f13.net

There are two Goblin classes here. The first, the Goblin Shaman offers the Greenskins their only outlet for magic use, while the Goblin Squig Herder serves as more of a pet-oriented class. Rather than taking on a more predictable route, the Squig Herder has a unique method of creating and controlling the ravenous balls of meat that are Warhammer's Squigs.

When the herder creates a Squig, the Squig is so ungrateful that he actually eats his master. From inside the Squig's stomach, the herder can now poke and prod the Squig's brain to control his actions. For the most part this will involve a lot of jumping around and biting things. There area few specialized Squigs however; the battle ball Squig will roll over its opponents American Gladiator style. Once a Squig is killed, he spits out the poor herder who is then free to carry on as usual.

For example, we now know that Chaos will focus on the Chaos God Tzeentch, the so-called Changer of the Ways. This makes perfect sense as this God is focused on magic as well as melee combat, so it lends itself well in terms of gameplay. However, other demons will be in the game, such as Nurgle's Plaguebearers, as well as everything in Tzeentch's retinue, from Pink Horrors to Flamers.

E3 06: Age of Reckoning running on Xbox 360
MMO publisher shows off Warhammer Online behind closed doors--on Microsoft's next-gen console; 360 version not announced...yet?
By Justin Calvert, GameSpot

LOS ANGELES--Tucked away behind Sony's gigantic West Hall stand at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo is a Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning booth belonging to Mythic Entertainment. Visitors to the booth are being invited to get hands-on with the upcoming massively-multiplayer online game, where they can check out one of the game's areas on live servers and play alongside members of the development team who are playing from the company's Virginia headquarters.

What none of these players have realized, though, is that one of the "green-skins" questing alongside them is being controlled by a player not armed with a mouse and keyboard, but with a wireless Xbox 360 controller. That player is sat in a closely-guarded room to the rear of Mythic's booth.

To be clear, Mythic is not announcing an Xbox 360 version of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, but in what was purportedly a period of only six weeks, the developer has managed to get its game up and running on Microsoft's new console simply to prove that it can be done. Given the content of Bill Gates' "Live everywhere" speech at Microsoft's pre-E3 conference, it seems that Mythic's timing could hardly have been better. To quote one of Mythic's senior staffers, "What Microsoft is talking about, here is a company that's doing it."

We had an opportunity to see the PC and Xbox 360 versions of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning running alongside each other, and although the console demo lacked any kind of user interface, its widescreen high-definition visuals were practically indistinguishable from those on the PC. Furthermore, the character on the Xbox 360 was interacting with PC players, and if it weren't for the fact that one of the games was running on a huge TV rather than a monitor, it would be difficult to tell them apart.

Mythic says the work done optimizing Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning for the Xbox 360 made the development team realize that they could use similar techniques in the PC game. So what started out as an experiment to get an MMO game running on a console has actually resulted in some improvements for the PC version.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is currently scheduled for release on the PC in the fall of 2007. Whether or not the game will ever see a release on the Xbox 360 or any other console remains to be seen, but one thing is certain--it's definitely a possibility.

IGN - PREVIEW (http://pc.ign.com/articles/707/707529p1.html)
When the herder creates a Squig, the Squig is so ungrateful that he actually eats his master. From inside the Squig's stomach, the herder can now poke and prod the Squig's brain to control his actions. For the most part this will involve a lot of jumping around and biting things. There area few specialized Squigs however; the battle ball Squig will roll over its opponents American Gladiator style. Once a Squig is killed, he spits out the poor herder who is then free to carry on as usual.

Gamespy - PREVIEW (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/warhammer-online/707807p1.html)
For example, we now know that Chaos will focus on the Chaos God Tzeentch, the so-called Changer of the Ways. This makes perfect sense as this God is focused on magic as well as melee combat, so it lends itself well in terms of gameplay. However, other demons will be in the game, such as Nurgle's Plaguebearers, as well as everything in Tzeentch's retinue, from Pink Horrors to Flamers.

Gameplay video linky (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEYloFvoYfc)

Looks good so far, (from what you can see anyway).

German fan site video, right click save as (http://war.onlinewelten.com/uploads/downloads/uploads/war2_e32006_onlinewelten.wmv)

Video of the current character selection screen with 5 Dwarf and Gobbo characters highlighted in turn, also video of slides with text, copied below in-case link dies.

