warcry
Latest
WAR's Swordmaster dances with swords
Warcry has the details from an EA newsletter about the Swordmaster class in the upcoming Warhammer Online. The class is apparently exclusive to High Elves, and combines grace, speed, and balance along with a big swinging sword and a little magic thrown in there. EA also says the Swordmasters are known for wielding the Great Sword of Hoeth, so does that mean you get one sword and keep it for your character's lifetime. Interesting.At any rate, it's cool to see that not only is Mythic digging deep into the existing Warhammer lore for their class definitions, but that they're using those same definitions to innovate the traditional MMO roles (the class sounds like melee DPS with a bit of magic to it, which is definitely cool). As you probably already know, the Warhammer closed beta is offline right now (and will be back on in December), but we're expecting the game later next year.
WarCry's "War on the Impossible" part 4 details EVE's Trinity expansion
The folks at CCP are nothing if not ambitious. They're more willing to take risks and try new things with EVE Online than a lot of other developers are with their respective games. So far it's paid off; EVE has a very large and passionate fan base. So large and passionate, in fact, that they annually hold a huge Fanfest in Reykjavik.We provided a list of all the best coverage of the event, but one item on the list stands out enough to warrant a plug of its own. WarCry has been rolling out a series of articles on EVE Online as coverage for this year's conference. All together it's called "The War on the Impossible" after CCP's new slogan. Part IV of this series was just launched. This time the focus is on the Trinity expansion, which includes a graphical overhaul, a revised voice chat system, and many new or tweaked gameplay elements.In case you missed the earlier articles; Part I was an introduction to CCP's big moves and plans for the game. Part II was about the panel debate between Richard Bartle and Jessica Mulligan on CCP's plans to democratize the world of EVE, and Part III described "Ambulation" in detail. The articles aren't purely informative; WarCry weighs the consequences of each change. If you play EVE, you'll find that this series is one of the best summaries of the changes on the horizon. If you don't play EVE, it's exciting reading anyway because of the audacity of some of CCP's plans.
Jesus Christ spotted in Tabula Rasa
Razor over at Razorwire experienced a surprising theophany in the world of Tabula Rasa. "I was playing Tabula Rasa last night," he said, "when a figure wearing battle armor and carrying a chain gun ran past me and my avatar provided the appropriate double-take for me. The character's name was Jesus Christ."Yes, Jesus Christ in Tabula Rasa. Obviously, Jesus Christ wasn't really playing Tabula Rasa (well, we assume he wasn't, anyway), but whether the use of the name amuses you, offends you, or both, it brings up some interesting questions about Tabula Rasa's naming policy -- questions Razor asks in his post. Give it a read. It's not super in-depth, but he points out that because Tabula Rasa is not a fantasy world like World of Warcraft or The Lord of the Rings Online, it uses a different naming policy. That policy opens the door to abuses that would have been nipped in the bud far earlier in those other titles.According to Razor there is unfortunately no way to report the name because the game's GM help features are still disabled.
Stargate Worlds features crafting tech trees, may see Atlantis expansion
Warcry caught up with Cheyenne Mountain's PR guy, Kevin Balentine, at E for All and drew a few answers out of him about the company's upcoming title Stargate Worlds. Balentine mostly played it close to his chest, but even though he spent some time covering stuff we already knew about the Goa'Uld, we did learn a few things.He talked about the challenges of adapting the Unreal Engine for use in an MMO. He then described crafting, which will apparently have players upgrading their gear with selections from different tech trees that correspond to the major races. Also, Cheyenne hopes to add new gate addresses on a regular basis, and to change the world(s) over time so that playing through from level one might be a very different experience the second or third time around.And the most interesting revelation? The lost city of Atlantis may be part of the first expansion!Real or deep specifics on all this stuff were sparse, but we're still a ways off from launch so that's no surprise. Read the full interview if any of the above piqued your interest. Warcry got a hold of a couple new screenshots as well.
