 patch that is scheduled to go live sometime next week on the public test server. Find out what is in store below:

WAAAGH!!!

Man do we have a set of notes for you...we've been talking about them, and
hinting, and finally the first draft of the Public Test Server notes are here
for your enjoyment! As always PTS notes are constantly changing throughout the
testing process.

We'll see you on the PTS next week, there's a lot to test so be sure to bring
your game face...for now relax, read, enjoy, and most of all have fun!

Producer's Note

Well here it is; The Public Test Patch Notes for Game Update 1.2. Many hours
of blood, sweat and tears went into these notes, and it shows. From the sheer
size (over 55 pages!) to the numerous improvements being implemented, it's all
been a labor of love (or was that WAAAGH!).

In the notes below you'll see over 500 bug fixes, 10 plus pages of career
balancing, numerous RvR improvements, UI improvements, continued building on our success with improving performance and server stability and a considerable
review of our dungeon loot itemization.

While these notes are still technically a "work in progress" they represent
the majority of the changes that will be implemented with Game Update 1.2.
Please keep in mind, these notes are for the public test server and can change
periodically throughout the Public Testing Process.

As always, thank you to our Players for their continued support.

Jeff Hickman
Executive Producer
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

Highlights

• New Careers! Unleash the savage fury of the relentless Orc Choppa, or take
  up the doom-laden oath of the unstoppable Dwarf Slayer. These two new
  melee-focused careers relish the thrill of fighting on the front lines and
  laying waste to all foes that come within reach of their mighty blades.
  
• Bitter Rivals join the battle! Introducing the newest live event for
  Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. "Bitter Rivals" focuses on the ancient
  hatred that burns between the Dwarf and greenskin races. Millennia of conflict
  in the Worlds Edge Mountains have honed the enmity that exists between the Orcs and Goblins and the stout Dwarfs to a razor-sharp edge, and when these nemeses meet in battle, it is war without mercy.
  
• Fight for control of the warped Twisting Tower! The battle rages in this new Tier 4 Scenario found deep in the heart of the maddening Chaos Wastes. Here, the warping power of Chaos is at its peak, transforming the very fabric of reality in defiance of all reason. Warriors of Order and Destruction must grapple for control of this ancient citadel, for if the secrets of the Twisting Tower should fall into enemy hands, the tide of battle will surely turn. Like the Reikland Factory, the Twisting Tower will be available for all players for a limited time as a preview to accompany the Bitter Rivals event. Be sure to stake your claim to the Twisting Tower while you can!
  
• Answer the Call to Arms with new Realm vs. Realm gameplay enhancements! Introducing the new Open RvR Rallying Cry system that summons you to key battles for Tiers 1 and 2. The new Zone Control Domination System for Tiers 2 through 4 rewards a realm that truly conquers the battlefield. Also, many improvements to siege weapons ensure that the mighty engines of war are now more lethally effective than ever. See below for additional details.
  
• New treasures await! Across-the-board itemization improvements have been made to the Fortresses, world dungeons, and city dungeons of WAR, including better world drops, quest rewards, Influence rewards, and more!
  
• Crafting System Improvements! We've made many improvements to the game's crafting system, including pairing-off specific gathering skills with specific production skills in order to make crafters more self-sufficient. Also, the leveling curve of trade skills has been improved and fewer components are
  required to create items. Last, but certainly not least, is the addition of new
  craftable items!
  
• Easy Public Quests make their debut in Tiers 2, 3, and 4. Scaled for
  courageous bands of 1 to 3 adventurers, these Public Quests offer a rewarding
  PvE experience without a large commitment of forces. You'll find one Easy Public Quest in each Chapter, so gather a few friends, or venture out alone... if you dare!
  
• Multiple mail attachments! Now you can send several attached items with a single mail message.
  
• Two new secret lairs await! Finding the new hidden lairs is only half the
  battle. Figuring out how to open the door - and surviving the dangers inside -
  is another matter, entirely!

Warhammer Patch 1.1 Notes

So you read the highlights yesterday, now’s the time for the real thing. These are the full warhammer patch 1.1 changes and additions to make War a better game. If you want to test the patch before it goes live you can read the instructions on getting on the Public Test Server here.

Introducing Easy Public Quests:

• Beginning with update 1.1, we are launching a new initiative to expand the scope of our Public Quest experience. Now, solo players and small groups can also participate in these unique and exciting encounters that are one of WAR’s most innovative features.
  
• We have reviewed each Chapter in Tier 1, including all three racial pairings, and have altered one Public Quest in each Chapter (with the notable exception of Chapter One) to be suitable for 1-3 players. We have reduced the numbers on monster kill and gather counters, lowered the difficulty of the second- and third-stage enemies and bosses, and scaled down the rewards of these PQs correspondingly.
  
• The Public Quest interface which appears on the right side of the screen when a player enters a Public Quest area will now display which Public Quests are now easier to complete.
  
• We will continue adjusting one Public Quest per Chapter through the remaining three Tiers in the weeks and months to come, so be sure to check the Warhammer Online Herald for updates on our progress!

Chat Hyper Linking:

One of the most requested features from our players finally makes its debut: Chat Hyper Linking! Simply Shift Left-Click on an item, an ability in the ability window, a quest in the quest tracker, or even another player now places a hyperlink into the chat input window. Other players can then click on the link to open a window displaying the item, ability, quest, or player information. Players can have as many unique windows open as they wish. Let the online item stat comparisons begin!

• Because of the addition of this new feature, splitting a stack, which used to require a Shift Left-Click action, now uses Shift Right-Click.
  
• Right-Clicking a player name in the chat window now brings up a context menu with options to ignore, add as friend, invite to group, inspect, target, etc: Pretty much every reasonable interaction you’ve ever wanted to have with a player speaking in a chat channel.