I'm not keen on 40 levels and I'm not keen on only 4 classes but the e3 interview I posted above (http://www.gamespot.com/search.html?qs=warhammer%20online&sub=m&stype=11&type=11) with Paul Barnett was frothing at it's finest.

I'm not keen on 40 levels

I'm actually pretty ticked at myself for not stopping by the Mythic booth. I know Yoru and Llava did, but after 1 day of walking my brain had turned to mush.

Mythic's Warhammer continues to grow and Garrett Fuller finds out more

Warhammer Online has only been in full scale development for eight months, but the excitement surrounding the game cannot be ignored. The people at Mythic showed us some of the combat system, quest, PvP elements and much more.

Much of what Mythic had to say was covered in our pre-E3 hands-on preview, but during our demo with the team, we caught a glimpse of a more focused scenario

Warhammer is a dark world with grim storylines, but most of all it does not take itself seriously and adds great humor to the game. With a strong IP on their hands, Mythic has the chance to create an MMO that will capture the brutal silliness of the tabletop game.

The greenskin racial pairing consists of Orcs and Goblins; or Gobbos to use the Warhammer lingo. Goblin players can be Shamans and Squig Herders, while the Orcs get to be Warbosses (name pending), a traditional heavy tank class; or Battlers, a damage dealing class that wears lighter armor and can carry two choppas. At this stage of development, Orcs can also be Shamans and Goblins can be Battlers, but all of this could change. If you know the lore, the fighting classes and shaman are not too hard to understand.

The Squig Herder is not nearly so simple. Tenatively, the plan is for the gobbo to be able to call forth squigs (imagine a horrifying Pac-Man with legs) to attack as a small group of chomping animals. A pet class. Simple, right? Not so much. At higher levels the plan is for the herder to summon a giant squig that will in turn eat the gobbo. Once inside the creature, your character grabs onto the squig’s innards and drives it around the battle field crushing and chomping your opponents. When your squig is finally killed you are belched forth back onto the field covered in guts. The developers described to us a wealth of different types of squigs. One rolls around crushing people, one breathes poison on the enemies, etc. The exact line-up is sure to expand over time, but as of E3, it remains totally in the realm of ideas. None of this had been implemented yet.

This may not be in the tabletop game yet, but it is a great use for the crazy Orcs and squigs. While there is no word on mounts, Mark Jacobs let everyone at their Wednesday party in on a secret: the Orc form of transportation from the video – which is to say by catapult – is a planned game feature.

The combat system in Warhammer starts at a very familiar base – Mythic’s revolutionary use of an action bar – and then expands into a three layered system. The hot bar is used for skills and attacks. It is a system known to gamers and easy to use. Mythic saw no reason to rock the boat. Instead, they added onto it.

Morale is the second tier of the combat system. Based on how active your character fights, casts spells and generally takes part in the action, the character’s morale bar – a semi-circle in the center-bottom of the UI – fills up. If you stop fighting, it recedes. As players gain more morale during combat, they can fire off special abilities. These moves are powerful, but eat all morale you had accumulated. This opens up a balancing act, as the moves are placed equally along the meter and get stronger the longer you wait. Should you use the first one as soon as you get to it or take the risk of going for a massive blow?

Players who stay out of the action and hide – while in a group involved in combat - will get some small morale for being alive, but nothing compared to those who actively fight. Currently Mythic has three morale abilities on the bar, but this is not set in stone and should be expanded over time. Personally, I already learned the value of these. When playing as an Orc, I was able to fire off my second ability. This ability healed me and turned the tide of a fight.

Besides morale abilities players can also use Tactics on their characters to enhance combat. Tactics are passive abilities which can be chosen before the fighting gets underway. Some will boost damage, some defense and other may increase your attacks against a specific race. You can also stack your tactics for a boost to one ability. The abilities themselves can take up multiple slots and the players both earn new abilities and new slots as they advance.

Mythic said that they have learned a lot from the RvR played in Dark Age of Camelot and plan to balance the combat system as accurate as possible. While we brought up most the major issues – such as buffbots – all the team would say is that they are fully aware of all the bad parts of DAoC PvP and would take steps to ensure that they do not make their way into WAR.

Player customization is another hot topic for most MMORPGs.

