Monday, October 26, 2009

Action Points get Fixed

One of the long standing criticisms of WAR is that it require zero to little 'skill.'  I won't debate what 'skill' really means, as that is a whole a post in itself.  In this case, it comes down to just being able to SPAM abilities.  In 1.3.2, WAR has taken steps to fix this problem.

In this Dev Diary, Nate discusses a couple of fixes to the Action Point system.  Some bugs were introduced in earlier patches which gave players much more Action Point regeneration than they should have had.  As you can expect, this resulted in being able to SPAM abilities.

From my experience, the fixes are very noticeable.  Prior to 1.3.2 I really never gave Action Points a second thought.  I could usually fire all of my abilities at will with only the cooldowns slowing me.  Now I will run out of AP's if I don't pay attanetion.

This has also renewed my interest in Action Point saving skills, talismans and potions.  So really, this change may bring new life into a large segment of the game.  More elements to consider adds gameplay.

It is hard to tell how successful these fixes will be for other problems.  Bomb (PBaE) groups are still running around and  some attacks still get spammed.  Now that regen is fixed, changes to AP cost should go a long way in making the game more balanced.