Roleplaying is like puppeteering
Jim Moreno writes quite a bit about roleplaying. For a long time he kept his own blog about the subject, and now he writes a special column about roleplaying for WoW WarCry, which precedes and in many ways inspired WoW Insider's own roleplaying column, All the World's a Stage. Jim's latest article struck me with an excellent point: roleplaying has often been compared to acting -- by myself no less -- when in fact it is closer to the art of puppeteering. He cites Jim Henson and Frank Oz as two of the best roleplayers ever, even though neither of them is known to have actually played roleplaying games. Both of them, however, used alternate physical bodies -- their puppets -- to tell stories and convey their characters to their audience, whereas regular actors would have used their own bodies and faces to portray their characters, no matter how different they are from one another. The example from Jim's article that stands out most in my mind is that of Yoda telling Luke, "There is no try, there is only do," conveying so clearly who this person Yoda is, what he stands for, what he talks, moves and looks like without ever giving a hint that the whole thing is just a "puppet with Frank Oz's hand sticking up his butt."Roleplaying, Jim says, is just the same. Instead of acting with our own bodies, we use the digital avatars that Blizzard has designed for us: we customize our characters with different abilities and appearances, but more than that, we give them actions and words that distinguish them as believable people, just like puppeteers do. A superb roleplayer can do what Frank Oz and Jim Henson did, only on a smaller scale; he can convey a sense of true depth, a human story, using a virtual puppet made of ones and zeros rather than cloth and plastics.This is just another example of how "roleplaying" is just a new form of the same basic creative endeavors that have been around for millennia. Someone who gets "freaked out" by roleplaying might as well get freaked out by Miss Piggy and the Cookie Monster, because roleplaying is basically just an adaptation of the puppeteering concept in a modern technological environment.
Blizzard "stealing" XP with leveling changes
Warcry has a super interesting reading of the XP leveling changes that Blizzard is making in 2.3. Their style is a little more, err, informal than ours, but they're right-- Blizzard is basically stealing XP from you in the next patch. Vaneras confirmed the other day that players who have a certain percentage of XP before the patch will keep that same percentage of XP, but not the same amount of XP. So, if, for example, you're halfway through level 59 when the patch hits, you'll lose about 600,000 XP that you've already earned.But before you get all angry about Blizzard wasting all that time you spent leveling, realize that things will likely even out in the end. Even though you'll lose 600,000 XP from the amount you have, you'll still be halfway through level 59, and you won't need as much XP as you did before to level to 60. So you haven't really "lost" anything, because even though Blizzard has "taken away" some XP, you didn't need what they took anyway.As we've said before, these leveling improvements are going to be great news, not only for altaholics who are leveling up their third or fourth character by now, but also for guilds eager to see some new 70s to bring into the raiding mix. Folks who are leveling both before and after patch 2.3 are going to experience some strange math, but that happens all the time anyway (did you know that all the stuff you're killing at level 70 now doesn't count towards the experience you'll need to earn in the next expansion?). Blizzard is tweaking the numbers, but the experience will still be faster.
WarCry interviews Melissa "War Witch" Bianco
Melissa "War Witch" Bianco is the World Designer at Cryptic Studios for popular Super-themed City of Heroes/Villains. Popular in the community for her forum participation, accessibility and a number of interesting and entertaining easter eggs hidden throughout the MMO zones, War Cry has a community-driven interview with Bianco. Bianco gives detailed answers across six pages on community-provided questions covering many aspects of zone design, approval and testing - all in her signature style: informative, interesting and engaging. If you're interested in City of Heroes or City of Villains, or you just want to see how the professionals really do it, it's worth your time to go and take a look. [via WarCry Network]
Namco Bandai officially announces Warhammer
Last month, we reported that Warhammer would be coming to the PSP, but just recently Namco Bandai has officially announced it plans to ship Warhammer: Battle for Atluma, a card-based battle game, this fall."One of the more compelling card-based games to date, Warhammer: Battle for Atluma goes beyond simple player interaction and encourages an inclusive sense of community among players through head-to-head battles, card collecting, trading and strategy sessions," said John Whitmore, Director of Internal/External Development at NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. "This unique dynamic coupled with the strategic, fast-paced nature of the game certainly sets Warhammer: Battle for Atluma apart from other games in its genre."While the press release didn't offer up any new gameplay information, it did mention the game will be rated "T" for teen, and the title's developer is JV Games, which has most recently developed James Bond 007: Nightfire for the Gameboy Advance.
Warhammer WarCry: Battle for Atluma coming to the PSP
While Namco appears not have struck gold with its most recent title, it may be able to strike it with its newest upcoming game – Warhammer WarCry: Battle for Atluma, which will be the PSP's first card-based battle game.The game will be based on the Warhammer card game and will give players the option of leading the Grand Alliance or Hordes of Darkness to victory. Allowing players to collect more than 450 cards, 90 different units and the ability to wirelessly connect with a friend to battle it out for each other's cards has me tickled to death with excitement. Warhammer WarCry also allows for the building of custom decks and features an extensive tutorial system for us noobs out there. I gotta be honest, I'm not too familiar with the Warhammer series; instead I've been more of a Magic: The Gathering kind of guy. But I'm up for any decent card-based battle game on the go, and we won't have too wait long, either, as Warhammer WarCry is set to ship Oct. 17.(Via Playstation.com forums)