“What matters is the size of your choppa, not the shade of your eyebrows,” said Design Manager Paul Barnett.

While there is character customization, it will be more about the overall look of the character than minute changes to their faces. Remember, players can hang skulls and beards off their armor as trophies when they crush their opponents. All that said, the game also has a face cam in the UI and fully boned faces for changing moods.

Many people have been wondering about Chaos. For fans of evil and humans, that is the next racial pair coming down the development pipeline.

From a story perspective, Tzeentch will be the only Chaos god players can follow. Beyond that, they would not say much else, save that there is a very specific reason. However, all elements of the chaos pantheon will be in the game's story.

Dryads are also making an appearance in a quest to gather some wood and the giant regularly walks around the greenskin camps, just give him more beer and he will be happy.

The Dogs of War army will be represented as NPCs in instanced PvP scenarios to balance out the sides in certain fights. Basically it seems like it is in the Warhammer IP it will be in the game in some form or another.

PvP is the focus of the game and Mythic is doing everything to boost what they delivered in DAoC. Most PvP in the game is not instanced. There will be instanced battle scenarios. Points or ratings are assigned to each character in a group. The group is then paired with one on the opposing side of a similar point value. Whatever is lacking on either side will be reinforced by NPC Dogs of War units. Skirmishes, huge battles and sieges will also be going on in the world. It looks like there will be plenty of fighting for players to find and Mythic assured us there will have taken steps to ensure that the queues for the instanced scenarios will be limited.

Warhammer is a rich IP, but Mythic hopes to sell the game to more than just Warhammer fans. With all the detail and terms thrown about, it sounds like a nightmare for players to navigate without the aid of Google. Thus, Mythic invented the “Tome of Knowledge”. This is a book that each character begins the game with. At first, it is empty, but as players explore and discover new places, creatures and items, the book is filled in. What's more, you get experience for the filling. Every entry you find is in the voice of a unique character and carries a unique and sometimes contrary viewpoint to other entries in a book. For example, an entry for a great hammer might be a glowing rant from a Dwarf, joined by an angry, dismissive, incoherent tirade from an Orc. It’s not a boring encyclopedia.

Warhammer Online has come a long way in a short time, but has a long way to go to hit a Q4 2007 target. It is still too early to judge, but if they can keep up like they have, this could be one of the best MMOs on the floor in a year’s time.

Mythic’s revolutionary use of an action bar

As a huge Tzeentch fanboy for 20 years I approve of this design direction.

LOL@ Pink Horrors and Flamers.

Player customization is another hot topic for most MMORPGs.

“What matters is the size of your choppa, not the shade of your eyebrows,” said Design Manager Paul Barnett.

While there is character customization, it will be more about the overall look of the character than minute changes to their faces. Remember, players can hang skulls and beards off their armor as trophies when they crush their opponents. All that said, the game also has a face cam in the UI and fully boned faces for changing moods

I like quoting full text because I don't like going to another website just to read, plus sometimes links/websites/games die.  I'll bold stuff that I think is interesting in future as you scare me.

I like quoting full text because I don't like going to another website just to read, plus sometimes links/websites/games die.  I'll bold stuff that I think is interesting in future as you scare me.

Also, not everyone knows as much as you do (http://www.cesspit.net/drupal/node/1346).

No levels.

Four tiers, with ranks within each tier. You'll have 4 XP bars that allow you to select "packages" of advancements - abilities, static buffs, skills, etc. that you want to work on. Three will be "standard" bars, one will be RvR-specific.

The packages allow you to select advancements that interest you without level-locking them. So, if you're a big fan of exploring and you want to get a mount earlier than - say - an improved combat ability, you can choose a package that includes the ability to use a mount. Packages will have SOME restrictions - most likely tier-specific - but they offer players the ability to wind up with all of the stuff they want eventually, but also the ability to get it in the order of their choosing.

....


no pure "support" classes. In addition, no rogues or stealth classes.  Not fond of hybrid classes either, though there will almost certainly be SOME degree of hyrbidization for some races.

....

Gauntlet-style, iconic classes. To use the Gauntlet classes, a warrior beats the snot out of you, a Valkyrie sucks up damage all day long, a wizard blasts the crap out of you and an elf runs around really quickly, pinging you with arrows. You know exactly what you're in for simply by looking at your opponent.

EVERY CLASS - is a combat class, you won't find yourself ineffective simply because your group lacks total diversity.


