Dungeons for Dummies

 

"For the first time, players can engage in Public Quests™; these community driven PvE quests help to advance the game's story and allow all allied players within a certain location to participate in an ongoing, multi-stage battle. This is an example of how every aspect of the game, including PvE content, is geared towards the greater war in some important way. Players are not required to participate in PvP combat, and may aid in the RvR war effort and enjoy the game in its entirety via PvE content." 

WAR promised us a complete content for PvP / RvR lovers, but also for the PvE community. I won't argue on the Realm vs Realm (RvR) content as it is already known : Please have a look at this article (in French). We also know how the Public Quests are working : they require player cooperation in order to vainquish all the monsters and Bosses in open fields.

In this matter, WAR will provide a lot of activities and one of them is the exploration of the Old World's Dungeons. This article will then overlook all the offered gaming possibilities for one or several groups of six players : you will have the opportunity to run through dark dungeons or sewers in order to grab all the possible Treasures you always dreamed of. Let's the Adventure begin...

What is a Dungeon ?

For MMO newcomers, a dungeon is a kind of maze filled in with a lot of monsters and enigmas, with big badass bosses to kill. In general, you have to bring well-prepared dudes with you if you want to have a chance to meet all the challenges.

Why should I roam into Dungeons ?

• For the pleasure of exploration,
• For the opportunity of unlocking new Tome of Knowledge's Titles,
• For the difficulty and the challenge,
• For the great loots provided by the Bosses,
• For upgrading your equipment at low costs with your friends,
• Alternate the pleasure of the game between RvR and Dungeon roaming.

That is it! I can't wait for it!  

How will the Dungeons work in WAR ?

We don't have tons of informations at the moment about the Dungeons, however, here is a list of things that I grabbed from different sources (so that can change at release) :

• Several quests will send players to places where they can explore dungeons through role-play histories (e.g. : in the « Blow Hole » tavern, people will ask you to investigate the sewers of Altdorf). Some quests will also be available to players for most of the dungeons.
• Dungeons will not all be instanced : that means that they will mostly be in open areas and opened under conditions. Everybody would help each other in order to get through the mobs until they arrive to the Boss. The different groups would have the opportunity to fight the Boss in their own instances. The other hypothesis is that (more likely) there are Public Quests in open dungeons like the one with Lord Vampire Neborhest.
• The PvE raid groups would be limited to major events like the fights against the Kings of the six Capital cities. That certainly means that all dungeons in WAR would be for groups of six players only (or maybe 12?), but the only except would be the King fight where a raid of 24 well-equiped players is needed.

Where can we find those Dungeons ?

There would be different kind of dungeons :

• The dungeons which are melt with Public Quests in open field areas : could be found everywhere if the IP allows nice stories (ie. where a big interesting quest can be held and implying some well-known characters of Warhammer).

  

"Order players will find the Vampire Lord Neborhest’s tower amidst Mourkain ruins in the Marshes of Madness. Inside they will face many enemies including the long-dead, infamous Orc Warlord, Dork Redeye, risen again as an undead construct, and, of course, the Vampire Lord himself." 

• The Lairs (hidden and unknown dungeons which are less bigger in size than the common epic dungeons) can be found by chance when you explore the world (they are not mentionned anywhere on the maps nor via the quests) and they could be unlocked by actions of players. There would be enough lairs in the Old World to be discovered by explorators. There will be bosses to kill inside, that is the reward. Nonetheless, don't forget to bring in friends because being alone could mean suicide.

"Where can you find these lairs? Well, we are situating lairs all across the game world in locations close to and far from roadways normally traveled. You could find them at the top of a high mountain, deep within a forest, or along the coast. A lair could also reside deep within a dungeon or in the basement of a seemingly unimpressive building." 

• The instanced Dungeons in each realms from tiers 3 to tiers 4: their number is actually unknown but the developpers have mentionned : « Mount Gunbad » or « Bastion Stair ».

That is a Chaos Forteress controlled by Khorn, the God of Blood. A mighty Chaos portal is threatening the world of Warhammer. This dungeon is under repeated attacks from the realms of Order who want to stop its increasing influence. The forces of Destruction also wish to capture it in order to use its powerfull dark powers for themselves. However, they will each face with deamons of Khorn, mighty Blood Thirsters and the champions of Khorn, the Slauriths. That is not a RvR dungeon !

• The instanced Dungeons of the Capital Cities : they represent the biggest dungeons before the battle with the kings. So, there will be 3 big dungeons in each Capital cities, which are numbered of 18 high-end dungeons. Jeff Hickman mentionned the fact that these are extremely difficult for a group of 6 players. However, the challenge is awesome and the loots will be very interesting. Beware that those dungeons will only be available if the city rank is quite high (rank can go from 1 to 5). The ennemy realms will not be able to roam in these dungeons unless they succeed in the Capital city seige.
  • Altdorf (Empire) : The Sewers with Skavens, The Sigmar Crypts, The Warpstone Tunnels.
  • Inevitable City (Chaos) : the three dungeons will have their own themes implying the Chaos gods like Slaneesh, Khorn, Nurgle...
  • Lothern (High-Elves) : «Lost Vale»...etc
  • [...]

 

• The RvR Dungeons : that is actually a rumour (as there is no official update on this)... there would be several of them and would allow players from all realms to enter and beat each others in it while killing mobs. Everybody is expecting this kind of dungeon as it was part of the success of Dark Age of Camelot (remember the Darkness Fall RvR dungeon, where people could kill Deamon Princes and play RvR at the same time whenever the other realm had gained the control of its entrance...).

• The King fight : if you succeed in unlocking the King event in Capital city, you wll be able to form a 24-man raid and fight the king in an instance.

That's all for now, Napoleon! 

The progression in the game will allow players to play only RvR, only PvE or mixed activities. That would a pity to miss one of these aspects of the game at higher levels.

To resume, you will have to roam the easiest dungeons in order to grab some gears and then go to the higher difficult ones. E.g. : Public quests and Lairs => then go to Tier 3 & 4 Dungeons (Bastion Stair...) => and then do Capital cities dungeons => and last but not least, the fight against the Kings.

Jeff Hickman, during the Press event Tour in Paris (26th march 2008), has mentionned that if you want to beat the Kings, you will have to get either RvR gears (e.g. chests from the Keep Lords or stuff from the reknown ranks), or PvE gears from dungeons. So, don't be scared as you have the opportunity to get equivalent stuff / gears from RvR or PvE. The best would be to mix the two of them for more gaming immersion.

Article written by Romeo Knight - WAR-JoL (27/04/2008). Thanks to the pals from the staff for the help.
Sources : Interviews from Jeff Hickman, WAR-JoL forums, WHA forums, and official WAR-GOA site.