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WAR Europe's countdown not what we'd hoped
When an ominous countdown appeared on Warhammer Online's European site last Friday, speculation surged that the Mythic team might be on the verge a major announcement. Are we finally going to see a release date set in stone instead of mud? Are they going to announce the open beta that we've all been waiting for so long? Is the NDA finally going to be lifted? Left to their own devices, WAR fanatics are liable to start expecting all sorts of things.Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is far less exciting. No, as Mark Jacobs indicated in an overtly *hint hint* forum post, players should be able to read the writing on the wall and figure out what the countdown is for. To start, it's only on the European site, so it couldn't be something like a global release date or NDA lift. Second of all, photos of the European Collector's Edition were leaked last week. Third, developers have been talking rather openly about the content of the CE on fan forums. Without explicitly saying it, Jacobs indicated that the announcement would be the details of the Collector's Edition. Not as exciting as a release date, but what can you do?
Matt Daniels talks about his role as WAR's lead writer
Writing a compelling game story is no easy feat. Now imagine being responsible for the innumerable and layered storylines in an MMO, constantly evolving and needing to fit with everything else -- sounds like a nightmare, doesn't it? Lead writer for Warhammer Online Matt Daniels would beg to differ. He has penned a new developer diary, in which he goes over his role in bringing the Warhammer setting to life, and it sounds like it's nothing but fun. A big challenge, but still fun.It seems we somehow missed the previous developer diary as well, which features content director Destin Bales talking about the roughly-ten-thousand pages of documentation that the content team has come up with for WAR. This covers a huge range of things, from the basic premise of the game, to very detailed content information. You'll even get to read an example of the work found in the content documents, with a full description of the "Mount Bloodthorn" zone pasted at the bottom of the article. Check out both Daniels' and Bales' dev diaries, and we'll be sure to keep our eyes out for the next one.
The Digital Continuum: MMO features in the year 2013
If you were to look back five years ago at the year 2003, the feature lists on the MMOs of that year look quite a bit different from the games of this year. Everything from graphical advancements to new in-game concepts like Warhammer Online's Tome of Knowledge. A lot of new features have cropped up through natural evolution and forcefulness as well. A lot of these improvements were obvious, but many of them have also been unexpected.So what kinds of advancements will the massively genre have made in another fives years? Maybe we'll all be playing MMOs on the newest consoles, or maybe not. There are a lot of variables in this considerably young genre we all love, so looking five years into the future can lead to scary places. Although that won't stop me from trying to peer towards the future in an attempt see what sorts of virtual worlds await us all.
New Empire vs Chaos info dump
The official Warhammer Online news hub has posted up a slew of Empire and Chaos information. The article discusses classes and most of their respective mastery paths -- three for each class. The only class that seems completely left out of the mix is the Empire tank, the Knight of The Blazing Sun. There is a chaos correspondence letter and then a ton of lore to chew through -- if you like. Finally, we're treated with tons of new screenshots to obsess over -- including some pretty interesting captures of the Chaos Marauder class.
WAR's must-have expansion races: Lizardmen
Ah, Warhammer Online. Its release seems so close, and yet, it's still so far away. In our idle time, the Games Workshop fanatics among us have little else to do but fantasize about elements of the beloved tabletop game could make their way into the game. Last week, we speculated that the Skaven are the first race in line for any future expansions of the game. This week, we're throwing our weight behind the enigmatic Lizardmen Army to play the Order counterparts to Skaven's Destruction. They've got a number of interesting classes we think would add some unique jungle flava' to the game. Click on the gallery link below to get cold-blooded. %Gallery-21882%
Get informed on Warhammer's Tome of Knowledge
Waaagh is not only a great orcish outcry, it's the name of a new blog aiming to talk about EA Mythic's in-development Warhammer Online. The succinctly named Syp has done a service for everyone interested in one of the most unique features coming in the gritty fantasy title. He's gone through just about every interview, discussion, or FAQ about Warhammer's Tome of Knowledge, with the goal of triangulating the scope and depth of this hypertextual book.Even for folks who have been following this title for some time, there's probably a lot of information you may not have picked up on. For example, did you know that the Tome will unlock the lore story for all three races in your faction (Order or Chaos)? Did you know that as of late last year there were already over 12,000 'unlocks' for the book and some 5,000 tracked achievements? Head over to waaagh to get the low-down on learning.
Mark Jacobs rails against official forums
The issue of whether major MMO releases should be accompanied by official forums is a hot topic in the industry these days. While some recent games like Tabula Rasa have opted to without official forums, to mixed results, others like Lord of the Rings Online have shown that they can still be a valued resource. It seems like discussions on the topic are ever-present. We've known for a while now that Warhammer Online was opting out of official forums, but general manager Mark Jacobs chimed in on the Warhammer Alliance forums to reiterate Mythic's position on the subject.He lays out a mock-schedule for the way player (mis)behavior would develop as the game moved closer to release, poking fun at the schizophrenic nature of official forums - how the community as a whole can be both loving and hateful, cynical and naive, reactionary and... well, usually just reactionary. He also says that he doesn't want to have to put himself or any of his community team through that kind of hell, and that's what informed their decision to stay away from official forums. It's not like it stops people from flaming the game though, and community reps still need to wade through community forums anyway, so why not put it all in one place? I almost wish they'd just admit it was the money...
