Game Musketeers was able to be privy to another Conference call with the Executive Producer and Creaive Director of Mythic Entertainement MMOG Warhammer Online a MMOG conversion of Games Workshop's venerable hobby franchise.
The conference included Jeff Hickman, Excutive Producer. Paul Barnett, Creative Director and Josh Dresher, World Aspiring Genius(tm).
I took the time to transcribe and paraphrase, when necessary the contents of this call which was to explain the Introduction of WAR's Chaos and Empire's Armies.
The Empire and Chaos are humanity in its two forms.
The Empire represents humanity trying to makes ends meets and struggling to survive in a world of grim darkness (i.e. the mostly good guys). Empire is a Medieval Germanic Europe society struggling for survival. Chaos and Evil is pushing in on all sides and as such they are just barely hanging on.
Chaos represent humanity (WITH TENTACLES!!!) corrupted by Chaos (i.e. the really bad guys).
I have included a "mostly" accurate transcription of the numerous questions asked and answered by the Mythic crew.
General Overview of the Empire and Chaos Career Paths
Careers for the Empire include Witch Hunter, Bright Wizards who specialize in Fire Magic, Warrior Priest of Sigmar whose healing and "faith" are enhanced on the battlefield and Knights of the Blazing Sun. These classes fulfill the Tanker, Ranged DPS, Melee DPS, Healing/Fighter , and Nuke/Fighter Roles of the Empire Army.
Chaos is Humanity gone bad and corrupted by Chaos.
Chaos has Marauders, huge vikings types whose bodies and arms are living weapons twisted by Chaos energy. Claws, Hammers and TENTACLES!!! are theres to command in melee combat. The Chosen, armored behemoth Chaos Knights. Zealots, using light weapons and enchantments who act as healers for the Chaos army and lastly the Magus Sorcerers, who hovers on a floating disc of Chaos hurling lightning and other Chaotic magicks upon their foes.
What kind of "trophies" will there be for Empire and Chaos.
Skulls from your fallen foes and random trophy drops of your fallen foes equipment.
If a Chaos Magus is always on a disc how will it affect their mounts?
The disc will act as a mount.
How do Empire and Chaos characters change as they get more powerful.
Equipment and various RvR trophies will be used to differentiate the power levels of humanity.
Can you give a scenario for the Empire and Chaos armies?
For the Empire imagine:
Northern Fortress, which is a ancient ruined Outpost battleground with water assaults and close combat amongst ruined buildings on the way across a large open field where a much larger Empire Fortress awaits (picture the open field in LoTR and Minas Tirith)
For the Chaos side imagine:
66 Hell Canons, everyone is in Chaos collapsed city. Screams of the damned haunt everyone as they fight in a ruined cityscape of cursed souls. Oh yea I would think a fort with a bunch a cannon's would also be present to add to explosive urban environment ala Saving Private Ryan
Can Casters cast on the run?
Casting requires concentration as such they will have to remain stationary, however they will be some insta cast spells included in WAR.
It has been stated that Gear will not be important for WAR how will loot distribution be handled?
Random drops will occur on random on MOBS. Quest rewards can be gained in PQ's and drops from RvR and capital city loot piles are also available. Rewards for capturing a Cities King and other main enemy NPC's in will also be included.
Is open field RvR a dominating part of the greater war effort or is a larger emphasis on scenarios and instances?
There is a larger point value for scenarios however people will find battlefields are where the War is won or lost. These areas will be more compelling to the average user.
Are there any penalties for Death in PVE and/or PVP?
Currently there are no plans for experience or gold loss in PVE, there will be no constitution loss in PvP. There may or may not be rez sickness in PvP. All players will need to get used to Death. Dying is part of the game as such the main penalty for death will be time.
Are characters going to look different (i.e. no multiple clones are higher levels)
Yes the design crew has worked hard to vary characters designs and appearance. Between armor and trophy variations appearance should be individualized to the characters taste.
Do the zones change when the enemy has captured them?
So far discussions are in place to determine how much physical change, if any the zones will change.
However when a zone is under enemy control the player will know.
Are Chaos mutations permanent or temporary, will characters be able to choose their mutations and will it vary by player?
Some Chaos mutations are temporary, The Chaos Marauder will be primary beneficiary due to his weapon mutations and TENTACLES!!. Permanent mutations are still under discussion.
Are there going to areas designed to be RP hotspots?
The whole game is an RP hotspot.
Kate Black from Games Workshop, Brand Manager for War Hammer states:
"I'm really impressed, I really like what the Mythic guys have done, the game looks gorgeous they've really gotten the spirit of the races. Good Stuff!"
Will NPC have voices like EQ II or text boxes like WoW?
The NPC's will mainly use text boxes; they will have vocalizations for one line statements like insults.
How will you manage travel for characters?
Players will have personal transportation (mounts). Mass transportation using race/realm based transport. There will no visit path type system, so there will be no need to "hoof it" on foot to get to a new location, if it exist and has a transport path you can travel to it.
When does a public Beta start?
The game is still in internal beta, there has been no definitive date set for open beta.
