Blog Reboot

I took a first stab at blogging many months ago before the launch of Warhammer Online. At the time I was researching and saving up money to buy a new gaming rig so I could actually play Warhammer when it came out. I wanted to get all the parts together before the launch of Warhammer so I started to write. Due to some events beyond my control I wasn’t able to get all the parts purchased until about 2 months after Warhammers release. Now I am finally playing Warhammer and having a very good time so it’s time for me to reboot my blog. I hope you enjoy my writing and if you don’t I still won’t stop.



I have a confession to make before I continue.



I am a carebear.



I didn’t realize I was a carebear until I got into my third MMO. My first MMO was the pre-NGE Star Wars Galaxies. SWG had a PvP element to it between the rebel and imperial factions. You would flag yourself as openly imperial or openly rebel in order to participate in open world PvP. I tried the PvP thing but never delved too deeply into the PvP aspects of the game, there never seemed to be any point.



My second MMO was City of Heroes/Villains. City of Heroes alone didn’t have a PvP mechanic in the beginning. When City of Villains came along they set up crossover zones where heroes and villains could fight each other. Just like in SWG I went to the PvP zones and tried it out. Once again there didn’t seem to be any point to it so I went right back to the PvE content.



My third MMO, and the one that pointed out in no uncertain terms that I was a carebear, was Eve Online. Anyone who has ever played Eve will know that it is PvP heaven. Not only is it difficult to stick strictly to PvE content you will most likely be hunted down and mercilessly killed while trying to do that PvE content. Eve showed me that I was a carebear and I was not happy about it. I really don’t want to be a carebear.



It isn’t that I don’t like PvP, I think there is a challenge in fighting another person that an AI controlled mob can’t give you. It’s just that in most games the PvP didn’t seem to have much of a point to it. There is a momentary thrill in challenging another person but it never seemed to hold my attention. PvP in those two games didn’t have any kind of tangible payoff. It was just wasted time. I could either fight another player for no reward or I could spend that time gaining XP and improving my character. I chose to spend my time making my character better and more powerful. On the other hand Eves’ PvP had a definite payoff. If you defeated another player by blowing up his ship you could loot the wreckage. After the battle you could take some of the stuff your opponent had on his ship and use it yourself or sell it. This particular brand of PvP has a flipside; the death penalty in Eve is quite high. The in game economy and earning money is really what drives Eve. Unlike some games the major time sink is not gaining XP and improving your character it’s making money. Once you make the money you then spend your hard earned cash on your ships, weapons, and ship modules. So you spend, say, 5 million on a new ship, which you can insure for the full purchase price by buying an insurance policy. Then you can spend another 5 million on the weapons and equipment to put on the ship. Now, you have spent 10 million plus the cost of your insurance policy, so you take your ship out into the depths of space and it gets shot out from under you in the first 20 seconds after you leave the docking bay. I know there are high security areas in the Eve galaxy but you can still be attacked anywhere. Now your ship is gone along with all the upgrades you bought for it. If you bought the insurance policy you will get the cost of your ship back but all that does is allow you to buy a new bare bones ship. The 5 million you shelled out for weapons and upgrades plus the cost of the insurance policy is just gone. For me this was too high of a death penalty, hours of work earning cash are wiped out in the first few seconds of a fight.



Now I am playing Warhammer Online, which satisfies my desire for meaningful PvP while still allowing me to be somewhat of a pussy because there is zero death penalty. If you don’t play Warhammer this is what I mean by meaningful PvP; when you kill another player you gain XP. I don’t have to choose between questing for XP to gain levels or engaging other players in combat. I may not gain XP as fast as I could by questing but at least PvP is not a waste of time. My character will advance no matter what I choose. Also when you are killed all you have to do is click re-spawn and you appear in the nearest camp and can then go charging into battle again.



The only problem I’m having right now with the game is a lack of people to play/fight with. I realize that Warhammer is still a very young game and doesn’t have the kind of population density a game like Warcraft enjoys. I’m not letting the sparse population ruin my enjoyment of the game though. I joined a guild, The Heralds of the Four, that got it’s start here on GAX but most of the people in the guild have been playing since launch so I have a little catching up to do before I can really get into some good battles with them. Every day I play I see more and more people running around so it seems that the population is growing. Also I have never had a problem getting into a scenario, which are instanced PvP maps, and having a good time. The only thing about the low population that is kind of bothering me is that I missed out on some of the early public quests. The public quests have 3 stages. Stage 1 can almost always be completed solo. Stage 2 can be soloed sometimes but it is usually very difficult. Stage 3 cannot be finished alone; you need a group to kill that last hero level spawn. Once more people get into the game this won’t be an issue anymore.



Overall I am happy in Warhammer. I have taken part is a few open world PvP opportunities and innumerable scenarios. My next step will be to turn on my PvP flag permanently.