*queue scene from Apocalypse Now*
The damage... the damage...
My journey begins way back in 2007 when I was invited into the Closed Beta shortly before the break and beginning of Focus Testing sessions. I was very interested in the Black Orc and had decided it would be my main. However the Choppa, for me, was just more
fun to play.
I was sad when Mythic decided the Choppa wasn't ready for retail. I was sadder when the Black Orc
Battleship was turned into more of a
Maginot Line. I'm an Orc-fan and the Choppa seemed to capture the spirit of the
WAAAGH!!! better than the retail version of the Black Orc.
Well it seemed my patience has finally been rewarded. The Choppa has returned!
Return of the Jedi, er... I mean,
Choppa!
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...6/Choppa-1.jpg
Upon finally getting some time with the Choppa I quickly noticed... "Wow, that is a lot of damage!" and "Yikes, I die a lot!"
Considering that Mount Bloodhorn felt like standing in the line to get into the New York Comic Con, "That's a
lot of Greenskins!" I decided to head for less greener pastures and took a trip over to the chaos side of the street. Dagorc found he had some
WAAAGH'ing room over there and and /yell'd to his fungal heart's content. I went through the RvR quests and teamed up with some fellows, including a Shaman or two and even a Zealot?
We merrily went around capping objectives and encountering some Slayers who must have also felt a little crowded in Ekrund. So much shame all in one place must be profoundly embarrasing.
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...Kugnir_000.jpg
*caption: I always wondered why the career trainer reminded me of my ex.*
Even an Archmage showed up once or twice before realizing that big green homicidal maniacs are not conducive to keeping your dress clean... or having a long lifespan.
I quickly noticed that healers do
not like getting swarmed by melee happy greenskins whose goal is to make sure their unhappiness, along with the rest of them, is shortlived. The damage these Choppa's can do is impressive and when you have a few of them after you then you'll be taking a trip back to the nearest spawn point quite soon.
The inquisitive of Order seemed to be piqued as I encountered Archmages, Bright Wizards, Shadow Warriors, Warrior Priests, and even a Swordmaster. All seemed curious about how well they would hold up against some Choppa's and all discovered the same thing... they don't. However, I discovered something too. Choppa's are not one of the "live long and prosper" careers in WAR. Not by any stretch of the imagination. They die a lot, a whole lot.
Indeed it appears that Choppa's truly are a WAR version of a suicide bomber. Pardon if that offends but that is how they feel. Choppa's don't just burn the candle at both ends. They drop the whole candle in a barrel full of napalm, break out the zippo, and hop into the barrel with the candle
before trying to light it. Sort of like a Greenskin version of "Hey Earl, watch this!"
Choppa's, like Slayers, have anger-management issues. These are
not the guys you want driving in your carpool. As soon as you start getting hit, you start hitting, or a fly farts somewhere in France, you get cranky. You basically get to fire off two, sometimes three, abilities before you are already
Furious over your kid's report card. Furious is nice because you can do more damage and unlock your rage dumping abilities.
As a way to keep you from permanently staying outraged, and always having higher DPS, over the price of gasoline; these
dumpers take all of your rage away. Yep, they must have some really good meds in WAR because suddenly you're ready for a group hug and freely offering them. Naturally, like feminists, you immediately start getting mad again if the hug from that insecure Slayer includes
inappropriate touching... or an axe.
If you decide to not
take a dump, then your rage continues to build until you become
Berserk. Yep, the in-laws brought their, have not bathed in weeks, kids over and they just got a hold of your Motley Crue collector's edition CD's. Grubby and grimy fingerprints are all over them! So now you have completely lost it and the in-laws are getting a hint that you
might just not like them as much as they thought before coming over.
You are now dealing a lot more damage but, like your spouse giving you that "guess who is sleeping on the couch tonight" look, your tirade has made you much more vulnerable too. Yes you are starting to put up some big damage numbers but you are taking some big damage too. Which, for a low survivability career like the Choppa, means you can /faceplant pretty damn quick.
Let me 'splain... No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...Dagorc_044.jpg
With the server issues I've only managed to get a Choppa to R6 and a Slayer to R5. So far both careers seem almost identical mirrors which, in this case,
feels like a good thing. While it's too early to tell for sure, both seem to be dynamic and just plain fun additions to WAR.
Let me remind you once more though, expect to die a
lot. While you might put out some big damage in RvR, I can see these careers becoming priority targets, up near healers, to take out first when the fighting starts. I already feel sorry for any healers, the ones that like challenges a little too much, that try to keep our butts alive.