NY Comic Con Warhammer Impressions

Misanthrope Prime · 04-19-2008, 04:53 PM

While at the comic-con, I had the chance to play the following classes:
Disciple, Bright Wizard, Chosen and Shadow Warrior. They also had the Archmage, Warrior Priest, Zealot and swordmaster playable. I had the most fun playing the bright wizard and the least fun playing the disciple. I played the disciple, bright wizard and chosen in various RVR settings, all at level 20, and I leveled a shadow warrior from 1-4 in PvE.

DISCIPLE IMPRESSIONS:
The Disciple was the first class I played, and the one I least enjoyed, which is pretty bad, considering that I was considering maining one. They have pretty good damage potential and can stay alive pretty well, though I think it was just my luck that I happened to be continuously attacking swordmasters. They have a lot of DoTs, bleed effects and whatnot- and while still a melee healer they had a good deal of mid-range attacks that did spirit damage. They had two heals, a HoT and a straight heal, as well as a move that converted their AP into soul-energy. They didn't have any buffs, I found, which perturbed me. I played the "Venom Works" scenario, high elves vs. dark elves, and I didn't really understand anything since I began playing the character after someone stepped away from the computer.

BRIGHT WIZARD IMPRESSIONS:
Oh god, was this fun. I played a RvR setting, Isha's Temple I believe, where destruction and order fought over a central temple. I. Was. Awesome. Now, to be fair, in most MMOs I tend to prefer ranged classes, and I know how to WORK them. The bright wizard had plenty of DD attacks, as well as DoT/Debuffs, called "hexes". One of their DD spells, Pyroclastic thingamajigger, did extra damage and slowed down the enemy's reaction time when there was a hex on them already. There was also the close range "fire breath" and the PBAOE scorched earth. Fire Cage was a root spell, yet, as you'd expect from what mythic said, it doesn't last long and I mainly used it to stop marauders from getting to the healer who was keeping me alive. Every DD spell has a chance to cause an explosion on the enemy for extra damage, and right under the bright wizard's AP bar was a smaller one that I didn't notice until later, that is the kind of magical buildup that we've talked so much, and I did notice an explosion on myself that did damage, but didn't kill me.

CHOSEN IMPRESSIONS:
All the people expecting the chosen to be a big damage guy... prepare to be disappointed. A meat shield he is, that's all he is. I noticed that he still did around the same amount of damage, yet had much more survivability, when I switched his greatsword for a sword-and-board. He had two auras, one that sapped an enemy's strength and initiative, and one that sapped their intellect and another spellcasting related spell. There were some moves that were restricted to your aura, as well as a "throwing axe" spell, presumably for PvE pulling. The chosen had a boatload of cleaves, and a few of his heavier melee attacks, even though they had a cast bar, could be cast while running. I played Talabec Dam with him, and I was a little disoriented on the map, and didn't get to do much fighting.

SHADOW WARRIOR IMPRESSIONS:
Unlike the other three classes I played, the people running the Warhammer booth told everyone to log off the level 20 PvP characters and pick a low-leveled one, to experience the PvE. So, I snagged the shadow warrior. He was quite fun, I must admit. His basic long range attack had a reasonable cast time, he starts off with "Scout stance", has a melee sword swipe, a 2 minute cooldown spell called "Vengeance" which raises melee attack time, a instant cast DoT arrow and a long cast time arrow spell. The enemy NPCs I fought were dark sprites, harpies, witch elves, cold ones, corsairs, reapers (crossbow users) and generic tanky "Warrior" NPCs who were NOT black guards. One thing I didn't like, however, was that remember how paul was talking about "if you kill bears, you wont find a quest that says 'kill five bears", or something along those lines? Well, I killed a few harpies before grabbing the quest to... kill harpies, and I did not have any counted towards the quest completion already. A minor gripe, and I hope they can still put that into the game. I didn't have a chance to experience the PQ, but the first stage involved killing 30 corsairs, and I also saw a gold dragon fighting against a bunch of harpies which I presume is part of the quest. There were two warcamps, the second of which also included empire NPCs and a female dwarf trying to fix her downed gyrocopter- the empire questgivers asked you to attack some chaos cultists also on the island, while the gyrocoptress gives you some bombs to use on the dark elf black ark.

OTHER IMPRESSIONS:
First of all, I want to say thank you to the very kind and knowledgeable mythic staff, none of whose names I got, so I will refer to you as "Wise Goatee Man", "Comb-Over Mowhawk dude" and "Skinny Blonde Chick". I asked a few questions and they were happy to tell me. For one, I noticed all the magus NPCs did NOT have their discs, and they said they are looking into the magus' disc, which makes me worry they may either remove it or make it dismountable. You get the ability to dye your armor at around level 10, and many NPCs displayed dyed armor already. They said we'd be getting the newsletter next week, and that they'll be revealing the final high elf class. The Dwarves and Greenskins are basically ready to ship, which is why we've only been hearing about the elves and humans, since they still need testing. They're strict about the beta testers they let in, since they do not have graphical sliders in yet and thus want the higher end computers, once you can turn down the settings they'll have more mid-range and low-range computers.

Another thing- armor. While playing a the shadow warrior, random armor didn't just drop for me. Instead, you'd get, say, "badly ruptured belt", which could then be fixed by an NPC shopkeep and turned into armor usable by your class- so a shadow warrior could have that belt turned into a "worn leather belt", while an archmage would have it turned into something different. Not all repairable items can be turned into something usable by your class. When I added the belt, I did see a change in my character's appearance, however, when I got a new bow from a quest, I did NOT see the bow's model change.