WAR's must-have expansion races: Skaven
We're still months away from the release of Mythic's Warhammer Online, but already the robust fan community has spent a considerable amount of time debating which of the other Warhammer Fantasy races would be best suited to make the jump from the tabletop to the desktop. Whle the choices are quite plentiful, in my mind, there's no question which race is on the doorstep of gaming greatness; it's those lovably infectious rat-men, the Skaven. Today we take a look at the Skaven army, and lay out an illustrated blueprint for which of their many colorful units would fit into the MMO mold. %Gallery-21882%
The Digital Continuum: A fork in the road for WAR
The recent upset over at the Warhammer Alliance forums over the supposed push-back of Warhammer Online got me thinking about choice facing the game in the coming months. The official statement made by Mark Jacobs is essentially that EA Mythic is committed to their Q2 release schedule and to think of the date as, "Set in mud" Well, what's it going to be Mr. Jacobs, is the game coming in Q2 or not? That's the choice EA Mythic is going to have to make and it will lead Warhammer Online down two very different roads, in my opinion. Neither of these roads are inherently bad, but only one of them is the right choice for WAR -- which means the hard part is figuring out which road is best.
Turning numbers into creativity with a new WAR dev diary
We usually don't think about the fact that our favorite MMOs have mountains of numbers and formulas behind all the eye candy, making everything work smoothly. If you've ever wondered just how EA Mythic (or any other developer for that matter) makes all the inherent numbers/formulas in their games into unique creativeness, then this new developer diary is just for you. Steve Marvin, Lead System Designer on Warhammer Online gives a few examples of how such concepts as the Squig Herder's ability to jump down the throat of his pet gets translated into actual gameplay mechanics -- but that's actually the easiest example.It's one of those jobs where the easiest sounding concepts become the biggest headaches. It's always interesting when a developer peels back the surface of their games to reveal how everything in the proverbial engine clinks together. We have to admit that the whole numerical process tends to go way over our mathematically-challenged heads, but it's an incredibly interesting read nonetheless.
WAR's Saphery zone is full of tall magical things
The racial pairing we still have the least information for has been the High and Dark Elves, but that is starting to change. Enter the Saphery zone -- a third tier zone for High Elves -- that is chocked full of magical energies and ancient High Elf beauty. This makes it a target for Dark Elves who want to twist and malign those energies, the Greenskins so they can smash all the pretty stuff and the Chaos so they can, well, bring chaos to everything in sight we suppose. There's actually quite a bit (actually, more like tons) of background lore in the zone overview of Saphery. We've noticed for some time now that a lot of structure designs in Warhammer Online are very, very tall. However it looks like High Elf architecture trumps all other height-imbued buildings, but that makes sense since High Elves are all about being tall and uppity. Oh, we're digging the blue-leafed trees as well.
Warhammer Online's voice over video
Well it has finally happened folks, now that Electronic Arts as absorbed Mythic we're finally seeing the horrendous outcome. Indeed, Warhammer Online is going to feature professional voice overs for all of its inhabitants because of the EA acquisition -- terrifying!All right, we were having a laugh, but you can't blame us for indulging. This month's production podcast features lots of professionally paid voice actors saying all sorts of weird High Elf lines in a sound room. There's also an Extras reference as well as some screaming at the very end of the video. After hearing these actors deliver some of the lines in the podcast, we're happy to say the voice work in WAR is going to be quite good.
Question WAR devs on in-game cities
Whether it's Orgrimmar or Mos Eisley, some of the more interesting aspects of MMOs have to do with cities. They're usually areas steeped in quests and lore, they're traveling hubs for players moving across the countryside, and they've usually got lots of fun activities to partake in, either with other players or with NPCs. One of the neat things about Warhammer Online is that they're trying to give players a larger stake in the relative safety and security of their capital city by turning it into something that players can lose after a concerted effort by the enemy faction. Unfortunately, unless you're one of the lucky few who have been playing the beta, the specifics of the city gameplay are still a bit unclear.Fortunately, this is just the thing the Warhammer community team is looking to shore up. Missy Hatch put out a call on the Warhammer Alliance forums (which you should already have bookmarked if you're at all into WAR) this morning, calling for player questions pertaining to cities. They're going to take a select group of questions from that thread and answer them in the March newsletter grab bag. They're only on page 3 in the thread so far, so there's a good chance your well thought out question will make the grade.
