Work in Progress

I can't help but post this screenshot of my Warrior Priest in all his badass glory. Blizzard could really learn a thing or two from Mythic about designing armor that doesn't look half-bad even if it's not part of a complete set. Judging from the fact they are moving away from specialized gear in WoTLK, there's more possibility for clown-gear hilarity it seems; not less.

I dipped my toe into Tier 3 scenarios yesterday with the Empire-based, Talabec Dam. This scenario has you grabbing a powder keg in the middle of the map and planting it at an objective near the opponent's spawn point. This can be quite difficult to do with 2 evenly matched teams and it's not unusual to win a game without once successfully completing this objective. I was just going to do a quick preview before heading back to do some more Tier 2 scenarios before I completely outleveled them. When I saw the average renown I was getting compared to what I would've gotten from T2, I decided I might stay and play a while. It seems you get more renown from defeating higher level opponents and consequently less from lower-level ones.

Later on in the night, a guild-scheduled RvR event took place. We formed up a warband and some change and headed out to Barak Varr to raise some heck. It was my first organized RvR experience in WAR and it definitely was a blast. The experience was a bit on the zergy side as both sides tried to cram as many people as they could into the keep but we were able to use that to our advantage to send the separate group outside the warband to secure the 2 other PVP objectives in the zone. I wondered what gold sinks there would be once you bought your mount and gear in this game. I quickly found out as I kept visiting the healer after every death and buying the siege gear we could deploy like rams and ballistas.

We were a bit understrength to deal with the keep NPC's along with the players that showed up to face us so we sent some feelers out to other guilds for reinforcements. While waiting on them to mobilize, we decided on a tactical withdrawal to the south and the Marshes of Madness where an Order-held keep was under attack. After making sure it was secure and hearing word that some other guilds had arrived to join in on the fun, we headed back to Barak Varr. The added force was more than enough to secure its downfall and the keep lord was finally slain.

The action was epic with an enemy force numbering at least 40+ against us at one time. All the classic siege tactics were used with a battering ram pounding down the door while boiling oil was poured on us from above. We deployed cannons and ballistas to counter theirs and their range casters continually harrassed us from the keep walls. The melee was furious and the healers were constantly kept on their toes.

After the fall of Barak Varr, we headed out to take over another keep. There was only token resistance and little more than the NPC's to resist us. The keep quickly fell with a whimper. At this time, I had to bade goodbye as it was getting late and I needed my beauty sleep before work the next morning. I'm definitely liking this glimpse of things to come in this game.