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Demonstrative Noun: Chosen & Stuff w/ Dvius

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Noun

Guest
Welcome to the first ever Demonstrative Noun!

Who am I? A writer for WAR Stratics, the guild leader of Black Mesa on Volkmar, and one of the best damn Rune Priests you'll ever see. But that's not important. :)

This is going to be a weekly interview session where I sit down with some random established players who know the ins and outs of their class. What's the goal you ask? Simple: spread out information about each class, archetype, flavor of the month, dramas, etc. while having fun and letting players get to know other members of the Warhammer Online community.

I realize that my pool of available interviewees is small and from Volkmar, but with the help of other forums and word of mouth--I'm hoping to be able to cover aspects of other server communities and players who know their stuff. This is going to be direct, and I'm not going to sugar coat things. Hopefully, we'll be covering a lot of juicy subjects and have commentary from both sides of the issue. For the first few weeks, a lot of dramas will be from Volkmar; but with help that will change.

My first guest is the guild leader of one of the best Destruction guilds on Volkmar--Dvius of Sadistic Tendencies. As a Chosen, he knows his role and he does it very well. One of the few tanks that sticks out in my mind so far.
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Without further adieu here's the interview:

Q: I saw you doing some experimentation earlier today: how’s your damage output and how able are you as a main tank in both PvE and RvR?

Dvius: In my current build, 14 dread/11 corruption, I just went for a little more dps output and to be able to maintain the ability to tank/offtank the high end dungeons regularly. I can actually force healers to heal themselves instead of groupmates, along with slowing their cast times or using one of our other debuff auras. I'm definitely not built to be a killing blow machine; I’m more of a constant annoyance that takes forever to bring down.

In PVE, the chosen is more gear dependant than the Black Orc. They have the extra AC buff that we don't get, and the wounds bonus so we need a little more to be able to do the same. It’s still possible to tank everything; we just need a little more healing or a little more gear.

Q: Which specs and gear do you use for each situation? I imagine you have a spec for annoying your favorite Rune Priest, Noun, hmm?

Dvius: Discord/Corruption is in my opinion the best healer annoying build in the game. The only issue with it currently, is our damage output is capped due to not having intelligence as a heavy armor stat until high renown sets, so we can annoy, but we can't really be as effective as a spec built with more damage in mind.

Noun: I’ve been on the receiving end of this build and strategy, I know it works and it definitely is annoying. What’s the best way to counter this type of Chosen?

Dvius: 10 Bright Wizards, or chain knockdowns. I just don't have Milty's healbots ;)

Noun: Hah!

Q: Remember in closed beta when the Chosen was madly overpowered? Yeah, I do. Obviously, the class has been toned down—but does any other specific class or archetypes make you feel useless? What are your strategies for combating those classes and archetypes?

Dvius: Yes, I remember closed beta well. I wouldn't say there's a class that makes me feel useless, due to having aura's to lessen or make them feel less effective, but if there was one class in its current state that just doesn't feel right is Bright Wizards. No, this isn't a “nerf BW's” flame. I don't think they're overpowered at all, I think the real problem is how resists are working. Getting hit for 1k and having 160 mitigated with 25-30% resists and 800+ toughness just doesn't add up. And I think that issue is affecting many classes right now, but because of the number of BW's that were created, it’s easy to point the blame in that direction without looking at the underlying cause.

Noun: You brought up a hot issue, Bright Wizards. From research, I know that Sorceresses feel that they aren’t on par with the BWs. I’m hearing a lot of things such as Bright Wizard’s only require the ability to roll their faces on their keyboard to be good. Personally, I do believe they are somewhat powerful but I’ve seen Sorceresses dish out amazing damage in very little amounts of time—for me it’s more of player skill than anything else, do you agree?

Dvius: Yes, skill is definitely important. I haven't done much research on the difference in mirrors, but I think it goes beyond that. Besides resists being buggy at best, I think there's a few other bugs happening. We'll see come 1.1.

Q: With the announcement of Knight of the Blazing Sun and Black Guard, how do you see your role and effect on RvR changing?

Dvius: I don't see it changing at all at first. I see the chosen as one of those classes that will shine later than sooner due to our dependence on certain gear, especially weapons. (Open Lost Vale plz) And I think the KOTBS will be the same. I might be able to go to a more pure dps role when Black Guards start showing up in force, but we'll have to see. The KotBS has been tested a lot more than Black Guard was in beta, so I'm not sure exactly what role it will take either above or below the Black Orc in tanking efficiency.

Q: Let’s hear your thoughts on Altdorf, both sides have their problems with what went down.

