New Info on Warhammer Online

entropi

As Taken from VNBoards :

Folks,

As promised, here’s my August update on the state of Mythic’s Warhammer MMORPG.

1) We have received approval from GW on the initial game design for the game. What this means for Mythic is two-fold. First, we have created an initial design that the GW guys actually like and are excited at the thought of seeing online. Comments such as “The only thing I don’t like about it is that we have to wait two years to play it!” have made the Mythic team smile from ear-to-ear. Secondly, It means that work can begin at full-speed on certain parts of the approved material. Thus, I can say without any doubt that we are right on schedule.

2) The game will take place “out-of-time” with all the current GW material. With GW’s help, Mythic will sketch out a new time period for the game’s setting. This will allow the teams more freedom in creating content that is tailor-made for this game without worrying about contradicting existing GW material.

3) The game will be heavily-Warhammer. Not heavily-influenced by WH, not flavored with juicy bits of WH, but heavily-Warhammer. We are drawing on all the WH fantasy material no matter whether it comes from the Warhammer Fantasy Battles or Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, etc. We will be pulling in as much material as we can in order not only to create a great game but to create a great WH game. An example of this would be our implementation of the Career System from the WFRP or using a particularly iconic High Elf unit within th

e game as something the player can aspire to become.

4) The game will be RvR-centric, focused on the ongoing battles between three separate groups (more information on these groups down the road).

5) The playable races that will be represented in the game are Humans (Empire), High Elves, Dwarves, Dark Elves, Chaos (more to come on this, sorry for being vague), Orcs and Goblins. While we want to do almost all the other races (except Halflings, who are a race best served over a net at about 100MPH), we don’t want to overreach right from the beginning. We plan on, of course, expansion packs that will bring the other races into the mix down the road. Not having Skaven, Vampire Counts, Tomb Kings, etc. in right from the beginning was not an easy decision but the important thing is to bring in enough races to make it fun but to do so in a way that allows us to more easily balance the game and create specific content for the races that is both fun and true to WH. The temptation to add more races is quite strong but our goal with this game is not to try to impress the player with how much stuff we can throw at you but rather we want to impress you with what we do throw at you (we only choose the best rotten and decaying food substances to toss at you!). In other words, quality not quantity.

6) GW has been very kind and extremely helpful in sharing their knowledge, thoughts, ideas and most importantly, access to Bugman’s Bar, as the project continues to evolve. We have been fortunate enough to work with folks such as Rick Priestley, Alan Merrett, Gav Thorpe, John Blanche and others (the list goes on and on) right from the beginning. The GW people are also continuing to be part of the development process as they continue to share their input with us. The best part of this is that it is a collaborative effort with both sides focused on one goal, to create the best RvR-centric MMORPG to date. We have been fortunate to work with great licenses and licensors in the past but GW has taken the crown (and the throne, the jewels and a serving wench or two as well, damn them!). The approval process has been run professionally and in a timely manner and that, in and of itself, would give GW the crown. However, when you throw in the fact that when this game is released it will not only be GW approved but it will contain lots of new bits that GW has created for use in this game, it is clear that working with these guys has been nothing less than glorious.

7) Magic will play a large role in the game. We are taking all the material contained in the IP and expanding on it while maintaining the core WH magic system. I know that some people here are hoping that magic would be less of a role in this MMORPG than other MMORPGs but as GW would tell you, magic is everywhere in the world of Warhammer. Make no mistake about it, magic will play a great role in the game but it will be WH magic, not D&D magic.

8) The RvR and combat systems in this game will not be DAoC2. While I don’t want to go into details now (for competitive reasons), what we are creating for this game is tailored to this game, to the IP and to make this a next-generation game.

9) Our artists have, so far, created and nailed (from a WH perspective) a great look for this game. While we have quite a ways to go our guys have, I think, even surprised GW a little bit in how quickly we have grasped the WH IP. With all the input we got from our last trip to GW, I expect that both WH fans and gamers new to the IP will love the look of the game. While we are not ready to post anything yet, I can tell you that the look is not a clone of World of Warcraft but neither is it a clone of Dark Age of Camelot. The look is unique to this game and very, very WH (okay, I’ll tell you this much, our concept art for the Dwarf showed him with a beer mug in one hand ).