All in all, I had a great time, my belief in the game's greatness is stronger than ever, and I firmly believe they'll hit the fall release date. I can't wait for them to let me into the beta so I can do this every day. :P

I'm going back tomorrow, and at 1 o'clock, the magical man with the serendipitous sunglasses will be holding a panel, and I'll be sure to report on that. Until then, WAR is everywhere!

Chasington · 04-19-2008, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Misanthrope Prime

...While playing a the shadow warrior, random armor didn't just drop for me. Instead, you'd get, say, "badly ruptured belt", which could then be fixed by an NPC shopkeep and turned into armor usable by your class- so a shadow warrior could have that belt turned into a "worn leather belt", while an archmage would have it turned into something different. Not all repairable items can be turned into something usable by your class. When I added the belt, I did see a change in my character's appearance, however, when I got a new bow from a quest, I did NOT see the bow's model change.

That is an awesome system, I would have never thought of that. Also I wouldn't fret about the bow model not changing, I'm sure they just have a lot of placeholder graphics for things right now.

Also can you explain more in why you didn't like the disciple?

Misanthrope Prime · 04-19-2008, 05:11 PM

The disciple didn't seem to be that effective- his heals didn't keep anyone alive and his damage wasn't that good enough to compare- he also had NO buffs.

Now, I completely admit that I was a little disoriented because the disciple was the first class I played, and by the time I got to the bright wizard I had become more accustomed to the game's controls.

Rowhin · 04-19-2008, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Misanthrope Prime

The disciple didn't seem to be that effective- his heals didn't keep anyone alive and his damage wasn't that good enough to compare- he also had NO buffs.

How many skills did you have? When I played at GC last year, the Magus was only given about 6 or 7 skills although he was level 40. I'd think they don't give you all skills a level 20 Disciple would have because it would take too long to get accustomed to all of them. Maybe that explains missing buffs.

Misanthrope Prime · 04-19-2008, 05:18 PM

Oh, I fully expect to get more skills as I level. He had enough skills to fill an action bar and a half, maybe an action bar and 1/3, so I'd say in the ballpark of 10-15.

filogreek · 04-19-2008, 05:19 PM

Ok I have basically read nothing about disciples, but could buffs have been 'unlocked' during a fight (i.e. will stealing the souls of the enemy let you give that strength to others, or is that only for healing?).

Swanie · 04-19-2008, 05:19 PM

Woot final elf class next week thanks for the heads up.

Thanks for the review very good summary of the classes you played.

Misanthrope Prime · 04-19-2008, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by filogreek

Ok I have basically read nothing about disciples, but could buffs have been 'unlocked' during a fight (i.e. will stealing their souls lets you give that strength to others, or is that only for healing?).

There were no buffs on my actionbar, I mean.

Arachneus · 04-19-2008, 05:20 PM

why were people thinking chosen was a damage guy? he is defined as a tank, not DPS. Oh well, and as far as the damage not changing much, could it be because your talent masterys were already set for you into the tanking mastery?

And I thought the disciple needed to do damage to heal better? no?

Althaze · 04-19-2008, 05:21 PM

Thanks for your impressions Misanthrope.

I'm interested to know what you thought of the animations and spell graphics of the bright wizard?

I can't wait to play the bright wizard

Misanthrope Prime · 04-19-2008, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arachneus

why were people thinking chosen was a damage guy? he is defined as a tank, not DPS. Oh well, and as far as the damage not changing much, could it be because your talent masterys were already set for you into the tanking mastery?

And I thought the disciple needed to do damage to heal better? no?

A lot of people (a lot of idiots) want to play the chosen because he's big and buff and whatnot, and say "I'll spec DPS anyway lol". And I /did/ do damage with the disciple, maybe I didn't do enough, who knows. I didn't try to be a healbot, I was definitely in the thick of things. In retrospect, I bet if I played a disciple a second time I'd probably do better, since I got acclimated to the game.

BTW, /dance didn't work. I'm a sad panda.

Misanthrope Prime · 04-19-2008, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Althaze

Thanks for your impressions Misanthrope.

I'm interested to know what you thought of the animations and spell graphics of the bright wizard?

I can't wait to play the bright wizard

The spell animations and graphics were great, but I couldn't help but notice the female empire human runs really stiff-like.

Oak · 04-19-2008, 05:28 PM

Misanthrope Prime, did the combat to you seem at all slow, unresponsive, unintutive or just plain "clunky"?

One of the things that AoC has made me realise is that the feel of the game is incredibly important. Age of Conan and MMORPGs in general are about combat. That's what you do. You kill stuff. If the killing of said stuff is as unresponsive as a paraplegic doped up on morphine the game just isn't going to be fun; and a game that isn't fun is by dictionary definition not a game at all. It's something I'd rather refer to as crap... erm... but I'm getting sidetracked.

How did the combat feel to you?

Misanthrope Prime · 04-19-2008, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oak

Misanthrope Prime, did the combat to you seem at all slow, unresponsive, unintutive or just plain "clunky"?

One of the things that AoC has made me realise is that the feel of the game is incredibly important. Age of Conan and MMORPGs in general are about combat. That's what you do. You kill stuff. If the killing of said stuff is as unresponsive as a paraplegic doped up on morphine the game just isn't going to be fun; and a game that isn't fun is by dictionary definition not a game at all. It's something I'd rather refer to as crap... erm... but I'm getting sidetracked.

How did the combat feel to you?

For the ranged classes, the combat was very smooth and fluid, but for the disciple it was just "meh" and the chosen was rather slow, though this makes sense, as the first two are DPS classes and the latter two are not.