And in with the new

Here we are, people. April 13, 2010. The day that the new city changes were first announced in detail. I was sitting in a rather boring lecture this morning, whipped out my phone, and saw Shadow-war’s new post. After class, I hurriedly found my real life WARbuddy and told him the news. We were both confused, though, because Andrew’s post seemed to answer questions that required a bit of knowledge already. That curiosity was sated as soon as I warmed up my computer.

The new city looks great on paper. I’m going to save us all the monotony of typing up an exact replica and just point you here. Instead, I’m going to give you my opinions.

The Good

Before ever seeing it in action, before ever reading an opinionated post about it, I like these changes. While looking at the notes, I remember thinking to myself, “This city sounds like an actual epic encounter.” An encounter that is gripping, fast paced, and mechanically sound.

Each stage looks like it’s going to be an individual experience, and by that I mean it’s not the same old thing for two hours. I really like the idea of a fight across the city, rather than turtling up at one or two BOs. There seems to be real strategy infused with the fight, and that is also a good thing. As for Champions, all I can say is that I’m pumped.

I believe that the introduction of Warlord and Sovereign rewards for defenders is a plus, as is the incentive to stay in your own instance. Not only that, but the VP pool is no longer tied throughout every instance. The King could die in #1 and over in #2 the attackers might not even catch a glimpse of the palace gates. This, I believe, is a great move.

The Bad

Well, the first thing out of many people’s mouths will be, “It’s Mythic. Look at what they’ve done to this game before. Don’t get your hopes up.” It is very true that this game has a troubled past. Mythic wouldn’t put a post out if it didn’t come dripping with excitement. It’s their job to get us excited (see: pre launch mania). With that being said, it’s obvious that whatever they say out the city will be tailor made to hook us in. Given the track record, they really need to pull through with this patch.

In an effort to wrap this post up, the final verdict is: this update looks great, but we need to wait and see. I’m going to keep an optimistic attitude and say that this patch will address some sorely broken issues about the city siege. I don’t feel like I’m writing too well today, so I’m going to end on that note. Be sure to check out the four big WAR Blaaaghers and their new Q&A’s going up soon if not already. You can find P-O-D-C-A-S-T, Werit, Shadow-war, and Gaarawarr in my blogroll.