Regarding differentiation, there are a number of things to consider:

1) In terms of simple aesthetics, customization will play a large role. Armor dying and trophies, primarily, will allow players to be visually unique without breaking the aforementioned "iconic look, iconic role" rule. When I say trophies, I mean things like orcs wearing belts of dwarf beards and the skulls of fallen opponents impaled on the spikes of their armor.

2) In terms of personal advancement, you have the package system. I explained this earlier, but it basically lets you play the class you want to play and advance in exactly the way that appeals to you, in exactly the order you want to do it.

3) And in terms of combat, you have tactics. This system is a strategic layer of combat where players choose from a pool of available "tactics" before combat that they are then locked into for a set period of time (minutes or hours, not days). Tactics can be things like persistant buffs, race or mob-specific attack bonuses, etc. As players advance, additional slots open up allowing players to use more - or more powerful tactics. Weak tactics are worth one point, the most powerful tactics are worth - say - five. So if you have ten slots open, you might choose ten minor tactics or two extremely powerful tactics or a mix of five of the former, one of the latter. Or any other mix in between.

This is designed to help players avoid being locked into a specific character spec in any significant way without giving them the ability to respec on the fly without any advanced thought. And, of course, to avoid the typical "I hit these three buttons and - SOMETIMES - this button over here too" style of play.

....

Skirmish RvR - players stumbling across enemy players in RvR areas and fighting right then and there.

Battlefields - Static, objective-based areas (take objective in question, plant flag, etc) that help to focus skirmish RvR a bit.

Scenarios - Instanced, point-balanced, objective-based "arenas." This is the closest cousin to Fantasy Battle. All players will be worth a certain number of points based on a set of stats. Players will be matched up evenly and groups with fewer points will be bolstered by NPC "Dogs of War." Dogs of War will be - obviously - worth less than their PC counterparts, but they'll avoid long queues AND one side constantly enjoying a slight but significant advantage due to population wierdness.

.....

Extensive, year+ long beta

This game looks interesting. I like the idea of personalizing your armor.

I went from hyped to unimpressed in just a couple of minutes after you posted that.

They say "no levels" but the system is almost exactly as DAoC currently works. What changes if you call DAoC's spec-lines "packages"?

It looks like Warhammer does the same thing, reversed. For every level in DAoC you gain "x" specialization points that you allocate to your spec-lines. In Warhammer you select the packages / spec-paths and then you go level/unlock them, I guess that after you unlocked "x" skills in the packages you also gain one rank.

In DAoC: level up -> allocate
In Warhammer: allocate -> level up

Not so incredibly innovative ;p

Both suck because you need to have pre-planned your character if you don't want to finish with it being gimped because you wasted points on packages that aren't good.

The rest is good, imho. No exclusive support classes and no stealthers.

Again, I think you are reading too much into some of the details, the packages could just be the ability to use a 2-handed sword or a bow.  The ability to choose a mount "package" earlier than normal just because you like exploring is nice.

Both suck because you need to have pre-planned your character if you don't want to finish with it being gimped because you wasted points on packages that aren't good.

It sounds to me like it's a bit more like Guild Wars, in that you pick a specific set for a battle, but will be able to switch out skillsets and packages for the next battle.

But Hrose, you are ignoring the biggest thing about this. No levels means (or should mean) very little to no power differentials.

Considering everything together the "no level" claim is pretty weak. It's possible that gaining ranks doesn't scale up your stats, hitpoints and mana (at this point it would be the only real difference), but add a rank-based itemization and you basically have the exact same mechanic that drives DAoC or every other level-based game.

Segmenting zones by tiers should also help that a bit. In other words, it sounds good.

Here the game mechanics are extremely important because if they divide the zones accessibility in four (as the four tiers of ten ranks, for a total of forty levels) the PvP could become just a matter of who's closer to the zone level cap. It's important here that each new rank isn't a huge leap over the other

Hrose is just pissed because Mark Jacobs closed the blinds.

The packages of skills/abilities sounds more like RA's from DAoC then it does the old spec paths.

Hybrids sucked.  Being 2/3rds a dps class and 2/3rd a caster/support generally meant a group was better off replacing you with a 100% dps or 100% support/utility class.

NO STEALTH.  Yeeehaw!