Are Chaos abilities and quests going to look like everyone else’s, how weird will they get?
Chaos abilities will sound cool and look cool, abilities like chopping an arm off and mice pouring out instead of blood. Kate from Games Workshop is to present to the work with the designers on the types of things they need to do to add authenticity to the Chaos quest line. Mythic and Games Workshop are working closely together to capture the spirit of the Hobby game.
Witch Hunters can torment their victims and extract confessions, how can the user torment their heretical enemies?
From a gameplay standpoint, they can pick a target and "torture" it or they can extract a confession by beating a target until its "confession" meter maxes out at which time the creature "confesses" its Chaosness at which time everyone can pile on to deliver divine justice.
The discus, will it have special abilities (e.g. attack in melee).
The disc is a living entity summoned from chaos which is "barely" kept in check by the chaos sorcerer. The disc may turn on its master given any chance. The disc is floating demonic chaos shark devouring all it can.
As the sorcerer gets stronger and is able to control more Chaos the disc change will be able to do more and powerful things.
Can you shed light on what the Zealot tick?
The Zealot is a crazed Chaos fanatic. Who acts as the Chaos primary healer, but hey it looks wild and wields wicked daggers, and tribal feathers and all that jazz.
How difficult was the process to determine the career paths for Chaos and the Empire?
It was an excruciating and difficult process; we went for focused and targeted career system and used Games Workshop expertise and many roundtable discussions to narrow it down. It was so tough that for the next 10 years we will know all of our expansions because we left so much on the table.
Can you give us an example of something you've done to keep the interaction between the Magus and environment fluid. (E.g. on stairs)
The magus lives on the disc he will be on it for good or ill. He will ALWAYS be on that disc. If thats not good enough think of Marty McFly from Back to the Future and they damnable hoverboard of his.
[editor note: I doubt the Magus will be doing ollies]
How will LOS and WAR's collision detection work in combat?
There is no LOS blocking by other players. A player can block movement from another player, however you cannot block their attacks (i.e. ranged attacks would still hit the target(s) behind you)
Are you planning to allow guilds to take and holds and/or strategic positions such as in DAOC?
There are objectives that are claimable however they are done for the realm and not for the guild.
While WAR will share some similarities with DAOC there are many differences.
How will the environment affect RvR (i.e. lava, falling, water, etc)
The environment will affect you based upon where you are. Scenarios will have running water, cliffs, cannons, and other non-environmental factors, PC's can use the terrain and the environment to better attack and defend against their foes.
Will multiple monitors be supported?
That has yet to be determined.
Which of the two armies, Empire and Chaos, did the team enjoy working on and which brought out the most creativity?
Development was panting to work on Chaos from the day we started. Since no one wants to play evil the developers worked especially hard on the Chaos and Green Skin sides.
How will WAR compare to the other MMOG out there?
WAR is a new MMO that has outstanding features no one else can provide. WAR will be the total hobby experience.
Will you sink in water with your disc?
The short answer... no.
What steps will Mythic be implementing to prevent selling of WAR items for real money?
Mythic is whole heartedly against the practice. There will not be a change in that policy. There are systems going into place in the game to make sure it gets patrolled.
Since Chaos and Empire are 2 sides of the same coin are players going to be able to "switch sides"?
There will be no conversion of characters. Once your decision is made your lot is chosen. However you can play on seperate server to get the gameplay experience of the opposite side.
Do Witch Hunters start with the hat?
While it is not included in your beginner gear it will be acquired fairly early in your career.
Will we see any famous characters from the War Hammer Lore as NPC's?
You will see players from War Hammer Lore and you will be able to engage and fight them.
Games Workshop signed off on this and fully backs it.
Will the Magus be able to summon creatures?
The Sorcerer will not be a summoning pet class
Will WAR quests be dynamic (e.g. you can keep the quest item or turn it in for the quest reward)?
Currently we cannot give an answer to give it justice at this point. The primary focus is on public quests (PQ's) since that will set us apart from other MMOG's.
What is the server structure going to be like?
The server system will be like DAOC with various community servers, there will be no super server that holds the entire population. We want a stable and fun environment for the players to enjoy.
How will the emotes system work?
The audible emotes will include all the noises and sounds you would expect for the associated emote (so bodily functions galore)
The people at Mythic seem to be heavily excited about the upcoming release of their newest MMOG offering. With attention to detail and a dedicated staff the Games Workshop minature's game will do its creators proud.
For more information concerning Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Please visit them at: Warhammer Online Website
Screenshots:
Users' Comments
Average user rating
Display 3 of 3 comments
1.
08-12-2008 07:28
I heard that wow is getting more and more costly these days....are you spending money for a game?.... I am more into free registration and interesting games....Facebook offers various applications that you can enjoy....as for me, the game I am playing now is Realm of Empires and it's getting much popularity in Facebook now so I am happy with the way this game is becoming....
Game Musketeers was able to be privy to another Conference call with the Executive Producer and Creaive Director of Mythic Entertainement MMOG Warhammer Online a MMOG conversion of Games Workshop's venerable hobby franchise.