Armor Set Improvements:

This patch represents a pretty significant improvement to Armor Sets in all Tiers. We have made a number of adjustments across many sets to ensure that these items remain both highly competitive and desirable. Changes to these items will automatically take effect on existing items in the game.:

• Armor Sets are now represented with their own special item type represented by Gold Text.
  
• We have looked carefully at all sets to ensure that their bonuses are attractive to the careers they are designed for.
  
• The bonus on many individual set items have been increased in power to make them more competitive with other Rare and Very Rare drops at their level.
  
• Some set items have had their equip level decreased, allowing them to be used at an earlier level.
  
• Crafters will be able to Salvage most set items. Only set items that are available for purchase from a merchant will be flagged as No Salvage.
  
• We have added an additional item to the following armor sets: Redeye, Devastator, and Keeper.
  
• The following set items have been made bind-on-equip: Sentinel Belt, Conqueror Boots, Invader Boots, and Warlord Boots.

Encounter Ward System Adjustments

After continued testing, we have revised the way that the Ward System works. Encounters will now be slightly harder for players without wards; however, players will need less total ward items to become competitive, and will gain an extra benefit if they complete the entire ward set.

• Players without warded armor will continue take up to 200% additional damage from certain monsters. Each appropriate ward worn will continue to reduce that damage by 40% per item.
  
• Players without warded armor will now have 40% damage output against certain monsters. For each piece of appropriate ward armor worn, the player’s damage output against those monsters will increase by 15%.
  
• Players who wear all five pieces of warded armor will deal an additional 15% bonus damage to certain monsters.

PQ Gold Bag Changes

Part of improving set items was making these items more frequently available to players. As such we have made a number of adjustments to Gold Bags in PQ’s to help us deliver these items to the players more frequently without introducing too many new Rare or Very Rare items into the game.

• Gold bags will now only drop Set Items, Crafting Materials, or Money.
  
• The drop rate for Gold Bags has been increased in almost every PQ in the game.
  
  
  
  • Easy difficulty PQ’s will now drop bags slightly more frequently.
    
  • Medium difficulty PQ’s will now drop bags more frequently.
    
  • Hard difficulty PQ’s will drop gold bags much more frequently and will also have a chance to drop up to two gold bags.

Open RvR Influence:

One of the most recently requested items by our community has been incentives for open RvR. The open RvR system is the first of many new features and improvements we have slated to ensure that WAR is the best RvR experience on the market.

Influence can be earned both by killing players as well as capturing or defending Keeps and Battlefield Objectives. When a player participates in a pairing’s open RvR, they will earn Influence with that race in that Tier. The more Influence you earn, the better the rewards you can obtain by speaking with the Rallymaster located in that area’s warcamps. For more information on rewards please see the detailed notes below.

• Each open RvR influence area offers basic, advanced, and elite rewards for a total of 9 rewards per Tier.
  
• New Rare items are available as rewards for more casual RvR players.
  
• New Very Rare items are available as rewards for hardcore RvR players.
  
• Open RvR influence introduces many new weapons and accessories that players can earn exclusively in RvR!

Main Assist:

In order to help groups feel more cohesive and assist in cooperation among group members, we have added a simple main assist function which can be assigned by the group leader.

• The leader of a group may designate a group member as the “main assist” player for that group. This status can only be changed by the group leader, and by the player who has been designated as the main assist player.
  
• By default, the leader of a group is set to be that group’s main assist player when the group is first created.
  
• When a group contains a main assist player, a main assist button will be visible on the interface of each player in the group.
  
• When a player clicks on this button, that player’s target will immediately change to match the current target of the main assist player.
  
• Assignment of the main assist designation can be done through the party context menu, or with the slash command /mainassist [PlayerName] or /makemainassist [PlayerName].
  
• In scenarios, the main assist status is not given to anyone at party creation, but is instead up for claim to any player in the scenario group. When someone has claimed main assist, only that player can reassign it to someone else in the group.
  

Player Statue System:

Introducing something the team is really excited to bring into the game: Player statues. These statues are located in the War Quarter in Altdorf and in the Undercroft in Inevitable City, and have been enabled to display the top ten Renown Point earners of the previous week and the weekly top Renown Point earner of each realm for that server. If you are the best of the best for your realm, you will now have a representative statue (based on career and gender) with your name on it, making you an idol to millions (at least until someone dethrones you). More information will be posted in the Dev Diary this Friday on the Herald!

General Changes and Bug Fixes:

• Death animations will now play more in sync with the exact moment of a character’s death.
  
• Players will now receive the message: “Your Target Can’t Reach You” when they are targeting a monster that is attempting to reach them, but can’t.
  
• Newly created dual-wielding characters will display weapons in both hands on the character select screen.
  
• Reduced the amount of time that monster corpses will be visible in the world after being killed by another monster.
  
• When players speak to a Kill Collector NPC for the first time, they will now be presented with the proper dialogue.
  
• Monsters with names that have partial matches to profanity will no longer have their names filtered. For example, “Assassin” will no longer be displayed as “******in”.
  
• Players will now be able to properly use the /follow slash command to follow friendly players through water.
  
• Players who attempt to zone into a dungeon that has an encounter in progress will no longer receive two messages about not being able to enter.
  
• Players will no longer receive kill credit for monsters when half or more of the damage done was from another monster.
  
• Players in first-person view will no longer see their shadow.
  
• When exiting the game, the client will now shut down and return the user to desktop more quickly.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused players standing on top of a structure, such as a wall, to appear to be standing on the ground.
  
• Fixed various ghosting issues that caused players to appear to be stuck running in place, or to still be mounted even after dismounting.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused some players and player pets to become invisible when a large number of players and/or monsters were in close proximity to each other.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused monster and player models to become distorted and stretched on the screen.

