Last Orders

No, no.. Not the remains of Order (of which there are plenty still infesting the land) but the signal to end Keg End, Warhammer New Year Live Event. Another year done, more beer drunk and more fireworks than you can stick up a stunty.

Overall I think it was an average even for WAR. Nothing really special to remember it by this year but nothing that made me swear (too much)


Da Gud...
Black Fire Basin: Welcome return for this scenario I haven't seen since.. Oooh... tier three over a year ago. With the bonus renown and a new central flag mechanic I really enjoyed it when this scenario popped. Of course, the wintery theme to it just added to the year end feel.
Tasks showing what you need: Toast 12 allied careers... Ok I have 11, what am I missing? Simply click the task and it now shows you exactly without any fuss. Other live events have shown you by hiding it away in the tome but this year was the first (that I remember) which made the information easy to hand
Party Kegs: Nice idea, and seems there's a desire by engineers and Magi to allow them to have an ability which is much the same to let them build barricades. This needs to be fleshed out a bit more and made so it's not exploitable (build only where you can mount for example, and must be destroyable by the enemy).

Da Bad...
Fecken Giants: I solo killed 20 of them, group killed another 5 and didn't see a single goblin beer carrier :( Now it's ONLY 25 mobs killed, but keep in mind that one spawns per zone, in the RvR area and it's on a 90+ minute respawn in one area which everyone knows about. I just couldn't face waiting for hours for one mob to get some fireworks for my effort anymore... Very disappointed.
Event Rewards: The trophy was the same as last year, at least they could have coloured it differently or made it have a different name to indicate it was a different years. The keg was nice but only active for a few days and the event item only lasts until the next event and is just another couple of stats. There's nothing there that says "I did Keg End 2009/10" other than the 'Broo Dog' title.
The Keg End Tasks: Mehhhhhhhh..... Kill 50 (three times), boast (twelve times), toast (twelve times), set off (lots) of fireworks. Really unimaginative and just involves spamming a few times or just a night in the lakes/scenarios. Could have done with some more exploring ones or more special things to do.

Overall I'd put it towards the lower end of the live events Mythic have done, it was entirely forgettable and can't say I'll be mentioning it a few months down the line.

Looking over the next few weeks

Things in WAR will no doubt slow down over the inevitable winter festivities. Mythic will be heading home for some well deserved rest. Guilds will go quiet as people remember the little Snotlings they need to pay attention to and all those Dwarfs get fatter as they gorge themselves on Turkey and beer (mmmmm) and can't move off the sofa.

So what do we have to look forward to in WAR over the next month or so?

Will the most important thing is KEG END our traditional winter festivities (and I must have a gobbo bar back) It went down a storm last year, partly I believe due to the grindy nature of the event so that when the war front was quiet, there was plenty to do.

Looking further ahead we should be expecting 1.3.4 (unless they shift it to 1.4 if it's fairly major changes) I'd guess around the end of February. If this comes with the expected class balances (amusingly we had a scenario last night where 4 classes represented all 12 Order. Slayer, Warrior Priest, Bright Wizard and Knight, which also seems to represent the vast majority of classes in an order warband as well. I'm hoping to Gork as well that they add in the extra influence rewards or other weapon drops etc as well to RvR to give a bit more drive to get to the lakes.

Somewhere floating around Keg End and the Night of Murder live events we should find Scurvy Dogs as well, I'd expect it to be after the Night of Murder but if it's between and with a possibility of 1.3.4 in the first couple of months we could have a VERY busy new year !

Of course, my predictions aren't exactly known to be very accurate