Steady's Gaming Blog

I think I will stop ranting about my rather trivial loses. I have seen some examples of people that subscribe for three or six months getting charged 15 times, and losing thousands.

I have a really bad feeling about this; somewhere out there is a lawyer that is going to start some type of class action lawsuit. This just might be the beginning of the end for Warhammer. It is my understanding that every person that uses a credit card to pay for Warhammer was hit with this problem.

Again, I have felt no remorse for Mythic, this should have never happened. I fear this will be the end of this game. No one is going to feel safe giving their credit card info to these folks for a long time.

Warhammer online is now the most expensive MMO on the market. I was charged $224.00 this morning in monthly fees. I have received a few e-mails, this week about this problem, but had not seen any charges on my account until this morning, and I was pissed. This is my business account, so it is a very fluid account, lots of money in and out. It is now negative, with a bunch of overdraft charges. Basically I cannot conduct any business today because my account is screwed up.

I find the e-mails from Mythic, it says, call your financial institution first. So I did, the usual song and dance, not our problem, call Mythic. I do put some fault on my bank. About a year ago, I entered my credit card info in the Warhammer site twice in a row, in a five minute span. I got some funky error message the first time, so did it again. The bank flagged my card for fraud, and put a freeze on it. So my main question to my bank was how did it not get frozen this time after two charges were made, and all fifteen charges were processed. Fifteen charges for the same thing did not set off some type of fraud alert. It should be noted they wasted no time in applying those overdraft charges. Did they not find it strange that for the first time in ten years of having this account, it has an overdraft. I just did not feel like they are protecting my account like they should, they are just after the fees.

So I call Mythic, and they claim the charges have been reversed. I am not so sure, they just showed up today, you send out an e-mail yesterday saying they are all credited. They claim a delay in some financials institutions posting methods. Again sets off an alarm, in ten years of having this account, a charge normally will be pending for two days, all of these charges just showed up today, they were never pending. So I am really pissed. I am in a 36 hour holding pattern, to see if these charges are in fact reversed. I have another personal account, so I transferred some money, and will be able to weather the storm.

Here is my main rant. This is so unacceptable. Mythic should have never let this happen. They need to make sure it never happens again, and they need to start giving out some free time to anyone that this has happened too, RIGHT NOW. Something that had a $450.00 effect on my bank account, is not acceptable, EVER.

Cryptic is no better. Last month they charged my $29.99 for my $14.99 monthly fee. So I sent in a ticket, you charged me too much. First off it took them five working days to respond. Oh, we are sorry our credit card vendor made a mistake (sounds familiar). So I am credited $29.99, and charged $14.99. So it takes about 8 or 9 business days to sort out the problem.

I cancel my account for a bit. I am a MMO junkie. Champions lacks content so I allow the account to go doormat for a bit. I decide to start playing again. Go in and reactivate my account. I get an error message, cannot process at this time. Ok, the system is down, it happens. One minute later, I get an e-mail, thank you for reactivating your account. So now I am confused. Check my bank account, no charges from Champions, so I will wait a bit. No charges made over the next 24 hours, so I go in the next morning, same thing. Get an error message, and receive the same e-mail as the day before. No charge on my account, can’t log in. So I take the same wait and see approach. About two hours later, I get an alert from my bank (anytime anything is taken out of my account, e-mail alert), Champions charged me $14.99, and I can now log-in. Why did it take over 24 hours to let me back into the game? This is not a very good business practice, and I am sure it is costing them players.

So here is the main point of this rant. I will play your game if it lacks content, or if it’s not the best game out there. I will not play your game if you cannot do something as simple a bill me properly, or in a timely manner. End of story, have a nice day, off now to play World of Warcraft, and City of Heroes all day, because I am mad at Mythic and Cryptic for messing with my bank account and my game play. Figure it out people, both of your games are on the ropes, and crap like this is not helping your cause.

