Informal interview with Jeff Strain

found this over at TGH:
http://www.guild-hall.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8201

has a bunch of specific info about retail and worlds at war..

A very interesting read. Like the majority of the posters on that thread, I really want to know how WaW is going to play out exactly.

Because WaW regions seems to be time zone based, I'm not too worried about having one guild (or region) having complete domination - since as time passes, their numbers will dwindle while another world's numbers inflates. Meaning one region, at one point in time would most likely win the WaW while at the same time ensuring the majority of its populace reap the benefits.

I myself live in England, and so would probably end up playing on the European servers on the basis of convenient playing times. However, playing in the European region (and probably even the Korean region - shouldn't that region be renamed Asia instead?) will probably cause problems due to (an assorted set of) language barriers.

Sure I can read German, but listening is much harder than reading (which is not good when your team mates are trying to relay important information over team speak during a competitive match, which for the purpose of this discussion let's say ... WaW?).


It's also not very encouraging when you hear that player's from the UK and Netherlands will play in the American region, because (ironically enough) they want to go somewhere with English speaking players.

And one final point, I hope that guilds are not restricted to recruiting members from only one world. While sure you can play with all of your web buddies by playing in the international servers, but isn't the major fun aspect of guilds is to have ALL your friends be part of one big happy group, to share resources, plan strategies and mostly to compete alongside, rather than against?

If they were to allow this, I'm sure that to get around the WaW allegiance, it could be that the world you represent is only determined by which world the guild you joined wants to represent, or even elect not to represent, and having the option to do so later on.

Alternatively if the world you represent is determined by what you chose in your account or char, another solution could be that you are able to join one guild, and one pseudo guild. The pseudo guild will be for players who would prefer to be a part of an international guild, but also want to participate in the WaW, so then the pseudo guild becomes an 'all-star' guild of sorts, as multiple international guilds could work together to form a WaW team from their own rosters.

I notice he specifically says "teams" from your world rather than guilds, which implies that this doesn't effect guilds or GvG at all. I assume you can probably be in a guild with whomever you want, but if you make a tombs team with your guild it may not count towards WaW in some cases.

They probably just use the world of whoever the person who formed the Tombs team is. It doesn't really matter to you, since you'll be in the Tombs - it's just a mechanism for controlling semi-random access to certain areas.


That's fairly simple, actually. Basically, if you want to PvP, WaW has zero effect. You form Tombs teams of whomever you want and play as normal. No big deal.

If you want to PvE and play in the WaW areas, you basically have two new constraints:

1) You can play the WaW areas *only* with people from the same world - think of them as micro-shards in a shardless game. So if you're from the USA you can play general areas with everyone, but you can play WaW areas only with other North American players - your friends in Europe or Korea have to sit this one out.

2) You cannot play the WaW areas whenever you want - your access to them is controlled by a function that for all intents and purposes is random. Since you *cannot* open up the bonus content for yourself, you basically just have to hope that it's open when you want to play it, and if it's not, either wait for an indeterminate period of time or find something else to do.

Otherwise, WaW areas are just like any other area. How annoying you'll find this particular feature will depend on how international your play group is, what sorts of hours you typically play, and the desirability of playing the WaW maps. If WaW areas are mostly 'one and done' content and you play with friends in the same world during peak hours, you'll scarcely notice the mechanic - If the WaW areas are some of the best in the game, and you're in Australia and play early in the morning with an American guild, you're going to get to see WaW in all of its glory.

Peace,
-CxE

This World's At War idea sounds kinda cool... however, an interesting question was posed on that Guild Hall forum...

What happens if you're in the WaW area and your World's team loses the HoH... are you kicked out immediatly?

It probably wouldn't do anything. After all, HoH control only effects whether the portal to the new area is open or not; it didn't say anything about HoH control effecting the actual area or its current inhabitants. Not to mention the fact that such a mechanism of kicking people out at random from rare areas would be kind of silly in a computer game, and I don't think the designers would want to put something like that in their game in the first place.

the entrace/exit to the WaW area is sealed and you are trapped until your "world" can reopen it to let you escape

iono, just made that up..sounds cool

I didn't notice that, thanks for the insight.

If this is true then I'll be happy knowing that WaW is not potentially game-breaking. Though at the same time, it does make WaW sound somewhat of a cheap gimmick, as opposed to what it was advertised as.

*sigh* Guess there's no pleasing some people eh?