10) With the postponement of Imperator and the fact that DAoC’s next expansion in coming out soon, we will be able to almost fully staff the WH team ahead of schedule. What this means is that we will be able to make a big splash at E3 2006.

So, that’s it for now. I’ll be back on these boards in September with more news and updates.


Mark

Now if this game goes all to plan, it will destroy all in it's path .. can you just imagine the amount of migration that will draw people to this game... and the fact that WH players will have an MMORPG to support what they would like to see in the game hehe , definately promising news

Venom

I really do hope they can pull it off and not just turn out another EQ clone. " years is a damm long time tho and i get a nasty feeling it may look dated when realeased.

Having seen alot of demo's of the last WH MMORPG I was shocked to see it fall in vaporware. Has there ever been a proper reason given as to why it got the chop?

hairyheretic

You can play Chaos, excellent

Has anyone else signed up for the newsletter? I did, but haven't got anything yet (not even a signup confirmation, which is a bit odd).

What site did that info come from?

And when can we expect the beta?

entropi

Well, beta... won't be seeing that for over a year i'd guess as Mythic have only recently begun heavily working on the game as they canned Imperator , which means they have a whole team dedicated to it, and after the new DAOC expansion is released , they'll send some of that team to help also.

As for the place i got the link, here's a link directly to the WH board there Clicky

Memnoch

daoc was a great game in many ways. It's dying now and has been for a while esp since wow came out. It's clear that WHonline is basically DAOC II. Because mythic would never make a game to compete with DAOC unless they knew that DAOC was finished, and WHonline builds on their successful formula that they had in daoc of RvR and to date that's a part of the MMORPG market that no one else has really been able to hone in on. Imperator would have been an EQ clone, and that's why it flopped.

Go on and take a look at MMORPG.com. And count the number of games offering "unrivalled graphics, a massive world, great quests and unique items, an ingenious crafting system with a player driven economy" and so on and so forth. But they are all basically the same, they are clones.

This kind of thing works well in normal games. Because normal games have a finite life span and usually a finite story to them. You play it from beginning to end and then u get the next one. Therefore it doesn't matter that strategy games are similar or that FPS games are similar or action adventure. However with MMO's the lifespan of the game is much much longer, as is the development cost. Since players spend much more time on a single game and devote themselves to developing their charecter in it, it means they are less reluctant to try out other MMORPGs, which makes competition within the genre that much stiffer, despite a growing market.

This is why whenever I hear about another PvE mmorpg, i go "meh, what retard is gonna buy that". "what's sOooooO different about the game play in this compared to the 50 million other EQ clones out there with their endless mantra's of more cash and more loot and more exp carrot on a stick cyclic grinding". WoW was refreshing in it's raid instance content to an extent, but ultimately it too falls pray to the same thing.

In the end the only thing that can provide TRULEY refreshing content time and time and time again, is something that challenges you and changes and adapts. Only another human player can do that. And that's why multiplayer games have the greatest longevity, because of the competition and because of the opponent. Because there is so much more satisfaction in defeating someone who you know is more intelligent than a few pre-defined parameters.

It's the reason why games like Warcraft 3, Starcraft and counter strike are still played my countless players over and over throughout the world online so many years after their release. The kind of longevity that comes from human compeition just cannot be mimiced by anything else.

This is why I stopped following Star Trek online when they declared it would be PvE focussed, because i know that ultimately it's a boring world.

Unfortuantely in today's age a lot of companies are catering to the average masses. And the average masses seem quite moronic, the americans especially. They are happy to beat up the same monster over and over endlessly for sword of doom x no matter what.

Now don't get me wrong, I like uber loot as much as the next bloke, but I only like it because i think it will give me an edge where it counts, against other players. If it was just an endless cycle of uber loot like EQ or to a lesser extent WoW then I'd just get bored. Same also if u ended up having to spend more time in PvE to be competetive in PvP than u actually spent PvPing.

This was where daoc was unique, at least till Trials of Lameness came out. and this is hopefully where WHO will be unique in the market.

Hopefully as more and more MMORPG gamers mature, and get past their first game. THey will have tired of the same repetitive grind and look for something refreshing, and challenging, and that's something that only a game like WHO can offer.

Ivan

Jebus Memnoch, did you get a job working on WHO recently or something?

Memnoch

na,
but I've never been able to recapture the fun I had in RvR in DAOC in any MMO that i've played since
also my rant was more aimed against PvE games than in "support" of WHO