Capital Cities

• New unique rare and very rare drops have been added to all Capital City high-level dungeons, including Bilerot Burrow, Bloodwrought Enclave, Sigmar’s Crypts, and Warpblade Tunnels. Additionally, the drop tables for all monsters within these dungeons have been revised.
  
• Mailboxes have been added inside Sigmar’s Hammer and the Viper’s Pit Guild Taverns.
  
• The merchants found at the Viper’s Pit and Sigmar’s Hammer will now only be available if the Guild Tavern entrance is open (based on City Rank).
  
• With the introduction of the Knight of the Blazing Sun and the Black Guard, additional NPCs from these careers will populate the cities.
  
• There are now Talisman and Salvaging trainers in both the Inevitable City and Altdorf.
  
• A Pale Eye Burglar that has been spotted skulking around the docks in Altdorf has been persuaded to move along.
  
• A number of merchants and other citizens in both Capital Cities have had their titles modified to accurately reflect their utility.
  
• Eckhardt Krause will no longer incorrectly contribute to Altdorf’s standing.
  
• Revised the error message given when attempting to enter the Screaming Cat Tavern before City Rank 5 to more clearly explain why the tavern is not open.
  
• Morena von Hoffe is now using tools more appropriate to her position.
  
• The mysterious barrels found in the capital cities will now reward those who are adventurous enough to open them, but be careful! Some of the barrels are potentially dangerous!
  
• A number of monsters in the Altdorf Sewers and Warpblade Tunnels dungeons were adjusted so they properly give contribution toward their respective city’s standing when killed.
  
• Banker Lutz near the Mastiff’s End in Altdorf has found his courage and will no longer duck and hide behind the bank counter.
  
• The Viper’s Pit entrance will give the proper error message when players attempt to enter before the city has reached the sufficient rank.
  
• The Elyr Merchants at the Docks in Altdorf will now wear the proper clothing at all times.
  
• The grate leading to the Bilerot Burrows dungeon will now give the proper message if it is locked based on City Rank, and will open properly when the city reaches the appropriate rank.
  
• The Wretched One’s dialogue will no longer contain unintelligible characters.
  
• The Warprot Plague Monk in the Altdorf Sewers will no longer be surrounded by flies as they could be confused with the Scavenging effect on monster death.
  
• Crier Kosch will now remain stationary in Altdorf so that he is easier for players to locate.
  
• Fixed a number of ambient dialogues in the Capital Cities that contained extraneous characters at the end of the dialogue.
  
• Flayerkin in the Inevitable City will now animate properly.
  
• Ambient robber NPCs in Altdorf will no longer drop ‘Stolen Karls’ outside of the Bank Robbery Public Quest.
  
• A number of citizens in Altdorf and the Inevitable City now boast unique looks.
  
• While exploring Altdorf and the Inevitable City, players might discover new citizens who have some interesting lore to share.
  
• Peasants near the Bright Wizard College in Altdorf have given up trying to keep their clothes free from soot and ash. Their clothes now reflect the atmosphere and danger of living close to the Bright Wizard College.

Combat and Careers

General

• Snare effects from the environment, such as those incurred by moving through water or lava, will no longer stack with snares inflicted by player and monster abilities.
  
• Abilities that fire in an arc toward the target will now follow their respective arc more correctly.

Engineer

• Redeploy: When this ability is used, the Engineer’s turret will now properly appear in its new location.

Ironbreaker

• Punishing Knock: This ability will now properly knock players down to the ground.

White Lion

• Pounce: This ability will now deal damage correctly with each hit.

Content

• Two new lairs have been added to the Warhammer world! Players can search in Saphery and Talabecland to locate them.
  
• Siphoner Tahalys will now behave more like a Bright Wizard.
  
• Tomb Guards no longer use Bright Wizard spells.
  
• Additional feedback has been added for players attempting to gain access to Fleshrender’s Lair.
  
• Tainted Oogs no longer sinks under the terrain when engaged in combat.
  
• Suntear will no longer be hostile toward Order-aligned characters.
  
• Brugash in Dammaz Skar has regained the use of his special abilities.
  
• Ahzranok in the Lost Vale dungeon now has an increased chance to drop all unique items that are also dropped by Lurquasss. The chance for unique items to drop from Lurquasss has been reduced.

Items

• We have implemented a temporary inventory overflow system. There are gameplay situations, such as crafting, where a player may have a full inventory and yet still receive more items. In these and similar situations, a temporary overflow window will appear, giving players the opportunity to make room for the excess items in their main inventory. Please note that this is not an expansion of the player inventory. Players will not be able to use the overflow window as a permanent storage alternative, as any items remaining in the inventory overflow will be lost when the player logs out of the game. Players will also not be able to move items into this overflow window.
  
• Items that have a proc effect, such as high-level armor sets, will now display this information in their tooltips.
  
• Fixed several graphical and animation issues relating to swords and staves.
  
• Improved and diversified the appearance of many cloaks throughout the game.
  
• The cost to repair broken items has been brought in line with the value of items throughout the game.
  
• Some wristguard items were improperly named as waistgirds. These item names have been corrected.
  
• The ‘Dye All’ button has been re-enabled on Dye Merchants throughout the world.
  
• Gold loot bags, such as those awarded for the completion of Public Quests and Keep captures, will now contain armor set pieces exclusively. These loot bags will no longer contain other loot items, as the other colored loot bags do.
  
• The Black Mire Tower encounter will now provide adventurers with better rewards for their troubles.
  
• Lair Bosses throughout the world will once again drop treasure.
  
• Monsters throughout the world will drop treasure items more often.
  
• Monsters in high-level Chapters will now consistently drop treasures of an appropriate level.
  
• New Public Quest rewards and unique rare and very rare world drops have been added to the Bastion Stair, and the drop tables of all monsters have been updated.
  
