6 comments:

Sonju said...

Kaplan is just trying to be angry!
He bashes a new game, wait what, blizzard I am ashamed of you!
And BG ques used to take 1-2 hours on low pop servers! 1-2 for one BG. Even on low pop We get 40 min ques in WH. Oh well let the tears flow.
And Very ashamed at the WoW Producer for bashing a fellow game.

October 16, 2008 11:56 PM

xabbott said...

Semi off topic...
Why do people find it acceptable to forgive any WAR issues by comparing it to WoW 2004?

When WoW came out no one had to make excuses for loot lag, lack of PvP, etc. There wasn't a need to contrast it to the mature MMOs of it's day. It didn't even have to really compete with EQ2. It stood, for the most part, alone.

I've played both of these games at retail launch. I'm sorry, Blizzard launched with an overall more polished product.

I like WAR, but I think the desire to play something new has clouded a lot of judgement.

October 17, 2008 2:13 AM

Elsherath said...

Xabbott: All MMORPGs at release they have problems and they need polishing thats why we compare it. There is no way a MMO to be released withouts its bugs, balance issues etc etc etc. WoW had those, EQ had those, GuildWars had those and WAR has them too.

October 17, 2008 6:04 AM

Werit said...

There are some things WAR should have done for launch with the interface and chat system. Seemed to lag behind other areas of the game in terms of polish.

October 17, 2008 7:42 AM

Scott said...

I have 20-30 min cue times for scenarios in WAR, and only one for each level bracket ever pops consistantly. There isn't anyone doing PQ's either. The only way I can get any influence is grinding on the first stage of PQ's.

I play order, on an average population server. Is Mark Jacobs going to rip on me for reporting what actually happens when I play WAR as well?

October 17, 2008 11:42 AM

br3ntbr0 said...

@scott
You've got valid complaints, ones that I have when I play my Destro toon on a low pop server. I think Mark's argument is not that we can't complain about it, but that everyone should remember that this kind of stuff is par for the course with a new mmo. If we are still talking about these problems in 3-6 months then yes, I think the arguments become alot more valid.

Personally, every time I get irritated I realize that I asked for this. Getting in on a new mmorpg title from day one will have its various painful parts and its not realistic to expect perfection right out of the gate, regardless of who's making the game. I remember quite alot of problems with WoW when it was in its first month too. Heck, the very last patch they implemented went really badly and caused alot of down time, even 4 years later.

October 17, 2008 12:14 PM

In the ultimate battle to the death, it seems that Jeff Kaplan and Mark Jacobs are trading barbs through the media now. Kaplan came out swinging in this article where he took some shots at Warhammer's UI, queue times, server imbalance, their inability to get into the WAR beta. He basically made comparisons to a game launched for 1 month versus one that has been live for 4 years:

But it takes me 30 to 45 minutes to get in the battleground queue. And then when I’m not in the queue, I’m trying to do the Public Quests. But I find that I’m either griefing other people in the Public Quests to try to get influence, or that there’s just nobody there.

Fair fight? Jeff, you must be playing Destruction on a low population open rvr server, in which case that statement is probably dead on. Regardless, its a growing pain (one of several) that Mythic is dealing with and Marc Jacobs recently responded with the Ryu uppercut in response:

– Referring to Kaplan’s mention of the 30-45 minute wait times for battlegrounds (called “Scenarios” in “Warhammer Online”), Jacobs said that “World of Warcraft” also had long queues just to get into the servers to play the game when it first launched in 2004.
– Responding to the user interface similarities, Jacobs said that “World of Warcraft” wasn’t the first game to feature customizable interfaces. While he credited them for polishing it, he also said that it should be pointed out that “World of Warcraft” learned from Sony Online’s “EverQuest” and Mythic’s “Dark Age of Camelot.”

The mmo internets haven't been this interesting in quite a while :)

/popcorn