Tonight on Averheim, Destruction took another shot at Altdorf. In fact the battle rages as I type this (slain by the bedtime monster!).

I was determined to get involved, so off I went, a mighty rank 15 Witch Hunter ready to kick some Destruction ass!

OK not really. I knew I wouldn’t be any help but just wanted to see how things worked. The first challenge was getting to the battle. At first the fight was in Stonewatch, and I was still trying to figure out how to get there when Destruction moved on Reikland. I had come out the exit in the slums of Altdorf (the back exit, I believe) and crossed through the Heinrich Estate to the walls, except I was on the wrong side of it!

Luckily I found a Postern Gate and got in, then up on the walls. Destruction already had a ram on the main gate. I got close enough to pew pew with my pistol, but the best that did was earn me a scalding from some finger waggler. I had to run for my life and heal up.

I was looking at the map and talking to a guildie when the gate came down, and Destruction didn’t bother to stop to kill a level 15 on the walls. I closed the map and found myself alone on the walls. I manned an Organ Gun and for a while used it on incoming destruction reinforcements.

So the first thing I learned… if you have low level guildies who want to defend, let them take control of a siege weapon and they can make a meaningful contribution.

That said, a single siege weapon wasn’t killing anyone and we all know how fast one heals in WAR, so I judge my efforts there futile. I jumped down off the walls and ran up to the Destruction Horde pounding on the door of the keep. I shot one, and he turned and came after me. A level 40 marauder named Nobody. I fled of course, out through the gates, getting hung up for precious seconds on their abandoned battering ram. It was enough for Nobody to catch me and soon I was releasing back to a warcamp.

For some reason this was a camp at the other end of the zone. Rather than run back I flew into Altdorf and came out the main entrance and ran towards the battle. I ran around a corner and right into a marauder who more or less 1 shotted me. As I looked up I saw that it was… Nobody!!
I had to laugh, I’d taken the big circular route around the battlefield and came back to run into the same darned guy.

Next trip, I ran the length of the zone, getting a look at the lay of the land. Took me quite a while…

Thing two I learned. Fly to Altdorf and run out, it’s much faster.

..and soon I was back at the Postern Gate and slinking through. I ran all the way back into Altdorf to catch my breath, then back into the fray, ducking between some High Elves in full armor (I should note that there were open Warbands but I didn’t want some healer wasting their healing juice trying to keep a level 15 alive, so I remained solo.).

Suddenly the elves reversed direction and about trampled me. I rolled out of the way, jumped to my feet and followed them to… a sewer opening? People were clustering around it, pushing to get through. I followed, elbowing a dwarf in the head in order to cut in front of him. Inside was a claustrophobic spiral staircase, up I went, and popped out to face grim Order faces looking at me. Before I could ask “S’up Doodes?” I started taking damage. As I ran I glanced behind me…there were like 10 Destruction troops standing there… sneaky Destruction types, they were clonking people on the head as they emerged from the stairwell.

It was getting late and I’d learned a couple of things so I called it a night.

I can’t wait to get a few more levels so I can get into these battles in a meaningful way. Right now, in spite of what anyone tells you, there’s darned little a Tier 2 player can do, short of manning a siege weapon (It occurs to me that this might not be as true with Healers). A good tight warband of Tier 2 players could in theory act as a harrying force, but they’d have to be players that didn’t mind getting killed over and over again, and have a couple of healers hidden somewhere just to do resurrections.

But practically speaking, it makes more sense to spend your time gaining levels vs throwing yourself at much players twice+ your level.

And here’s where my personal weirdness comes out. I had a BLAST going out to defend Altdorf!! Being in a group of 20-30 players all running out to fight the enemy was great fun in DAoC and its great fun here, too.

Yeah, Altdorf might fall tonight, who knows? I don’t honestly care that much. What I care about is that the battle was fun. If it was fun at level 15, I can’t imagine how great it’ll be at 30 or 40! And I also care that Order was reacting and organizing. There are players on the Order side who want to put up a good fight.

I’m excited about the future of WAR, and I’m glad to be on Averheim. It’s a great server to play Order on.

And on the off chance that Nobody reads this (as opposed to the usual nobody reading it) I have to ask, and be honest. You came after me cuz I was so damned flash, didn’t ya!?? 🙂 I mean, what self-respecting Marauder could resist taking a shot at the Witch Hunter in the purple armor!!?

Update: Saylah hung around for the whole battle. Read her account here: Order on Averheim say, “No, you can’t take it during prime time!”