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Some time ago we posted that WarHammer kind of did something never done before in a MMORPG, they closed the beta after it had started . Some panicked, including me, because the hype of this game, the promise of the game, and the sneak peaks of this game had done nothing but make people want it more, and the sudden beta closer was disturbing.

James Nichols, the community leader, has made and post, and many gamers breath a sigh of relief. Apparently the team has been busy going over the game with a fine tooth comb, and making changes all over the place. First thing that jumped out at me was this little blurb, "we are going to focus in on some of the feedback you folks have been giving us. Some balancing work is going to go into Influence gain and XP for public quests" what? Are you kidding me? You have read feedback, feedback from your users? I am so confused, after other major players in the MMO arena, I thought feedback was a myth. I am not sure that this is a trend they want to continue, I mean those pesky users?

Another interesting thing I am hearing on the "Warhammer wire" (sorry, access is super secret, I may have already said to much) is that they are going to move away from the whole "pool-o-points" method of stats distribution when you create a new character. Instead, all characters start out with the same stats, be it mage or warrior, and your points will grow in ways that match your skills. I think this is cool, mo one is born an uber mage, you have to grow into it. Speaking of skill points, what do you think this means, "We are looking at a couple different options for respec-ing your character down the road, since no one wants to be locked into a character they are not happy with."

One last thing about this "update" that really gets me hot under the armor, the cities that will be in WAR may be something more than a backdrop for you to stand around and chat with friends. WAR writes, "Unlike any other city you've seen before, WAR cities are places for you to be proud of, to protect, and places that can be captured by your enemies. Enemies aren't always nice to cities they "visit" so we've been creating lots of things for invaders to break, smash, and burn. We look forward to opening the city gates to you and listening to your feedback on the ultimate goal in RvR - city capture!"
We repost the whole thing here because Warhammers website does not offer permalinks to the content, and I do not want to have uses hunt for the content we are posting about. As soon as Warhammer fixes this, we will stop posting the whole thing from them. Hello everyone,

 

With all the work we have been up to we wanted to share what we have been working on with you, below is the first update we have shared with the beta community. We think you'll be excited as we are, enjoy!

Waaagh! and well met!

So this begins the first of our weekly updates to the WAR Beta community. This is where we keep all of you up to speed with the changes, enhancements, and additions to WAR during this downtime. Each week will have different information from the various teams. Some of the information we’ll be keeping fairly high level, at least initially, but we will work on giving you insights into what to expect when we re-open in December.

I’ve gone to each of the various teams and asked them to write up a little snippet on something that’s going on in their neck of the woods.

So let’s get this show on the road!

We'll start with something dealing with PQs:

Public Quests have made a great start- but as everyone knows, the devil is in the details. In between now and beta reopening, we are going to focus in on some of the feedback you folks have been giving us. Some balancing work is going to go into Influence gain and XP for public quests. The groundwork for UI enhancements is also going to get done (though it may be after the holidays before you see the final fruits of that labour). Perhaps most importantly of all however, we are going to look at PQ loot. Ever a hot topic, we've noticed! Right now we're working to make sure that the whole loot experience is more satisfying than it currently is. We can't unveil the details right now- as we want to make sure we can deliver before we make you promises- but suffice to say, you should end up with a much better chance at getting what you want.

Keep an eye on the beta boards for more details!

-Public Quest Team

Keep an eye on the boards indeed. Expect to hear more from the PQ team over the coming weeks. Now let’s go over to the RvR team where they talk about a hot topic from various RvR discussions… Manual PvP Flagging:

Phase one of our improvements to open world RvR is under way, with changes to PvP flagging up first. Players can now PvP flag themselves, although the regular rules apply for removing the flag. Guards (and some other NPCs) in the Chapter hubs will PvP flag any enemy player foolish enough to engage them in combat. We've also added more guards to the warcamp entrances across all pairings and tiers. Still in progress are changes to the battlefield objectives, but we aren't quite ready to share those details yet.

-RvR Team

This topic alone should generate a good discussion with you Beta testers. =) Next up is some information from the Item Team in which the subject of trading between players as well as item “binding” comes into play:

One of the things we have been working hard on is player trading. I can’t wait to see it once the UI team has had a chance to reskin it. Player trading works just like you would imagine. Right clicking on a friend brings up a list of actions, with Trade now being one of them. Now you can trade off all those boots!

With trading, however, comes the question of binding. Trading is really, really good if loot doesn’t have any binding restrictions. So the next step was to “tag” all our items as Bind on Equip (BoE), Bind on Pickup (BoP), or “no binding”. Quest items, Influence Rewards, Renown store items have all been made BoP.

-Item Team

Very interesting, indeed. Next we have some high level information on two of our cities that the City Team has been working on. Remember, this is only the first week of updates so we’re not going to give away everything up front. We can't wait till we can have all of you playing around with the cities:

Hello everyone – We worked heavily on the Inevitable City and Altdorf making sure that both cities are ready for you to explore, discover…and smash! Some of the exciting areas you can visit are places like the Temple of Sigmar, the Altdorf docks, and the Inevitable City arena! Unlike any other city you’ve seen before, WAR cities are places for you to be proud of, to protect, and places that can be captured by your enemies. Enemies aren’t always nice to cities they “visit” so we’ve been creating lots of things for invaders to break, smash, and burn. We look forward to opening the city gates to you and listening to your feedback on the ultimate goal in RvR – city capture!

-City Team

Trust me; our cities are very impressive visually. What the City Team has been able to do has been very impressive indeed. Last but certainly not least is some information on the Marauder from our Combat & Careers team:

Marauders are frantic warriors who wade into the thick of battle dual-wielding a standard weapon in their main and an offhand that has mutated into a terrifying, organic weapon. The Marauder recieves 3 different mutations that he can choose from. Each mutation represents a different type of weapon and play style. The mutations themselves offer different buffs, and unlock different abilities based on what mutation you activate. They are a straightforward melee DPS class that is all about pumping out damage based upon their offhand mutation. During battle, they are able to change the mutation of their offhand, which will dictate what abilities or effects are used on certain attacks, much like a stance would.

-Combat & Careers Team

Well that’s it for now lads and lasses. Tune in again next week for another of our weekly WAR Beta Updates. Until then make sure to keep your beer frothy and to not accept too many gifts from the forces of Chaos!

Thank you,
- The Warhammer: Age of Reckoning Team