• The Gale-Runner’s Chaos-Axe had incorrect stats and name for a one-handed axe. It is now named the Gale-Runner’s Dreadaxe, and has had its DPS raised slightly and its Strength reduced.
  
• The Gale-Runner’s Crusher had incorrect DPS and speed for a one-handed hammer. Its DPS has been reduced and it has been made faster.
  
• Due to player feedback, we have taken a look at the HP Regeneration bonus on all armor sets and items. As a result of this review, we have greatly improved the values of HP Regeneration bonuses on items and item sets throughout the game.

Quests & Public Quests

• Several new quests have been added to the Chapter 15 hubs for all races.
  
• Fun new “chicken run” quests have been added to the Tier 3 Greenskin and High Elf warcamps. These quests send players back to Tier 1 open RvR areas for an update on the progress of the war.
  
• Two new bounty hunter quests have been added, one each to target enemy players of the Knights of the Blazing Sun and Black Guard careers. Interested players should visit the High Elf Chapter 8 hub or the Chaos Chapter 13 hub, depending on their realm.
  
• Players who leave a Public Quest area will retain their contribution to that Public Quest for five minutes.
  
• Tier 1 Dark Elf and Empire Public Quest bosses have been adjusted to account for the introduction of the Knight of the Blazing Sun and Black Guard.
  
• The skeleton of Christopher Kuhn no longer pulses with the interactable glow to those who are not on the appropriate quest.
  
• Trample Tantrum: The Chapter 19 Greenskin Kill Collector NPC now recognizes all Mudhide boar kills instead of just Mudhide Tuskers.
  
• Cleansing an Empire: The pyre associated with this quest now pulses with the interactable glow.

• Tunnels and Trinkets: The gore-spattered crate associated with this quest now properly despawns after interaction.
  
• Thorns: The number of black powder barrels associated with this quest has been reduced.
  
• Breaking Stone: The cooking fire associated with this quest is now much more noticeable.
  
• Falling Stars: The quest condition has been changed to “Griffon Forces”, which encompasses all previous targets.
  
• Plans Within Plans: The monster population associated with this quest has been reduced.
  
• Mark of Grimnir: The monster population associated with this quest has had its rate of respawn reduced.
  
• Ruinous Powers: The Raven Sorcerers associated with this Public Quest now properly appear to be channeling dark magic.
  
• Heart of Strength: The waypoint to find Sigmarite Henchmen and Zealots for this quest has been increased to cover all applicable areas.

• Unmasking the Enemy: The waypoint associated with part one of this quest has been reduced to encompass only the tower.
  
• Faith is Madness: Multiple fixes and improvements have been made to this quest line.
  
  
  
  • Increased the density and respawn rate of the monster population associated with parts four and five of this quest.
    
  • Part five of this quest now has an additional waypoint to encompass another group of Manticores.
    
  • The waypoint associated with part seven of this quest has been extended to encompass all instances of food and drink.
    
  • An additional waypoint has been added to part 15 of the quest that covers all fallen Empire NPCs.
    
  • The Shards of Lucidity, Sagacity, Purity, and Clarity associated with part 16 of this quest are now properly placed within a character’s quest inventory once obtained.
    
  • Each of the Shards of Lucidity, Sagacity, Purity, and Clarity associated with part 16 of this quest now has a unique icon.
  
  
  
  

• Bond of Fellowship: This quest’s waypoint now covers the correct location.
  
• Knights Errant: This quest’s waypoint now covers the correct location.
  
• Oathbearer’s Way: This quest’s waypoint now covers the correct location.
  
• Broken Core: The journal entry associated with part three of this quest now explains the quest’s objective more clearly.
  
• The Vessel of Azorgaron: This quest is now properly flagged as an epic quest. Additionally, the quest target, Szurinna, no longer a Champion.
  
• Overwhelming Power: Orthor Firebrand will no longer despawn when a player accepts this quest.
  
• Wyrmbreaker: Fixed an issue that would sometimes complete the quest condition without giving the player the scroll item.
  
• Reign of Destruction: The pikes associated with this quest now only accept one skull placement every so often.
  
• Painstaking: The item “Implement of Anguish” associated with this quest no longer gives an error message when used on the proper target.
  
• Bait & Switch: The kill requirement for this quest has been reduced from 8 to 4.
  
• Timeless Wisdom: The kill requirement for this quest has been reduced from 12 to 6.

• Buying Time: The targets associated with part one of this quest now always remain within their appropriate waypoint.
  
• Show ‘Em Who’s Boss: A waypoint over the Flightmaster NPC has been added to parts eight and nine of this quest.
  
• Hungry Work: A waypoint has been added to indicate the location of the food pile.
  
• Champion of the Lost Forge: This quest has been re-enabled in Dwarf Chapter 19.
  
• Tome of Ages: The quest item “Tome of Ages” has been relocated to a more solo-friendly location.
  
• Annihilation: The monster population density and respawn rate associated with part five of this quest has been increased.
  
• Disenchanting the Stone: It is now possible to continue this quest line if the book was destroyed by killing Lore Master Tadrillian again.
  
• An Innocent Man: Innkeeper Ossia’s name will now be visible at all times so that she is easier to find.
  
• Spotting Trouble: This capital city quest has been reduced to level 15. Additionally, the waypoint for this quest has been adjusted so that it points to the proper sewer entrance.
  
• Ogre Bodyguards: Interacting with Georg Rothstein will now properly continue this quest series.

• Tasty Morsels: This quest has been re-enabled and adjusted to be a level 15 quest available in the Capital Cities.
  
• The Devil Inside: The tooltip information for this Altdorf quest has been updated to remove some erroneous text. Additionally, the journal text for this Altdorf quest has been updated to give a more clear description of where to search for the quest goal.
  
