Messages

1126

Warhammer Online / Re: Game Performance Tweaks

« on: October 24, 2008, 09:50:07 AM »

HD thrashing usually means you need a defrag.
The games updates mean you'll need to defrag every patch or so.

1127

Warhammer Online / Re: [Co-ordinated Strike] T2 & T3 Siege ~ 23/10/08

« on: October 24, 2008, 09:40:51 AM »

It sounded like you guys had a good little party going in T2
Don't forget there are many pieces to the puzzle - mustering the troops is a hard task - you don't need to run the action as well.

1128

Warhammer Online / Re: Hurray!

« on: October 24, 2008, 09:32:56 AM »

If you get the knack the aoe siege eq works well on the oil - additionally you get the person manning the drum and anybody repping
When defending and on the guns - make sure your mini-map is zoom'd out before you start and you can use that to help work out where you're hitting when the walls get in the way.

If you have a welcome party inside the keep when attacking - let the aoe guns have a few rounds before-hand - before you rush in - they can fire inside the doors and a little inside.  You'll have an easier time storming any opposition

1129

Warhammer Online / State of play..

« on: October 21, 2008, 12:26:23 AM »

There is a PQ in BFP (I think) that has some potential - in stage one both Distro and Order compete against each other to take out the NPC's (and/or each other).
It could be fun however you wanna play RVR or RVE.

I don't relish the prospect of constant RvR but I think lots could be done to improve the challenge - not so much about boosting the NPC's but getting them to be more strategic in how they respond.  Open RvR ends up usually being about which side has the most HP (wounds + heals) - how much talk is there, on the forums & in-game, about Tank/Healer combos?

How many times does a Keep get taken and the mob running off to take the next objective - then complaining about the people who don't RvR when the other side takes it without any effort - rather than using the resource they've just captured to their advantage?  Use it as a base, launching pad for the next confrontation, teaching lowbies about tactics (any level can use siege eq, repair, AOE, scout, etc).
Not to mention that taking the zone gives a bonus to all.

We should think about having a floating base - taking the objectives and then reaping the rewards.  Use the bonus to boost the RR for skills, INF for the EQ - get the unlocks..
Everybody gets a boost - learns what the zone has to offer.  The next day/week - move to another - rinse & repeat.  Each time we become better at working as a team - our skills & abilities improve making the next zone easier.

Aye - scenarios can be a grind - but likewise they can also be great fun as a group.  Not to mention they are a great place to learn about RvR, weapon/skill combos, tactics. People complain about TA - but don't like the other scenarios as there's no lava!
In the others you have to work more as a group!  I've been in TA without healers many times - you know sometimes we've actually won :O

If you asked people today to put together a team for guild championships - most would fill it up with meat-heads (no insult implied and healers.

Avelorn is a good example of all this - it's a great fight and most of it happens along the bridge.
Today I actually managed to pull some people along the right flank - across the river to the back gate of the keep  (held by Destro).
8-10 of us rushed up to them another bunch holding the line on the bridge.  They ran (they could have easily held both fronts) and we held the field again for a siege.

It then went tits up of course - you didn't have many people working together - people were using their siege eq until it fell to pieces not bothering to repair, bolster, etc.

1130

Warhammer Online / Re: Guild Member Ranks

« on: October 19, 2008, 10:24:31 PM »

I thought GOA were french!?!
It's a sub of France Telecom - it explains all

1131

Warhammer Online / Re: Tome Tactics

« on: October 17, 2008, 12:22:18 AM »

Unlocked the Skaven tactic tonight - full info on wardb or the Beastiery addin.

Essentially 3 skavens in a house on a street near market (can't remember the location off the top of my head - ask me in-game).
There's a woman outside saying that beasties have taken over her house.

Then in the sewers (2nd stage) a lvl 19 champ with 3 bodyguards to kill.

Goto the lib on the first floor and buy the tactic.

You get a symbol in your TOK with a Red Sword when you have it - and a message when it's unlocked.

