August Newsletter Video Blogs

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A bit of an early link to the Video Blogs, since the link becomes active before the newsletter goes out. 

But it's a must see for those skeptical about the lighting system that has been newly put into the game.

Video Blog

Note: A must watch is "Tooling up a Black Orc" and both "Lighting Test" vids.

Awesome stuff.

Looks like the lighting especially from fire is going to give the game an entirely different feel.

The town that's on fire looks as dark and gritty as we all have been wanting since we first heard about the game.

So yeah.  Enjoy.

Distaste

I think it is better to note that most of that Elf stuff was done back in February so all the "their not even close to finishing" people should rethink that a bit.

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Originally posted by Distaste


I think it is better to note that most of that Elf stuff was done back in February so all the "their not even close to finishing" people should rethink that a bit.

I figured it was done a long time ago.  Considering that when Paul's video of the in-game Witch Hunter made it to the blogs it was about 4 months after he filmed it.

So that means they've been working on the Elf content for at least 6 months.

I find that refreshing.

ImixZinz

Corsair looks cool.

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Originally posted by ImixZinz


Corsair looks cool.

There's a corsair?  Oh if you're referring to the dark elf with a xbow.  I bet it's an NPC.  And it looks more like a shade to me.

ImixZinz

Originally posted by checkthis500

Originally posted by ImixZinz


Corsair looks cool.

There's a corsair?  Oh if you're referring to the dark elf with a xbow.  I bet it's an NPC.  And it looks more like a shade to me.

Don't crush my dreams heathen!

checkthis500

Originally posted by ImixZinz


 
Originally posted by checkthis500

Originally posted by ImixZinz


Corsair looks cool.

There's a corsair?  Oh if you're referring to the dark elf with a xbow.  I bet it's an NPC.  And it looks more like a shade to me.

 

Don't crush my dreams heathen!

Well if you look at it this way, your dreams are anything but crushed.

Say it's a shade NPC.  Now think back to when they were showing Empire concept art.  They showed a Bandit NPC.  Then the playable class that was DPS ended up being a Witch Hunter.

So logically (maybe completely illogically) if they showed us the Shade NPC, then they aren't showing us the Corsair Career.

mistermental

Tooling up the Black Orc makes me sex wee in pants. I think it seriously does just smash any "WAR looks like WoW" comments into dust. The only thing remotely similar in that video is the size of the shoulder pads...whup de frickin doo.

 

It looks gorgeous...now I just need to upgrade my PC so I can play it on full graphics settings.

Arath

I just checked my Inbox and found that I was REALLY blown away by how much of a difference the lighting system makes. Since the links are active:

http://mythicmktg.fileburst.com/war/us/media/newsletter/2007_08/LightBefAft01.jpg

Just change the number at the end (LightBefAft02, 03, etc) to see all the images. Amazing, it really makes a difference and I think adds the final touch that really distinguishes this game.

checkthis500

Originally posted by Arath


I just checked my Inbox and found that I was REALLY blown away by how much of a difference the lighting system makes. Since the links are active:
http://mythicmktg.fileburst.com/war/us/media/newsletter/2007_08/LightBefAft01.jpg
Just change the number at the end (LightBefAft02, 03, etc) to see all the images. Amazing, it really makes a difference and I think adds the final touch that really distinguishes this game.

I dont think it's the "light" that makes the difference as much as the "darkness" that the light creates.

Some of those places look really dark especially at night.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

siresper

to be honest I wasn't at all excited about the lighting system before the screenshots were released. I had been more interested in hearing about the remaining elf classes. For some reason in my mind lighting just wasn't going to make much of a difference, since it just the same graphics just highlighted in different ways.

But then I saw the august newsletter comparison shots and went 'whoah'. Looks like a whole different game. The difference is much much greater than I expected (again, I expected little). I see why people were excited about seeing it in action now. Shame on me for doubting it a few weeks ago.

checkthis500

Originally posted by Fion


Merauder looks cool, I'm leaning more and more towards that class.
As to the topic at hand. The lighting engine does not impress me. All that hype and it's just a colored lightmap system, a 10 odd year old technology. Hardly impressive in this day and age of fully dynamic light and shadowmaps, HDR and per-pixel lightmaps, etc, I was really expecting something better. The placement of lights is nice, but the tech should have been so much more.
The Blog. I generally enjoy the video blogs. But the whole 'mr. evil koala'? So your 'not' marketing this to teens? And the archetypes. So.. lemme get this strait. Not only are do your classes fall basically into the 'holy trinity' of tank, dps, healer', but your PvP is going to be strongly rock, paper scissors? Yea.. thats wonderfully diverse and interesting.. not.
I don't like to sound like a hater or troll but damn, I can't help it sometimes. Especially with stuff like that blog.
 

PvP will always be Rock Paper Scissors.  Whether they say that up front or not that's how it is with every single MMO ever made.

Magic strong against Tanks.  DPS strong against Magic.  Tanks strong against DPS.

There's no other way to do it and be able to balance it successfully.

I'm glad they come out and say it and dont try to mask it as something else.

The diverse and interesting part is "how" they accomplish this.  If you go and read the player impressions you'll see that everyone says that all the tanks behave differently as well as the DPS classes and every single mage and healer hybrid.  No one has said that any of them feel the same yet.

I'd recommend the latest impression list which I can't seem to find a link to.  The guy talks about almost every single class that he got to play at gen con.  It's a fantastic write-up.

And ummm the lighting isn't just a light map.  If that was the case, then it would have no effect on characters walking through the area, but it does.  The armor reacts to the light making it a bit more advanced than a light map.

The coolest thing to me about the lighting is the shadows it creates.  Really awesome mood set for the screens that before looked bland and lifeless.

sparkyx

Originally posted by mistermental


Tooling up the Black Orc makes me sex wee in pants. I think it seriously does just smash any "WAR looks like WoW" comments into dust. The only thing remotely similar in that video is the size of the shoulder pads...whup de frickin doo.
 
It looks gorgeous...now I just need to upgrade my PC so I can play it on full graphics settings.

It looks just like the table top Black Orcs too,so yeah kiss it WoW comparers.