• The Ever Ancient: This Inevitable City quest has been disabled.
  
• An Innocent Man: Completing this Altdorf quest will no longer cause strings of numbers to appear in the player’s chat window.
  
• Mushroom Hunta: Fixed the quest icon for the mushrooms gathered during this quest in the Inevitable City.
  
• The Temple of the Damned: Captured Souls are now only attackable during the proper stage of this Public Quest in the Inevitable City.
  
• Sharpthorn Rock Mine: The final stage monsters for this Public Quest now arrive via gyrocopters.
  
• The Tower of Neborhest: The objectives associated with this Public Quest now state more clearly which pillar needs to be attacked at the appropriate stage.

• Reichert’s Raiders: Broadcast text has been added to the Public Quest when a tent is razed.
  
• The Defiled Anvil: The Corrupting Stones associated with this Public Quest will now properly despawn once they have been destroyed.

Realm vs. Realm

• All Fortress Lords have been adjusted to ensure that they provide the intended level of challenge. This includes updates to their abilities, damage, and defenses.
  
• Lycithas the Harridan Seer now has voiceovers enabled for her portion of the Monolith encounter during the invasion of the Inevitable City.
  
• A number of neutral NPCs were removed from the contested version of the Inevitable City as they did not contribute to the city defense and might have confused the invaders.
  
• While inside a contested city, the proper instance number will now be displayed on the player’s interface.
  
• Reinforcement Guards for Keeps from captured Battlefield Objectives will now have a title that reflects where they have come from.
  
• The Order patrols near Festenplatz will now patrol further away to allow room for players to move without potentially drawing the patrol into the Battlefield Objective battle.
  
• Keep Lords based on pet-using careers will now summon pets in a manner similar to their player counterparts.
  
• Battlefield Objectives in every tier and pairing have been fortified with newer, more realm-specific palisades and other types of barricades.

• A number of warcamps have been fortified to strengthen their position.
  
• Siege Oil Pads on High Elf and Dark Elf keeps have been moved slightly so the splash hits better and the oil is attackable properly from below.
  
• Fixed an issue where Keep and Postern Doors would not respond properly if another player had used that door immediately before.
  
• In Scenarios, the confirmation pop-up window on zone out will now disappear if you move out of range of the zone point.
  
• We have instituted additional fail-safes to prevent rare cases where Tier 4 zones would lock down incorrectly.
  
• Placing the bomb in the Talabec Dam Scenario will now take less time.
  
• Fixed an issue in the contested version of Altdorf to ensure that fires started by Destruction players can be extinguished by Order players.
  
• The guards in the Phoenix Gate Scenario have been adjusted slightly to prevent them from improperly being dragged into the Scenario battle proper.
  
• The patrolling guards for Wilhem’s Fist have had their path slightly adjusted to ensure they do not attempt to overrun Siege Pads or other objects in area.
  
• The patrolling Order guards for Fangbreaker Keep will now path properly around the Keep.
  
• A number of extraneous objects in the contested version of the Inevitable City were removed to improve framerate during a city invasion.

• A number of Dread Sentries spawned inside of the contested version of Altdorf have been fixed so they are wearing the proper armor for their race.
  
• A few misplaced Siege Pads in the middle of Talabecland have been removed.
  
• The Postern Doors on the outer walls of the Fortresses in Reikwald and Butcher’s Pass were never meant to be usable. As such, they have been fixed so that the doors will give the proper ‘barred’ message to players that attempt to use them.
  
• Additional guards have been called in to reinforce the Greenskin warcamp in Thunder Mountain.
  
• Leaving and entering the cave area near Badmoon Hole Keep will no longer strip bolster.
  
• Keeps and Battlefield Objectives will now broadcast a message to all players in the entire Tier when they change realm control. This messaging can be turned off or on from the User Settings.
  
• Players successfully defending a Keep/Fortress will now receive a considerable renown reward.
  
• Keep/Fortress Contribution: After lengthy evaluation and feedback from the players we have made several changes to the contribution system in place for the Public Quests associated with Keep/Fortress sieges. These changes will encourage more participation and reward players participating in Keep/Fortress sieges.
  
  
  
  • All enemy kills, both Player Character and Non-Player Character, will now contribute towards the Public Quest for taking a Keep/Fortress.
    
  • Other actions that lead to taking a Keep/Fortress will now result in contribution toward the Public Quest for taking a Keep/Fortress.
  
  
  
  

User Interface

General

• New animations have been added for hotbar ability cooldowns. After an ability is used, a radial wipe animation will play that counts down the time until the ability can be used again.
  
• Quest waypoints for caves have been changed so that they are consistent across all zones. Cave waypoints now appear as a red dot located at the cave’s entrance.
  
• The Public Quest scoreboard has been updated to properly display more than eight loot bag rewards where applicable.
  
• Mousing over an alternate currency icon will tell you its name.
  
• Added the ability to sort mail in your inbox.
  
• Guild heraldry settings and choosing to hide your helm or cloak will now save upon zoning or re-logging.
  
• Master looters may now assign loot if they are in a warband slot other than the first one.
  
• When using auto loot via the option or by holding Shift, you will now be warned when picking up a bind-on-pickup item.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the “Need on Use” option to incorrectly be grayed out.

Guilds

• Guild notes have been re-added to the Guild Roster Window.
  
• Guild Leaders, Officers, and anyone with appropriate permissions can once again use the guild window context menu to promote and demote members.
  
• Guild permission tooltips have been updated to accurately reflect their function and intended behavior.
  
• Guild ranks other than Guild Leaders may no longer be given permission to form alliances.
  
• Guild administration options for those who do not have permission to edit them will now accurately be grayed out.
  
• Fixed an issue where the guild window would sometimes close when clicking on a name.
  
