New archmage pic (as of yesterday)

[serratemplar]

Posted on 1up yesterday:

Gogo Particle Effect Staff (http://www.1up.com/media/03/5/7/5/lg/102.jpg?r)

Note the STAFF and how it looks AWESOME. Pay no mind to the fact that our avatar there is about to get eaten by squigs. And back-stabbed by the herder. Technically we're supposed to be a match for ranged dps but, just like the videos I've seen, things look kind of grim there for our hero.

As I said on my blog, just pickin up scraps (e.g. the pre-ceding image) between now and release. The new word on the street is that Open Beta is "soon" and public release will be announced soon also. You have heard this officially now by three degrees of seperation (four or five if you count the forum as a middle-man) which means, frankly, don't trust me.

However I want to believe it bad enough that I do, at least for today. BTW, how do you feel about the particle effect there? =)

[Roargh Growler]

Looks really nice indeed.
But i am still impressed the most again with the marauder and its iconic look.
That guy is fly pimp all the wizzl homie.

[serratemplar]

I mean, I'm not gonna lie: so far I've been really excited about the way every class looks. So I agree with you, whole-heartedly. The Marauder is definitively bad- and original. "Iconic" is a good word for it.

But my excitement is for the STAFF. =)

[MercDawg]

I love the leaping squig

[Tikuto]

The Shadow Warrior's neck seems to turn around alot. I can't go that little bit farther then the Shadow Warrior is. Take a closer look. :shock:

I like the Squigs and the Herder.Hmm. Makes me wonder about career choice...

[Kaeldor]

Very nice sreenshot, thanks! Seems that we AM get the fitting SPARKLE. The jumping squig is awesome too.

[Aysop]

there's way too much happening all at once in that screenshot. it's definitely a fake.

[Kethlian]

I really like the particle effect at the top of the staff with the streaks, but the glowing dots on the bottom half make it look less impressive due to the association with all the other bad casting animations old games have.

I am slightly underwhelmed by the armor of the models. They look like painted designs on cloth for the chain parts of the marauder and especially the SW's scale. Hopefully this is due to certain graphic settings turned down. I have seen some videos where the armor of a warrior priest looks like a real metal breast-plate, so I hope it is just low settings in this shot.

[Soze]

Hahaha the squigs

[serratemplar]

there's way too much happening all at once in that screenshot. it's definitely a fake.

It's a shot from E3, posted on a news site. It is very likely not fake. Also, if you've seen any of the RvR videos posted this week, you will see that is not at all too much to be going on at any given time. RvR fights = chaos.

Have you ever played UT or Halo with a lot of peole in tight quarters? Think that...in an MMO.

[Kbalz]

there's way too much happening all at once in that screenshot. it's definitely a fake.

Yeah because in WAR everything is slow and turn based.... not. There will always be lots of things happening.. get with it.

[Kbalz]

I am slightly underwhelmed by the armor of the models.

I thought the same thing! I bet release version will be finer though

[Aysop]

Yeah because in WAR everything is slow and turn based.... not. There will always be lots of things happening.. get with it.

look at all the screenshots on this page (http://www.1up.com/do/media?cId=3143189&sec=IMAGES) (the page the OP's pic came from). it's obvious that each shot was taken with each character carefully put in their respective spots and then timed to get the most interesting things happening when the shot was taken.
i'm not trying to say WAR won't be action-packed, i'm just saying those screenshots shouldn't be any indication of how awesome it will be.

[serratemplar]

look at all the screenshots on this page (http://www.1up.com/do/media?cId=3143189&sec=IMAGES) (the page the OP's pic came from). it's obvious that each shot was taken with each character carefully put in their respective spots and then timed to get the most interesting things happening when the shot was taken.
i'm not trying to say WAR won't be action-packed, i'm just saying those screenshots shouldn't be any indication of how awesome it will be.

You've never played a video game on a development-class machine before, eh? ;)

I'll concede that they may have staged those pics for them to look hot...and so be it, because they do look hot. Having seen the videos lately, I feel that the graphics are not at all a let down, and my understanding is they will look sharper at launch.

And probably much sharper on my development-class machine. <3

[seirios]

1. looks cool idd

2. such a glow + high elf + healer = 1st target on the field = bad xD

3. wtf with the squig O.o?! is he full of helium or something? looks rediculus

[Koojo]

It'll be win if squigs can really jump that high. Are they supposed to be able to outside of the game?