Recently Warhammer Online reworked the scenario system. I am not a big fan of open world PVP. It seems like every time I enter a PVP lake, it turns into a bad experience. That one person that just has to complain about lack of healing, or complain about everything in region chat, in CAPS, takes all the fun out of it for me. So that leaves me with scenarios to get my renown.

This is the scenarios being used and what tier.

Tier 1
Nordenwatch
Gates of Ekrund

Tier 2
Nordenwatch
Reikland Factory
Mourkan Temple

Tier 3
Nordenwatch
Reikland Factory
Tor Anroc
Lost Temple of Isha

Tier 4
Nordenwatch
Reikland Factory
Lost Temple of Isha
Serpants Passage
Calendor Woods
Battle of Praag

The first thing you notice is that you are going to grow tired of Nordenwatch, and Reikland Factory.

Second is that there is no variety. All of these scenarios are capturing a point and defending, or pick up an item and run with it. All of the capture the flag type scenarios are gone. It is already a grind to get renown, now it is worse, as you will most likely run Nordenwatch a few hundred times. I know the capture the flag scenarios for some reason, do not work, but really throw a few in for some variety.

So I am not a real fan of the new line up. I do not like the fact that one scenario is in all four tiers, and this line up lacks variety.

They also have a new event, Weekend Warfront, were they bring back one of the old scenarios for the weekend. You can earn a reward bonus for completing certain tasks. Not a bad idea, but has a few flaws. One of the tasks is usually call every class in the game “a sissy” using an emote while in the scenario. This leads to people spending all of their time, calling people a sissy, and not playing the scenario. Plus, it makes for a very annoying chat window during battle. There also has been a lot of problems with people going AFK during scenarios. This is a real problem. A few weeks ago during Blood Basin weekend, I was in several scenarios, where four or five people were going AFK. It was terrible, to the point were I logged off. I did read were they are aware of this problem, and working on it.

This past weekend was the Phoenix Gate Scenario. It had a bit of a different twist. You did not get the usual five points for killing another player; you only received points for capturing the flag. This actually was not a bad idea. The problem as always was the player base. You had to work together; it was not just run off, and kill stuff. I did manage to find a few good teammates, and working together we ruled. A few times, when teamwork was bad, it was bad. The other team just stood at the bottom of the spawn point, and had its way.

So I am currently do not like the new scenario system. However, I have to give Mythic credit; they are always working on ways to make it better. As a gamer that is pretty much all I can ask for. They are interested in their game, and working to improve it. So I will keep playing, some days I will grumble a bit, but hey it is just a game. I am still being entertained, even if it that fool in Region chat in all caps, calling every one an idiot.

My gaming community, Combat Engineers, has had some success in starting leveling groups. Basically we meet one night a week, start at level 1, and as a team, level up. We have had a group in City of Heroes, Mission Architect Rangers, run AE missions together. That group is currently up to level 42. We also have the Stepping Stones, a World of Warcraft group that is now in the mid 40’s. I have found that it is really a good way to play, and level characters. It is nice to know that you will always have a team, even if it is only for a few hours, one night a week.

So we are going to start a group in Warhammer Online, The Sappers. Our first meeting will be Tuesday, 11/24/09, at 7:30 CST. We will meet every Tuesday, the starting time might vary a bit, the first two weeks of each month I have Cub Scouts, and the start time might be pushed back to 8:15 CST. We will be playing on the Iron Rock server, faction will be the Order.

We are seeking mature players (over 18), we also use vent (profanity free). We are a pretty good group of gamers. We like to have fun, so if you are looking for a hard core group of serious players that just has to win every encounter, you are most likely in the wrong place. We will run PVE quests, public quests, PVP scenarios, and some Realm vs Realm. Warhammer Online is really a good game to use this leveling group concept in. It really is a team oriented game.

So if you have any interest in joining, all I ask is that you let us know. This forum post has more details. Either post there, or drop me a comment here, so we can plan ahead a bit on what class everyone will play. We will try to build a well balanced team.