• Guild members will no longer be able to read guild chat if they do not have the permissions to do so.
  
• Fixed tooltip display for the first custom guild rank slot.
  
• Kicking a player from a guild now properly deactivates the guild and alliance tabs.
  
• Guild members may now be promoted to the first customize guild rank slot.
  
• Fixed an issue where guild/alliance roster sub-tabs appeared on the screen if the player joined a new guild after having left a guild with the Guild Roster tab as the last Guild Window viewed.
  
• Players with permission no longer have to relog to see Member and Officer Notes.
  
• Guild titles now sort by rank instead of alphabetically.
  
• Players who do not have permission to kick members from their guild will no longer be presented with the option to do so.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Guild Roster was not updating properly when Hide Offline was checked.
  
• Guilds will no longer receive a message that they have gained a rank before actually doing so.

• Hide Offline in the guild window now saves correctly between sessions and updates when toggled.
  
• The guild is now notified via the chat buffer when a guild leader has changed.

Settings and Performance

• There is a new option in the Customize UI window for action bar settings that allows players to hide the cooldown text and show only the radial animation. Additionally, cooldown text is now always suppressed for the global cooldown timer; only the radial animation is played to show the global cooldown.
  
• There is now a Gamma slider available in the user settings.
  
• Players will receive a warning if they try to change their client’s performance setting to “High” without sufficient resources on their computer to run the game at this setting.
  
• The memory GPU slider will now only be available if the player’s computer has more than 512MB of RAM.
  
• The shadows cast by other players’ mounts will now be visible when the shadow quality is set to High.
  
• We have made significant improvements to client performance when handling buff updates.

Chat Windows, Bubbles, and Messaging

• You will now see an outgoing message when sending a warband invite.
  
• Fixed an issue where NPC chatter was not relaying which NPCs were speaking.
  
• NPC chat bubbles are once again visible.
  
• The “Show Timestamp” chat option will now save upon exit.
  
• You will no longer see, “You are no longer logging out,” when you attempt to exit the game.
  
• Fixed an issue where the profanity filter was filtering out letters in the middle of certain words.
  
• Parties will now receive a message when a party member has left or disconnected.
  
• Fixed a specific Talisman-making error message that referred to the skill as Apothecary.
  
• Attempting to invite a player to a party who is already in a party will refer you to that player’s party leader.
  
• Using the /lol or /thank emotes will now return the proper text.
  
• Added the functionality for chat tabs to blink when they receive new messages. This feature is turned off by default; to enable it, right-click on the chat window tab, mouse over “Tab Options,” and check “Flash on Activity.”
  
• Chat bubbles can now be toggled on and off.
  
• The chat tab menu has been re-organized in an effort to make it easier to use.
  
• We have made several improvements to chat filtering. To view the new filters, right click on the desired chat tab and select filters.
  
• Players will now receive an error message when attempting to look for a warband while already in one.
  
• Tells are no longer saved as a “sticky” channel.
  
• Alliance and Alliance Officer Channels are now saved as “sticky” channels.
  
• The command /warband (/warbandallianceonly) has been changed to provide accurate feedback messages.
  
• Dead players will now be able to see death announcements.
  
• Sending a tell to an AFK player will return a message stating that the recipient is AFK.
  
• You will no longer see an error message when a player from an enemy realm attempts to send you a tell.
  
• /Shout once again has a longer range than /say.
  
• Fixed an issue where the colored text of City Rating messages was overflowing into subsequent lines of text.
  
• Damage messages printed in the chat window now show the amount of Critical Damage mitigated.
  
• Attempting to purchase a guild reward scroll without meeting the requirements now results in an error message.
  
• Locking your chat window will now persist after you log out.

Dungeon Itemization Improvements

City Dungeons - Bilerot Burrow, Bloodwought Enclave, Sigmar’s Crypts, Warpblade Tunnels

General

• As a result of this review and reitemization process, groups who complete the improved dungeons will now end up with more loot than ever before!
  
• New, unique Rare and Very Rare items have been introduced into all of the city dungeons!
  
• Dungeon drop rates have been adjusted to better spread loot throughout the entire dungeon, moving some of the focus off the main bosses and allowing players who don’t complete the dungeon to have a chance at better drops
  
• General monsters will drop significantly more loot then they did previously

Mini Bosses

• Mini bosses will now always drop at least one item, with a small chance to drop the new Rare or Very Rare dungeon items
  
• Mini bosses will now have a chance to drop Sentinel Set items, the chance of getting an item will increase the higher your City Rank is

Bosses

• The total number of Sentinel set items dropped by bosses has been reduced, due to the new drop rates on
  
• All bosses will now drop between three and five items depending on your city ranking All bosses will now drop one of the new unique Rare or Very Rare items 100% of the time
  
• All bosses will now drop a rare dye 100% of the time
  
• All bosses will drop between 1 and 2 Sentinel set items depending on your city ranking
  
• All bosses have a 50% chance to drop the sentinel set belt at all times

Warhammer Patch 1.1 Preview

Warhammer Patch 1.1 is going on the PTS today and the servers should be up and ready by tomorrow. This patch was in development before 1.0.6 went LIVE so don’t expect to see a lot of changes to 1.0.6 in there yet. The patch notes are over 14 pages long and it’s much more extensive than patch 1.0.6 was.

We don’t have the full patch notes yet, but nevertheless these highlights are certainly interesting enough to read. My favorite new features are certainly chat hyperlinking and player statue system which sounds awesome.

• Open RvR Influence System – As part of our ongoing effort to encourage people to take part in oRvR, we are pleased to announce the release of an influence system geared solely to oRvR. Players who participate in this part of WAR will now have additional incentives for fighting for their realm. As part of this patch we have also made quite a number of changes and fixes to oRvR settings and NPCs as well. And as always, we have a lot more going in for oRvR over the next couple of months as well.
  
