Enormous beta update for Warhammer Online shares loads of new details
The European site for Warhammer Online has let loose a giant beta update, with tons of juicy information to sate voracious fans. Various teams working on the game each add their own section to the update, and we hear from the Cities Team, the Items Team, the Animation Team, the UI Team, the Combat and Career Team, and finally the RvR (realm-versus-realm) Team.
Probably the biggest news is the introduction of the Mastery system, which will allow you to specialize the capabilities of your character (an example is given of the Sword Master career being able to specialize as more of a tank, or being better at dishing out damage), the addition of Keeps for RvR play, and some overhauling of the user interface. There really is too much discussed in the update to bring it all up here, but we have made a dot-point abbreviated version of the notes after the break.
Cities Team: the interiors of the large buildings in cities are being worked on, and there are plans for these to be the backdrop for large-scale battles
Items Team: Armor tints are being added, with certain tints only being used on special armor, and the armor dyeing system is nearly finished. Also, random mob drops are being tweaked to be more likely of use to the player receiving them
Animation Team: A focus on Elves, and many updates on things they have been fixing from past beta news
UI Team: Altering of the user interface "from the ground up", changing a lot of things and trying to get away from the brown look of the old UI
Combat and Career Team: The unveiling of the Mastery system, which allows you to specialize your character career, and will make two people of the same class potentially have very different roles
RvR Team: The introduction of Keeps for players to defend and capture, and the news that Siege will be in Warhammer Online, but not when the beta first re-opens.
Now the above gives you a general idea of this update, but if you are at all interested in anything you read here, then you will really want to visit the WAR Euro site for the full details. In particular, the extensive notes from the Combat and Career Team discuss the ways that Mastery will work, and how the Skills that come from this will be earned. The related story link will take you right to the unabridged update.
[Thanks, drunkmime]