Lessons in online gaming circa 1997 hold true today
A lot of things change with the passage of time, but something that hasn't is this post over at Lost Garden. Written by Dani Bunten Berry over then years ago as kind of primer for making sure your online social space was fun. Many of these little snippets of knowledge are perfect for the massively game-space. For instance, the "Norm" effect is a very important aspect of making players feel welcomed into any game. It's named after the character Norm from Cheers, who upon entering the bar is greeted by everyone saying his name in unison. It's a simple thing to do, but having some NPC characters who exist in the game world that will always greet players with their chosen name shouldn't be too tough to pull off. Beyond the Norm effect, there are several other golden rules to consider as well.
WAR class info: High Elf Shadow Warrior
There's always a draw to the Elven races in MMOs, especially when they've got some seriously wicked personality. So when we saw this article we had to jump in head first and absorb all the information from within its gooey bowels. It's a long read, but we've got the skinny for your Warhammer Online needs -- including lore and class information. Be warned though, we may ramble on a bit about Shadow Warriors and how cool they're starting to sound.
Wrath of the Lich King could be very very sneaky
Could Wrath of the Lich King be launching in late April or May? Well, there are a few reasons for the possibility of it launching at that time, according to a post over at Random Battle. Some of the reasons given as to why the World of Warcraft expansion could hit earlier than anyone expected are very solid, but one in particular seems a bit off -- catching Age of Conan and Warhammer Online with their pants down. Sure, that sounds like a great idea and all, but the audience AoC seems to be aiming for doesn't seem like the casual crowd that is largely still playing WoW -- if anything, AoC is its own worst enemy. It wouldn't be surprising if FunCom ends up being happy with a similar success that Lord of the Rings Online has seen.
Warhammer Online's secret hype formula
Calling the game a self-help program is an interesting take on EA Mythic's upcoming Warhammer Online, but West Karana makes a compelling argument. Over the last few years many quality MMOs have been mostly passed-up by World of Warcraft players -- which seems to be a sign that most of these players need more than a 500k subscriber MMO before they consider moving on to greener pastures. We can be sure that Electronic Arts and EA Mythic are gunning for their game to pull in over a million -- whether they consider themselves to be the Led Zepplin of massively games or not. A method of hype such as this is probably their best chance at pulling it off.So if Warhammer Online can hit that magical six-figures subscriber mark, can that be considered putting a sizable hole in the dam holding WoW players back? Well, it all depends on how many people get pulled into WAR and find that they like it more than WoW -- because the two games are very different under their "cartoon" cover.
Warhammer video shows real PvP
Remember the WAR 'this is glory' video from a few weeks back? It was a scripted pile of crap, but anyone with some common sense knew it didn't actually portray WAR's RvR realistically. What is realistic? Chaotic bedlam! This new video ganked from Gamespot showcases how PvP plays out on a smaller and more nubish scale. Classes in on the action: Witch Hunter, Chaos Chosen, and the Witch Elf. Paul Barnett appears, surprise, and dials down the hyperbole explaining in calmer terms the hobby experience that will make WAR a free-time friendly fun MMO to play. That way WAR players can still go to the bar wearing Warhammer shirts, and bring along some Warhammer figurines to impress the svelte ladies or the burly gents. While I really enjoy the hobby versus immersion outlook, there will always be hardcores that take it to the immersive extreme and play until someone in a bio-hazard suit shows up with the eviction notice. It's nice that there are some MMO developers that want to make sure their players stay safe and function as normal law-abiding citizens that can afford their subscriptions and buy all sorts of WAR loots. I still have a bad feeling WAR will be an immersive soul-sucking experience. I better get to work on fire-proofing whatever I can. If you still hunger for more footage, and like me you're stuck back in the line for a beta invite, there are more gameplay videos to watch. If you want to join the line, be sure to register for the Warhammer Online beta. [via Keen and Graev] [Video Source]
WAR boss prologue: Lorkoth and Scornlash
Those looking to read some interesting lore concerning a PQ boss that Order players will face in the Dark Elf lands look no further. Well, we're sure that there aren't many of you who have been specifically looking to read something like that, but maybe you just haven't realized you want to. In fact, if you look around the Warhammer Online website you'll find quite a few little pockets of knowledge that you might have never realized you wanted to know.
Cryptic Studios announces its Game Developers Conference schedule
It looks like Cryptic Studios is set to take GDC by storm this year as they just announced their plans to send five of their people to speak at the San Francisco based event being held from Feb. 18th through to the 22nd. The team members from Cryptic are Chief Creative Officer Jack Emmert (formally Jack "Statesman" Emmert), Character Artist Matt Highison, Director of Game Programming Shannon Posniewski, Audio Director Michael Henry and President of Cryptic Studios Michael Lewis.We are very interested in hearing what these Cryptic members have to say on the subject of massively games. Hopefully we'll finally get some answers on what to expect in their future if not some hints at the very least.