• New Careers For Everyone - With this version the Empire’s Knight of the Blazing Sun, and the Dark Elf’s Blackguard are available for all players!
  
• Easy Public Quests – PQs are great but sometimes it’s hard to get enough people together to complete them, especially in the lower tiers. So, we are redesigning one PQ per chapter so that it can be completed by 1-3 people.
  
• Chat Hyperlinking – One of the most requested features by the community has been adding the ability to hyperlink items, abilities and quests in the chat window and now it has been added.
  
• Armor Set Rebalance – After scrubbing through our armor sets we’ve made a lot of changes to ensure to various armor sets in the game to make them more useful and prized by the players.
  
• Main Assist – RvR is exciting, chaotic and always challenging but this feature will make it just a little bit easier to help your group fight the good fight.
  
• Player Statue System – Nothing says “you’ve made it” more than having a statue with your name on it in the capitol city of your realm.
  
• New Content – Whether it is new lairs, new quests, new drops in dungeons, new PQ rewards and changes to items (such as cloaks), this patch is full of lots of fun new content additions to the game.
  
• User Interface – Lots and lots of fixes, changes and new additions to our user interface and API functionality, new additions to the chat system and graphic options incorporating community requested features a channel flashing on activity, the ability to turn the chat bubbles on/off, a gamma slider and so much more.

Warhammer Dark Elf Early Quest Guide

Here is a warhammer guide to all the starting quests if you start out as a warhammer dark elf. These are in no particular order, just the order in which I did them. You will find coordinates, and notes on each quest. These quests are easy to solo with the exception of the Public Quest. These quests will get you from the Elf starting location to Akrana's Storm. Quests from killing Dark Sprites to releasing Cold Ones to feed on your kin. I did not include any storyline as that would take up a massive amount of room. The coordinates listed are for the center of where the item, NPC, or MOB is located. I hope you enjoy this guide and it becomes of use to anyone who is starting the game.

Explination:
From: Who you get the quest from.
Name: The name of the quest.
Description: A description of the quest.
XP and Money: Experience and money gain for completing the quest.
Chose: Means you get a choice of one item from 2 or more items.
Note: Notes of interest for the quest.
Numbers inside the ( ) are coordinates where you will find the item, NPC, etc

Narthain Beach
From: Gorthan Rakar (15514,6912)
Name: Blood Feud
Description: Kill Sea Guard, they are along the Narthain Beach. Return to Gothan Rakar at the Dark Elf galley on the western side of the beach.
Item: Sea Guard 0 of 4
XP: 1000 Money: 52 brass
Chose: Initiate's Warming Draught or Class Boot armor
Note: The Sea Guard is located west of Gorthan at (20070,7168). Kill any 4 of them. You can even kill one that an NPC is in combat with.

From: Gorthan Rakar (15514,6912)
Name: The Joys of War
Description: Go to the Reaper Bolt Throwers along the dunes on the southern side of Narthain Beach. Use the artillery to fire on the approaching Spearman and Mages. Kill several in this manner. Return to Gorthar Rakar on the western side of Narthain Beach afterwards.
Item: Reaper Bolt Thrower Victims 0 of 4
XP: 824 Money: 52 brass
Chose: Initiate's Fleeting Potion of Clout or Initiate's Fleeting Elixir of Allaying
Note: Go south of Gorthan and you will see four Dark Elf Bolt Throwers located at (17227,9961). Right click on any one of them and then click the target icon in the center of the 3 icons that pop up. You will then see a four-point target rectacle on your screen. Point it at your target and wait for the four points of the rectacle to close in and stop. You are then locked on your target. Left click once to fire and then repeat once the thrower is reloaded. Once you have killed 4 targets you will be kicked off the thrower.

Warhammer Heavy Metal Event - Day 3

So today those that had missed some of the daily tasks either through issues with the scenario not popping or due to their own schedule not allowing them to be on every day, received some good news from Mythic and GOA.

James Nichols of Mythic

By popular request, players will now be able to complete previous daily tasks for the Heavy Metal event. A task will continue to unlock each day and remain open until the end of the event allowing players to complete all the tasks at their convenience. Please Note: If you notice an apparent loss of credit for any previous days you have already completed simply exit the game entirely and log back in to correct this issue.

So the first week's tasks will still be released every day as per the schedule in my previous post, however now you have up till the end of the event to complete them.

Now I have mixed feelings about this announcment, yes it is the right thing to do as some issues outside of the control of the players have made it difficult and in some cases impossible to complete the daily tasks. However I do feel it has now watered down the achievement of completing the event even more.

I guess my issue is not with this amendment but with the overall difficulty of the tasks and the type of tasks. There seems little imagination gone into the event, so far all tasks have taken less than about 20mins to complete (minus queue times). All tasks have been very simple just asking you to do things you would normally do in game anyway. The only place they have shown some imagination, is the new scenario. Yet again the tasks that involve the scenario seem very simple.

I think the problem or the reason why they have made the event like this is due to the fact that they want the event to be open to all levels and all players. This makes it very difficult to create tasks that are going to be challenging but still able to be completed by all types who play the game (read casual up to hardcore).

I do feel mythic need to maybe raise the bar a little. I by no means want tasks and events that are only for the hardcore however I would like some tasks that actually challenge me and that leave me with a feeling of accomplishment at the end.

Anyway back to the task in hand... Day 3 task was to "Complete the Scouting Quest that begins in Reikland Factory Scenario". This time it took me a lot longer to get into the scenario but when I did what I found was funny... The quest was to scout each objective point in the scenario. So everyone grabbed the quest and proceeded to ignore the destruction players and instead run to all four points so they could complete the quest... now I will admit I did the same thing.