1132

Warhammer Online / Re: Guild Alliance - Prospective.

« on: October 17, 2008, 12:17:25 AM »

Hope for the best - plan for the worst

1133

Warhammer Online / Re: Guild Alliance - Prospective.

« on: October 16, 2008, 09:18:17 AM »

Remembering the issues from Eve - a second game channel is handy for alliance social chat.  Keep the primary for call-to-arms, etc.

Do they use TS also? There's nothing more annoying than having multiple chat apps running and switching between them - it not only slows down forming groups but ends up with people relaying instructions.  If you decide to merge TS servers - create separate sections for each guild and then sub-channels beneath for tasks/tiers.  We should also have a DNS entry for our TS (rather than IP address) - a sub-domain such as ts.handsofjustice.co.uk is easier to remember than IP addresses.

It would also be handy to setup a separate forum for the alliance - it helps keep things clean should down the road things go pear shaped (thinking of accounts, rights, etc).

When setting up the alliance - treat it like a business - create a bunch of shares and split it how you want between the guild leads.
Treat these as voting rights.  I know it sounds a little convoluted but it helps down the road as things expand and change.

1134

Warhammer Online / Re: Recap Style Mod - Halp!

« on: October 15, 2008, 09:46:06 AM »

There's 2 available that I can find - both on curse:

The first: http://war.curse.com/downloads/war-addons/details/combatlog.aspx - appears to support groups and sync'ing group stats - from the readme:

GROUP DATA SYNC
===============

This option is still pretty experimental, so it is turned off by default.

In order to share data between players the mod will join a channel and post combat data to the channel periodically. There are still a few issues to work out, such as automatically turning off the chat filter for the channel used and automatically joining an appropriate channel (named after the group leader) as the player joins and leaves groups, as the leader changes, etc.

For now, the most reliable approach is to use the command "/cl sync <channel name>". Everyone that is going to share information will need to enter that command. Exiting the game or reloading the UI will cause you to leave the channel, so you will need to rejoin it.

Mousing over the "Group" heading on the CombatLog window will indicate what channel you are currently in and what number was assigned to it. The sync rate is currently set rather slow, at about 10-15 seconds between sends, the game has built in chat rate limiter which can be triggered fairly easily.

To turn off the chat sync function, use "/cl sync off". There is a "/cl sync auto" option, which will attempt to figure out who the party leader is and join a channel based on their name, but it's still VERY experimental and has known problems with warbands and scenarios so I would recommend not using it until it's perfected.

The second supports extracting the info to CSV - it should be pretty simple to wrap it into a spreadsheet for graphs or to write something.
If you think it's useful to have something for the Guild then I can knock up a web app - I've been looking for a project to try out a framework - so I'd be happy to work on it.

1135

Warhammer Online / Re: Sieging Tips

« on: October 13, 2008, 09:18:27 AM »

Personally it would be helpful to define a few things:
1) Addins people should use for assist, chat windows, etc - if we're using the same things then it's easier for everybody to be coordinated.  I know I don't have an optimum setup and with the body of knowledge we have for this - it would be handy for something to be added to the forums.
2) Who should be assisted in the party - with lots of bodies rushing about it's sometimes hard to see the wood for the trees.
3) It's not often I see people calling targets or defining a strategy - direction and strategy will win the objective.  In larger parties it'll make the difference.  It might be good if the healer called the shots - it could easier for them to have a clearer overview.  The guy in in front usually has other things on his mind.
 
I'm not sure we're using Warbands/Parties well.  Shouldn't the leader of the warband define the direction and hand objectives down to the parties for them to execute?
I don't know that much about how abilities span warbands/parties/groups - are we using them effectively?

I've spent more time defending keeps than attacking - mostly the attackers spearhead the first level with a tank and ranged support.  It always fails if the defenders have ranged people at the top opening (opposite the entrance to the stairwell) and a tank (or a few who can take dmg) blocking the entrance.  The attackers almost always diffuse their dps with multiple targets; they always rush around, rarely taking their time to get an overview of the situation and their targets.  The only time that it's come close are when they have taken a breath and worked together.