Warhammer Online Associate Producer Joshua Drescher popped by the SomethingAweful forums and provided a bit more insight into the details surrounding E3 2006. Many of the details have previously been highlighted in a few of the previews but there's a few rough areas that are cleared up in this brief Q&A. Here is the cleaned up and edited for readabilty version.

So can you touch on character advancement at all?

No levels. Four tiers, with ranks within each tier. You'll have 4 XP bars that allow you to select "packages" of advancements - abilities, static buffs, skills, etc. that you want to work on. Three will be "standard" bars, one will be RvR-specific.

The packages allow you to select advancements that interest you without level-locking them. So, if you're a big fan of exploring and you want to get a mount earlier than - say - an improved combat ability, you can choose a package that includes the ability to use a mount. Packages will have SOME restrictions - most likely tier-specific - but they offer players the ability to wind up with all of the stuff they want eventually, but also the ability to get it in the order of their choosing.

As I understand it, there are 4 classes per realm which seems fairly limited; although I saw a Goblin Battler in one of those videos so I'm a bit confused since I thought that was an Orc class only.

Well, one of the things that's causing the "limited" classes is the requirement that every class be combat-effective and serve an immediately recognizable role. We have no pure "support" classes. In addition, we don't have rogues or stealth classes. We're not fond of hybrid classes either, though there will almost certainly be SOME degree of hybridization for some races.

Regarding the Battler, don't rely too heavily on the models you saw in the demos in terms of what to expect from the final design. They were chosen mostly for aesthetic reasons and aren't intended to represent exactly what you'll see when we launch (or even when we go into beta later this year). The class-limiting for Greenskins is mostly designed to allow us to use both Orcs and Gobbos without having ridiculous stuff like a goblin Warboss running around as a powerful melee character.

Four careers seems a bit low and I'm afraid there will be too much overlap, or are those classes just base arch types like we saw EQ2? Basically, in what ways can a player build his character to differentiate from the next person?

In short, we're looking for Gauntlet-style, iconic classes. To use the Gauntlet classes, a warrior beats the snot out of you, a Valkyrie sucks up damage all day long, a wizard blasts the crap out of you and an elf runs around really quickly, pinging you with arrows. You know exactly what you're in for simply by looking at your opponent.

Regarding differentiation, there are a number of things to consider:


1) In terms of simple aesthetics, customization will play a large role. Armor dying and trophies, primarily, will allow players to be visually unique without breaking the aforementioned "iconic look, iconic role" rule. When I say trophies, I mean things like orcs wearing belts of dwarf beards and the skulls of fallen opponents impaled on the spikes of their armor.

2) In terms of personal advancement, we have the package system. I explained this earlier, but it basically lets you play the class you want to play and advance in exactly the way that appeals to you, in exactly the order you want to do it.

3) And in terms of combat, we have tactics. This system is a strategic layer of combat where players choose from a pool of available "tactics" before combat that they are then locked into for a set period of time (minutes or hours, not days). Tactics can be things like persistant buffs, race or mob-specific attack bonuses, etc. As players advance, additional slots open up allowing players to use more - or more powerful tactics. Weak tactics are worth one point, the most powerful tactics are worth - say - five. So if you have ten slots open, you might choose ten minor tactics or two extremely powerful tactics or a mix of five of the former, one of the latter. Or any other mix in between.


This is designed to help players avoid being locked into a specific character spec in any significant way without giving them the ability to respec on the fly without any advanced thought. And, of course, to avoid the typical "I hit these three buttons and - SOMETIMES - this button over here too" style of play.

Also will character creation be just choose gender, choose class, choose head, and thats it? Or do we get more?

Still in discussion on that one. Your character's appearance WILL change over time, though. Orcs will get larger and more muscular, dwarf beards will grow longer, etc.

Will each faction have the same 4 classes? Fighter, shooter, healer magic, offensive magic? Or will it vary from faction to faction?

Absolutely not. We are 100% married to the IP when it comes to stuff like this. Dwarfs and magic don't mix, so the closest you'll get to a magic class will be a priest carving runes into things. And I can't say this enough - EVERY class will be a combat class. Nobody will be running around, healing all day long and trying to stay out of the fray.

What I want to know, is that how do you plan on balancing parties in PvP?

Current plan: Don't get much sleep at night, lie awake fixated on making it all work.

