Interesting thread here. Basically endgame pvp sucks. Just not enough fun battles because to get anywhere you have to totally outnumber the other side.

I enjoyed following this thread on what WAR is and is not. What do you think?

Is it a gear grind?

Are charccter builds more flexible?

Does WAR depend more on group synergy than on individual gear and skill?

Is WAR the same as WoW?

I found this thread comparing character customization in WAR and WoW pretty interesting. Personally, my shaman is specced for damage so I can solo quest but I find it pretty fun in pvp/rvr as well. I can throw my hots on anyone taking damage, try to save someone who’s really hurting with my direct heal, and help kill enemies who are low on health.

One of the comments on that thread was that changing tactics and morales can make your character feel totally different. Having recently swapped out my rank 1 morale direct heal (that instand direct heal was a big one) for Gork Sez Stop, I pretty much agree. I’m definitely less of a healer now even though the morale only pops up once a minute.

Our guild took advantage of the free transfers to more populated servers. So far Iron Rock has been pretty good. We left the old HAVOC guild so we’re now Black Forest again – only on Iron Rock instead of Wasteland – just a few real life friends having fun.

The only time I was able to hang out with my guildies we were in Tor Anroc with a 22 maruader, 20 sorceror, 27 zealot, and me (25 shaman). Our marauder got the bauble first every time and we won 4 easy games until we got crushed in our 5th.

I still don’t know what happened except that we ran into a much better premade.

By the way I tried to transfer a few low level alts around but was unable to. I couldn’t find anything about a minimum level to transfer but it seems like there must be one.

So this is a Warhammer blog but only cause I play WAR more than I LARP. If I could reverse that easily I would.

Anyway, here is some shield advice from the old version of this message baord. Now I thought it was worth saving (good thing I did since the old forum is gone I think) but I’m not convinced this is the only way to go -this one advises you to move your arm to block with your shield but I’ve also heard that you keep your shield close to your body and turn your body to block.

Like you said, there are many, many different types of shields. Alliance safety rules even allow certain shield designs that would never have worked historically or in any “real” fantasy world (the cut corner neck tuck shields very popular in the north east).

Personally, I prefer a coffin.  I’m not a small guy and that shape gives me some upper leg protection while still being wide enough up top to protect both shoulders with some movement (more or less).  I find that a down slant arm works for me by partially denying lower-body targets without an opponent telgraphing.

But, that’s not what I’d recomend.  The difference between a person that has a shield and a person that knows how to use that shield is huge.  Anyone can hug a shield against thier chest and simply deny their opponent a large target.  Moving your shield and figuring out the line(s) of attack that your opponent is likely to use and interposing your shield takes timing and practice.  To get this timing and pattern down, start with a rounder, probably a little under max size, with a center half grip (ie- as much space past your knuckles as is past your elbow on the other side).  Get in the habit of twisting your arm, both at the elbow, houlder, and especially the wrist, to deny and intercept.

Once you’ve got it with a symetrical, evenly spaced rounder, consider what areas you aren’t protecting well. If its your legs, try a teardrop or a kite/coffin.  If its your shoulders, try a heater or a ”Dorito” type triangle.

Also consider which arm position works best for you (a great reason to start with a rounder, just about all the standard arm positions work well).  If you prefer straight across the body (horizontal), heaters and rectangles work well.  If you prefer a low-high (extend your pointer finger, if it’s pointing at your face, that’s this grip), try a teardrop or a oval.  If you prefer high-low arm extended- triangles or kites might work better.

So its a question of compromise between what arm position is comfortable and effective and where you know you need a little extra help protecting.  Round shields are the nuetral shiled- they work for just about everyone with just about every style, but rarely as well as a shield specifically designed for the person’s typical grip, stance, and style.  They make a great starting point though.

This thread has the answer: Originally someone thought it was an exploit, however most people seem to think it’s not. It revolves around spots in the lava where you don’t take damage.

Get your whole team down there. Tanks and dps in front, then ranged, then healers and bauble-carrier. Enemy comes down, they’ve more than likely been splashed by lava so they are easy kills. If not, they get a knockback into the lava.

With one or two healers and a Black Orc/Ironbreaker who picks up the bauble after the Maurauder/White Lion, you can keep the bauble indefinitely and force the other side to come down to you. If you don’t have a Black Orc or Ironbreaker (unlikely), you can switch off with DPS and Healers.

Meanwhile you have one guy stay near the bauble spawn just in case this happens. If the other team gets itself together and a huge force comes down, make sure they are all down there, then everyone on your team suicides in the lava (yes even the bauble carrier). Then the attacking team is stuck down there with no recourse but to jump into the lava too. When the bauble spawns, the person who has been waiting, grabs it. If the other team has mostly suicided in the lava to respawn (usually 2-4 stay behind to stop your team from using the tactic again) get your ranged to mop up whoever’s left down there and send your tanks in with healers and wipe them out of there, then bring your bauble carrier down again and rinse-wash-repeat.

This strategy is proven to work if you do it right.

A few weeks ago, our samll guild consisting of a few close friends merged with Havoc, at the time the biggest destruction guild on our server, Wasteland.

Now our guild leader is leaving to go play order on another server because he wasn’t happy with the low population and long wait times for scenarios on wasteland. What will happen next?