Dvius: Volkmar is officially a test server. There are definitely some bugs with how VP's have been working before and since we raided Altdorf. We were called exploiters, cheaters, and worse because of the way the system is working. There might have been some individuals that acted in shady ways, but Sadistic Tendencies won't accept a win that way. We ran scenarios, we ran PQs, and with a lot of people on doing the same, the VP's probably moved faster than they should have…but that's not in our control and we just proceeded to push. The city itself was locked. Both sides had major wins and major losses, and the city VP bar wouldn't move, or only move slowly then stop again. I have no problem with Order not acknowledging that we entered Altdorf legit, or even being called an exploiter as long as Mythic uses the data from our siege to fix things the whole mess makes the city portion of the game a better experience for all, then I'm glad we were a part of it.

Noun: My main complaint with what went down on our server is that the whole situation was done overnight, when no established Order was on to defend. Now, I’m all for being a ninja and getting ahead, but it’s when threads come up on forums claiming that Destruction is all powerful and blah blah blah that it gets me worked up.

Dvius: Oh I agree. I'm East coast, so while the initial attack on our keep happened between 7-9pm eastern (I've been sick so forget the exact time) we started pushing back, and the adrenaline just kept people going. It wore off for me, and I passed out about 2am, but obviously it didn't wear off for everyone else. My guildies tried to call me at 4am and wake me for Altdorf, but I was passed out.

As for the threads, both sides have been doing their **** talking, so all I can say is, bugged or not, Destruction made it to Altdorf. Order has a chance, but they've had more bugs. Now we're both bugged, so until Mythic fixes Volkmar, the war is at a stalemate.

Noun: Fair enough. I'll see you soon. :stretcher:

Q: As destruction and a guild leader, how is communication between other players and guilds?

Dvius: I think on Destruction side on Volkmar we have a unique situation. The top 3 Destruction guilds: Carnage, Paragon and Sadistic Tendencies communicate a lot. We all realized that none of us could consistently make pushes to Altdorf if we don't work together. We don't have any alliances setup, but we all have each other's Ventrilo info, we talk regularly and work together well. Now don't get me wrong, we're all competitive too. We all want to be #1, actions will declare who it is over time but no one will get that chance if we don't agree to work together. As for other players, it depends. Most of the tells I get is about gear or specs and I haven't had many issues with random players crying at me because one of my guildies hurt their feelings. But, I keep the tissues handy at all times.

Noun: There’s a fair share of “all-in-good-fun” **** talking on Order side, how’s it like over on the gloomy and depressing?

Dvius: Oh we have our fair share of bad blood. We just do a better job of keeping it in house I guess. There's always going to be some tension when there's world and server firsts at stake, but if you're mature enough to know that your legacy will be defined by your actions then you kind of just take things in stride and try not to burn any bridges. In WAR, you need a united front to be able to push the lines. On Volkmar, we have the best destruction and best order guilds competing day after day. The cream will rise to the top, regardless of how we feel about it. Listening to the public love of the Order guilds towards each other definitely makes me smile, so it’s not as gloomy and depressing as you might think.

Noun: Something I’ve found funny is that I get in **** with Order guilds more than I do with Destruction guilds. While it’s not total war and I tend to remain neutral when all is said and done, there is a huge variance of competition. I’m sure this is similar with other servers, do you think fighting with guilds on your faction is healthy or not?

Dvius: It depends. I think in the early stages of the game, too much fighting can make it easier for the other side to progress. Right now, numbers is key. Once more get geared, skill, organization and communications will be the key. If you can't get people to come defend or take a fortress, you're going to end up on the losing side.

Q: Some have speculated that Volkmar is the worst server to be on as Destruction, what are your opinions on this?

Dvius: If by that you mean that we actually have competition, than no, I think it’s the best. We have to work for each win. There's nothing easy about it. If a player wants to roll a destruction player and walk right into Altdorf, then Volkmar isn't the server for you. If you want to work late and hard to get to Altdorf, Volkmar is the only server to be on. Order is very capable of pushing to the Inevitable City. Chaos Wastes was bugged early, and we mounted a well organized defense before our push to Altdorf. I have no doubt we'll have a chance to defend IC someday, but we're not going to make it easy for them.

Q: Are there any guilds or players on either side of the server that stand out?

Dvius: Leaving ST out of the equation, Paragon and Carnage stand out on destruction side. I'll mention alphabet soup, aka Rollface, aka Maeowifjswhatever, but I can't spell the ****. Order guilds, HA, even though i think the Alpha merger will make things harder for them in the long, Combine, BoW and Black Mesa. I was a member of BoW back in EQ1 on Torv, so memories make those kills so much better. BM just because of Milty the bit! :p BM has always put up a good fight, regardless of the outcome.

Players...
Destro: Almighty, best Chosen tank right now, hands down. Cohh, makes people follow through shout, which I never thought could be possible.

Order: Sol, most annoying healer to try to bring down. Knows his ****. Milty....he burns, and I can't wait for resists to be fixed. There's alot more, but we'll have to save those for another time...

Noun: pancake you didn't mention Noun. What the ****.

That concludes this week's hot-seat. A big thank you goes out to Dvius and Sadistic Tendencies!
 
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