Theme and WAR

The first real blog post I am going to write is about an oft overlooked part of MMO’s: theme, some times referred to “feel”. For example, WAR aims to get you the “feel” like you are in a WAR, or to “feel” angry at Destruction for burning your town. Note, this is less immersion, but more the emotion that is conveyed by the game. Now I don’t want to get too artsy, but this element is something that just makes games for me, because it gets me into the game more than realism of mechanics or interactions.

There are three main elements that give theme to MMO’s. The first element is set design. This is how the area looks, and thus how it feels. The second is monster design, which is how the monsters look and act. The final element is the writing, which is probably the most important of all.

These three elements come across in all of the T1 areas very strongly. They all convey different types of war: siege warfare in the mountains, sea invasions, and a huge horde attacking from the land. This direct theme really didn’t hit home for me though, because I was already expecting that theme. Where the theme of WAR really hit me was the Marshes of Madness for dwarfs and Ostland/Troll Country for Chaos. Both have very striking themes. The Marshes of Madness, which have thick, sight-blocking scenery and heavy concentrations of mobs, screamed guerrilla warfare from the first chapter, and the writing kept the theme going.

The story of the dwarfs, who hate the jungle, having to fight against an opponent who seems to be unstoppable by nature of their knowledge of the area and their vast numbers brought mental images of Vietnam to my mind. At first, I was frustrated by the Marshes, but eventually I realized the zones genius; I felt just like the dwarfs! I was tired of the Marshes and the endless ambushes by the mobs spawning around every corner, just like the dwarfs must have been.

This element of theme has really let me enjoy the game much more, and really appreciate some of the zones that I have loathed before. I’m not sure a lot of people will get the emotion that WAR conveys, because so many people don’t read their quest log, but I love that they put this much effort in for us that do!

A Small Boom

And the reverberations caused by the starting of Clockwork Landmine are felt… well, they probably aren’t felt at all.

Yep, I’ve decided to start (another) WAR blog. No one really should know about my last blog as it only had like one post. My issue was that not only was I blogging about the wrong class, I was blogging about the wrong side as well. Well, I’ve learned the error of my ways and am now back and blogging about Dwarf Engineers. I have played a few MMO’s including WoW, and I am used to being a healer, but enough about me, you want to know about my blog.

This blog will be all the stuff relating to WAR that I’m interested in, focusing on Engineers. Hopefully I’ll provide a guide or two when I feel like writing one. Ususally I’ll blog at least one time a day but some days or even weeks, I won’t blog at all, so don’t freak out. Some of my posts will be long (like this one), some will be short. Some will be well thought out, some will be rants. Basically, I’m not setting any rules concerning this blog at all, and thats it, but I do want to share my experiences and hopefully provide well though out and interesting posts to you, the reader.