[SilverTalon]

Figured I'd write up a bit about our exploits last night.

Hopped on a bit later in the evening and hooked up with Swaddles and his buddy. We had us a group of Black Orc (Swaddly), Disciple of Khaine (moi) and a Goblin Shaman (who we will refer to as the unindicted co-conspirator). While they were about a level and a half ahead of me game-wise and light-years ahead of me in the "don't suck at games" category, we proceeded to go on our adventure.

Started with poking at the "lair' in the Dark Elf zone. Neat idea with the fancy boss right in the RvR area. Full-contact PvE since it's about halfway from both camps and the boss supposedly drops some nice gear. Unfortunately, it was either bugged or on a respawn...but we did find the triggers.

We then wandered over to the Greenskin vs. Dwarves area to find the lair there, and got into some pretty good dust-ups. While Destruction clearly holds a population advantage we smacked down groups that outnumbered us. Not so much because we're truly awesome, but because we coordinated well. Soaked up a bunch of renown seizing in the end all of the objectives in the area, and it felt very much like the old days of PS with the base caps. Swad had his "scream" macro worked out so it was fun watching him taunt the enemy when they inevitably ran away.

After pummeling the stunties, it was time to visit Chaos vs. the Empire. That was very clearly Destruction dominated as the Order groups never really ventured far from the safety of their war camp guards...and as quickly as they'd get pummeled into the ground when they did I couldn't blame them.

There were, however, a few things things that stood out for me that made the game really cool compared to WoW. First, healers get a relatively constant stream of Renown points for healing. Awesome. It does encourage you to stand in the back and just toss out heals to folks who need them, especially since you'll be the primary target.

Second, Swad spent the ENTIRE time running around with a sword and shield. In WoW, this is a death sentence in PvP. In WAR, it wasn't that awful. Yeah, our DPS at times was a bit slack with 2 healers and a tank, but overall Swad pummeled people fairly effectively and made sure that when things went pear-shaped for Order they didn't get to run away. Maybe he can swing by to give you his take on it...but still, the sheer fact that it's even possible to be effective that way is great.

Finally, the fights actually took time. Sure, if it's 3v1 you die pretty quickly...but what would you expect? When the numbers are even, there's really not that much "Oh hey, they're att-and I'm dead" unless your healers are asleep at the switch. In the early goings, healers seem very powerful indeed...but I'm told that changes at the higher levels. Looking forward to finding out.

Some things that could be better (the seemingly 100 yard knockback that ranged classes get is a bit much), but overall it was just a blast running around and smashing things.