Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Speed Kills

In most combat, speed plays a very important part in the outcome.  If you can't catch or hit an enemy, it will be very difficult to defeat them.  This is especially true in PvP MMO's.  Warhammer Online provides a number of ways to alter your speed.  1.3.5 will have some interesting changes regarding speed.

As I mentioned, there are a number of ways to increase your speed in WAR.  There are abilities like Charge and Flee.  Tactics such as Run Away will give you a proc which increases your movement speed.  Standards have tactics which will give an aoe speed increase.  These are just a few examples, I'm sure there are more.

Of course, we can't forget Odjira.  It is the best of a whole line of speed enhancing fragments for boots found in the Land of the Dead.  It is quite popular, as a 60% speed increase is huge.  It is also silly if you have seen how fast players start moving around in combat.  There is a lingering concern about stacking these items and abilities for some crazy speeds.

I don't use Odjira on my characters for a few reasons.  One is I'm cheap.  On the AH it sells for a few hundred gold, no thanks.  Another is that the only way to get it myself would be in the Tomb of the Vulture Lord.  Since I don't go very often, this option is out unless I get very lucky.

In 1.3.5, Odjira will probably be receiving some balancing love.  We'll have to wait for the patch notes to know for sure.  While Odjira may be getting toned down, Mythic is adding some more options for increasing your movement speed.  Best of all, these new talismans can be obtained via RvR!

Nate, the combat and careers lead, dropped this bit of info on the forums:

I understand why you're concerned about the potential that's represented by these talismans, and I think that once you can try the PTS for 1.3.5 your concerns will be satisfactorily resolved.  However, since PTS isn't available yet, let me add some details into the discussion so that you have a better idea of what the scope of the talismans will be:

  • 1% Runspeed costs 1 Recruit's medallion and lasts for 2 played hours.  Requires RR 3.
  • 2% Runspeed costs 2 Scout's medallions and lasts for 4 played hours.  Requires RR 11.
  • 4% Runspeed costs 8 Soldier's medallions and lasts for 6 played hours.  Requires RR 20.
  • 6% Runspeed costs 25 Officer's medallions and lasts for 8 played hours.  Requires RR 30.
  • All Runspeed talismans are Boot-only.
Please keep in mind that these are obviously tentative values and are subject to change over the course of PTS testing, but they do represent what we're looking at currently.

Finally, something else to spend some Officer medallions on.  Some players are a bit concerned about these talismans becoming a requirement rather than a choice.  Is 6% too much?  I'm not sure, so I guess that is a good sign. Are you willing to give up a talisman slot for a slight speed increase?