Seriously, though, RvR combat will come in three flavors:

Skirmish RvR - players stumbling across enemy players in RvR areas and fighting right then and there.
Battlefields - Static, objective-based areas (take objective in question, plant flag, etc) that help to focus skirmish RvR a bit.
Scenarios - Instanced, point-balanced, objective-based "arenas." This is our closest cousin to Fantasy Battle. All players will be worth a certain number of points based on a "we're-not-discussing-how-at-the-moment" set of stats. Players will be matched up evenly and groups with fewer points will be bolstered by NPC "Dogs of War." Dogs of War will be - obviously - worth less than their PC counterparts, but they'll allow us to avoid long queues AND one side constantly enjoying a slight but significant advantage due to population wierdness.

Finally, we're relying on an extensive, year+ long beta, coupled with everything (good, bad and otherwise) that we've learned from Camelot.

The focus of the game makes it so you'll primarily be working with people of the same race, right?

Primarily, but by no means exclusively. Dwarfs, humans and High Elfs can all work together as they see fit. Ditto with orcs, Dark Elfs and Chaos warriors.

What default size group are you guys shooting for? 5, 6?

To be determined. Balance is crucial, especially for campaigns and city capturing, so this will be one of those "under microscopic scrutiny" issues that we bang on non-stop until it's just right.

How does PVE factor in to the game?

Fully-realized PvE is absolutely going to be there. Players don't ever need to set foot in any RvR zone in order to move through all four tiers. And vice-versa.

I would like to know how much time /played is your goal to "level" a character?

To be determined.

Leveling Grinds have been getting shorter and shorter, will Warhammer continues this trend?

By offering full-blown PvE and RvR in every tier, we hope to make the process essentially painless for most players. Nothing depresses our world designers more than the idea that people might blow through 80% of the stuff they hand-craft with love and disturbingly intense affection to get to the last portion of the game.

I am also interested in advancement through RvR. Will this be as speedy as normal "grinding", or at a mere fraction of normal XP rate?

I can't speak for final speeds, numbers, etc. but our intention is that players will find compelling reasons to engage in PvE AND RvR in all tiers.

How does the mechanics of tanking work?

Player collision for enemies. You won't collide with friendly PC characters, but you will with enemy units. As a result, you won't be able to simply run through enemy tanks in order to get to less defensively-significant players. You also won't be able to clip back and forth through someone to hit them from behind, then the side, then the front, etc.

I don't see what's stop people from running around you and getting to support guys.

Again, player collision is the one bit that's been announced. That said, it can be VERY effective for protecting less defensive players if groups know how to make use of it properly.

Will there be knock back of some kind?

To be determined. I'm personally a huge fan of it.

Are Halflings actually in Warhammer? I know they're the token comedy team in Bloodbowl but I haven't seen them in fantasy.

Yes. And - as noted above - they're DELICIOUS. Mmm... free range halfling... *drools*

Well, one of the things that's causing the "limited" classes is the requirement that every class be combat-effective and serve an immediately recognizable role. We have no pure "support" classes. In addition, we don't have rogues or stealth classes. We're not fond of hybrid classes either, though there will almost certainly be SOME degree of hybridization for some races.

Again, player collision is the one bit that's been announced. That said, it can be VERY effective for protecting less defensive players if groups know how to make use of it properly.

Btw, short version:

You say that Warhammer design is good because the power differentail between the ranks is small.

I say that I agree that the fact that the power differential being small would make the design of the game "good".

But at the same time there is no evidence from the descriptions of the mechanics we have that the power differential is, in fact, small.

That's all.

Sounds boring.  Maybe there will be terrain tactical considerations to make up for the lack group tactics because this setup makes "focus fire" the one and only tactic.

You are dreaming if you are thinking there will be no healing in the game.

Player collision for enemies.

Dwarfs, humans and High Elfs can all work together as they see fit. Ditto with orcs, Dark Elfs and Chaos warriors.

2 - reward playerskill, and specifically the ability to

circle strafe.

Love the gobin (http://media.vggen.com/games/pc/warhammeronline/warhammeronline5.jpg).

Good circle straffing IS skill.

I just don't like this type of twitch gameplay. See what Tobold wrote (http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2006/02/combat-animations.html).

I just don't like this type of twitch gameplay. See what Tobold wrote (http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2006/02/combat-animations.html).

