Warhammer Online at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

Nate was laughing about giving away some group tips, but did say that players should really look into their teammates and coordinate groups effectively. Each class has its own tool set and its job; however using them in a group is the most effective way to fight. Dark Age of Camelot ran the same way.

Are Bright Wizards W.A.R.'s most hated class?

I asked about the fighting/healing hybrid classes in the game and Nate said that they really want to see them push towards more of a frontline combat situation for them. Right now these pseudo-healers are standing back and acting more like regular healers. This takes away from their role on the front lines. He hopes that certain changes will give them more of a front line presence on the field.

In regards to ranged classes, Nate felt they could use some help:

“Most of them are pretty much hitting target as to where we want them to be, the Shadow Warriors do need some love, which is something we are closely looking at. Range does not seem to be the big issue right now; it is the range up close. Bright Wizard PBAOE bombing is a balanced strategy, but there are some points where it is just too overwhelming, too effective.”

I compared the PBAOE make up to Dark Age of Camelot and asked about the trend of bomb groups to assist trains, where tanks and DPS became the focus and would charge in on one target to kill it right away. A group is in trouble without its healer, then without its back up healer, etc. This trend led to some nasty groups in DAOC, I asked Nate if he expects this in Warhammer at some point?

“We have not seen a lot of assist trains in WAR at this point because AOE is a little too good. With AOE why assist on one person when you can just wipe out everybody?” he asked. “So that is one thing we’re really looking at, and that will help the melee classes once the AOE is handled better. The melee classes won’t fear as much getting up into the middle of the fireball, because you know you’re not going to get insta-burned.”

We asked about some help for tanks in RvR, and Nate gave us some tactics that players could use right now.

“Keep in mind that taunt does do something in RvR. The Taunt and the Challenge do work in RvR. If you taunt somebody you do more damage against them until they hit you three times,” he said.” Otherwise if they don’t turn around you’re going to punish them. Also with Challenge, which is the cone area taunt, everybody you challenge does less damage in the game to everybody but you.”

“So if they turn and hit you, they will be at full effectiveness, if they continue to attack your team mates they will be doing less damage. Taunts and Challenge absolutely work in RvR,” he continued. “If you are playing a great weapon tank, and you see a great weapon tank coming after you and taunting you, they are about to wreck you, unless you turn around and hit them, which is exactly what they want. The other thing to keep in mind is collision detection. If you set up a wall up front, odds are they are not getting through. You really cannot do that with anyone other than tanks.”