I try to post a state of the moonbase/combat engineers at the beginning of each month, to let my gaming community know what we had done well that month, and what we need to work on. As well as the goals for the next month, thank you’s to people who have helped out that month. This month I have even posted a note about looking for some leadership for the group. So click on any of the posts below to see that information. I hope is that some one will wonder in here, and be so impressed that they will want to join the community. One can only hope.

State of Combat Engineers/Moonbase-May
Goals for the Month of June
Good job for the Month of May
Leadership Opportunties

Yesterday Warhammer Online released the two new classes. The dwarfs now have “The Slayer”, and the Black Orcs have “The Choppa”. Both are ugly as hell, melee-based, characters. The number of characters in now with the name that has some form of Chop in it is out of control (yes if you run across Steadychop, that is me.)

So anyway, to make a long story, short. I did not want to play the character of the moment. I figured will all of those 50 million Choppa’s, are going to need some healing. So I logged on to my shaman, a black orc healer. So I enter my first scenario, and proceed to start healing. Wow, what a mess. Warhammer Devs, I realize that this is a PVP based game based on killing, but really, the user interface for healers is terrible. I mean show some healers some love. Half the time I could not see anyone’s health bar. I had no clue who to heal. So I logged out and thought, will someone has made an add-on to correct this horrid problem.

Sure enough there is a very good add-on for healers.

Squared

Squared is great. It will put a nice square on the screen, for every player in your party, or scenario. If the square is solid green, they are good to go. As they suffer damage the green color in the square will go down. So it is like a big graph, you can just pick the square of the person you want to heal, and heal them. It is a great tool. It is a must have for any healer in the game.

Also another point about healers in Warhammer. You need to have a thick skin. Someone is always going to be whining because they did not get healed. “Will I am an AOE killing machine, why would you not heal me.” Will I just healed for about 50,000, or 60,000 points in a scenario, so I must of healed you a little bit……Ignore, them, stay with the main group of players, heal them the best that you can. Reminds me of a comment I used to put in my healer on City of Heroes. “Not even I can keep Rambo alive”

So anyway if you are a healer in Warhamer, click on the link above, and get squared, it will save you a lot of grief.

We will be starting the Combat Engineers Warhammer on Saturday, 05/23/09, 7:30 CST. We will be meeting in Altdrof, on Wednesday, we need six people to meet at the Guild Registar to start the Guild. In order to get to Altdrof, you will need to visit the flight masters in the war camp of your tier one starting zone. Need to most likely be a lvl 5 or so in make it to the war camp. Hope to see everyone there on Friday, is not very often you can be a part of starting a guild in a game, so make sure you are there. We are looking for mature, 18+ year old members. This will be a respectable guild. We also will be using our 24/7 free vent server (profanity free).

Combat Engineers Warhammer

If you would like to be there for the start of this guild sign up on the forums. You can also leave a comment here if you would like to join.

The good news, Warhammer Online released a new patch on 3/3/09. So far it looks really good. The list of bug fixes, is pretty impressive. The problem is that I have not seen much of it. The servers have been down for the better part of the afternoon, the past three days. I guess a patch of this size is causing a few problems. Lets hope this is the exception, and not the rule.

Warhammer Online patch 1.2 notes

Some of my first thoughts are is that it looks pretty good. The new open party UI looks good. A lot more options to help find open parties. The new blue call to arms button on the UI is pretty cool as well. As far as I can tell, when the call for arms goes out in the tier you are in, clicking on it will teleport you to the Warcamp where the call came from. I am not sure if this works if you are in an empire zone, and the call comes from another zone. I hope it does, as that would be a real plus when looking for a war band.

Looks like lots of changes in the crafting system. Seems every MMO that comes out, always has to improve the crafting system. To be honest with you, I have paid no attention to the crafting system. I guess after reading the notes, I need to start. Some of the potions and Tailsman’s look like they will be worth having. I guess because WAR is so PVP heavy, I just really do not want to take the time to stop and gather something, more interested in killing something.

