Saturday 25 October 2008

I Rolled a Orc (& i liked it)


I felt it was about time i rolled a alt & thus my Black Orc Ardcase was born.
I'm a Big fan of the Visual feel of Games Workshops Orcs but for a long while i was put off rolling a BO due to the bad experiences Ive had playing a tank class in WoW.
To me tanking in WoW was a high stress/ low reward occupation, sure at first it felt cool to be the guy everyone relied on but as soon as it began to dawn how much your perceived performance relied on other people the thrill quickly ebbed away. John Walker at
Rock Paper Shotgun feels that Responsibility is one of the things which act as the biggest killjoys to his MMO experience, & reading it although i didn't agree with everything allot of what he said resonated with me.
I like playing with other people & one of WoW's greatest success is the feeling of euphoria which you got when things went right & you finally got that boss down & Ive made some great friends through the game. But when thing did go wrong however WoW can very quickly developed into a blame game, as John says "if you don't play like they would have done it, you've failed them, you've let them down, you've spoiled their game'. I think this feeling is felt at its strongest in WoW because the class roles are written in stone, this causes players to see others as just a necessity, just a means to a end. Interaction between players is strangely disconnected too with everyone operating inside a little bubble rarely do you co-operate with someone, instead players have a list of actions they are expected to perform which are dictated by the environment or opposing players actions. Overall in tanks in WoW always felt like as just a cog in the machine, & just as useless when the rest of the machine was removed.

I am overjoyed to report that tanking in WaR is a very different far more satisfying experience so far.

Click for details on how i rediscovered tanking could be fun
Not that WaR re-invents the wheel or anything, just it adds some suspension which makes the ride allot more comfortable.
Tanking in Both RvR & PvE feels far more about you & far less about everyone else. WaR's primarily RvR is the prime driving force behind this because humans opponents bring a degree of uncertainty which scripted encounters lack.
To illustrate my point im gonna talk more about 3 skills, which respectively:
1.Encourages Team work between Healers & Tanks.
2.Bring the Taunt mechanic to PvP
3.Makes tanks viable for Solo Pve (& encourages them to act more tank like in RvR)

1. Save Da Runts
"You defend one of your allies and try to take attacks meant for them. As long as you are within 30 feet of them, any damage that they suffer and all hate that they cause will be split evenly between the two of you."
Very simple & yet very effective this sends out a clear but unmistakable signal to any target its used on in RvR, 'Whats good for me is good for you'. Equally in PvE this it offers benefits to both sides, to put it in wow terms 'you take 50% of the damage received by one target, & 50% of the threat generated by them is transferred to you. It can be applied to a healer or dps depending on the situation, got a DPser a few lvls high than you who's always over agroing? Pop this on them & they will increase your threat. Similarly this works great when healers have to use AoE heals.

2.Taunt
I just love this skill, it really knocks the socks of its WoW equivalent
"You enrage your opponent, interrupting any currently building abilities and forcing monsters to attack you. While taunted your opponent will take 30% more damage from your attacks. This effect will fade after 15 seconds or after your opponent has hit you 3 times"
Bullet point comparison time!!!

WoW taunts:
  • Doesn't Do any Damage
  • Temporary increases threat
  • Only usefull as a Panic Button
  • Useless in PvP
WaR taunt:
  • Increase damage for its Duration
  • The damage component also help increase overall threat which means...
  • Its Beneficial to use even if things are doing well for a nice boost of threat
  • Very Useful in PvP (target a dpser who's trying to nuke your healer & throw in save the runts, & the poor dpser is left between a rock & a hard place).
What i like about this is that they didn't go down the road of 'forcing' players to attack other players, they just made it so they have a very good reason to do so.

3.Da Toughest
"A grand war cry to proclaim yourself da toughest! All your attacks gain a 25% chance to increase your wounds by 30 for 10 seconds. You will be healed by the amount increased"
A nice enough skill 1v1 but nothing ground breaking where this shines is when you are using a Aoe attack to hit 4 or more targets at the smae time almost guaranteeing a proc. What mythic have achieved with this skill is something which is, A: not overpowered 1v1 B. Allows PvE soloing for a tank class & C. to find the biggest group of enemies & get stuck in RvR.

In the end quite simply if tanks in WoW were given these abilities they would cry for joy.

for further reading on black orc check out Save Da Runtz or Stunty Stomper

No comments:

Post a Comment