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Faction Picking in RotWK - BlueKnight's Blog

By Phoenix - 29th June 2010 - 11:20 AM

A common debate that arises between Rise of the Witch-King players, especially on the official 2.01 patch, involves picked factions. It is well known to any who have played RotWK for some time that players have different opinions of what is lame, imbalanced, unfair, or just generally a thing to avoid in a competitive game. With seven different available factions and a "Random" option available, the choice can be hard to make, and every player has his own idea of what is best for a particular situation. Is the faction balanced? Is it overpowered or underpowered instead? Is it right to pick it when it will give you an easy or a difficult match-up? Is it just better to go for random? This blog will explain such questions and beliefs that players share regarding faction choice before a game, and why these beliefs developed. In addition, I will also explain my own preferences when it comes to faction picking.


Faction picking in 2.01


There is no doubt to myself that the issue of faction picking is far more controversial on the official patch than the more balanced unofficial 2.02 patch. The reason is obvious: with more bugs and imbalances hurting the game, there is a greater chance of certain factions being labeled as overpowered, underpowered, and generally "lame" or "cheap".

For instance, many players agree that the Dwarven faction is blatantly overpowered in 2.01. This I agree is definitely the case. No faction has as many overpowered units as the Dwarves. Their main melee infantry units, Guardians and Phalanxes, are slow, but they deal an extreme amount of damage and are hard to kill. But the "OP'ness" doesn't stop there. Dwarves also have a fantastic Inn unit, the ever so popular Men of Dale. Men of Dale aren't that overpowered by nature: they are an elite archer after all, and are therefore meant to be strong. But what if they're available early game? And what if they are the cheapest archer unit in the game? Sadly, this is the case with Men of Dale purchased from Inns. Dwarven Battlewagons are overpowered as well: they are simply too good at trampling and render almost useless factions such as Goblins, who rely on cheap swordsmen. Lastly, I will also mention that Dwarven heroes are overpowered as well. With all of these problems (and some more), many players consider it lame to even consider choosing Dwarves as your faction in a game. It is like fighting a medieval knight with a rocket launcher.

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Was the Fortress self-deleted or did it just fall really fast?

But the Dwarves aren't the only faction that can be considered overpowered. In fact, it is quite possible to argue that every faction is overpowered, or that every faction is underpowered. Take the Men of the West for instance. MotW are known for having a relatively weak early game; they're not a spam faction but their Gondor Soldiers aren't as strong as any other early good faction unit either. Their early spearmen are pretty terrible, sometimes incapable of killing a Cave Troll. Looking at these things, one may argue that MotW are underpowered and thus should not be picked. But MotW also have some strong weapons. Like the Dwarves, they too have access to elite archers from Inns, though they're a bit weaker and more expensive. These Dunedain Rangers however are still quite formidable. In addition, MotW have some rather useful heroes, especially Boromir and Theoden who can really change a game from early on. And of course, there's the amazing MotW cavalry:

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Good luck countering this...

If you look at the Knights of Dol Amroth, who can destroy a Fortress in several seconds and can easily be buffed with Rallying Call and Glorious Charge, it is easy to argue that MotW are overpowered.

Basically, every faction has some things that make them overpowered or underpowered. It is thus easy for a player to base his assumptions of which factions are best in certain situations on his own experience. Even "overpowered" factions are weak on certain maps or in certain match-ups, while "underpowered" factions can really shine in certain situations. My point is that it doesn't make sense to try to pass judgment over 2.01, on what is good and what isn't. I think it's wrong to exclude factions from games on purpose (except perhaps Dwarves, they just go too far) because it severely limits the playability of the game. As long as you're decent enough to know when to draw the line and not start abusing bugs or imbalances continuously, you can have a whole lot of fun by being less picky.