On AP Regen

2009-10-21T09:27:00.003+08:00

There are now a discussion thread on AP regen on the official forums.

From 1.3.1, there has been a problem with AP regen, with everyone effectively having unlimited AP regen.
It's until a day ago when Mythic implemented a fix for the regen problem, and surprisingly for me the player reaction so far is very divided. Some don't like the change, citing it came out of the blue without any testing on the PTS, while others hate the change because they think the changed combat is too slow and threaten to cancel.
This latter opinion is what initially shocked me, but I have to say I wasn't really surprised after thinking about it. It's just a matter of habit, for people who started playing after 1.3.1, or people whose class have a number of high AP abilities, having unlimited AP is easy to get used to. It is kind of like cheat codes in single player games - once you have "tasted the power", it is hard to go back down. It's really not that different from being nerfed.

Musings aside, what interests me is the mechanic itself. The AP regen system as I remembered is this:
0 AP during GCD and channeling
normal AP during casting, autoattacks and when not doing anything in combat
fast AP when out of combat

And in this post, EricS mentioned Mythic's intentional AP regen system:

AP Regen Rules and Regulations:

AP Does NOT Regen When:

- During Channeled Spells

- During Ability Cast Times

- During GCD

AP Regens:

- After a GCD

- When not using abilities

- During Auto Attacks

- Eric

So either I remember it wrongly, or Mythic's AP regen system is not what they expected since launch.
This is very interesting, because AP regen system has very far-reaching consequences on all classes. If they changed abilities with a "broken" AP regen model in mind, they would have to be changed back after fixing the AP regen. One example is the spam ability of SH/SW, Plink and Eagle Eye. Their AP costs were increase in 1.3.2. With the fix yesterday, some are reporting they are unable to fire more than 3 or 4 before they have to wait for regen again, as opposed to spamming it indefinitely. If you can't spam a spam ability, then the builds have to be adjusted, and that would be uncomfortable for many players, and the balance would be further affected.

In my opinion, what Mythic should do is to collect info for around a week, and be ready with an announcement. The info they should focus on should be:
- how "spammable" are the spam abilities now? Especially for classes whose abilities got their AP cost increased. This includes DPS and healer classes.
- how effective are classes with AP regen abilities as opposed to those who don't? Classes like BW/Sorc can gain AP relatively easily, WP/DOK have always been managing their AP, and tanks in general are less taxing in terms of AP. Other classes would have a more difficult time face with this change, and thus need more information on how they fare.
- do this change have an effect on the TTK in general? If not, it means there are more problems than AP regen, and making the change might not be the best solution to push forward.

The Beginning

2009-06-27T20:11:00.005+08:00

I am always very interested in the metagame aspect of gaming, maybe because once I wanted to be a game developer. Warhammer Online is one of the stops on my 10+ years of online gaming experience, and I have a sudden urge to public write about it.

Warhammer Online is an online RPG developed by EA Mythic, using the IP of Game Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy license. So far it is a tale of rises and falls, delivering on some aspects while failing in other. Some like them for the RvR - the fighting between two realms that go from the first level to the endgame, or presenting a beautiful world set in Warhammer lore. Some hate it for its performance issues, bugs and imbalances, in career and in population. But 9 months after release of the game, complete information on certain game aspects are already hard to come by. Warwiki is a good reference for addon makers, while HammerWiki is a update source for most of the mechanics, I feel that maybe there are some gaps, some basic things that I can talk about here, in this blog.

English is not my first language, and I am not well versed in every aspect of the game, but like a lot of bloggers, I feel the need to express myself. And I hope to leave some records on how the game change over the years, or for as long as I have to drive to do so. I don't claim to know the life cycle of a online game, but I hope, when the readers see the posts on this blog, they can catch a glimpse of the evolving of a MMORPG.

Of course, there would be things of a personal interest too. They will be in a separate category, hopefully not to derailment to the point of the blog.

This is my first time in really doing a blog, so all kinds of criticism are welcome. Hopefully something interesting can come out of this.

The Lost Tome of Warhammer Online

On AP Regen

The Beginning