However once you completed the quest you were able to take it again... so once again every one ran to all the points ignoring the enemy... handing the quest in a second time gave you a small xp bonus... however again it was repeatable... so in the Scenarios I played order decided just to do this quest over and over again and the destruction actually played the scenario. This resulted in 2 very one sided games. After this I stopped playing the scenario...

This quest really should have been a onetime quest... any way as long as you could get into the Scenario it was another easy one to tick off.

Warhammer Heavy Metal Event - Day 2

So today’s task was to complete in no time again. All you need to do is complete 3 stages of a public quest. Now I did a little bit of testing and this could be 3 stages of 1 public quest or 1 stage of 3 public quests or any combination. So basically if you found yourself alone and unable to get a party you could just complete the first stage of a public quest 3 times.

Just a quick update today. I will post a longer update tomorrow with some feedback from the American public test server participants who have had the chance to try out the Knight of the Blazing Sun! Sometimes it sucks to be a European...

CURSE.COM

Warhammer Heavy Metal Event - Day 1

So this morning the European Servers got the Warhammer 1.05 patch and with it the Warhammer Heavy Metal event! How cool is the live event tab? When you click the tab you get a little heavy metal music chime! That aside if you read my post yesterday you will not of been surprised that the first task was to play the new Reikland Factory scenario.

It took me on a medium population server about 5mins for the first scenario to pop, after that it seemed to take about a minute after coming out of one before another one started. So for me it took about 20mins to do the first task. I have seen reports that some servers and some tiers where having issues with the scenario starting but I haven't personally witnessed this.

So with the first task very easy to complete, I took a few screen shots of the new scenario and then got down to fighting the forces of destruction!

Overall I enjoyed the scenario, it was nice to have new content added so soon after launch and as I've rolled a lot of alt's it was nice to be able to play something other than Nordenwatch in tier 1.

If you haven't played it yet the Reikland Factory scenario features 4 capture points. 1 in the centre which is worth the most points over time. Then 3 other points in a triangle around the centre point, that a worth slightly less points over time. You can see what I mean below:-


You can then see from the map that both groups start at the bottom of the map on either side.

I've yet to see any side totally dominating due to their use of tactics on this map. Normally it’s the side with the highest levels wins unless they have a poor class balance or very poor skills.

Overall I've been very impressed with the scenario there are lots of routes between points, lots of hiding holes and places to explorer. It seems to me at least to be a very well designed and polished scenario. I'm looking forward to playing it over the next 2 weeks!

Warhammer Character Transfers and Hot Fixes

Now i will take you a host of hot fixes and the news that warhammer character transfers have begun on Warhammer Online servers. The transfers are free for those on the NA Core Ruleset servers at this time, however.

HOTFIXES

Content

* Fixed an issue that would in some rare cases cause Skiv Redwarp, a boss NPC in the Warpblade Tunnels dungeon to become unattackable.
* The NPC Zarbog One-toe in the Badlands will no longer fall under the world.
* Adjusted the levels of some Withered Crone and Restless Spirit NPCs to a more appropriate range for their locations in the world.
* Made some adjustments to the Sigmar's Crypts dungeon bosses Zakarai and Verrimus to bring them in line with the intended level of difficulty.
* Fixed an issue that was preventing players from re-entering the Inevitable City dungeon Bilerot Burrow after being defeated by the boss NPC Bartholomew the Sickly.
* Fixed an issue that was causing some of the Withered Crones associated with the Witching Night live event to run around in circles.

Items

* Disciples of Khaine will now be able to purchase the appropriate armor pieces from Tier 3 renown merchants.
* Corrected an issue in which the Elite-level Magus rewards offered in Chaos Chapter 16 included two erroneous items.

Quests & Public Quests

* Out of Favor: Conquering the Raven: Fixed an incorrect waypoint in this quest.
* Control: Fixed an issue that was causing Falathin Soulbreaker to become unattackable, which was preventing players from completing this quest.
* Gud Memory: Fixed an incorrect waypoint in this quest.
* The Wind of Change: The NPC Tomas Schurmann will now spawn properly for this quest.
* The Witching Hour: Zealots will now receive the proper rewards from all loot bags offered by this Public Quest.
* The Witching Hour: Instances of this Public Quest will no longer reset instantly following a successful completion.

And as for the Warhammer Character Transfer Service:

Greetings!

We are pleased to announce that in the coming days we will be offering Free Character Transfers from our servers with lower populations to a set of servers with higher populations. To help you better prepare for these transfers we have provided additional details below.
Update - 1:45PM EDT: The Realm Population Bonus only applies to North American Core Ruleset servers at this time. This has been edited in the notes below. Thank you!

Players on select servers will be able to transfer their characters via the Mythic Account Center. When the service is enabled in the coming days, players will see a Character Transfer button below "Activate a Key" and "Validate your Email Address."

Full details on Character Transfers can be found within this section, and we encourage you to read all of the information very carefully before you make a decision about your transfer, because it is very important. Once you have read the instructions and prepared your character in-game, simply follow the steps to select the character you wish to transfer and your desired destination server.

We are also pleased to announce the Guild Transfer functionality. Instructions on the functionality of this feature and its limitations can also be found on the Character Transfer page. It is strongly recommended you read these instructions closely before proceeding, because they contain very important information. We encourage guild leaders to take their time when preparing to transfer their guild as it cannot be reversed.

The following is a list of Source and Destination servers. Players can move to any available Destination servers based on ruleset. Use this list as a guide to help you and your friends if you intend to move to one of the available Destination servers, but please note that this information is subject to change. We will provide a final list before the transfer service is launched. Be aware that these transfers are one-way and cannot be aborted once started.

Be sure to head to the official site for Warhammer to determine which warhammer servers are available for the transfer services.