The Live event is pretty well done. I am a bit confused about a few of the requirements. Had trouble figuring out where the Twisting Tentacle Pies where in the Twisting Towers Scenario. Also the swearing quest is rather annoying. Pretty much any scenario you are in, is filled with this silly emote. I really don’t like to have to stop and throw a silly pie, or swear at an enemy in RvR. I am to busy killing. I hope in the future this silliness is not a part of these events.

I do like the new Twisting Towers Scenaro. It is very well done. Is a good original scenario concept. A vertical playing field is a really good idea. Also it is just cool when 50 leagues from one tower to the next to enter the playing field. So the new scenario gets a gold star.

My Swordmaster in Warhammer has finally reached level 18. I have really struggled with this character. It really does not seem to do very good damage, and also does not seem to hold up very well as a tank. I have really had trouble finding a good attack chain. Finally at level 18, I have enough powers to put together a decent attack chain. I use a Z board keypad, so below is the power and numbered slot that the power is placed on in the game user interface. All the numbers are for a level 19 character.

1. Grypon’s Lash-path of the Kahaine-Leads to Improved Balance. A fierce attack that deals 63 damage and cannot be Blocked or Parried.

2. Quick Incision-path of the Kahaine-Leads to Perfect Balance. Requires Improved Balance. A rapid slash to your opponents legs that deals 47 damage and snares them by 40% for 10 seconds

3. Blurring Shock-path of the Kahaine-Leads to Normal Balance. Requires Perfect Balance. A powerful slash that deals 63 Spirit damage. For an additional 10 seconds, each time the target is critically hit, they take an additional 63 Spirit damage.

4. Ensorcelled Blow-path of Hoeth-Leads to Improved Balance. A quick precision slash that calls out the enchantment in your blade dealing 47 Spirit damage.

5. Wrath of Hoeth-path of Hoeth-Leads to Perfect Balance. Requires Improved Balance. The magic from your blade is released in a staggering explosion that deals 63 damage to all opponents within 20 feet. In addition your opponent’s Spiritual resistance will be reduced by 132 for 20 seconds.

6. Gusting Wind-path of Hoeth-Requires Perfect Balance. Leads to Normal Balance. You execute a quick spin, rending the air around you and producing a magical shockwave that which deals 60 Spirit damage to all opponents within 10 feet of you, knocking back enemy players and knocking down monsters.

7. Graceful Strike-path of Vaul-Leads to Improved Balance. A swift attack that deals 38 damage and Cripples for an additional 75 damage over 5 seconds. Monsters struck with this technique will hate you more.

8. Intimidating Blow-path of Vaul-Leads to Perfect Balance. Requires Improved Balance. An overpowering strike that deals 95 damage and decreases your opponent’s morale by 100.

9. Dragons Talon-path of Vaul-Leads to Normal Balance. Requires Perfect Balance. You release two rending blows that deal 57 Spirit damage each, crippling your target for 4 seconds and reducing the damage they deal with every attack by 20%.

10. Eagles Flight-path of Vaul-Leads to Perfect Balance. Requires Improved Balance. A guarded strike that deals 76 damage and improves your chance to parry by 25% for 5 seconds.

11. Taunt-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.

I just cycle one thru nine. I think the order is pretty good. Quick Incision has a chance to snare. Gusting Wind will cause everything attacking you to be knocked back, except for the character that has been snared. This is useful to blow back healer types. I try to snare the damage dealers, and blow back the support characters. Be careful with this power, some times the blow back can be a bad thing.
Intimidating Blow late in the chain is good because it lowers morale by 100, and can keep the character you are attacking from using a powerful morale attack on you. I try to taunt before using Graceful Strike, those next three attacks are the most powerful attacks, and the damage boost is good. If I am using my two handed sword, I alternate between Eagles Flight and Intimidating Blow to improve my chance to parry. You will have to pace yourself a bit in order to have enough energy for a long fight. This is really still a work in progress, will keep you updated if I make any chances. Also nothing ground breaking here, I am sure someone else has come up with this chain. Just putting it out there for anyone who might just be searching for a good attack chain for a swordmaster.