If you take out the people covering the top of the stairwell first - you reduce their dmg output.  If you assign one group this task - and then have 2 spearhead groups with the aim of getting to the outer ring of the first level and then taking up positions on the defending siege points.  Pick one as a rally point and drop the guild flag.  They can then defend against any following and then come around to attack from the side openings.  Attacking from the side openings allows support to climb the stairwell and attack - effectively spliting the focus of the defenders 3 ways.

The stairwell is a bottleneck (as it should be - so things would need to be coordinated to stop people blocking each other.

Scenarios are the best place to practice - when the same mistakes are made it ends up being a blood bath.  It ends up being just about brawn rather than a team.

1136

Warhammer Online / Re: Game Performance Tweaks

« on: October 13, 2008, 08:15:28 AM »

Crucial (www.crucial.com) has damn cheap memory - for 50 Eur you can buy 4 GB on 2 sticks.

1137

Warhammer Online / Re: Sieging Tips

« on: October 10, 2008, 09:02:25 AM »

Spent most of yesterday defending a keep in the Shadowlands - mostly against small groups that weren't too hard to deal with for a handful of players.

We had 2 large groups of around 20-40 blood sucking destruction scum attack first in the morning then again later in the evening.
We had plenty of siege eq to defend with and a decent engineer on hand to man the cannons.  We kept the oil flowing until the idea penetrated their thick skills to attack the cauldron above the gate - with only a handful of people defending it was hard to keep things repaired until reinforcements arrived.  Messengers were dispatched while we kept them at bay and help arrived before the main gate was taken.  A handful stayed on the ground floor, elven archers on the stairwell raining blows from above before most retreated to the first floor to take up positions on and around the stairwells.

We found it handy to keep the oil falling even when the gate had been breached - a few retreating to heal were spirited back to their camps swiftly - others were damaged enough to delay an attack giving us a brief respite.

Gunners placed their cannons on ledges above the lower-stairwell which helped a lot in keeping the healers and ranged support at bay - making it hard for their tanks to break through without support.  Those that did ran for the outer wall allowing them to pick off small groups that ran after them.  Keeping a few small groups at both entrances to the outer wall allowed them to pin the tank between them and take them out in quick time.  We kept people on the guns - so any incoming support they had either met a swift death or were dealt enough dmg to approach with caution.  After 15 mins or so the keep door reset and those inside were trapped.  Again the oil helped keep those attempting to take the door again from the outside.  The number of attackers inside the keep dwindled and they attempted to break the keep door from the inside to allow reinforcements to assist.  Their focus now shifted we were able to slip down the stairwell and smear the inside of the door with their bile.

Use the npc's if you're in a small group - lure the hostiles out and then assist them - you'll survive, they won't and you'll be around to stop the keep falling.
If somebody makes it to the outer wall- it's better to defend the stairwell if you don't have enough support.  You can take out the hovering hostile when they come into view.  Small groups pinning them from both side is more effective than a couple of solos chasing.  If they die you have less defenders against the mob.
You can hover at the top of the stairwell down and deal dmg pretty effectively and it stops the entrance to the stairwell down from getting congested - allowing your tank to work more effectively.

Don't let your guns go unmanned if you can help it and let people know how to repair them.  If the defending eq is under atk it's going to take more than 1 person to repair them.  Don't be afraid to ask for help or to let people know.
If you like playing with keeps - keep siege eq handy - I always have 2 items of all 3 types in my inv - something's always gonna break and having a spare can save the day.

One last tip - if you pop your clogs and rush back to help - keep your ear against the back-door before entering.  If the lower lvl is swarming with vermin - you won't last long on entering - better to wait or ask for a diversion.  Getting yourself killed won't help and it saves the long run back.

We managed to maintain control of the keep both times and in each case we were out-numbered and out-leveled!