Warhammer Online: Nordenwatch - Suggestions and Conclusions

Suggestions

Nordenwatch is an excellent, very fun scenario, but there are still ways in which it could be made better.

Longer Delay Before Beginning

This is a problem with all scenarios in Warhammer Online right now. They start too quickly. If you enter the instant the scenario window "pops", by the time you zone in you are lucky if it is 30 seconds until the scenario begins. Many members of your team will not even be in yet, as they might have been in combat when it popped, or they might load slowly. An entire scenario can be ruined simply
because a few people got in late. This can result in the first fight being a disaster for one side, and the other side setting up an unassailable defensive position before things are finally equal. The short delay also makes it hard to get everyone buffed, and virtually impossible for ANY kind of strategy to be discussed. They should add 1-2 minutes to the starting delay. This would improve things enormously.

Do Not Let Unbalanced Scenarios Begin

12 on 8 is no fun. 12 on 10 is rarely fun either. Hold the beginning of the scenario until both sides have the same number of combatants. This one is so obvious I do not understand why the system does not work this way.

Let People Join Even While in Combat with NPCs: This is another general scenario issue. Since the game lets you join when dead (with no death penalty) why does this limitation even exist? All it does is waste time as the player has to either finish the combat, run far enough away to get out of combat, or hurry up and die. This is nothing but a huge inconvenience.

Give People 30 seconds of Immunity when they exit the scenario

Again, this is a general scenario issue. There is no excuse for zoning out of a scenario and being dead before you finish zoning (or < 10% health). It is like they expect people to stand around in a war camp doing nothing between scenarios. This is impractical (as sometimes queue times are long) and pointless (as one of the strengths of WAR is being able to do so many things tat the same time).

Less Points for the Fortress Capture

Change it to 20 points. There is too much emphasis placed on the Fortress.

Less Points for Holding the Fortress

Some people think it is 2 points per tick, but in practice it appears to be 4. Change this to 3, and it would be much better. That would mean holding the other 2 is better than the Fort. This is a good reward for how much harder it is to hold Barracks and Lighthouse.

Conclusions

Nordenwatch is enormous fun and it is a great introduction to RvR in Warhammer Online. It is probably the best Tier 1 scenario, and in the end it is one of the best scenarios overall. You get into the action fast, and you get back into the action fast even if your team is losing. It is well designed, balanced, and a great way to start off any character's career.