Update 1.1a hits us tomorrow folks! New incentives for oRvR, easier PQs, Chat Hyperlinking (my favorite update), and much more awaits us in this latest release:

With 1.1a, we have been working hard and listening to player feedback to make the great game of WAR even better. We’re proud to introduce to the game several exciting changes that have been long awaited!

Tomorrow, 12/11/08 Patch 1.1a will be released! All North American servers will be brought down at 7:00AM EST with Oceanic servers to follow at 9:00AM EST. We anticipate all servers to be online by 1:00PM EST.

Click "More..." below to view the update notes. We've also included them in our forums.

Key Features

With 1.1a, we have been working hard and listening to player feedback to make the great game of WAR even better. We’re proud to introduce to the game several exciting changes that have been long awaited!

Tomorrow, 12/11/08 Patch 1.1a will be released! All North American servers will be brought down at 7:00AM EST with Oceanic servers to follow at 9:00AM EST. We anticipate all servers to be online by 1:00PM EST.

New Careers

The valorous Knights of the Blazing Sun lead their allies into battle. These armor-clad warriors of Myrmidia combine strength and steel with a mastery of tactics and strategy, making them truly formidable adversaries on the battlefield.

Clad in forbidding black armor and wielding lethal halberds, the grim-visaged warriors of the Black Guard inspire dread in the enemies of the Dark Elves. These sworn protectors of the Witch King join the armies of Destruction, anchoring the lines of battle.

Open RvR Influence

One of the most recently requested items by our community has been incentives for open RvR, and now we’re proud to announce the first big step toward adding these incentives: Influence in open RvR areas!

By defeating enemy players in open RvR and helping to defend and capture Keeps and Battlefield Objectives, players can now earn Influence. Each Tier of each pairing has its own influence pool and rewards, for a total of 12 pools for each Realm. This Influence can be used at the newly-added Rally Masters in the appropriate Warcamps to earn gear and other RVR reward items, so get out there and gank the enemy!

Easier Public Quests

With 1.1, we are launching a new initiative to expand the scope of our Public Quest experience. Now, solo players and small groups can also participate in these unique and exciting encounters that are one of WAR's most innovative features.

* We have reviewed each Chapter in Tier 1, including all three racial pairings, and have altered one Public Quest in each Chapter (with the notable exception of Chapter One) to be suitable for 1-3 players. We have reduced the numbers on monster kill and gather counters, lowered the difficulty of the second- and third-stage enemies and bosses, and scaled down the rewards of these PQs correspondingly.

* The Public Quest interface which appears on the right side of the screen when a player enters a Public Quest area will now display which Public Quests are easier to complete.

* We will continue adjusting one Public Quest per Chapter through the remaining three Tiers in the weeks and months to come, so be sure to check the Warhammer Herald for updates on our progress!

Chat Hyperlinking

One of the most requested features from our players finally makes its debut: Chat Hyper Linking! Simply Shift Left-Click on an item, an ability in the ability window, a quest in the quest tracker, or even another player to place a hyperlink into the chat input window. Other players can click on the link to open a window displaying the item, ability, quest, or player information. Players can have as many unique windows open as they wish. Let the online item stat comparisons begin!

* Because of the addition of this new feature, splitting a stack, which used to require a Shift Left-Click action, now uses Shift Right-Click.

* Right-Clicking a player name in the chat window now brings up a context menu with options to ignore, add as friend, invite to group, inspect, target, etc: Pretty much every reasonable interaction you’ve ever wanted to have with a player speaking in a chat channel.

Armor Set Improvements

With this patch, we have worked hard to carry out a balance pass on all of the game's armor sets, and have adjusted the value and distribution of the stat bonuses on all set pieces. Here are some of the changes that we feel will improve the utility of these sets:

* Armor sets will now feature fewer stat bonuses per piece, but the stat bonus values on each piece will increase. Additionally, many sets will have individual pieces with decreased equip levels, meaning those pieces can be worn at an earlier rank than they previously could.

* Three armor sets (the Redeye set in Mount Gunbad, the Devastator set in tier 3 RvR and the Keeper set in the Sacellum and the Altdorf Sewers) have gained an additional piece

* The Sentinel Belt, the Conqueror Boots, the Invader Boots, and the Warlord Boots have been flagged as “Bind on Equip,” and most sets have seen an increase in their item power, particularly the endgame sets.

* As part of these changes, we have made some adjustments to the armor ward system. As before, players who are fighting a high-level boss monster will benefit from increased protection and will do more damage if they are wearing pieces of the appropriate set of high-level armor. The more pieces a player wears, the better their protection and damage dealt. Specifically, players wearing no pieces of the appropriate armor will be reduced to 40% of their normal damage output against the boss monster. This amount will increase by 15% for each set piece of appropriate armor worn.

* We have introduced a new Gold rarity color specifically for item sets to help them stand out in Public Quest loot bags, on merchants, and in player inventories.

* The above changes will work retroactively for all current armor set pieces in the game. No action is needed on the players' part to enact these changes.

Main Assist

In order to help groups feel more cohesive and assist in cooperation among group members, we have added this helpful new functionality. Here’s how it works:

* The leader of a group may designate a group member as the "main assist" player for that group. This status can only be changed by the group leader, and by the player who has been designated as the main assist player.

* By default, the leader of a group is set to be that group's main assist player when the group is first created.

* When a group contains a main assist player, a main assist button will be visible on the interface of each player in the group.

* When a player clicks on this button, that player's target will immediately change to match the current target of the main assist player.

* Assignment of the main assist designation can be done through the party context menu, or with the slash command /mainassist or /makemainassist .

* In scenarios, the main assist status is not given to anyone at party creation, but is instead up for claim to any player in the scenario group. When someone has claimed main assist, only that player can reassign it to someone else in the group.

Player Status

Introducing something the team is really excited to bring into the game: Player
statues. These statues are located in the War Quarter in Altdorf and in the Undercroft in Inevitable City, and have been enabled to display the top ten Renown Point earners of the previous week and the weekly top Renown Point earner of each realm for that server. If you are the best of the best for your realm, you will now have a representative statue (based on career and gender) with your name on it, making you an idol to millions (at least until someone dethrones you). More information will be posted in the Dev Diary this Friday on the Herald!

User Interface

Lots and lots of fixes, changes and new additions have been made to our user interface and API functionality. New additions have been made to the chat system and graphic options, including incorporating community-requested features, a channel flashing on activity, the ability to turn the chat bubbles on/off, a gamma slider and so much more.

Content

Whether it is new lairs, new quests and changes to items, this patch is full of lots of fun new content additions to the game. To read all of the details, check out the full 1.1a Patch Notes Tomorrow, 12/11!

Click here to view Update 1.1a at WAR Herald.