Penalities on jumping?

Jumping in WoW gets you nowhere. People who jump have no more advantage than people who don't. It's a eflex move and it keeps their fingers active.

STOP IT. (http://www.warhammeronline.com/english/media/screenshots/full/may_05_13.jpg)

Needs more knives.

STOP IT. (http://www.warhammeronline.com/english/media/screenshots/full/may_05_13.jpg)

Can anyone find any good screan shots of Chaos guys? While the Greenskins look cool, I want to see my chaos people.

Actually, this is not true. If you notice hunters jump a lot. The reason for this is that you can move faster by jumping than walking backwards. So to keep distance a hunter will jump away from some one, and spin 180 degrees in the air, so they are moving away from their target but can still use special moves.

The same goes for my rogue, I will jump through some one, and spin in the air so that i am still attacking them before I land.

Everyone knows that the best way to get it right is about quickly building proofs of concept and then reiterate as much as you can. Progressively adding detail and polish.

So because they are developing the races in pairs, instead of doing all six at once, then WAR isn't going to be as perfect as previous mmorpg games?

If the game is going to play as 3 seperate battlefields, I can see the logic of designing them seperately.

Meaning the chaos models and zones will be buggy, boring and empty ... right?

I'm hoping that GW have a new focus on computer games in general

"The dark-elves are English posh people who have taken drugs. Basically Lord Byron. They've got money coming out their ears. They don't take lot of hope into deciding [...] goddamn world [...] any way they want."
................
Someone could translate to me that last line of the dark elves description?

Edit - Awesome video that Sairon posted in the E3 forum.

Watch this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWvAznIRVLA

Everybone fights everybody. For. Ever.

Mythic Entertainment, a leading developer and publisher of massively-multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG's), today announced Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) will be published and operated across Europe by GOA, the France Telecom-owned publisher of online games. GOA has successfully operated Dark Age of Camelot in Europe with Mythic since 2001. WAR is based on Games Workshop's popular Warhammer fantasy war game and features next generation Realm vs. Realm (RvR) game play that will immerse players in a world of perpetual conflict. WAR will arrive on the PC simultaneously in the US and Europe in the fall of 2007.

"The initial partnership between Mythic and GOA resulted in 'Dark Age of Camelot' being the number one MMORPG in Europe for many years," said Mark Jacobs, CEO and President of Mythic Entertainment. "With WAR our goal is nothing less than to take Europe by storm and regain that leadership position in the European market."

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) will be published and operated across Europe by GOA

The Military history of Finland during World War II covers the history of Finland from 1939 to 1944. During the World War II the fate of Finland was unique among the belligerent nations. Finland fought three wars: Winter War alone against Soviet Union, Continuation War with Germany against Soviet Union, and Lapland War alone against Germany. In the end, Finland had managed, against all odds, to defend its independence and democratic constitution while suffering relatively minor territorial losses.

There's some kind of backbone issue in France isn't there?

In this thread (http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/showthread.php?p=77643#77643) Mark has posted a few times that they will take steps to ensure WAR has a better release and support in Europe than DAoC.  There's some kind of backbone issue in France isn't there?

I like the increased focus on Europe but I'm probably going to get a US import copy of WAR anyway.  The only European release mmorpg I have played is WoW and I really didn't like the language barriers.  I think I ended up on the unofficial Finnish server, barrens chat generally drifted towards a reenactment of World War II.

I'm irritated that this means they'll be running seperate EU and US servers with a seperate account structure once again.

Let's make some predictions about the numbers Warhammer will get in EU and US. Let's see who will go closer. My idea is that the reasonable goal that Mythic should take nearly as an imperative (meaning that it won't be a "success" and that they should start dancing if they reach it, but that the devs should work *hard* to reach it) is the 250-280k EU+US that DAoC had at its peak. Anything less would be a delusion (in particular with the silly claims above) and I don't think that the game will move too far away from that number (meaning that I don't expect them going far above either).

Let's make some predictions about the numbers Warhammer will get in EU and US. Let's see who will go closer. My idea is that the reasonable goal that Mythic should take nearly as an imperative (meaning that it won't be a "success" and that they should start dancing if they reach it, but that the devs should work *hard* to reach it) is the 250-280k EU+US that DAoC had at its peak. Anything less would be a delusion (in particular with the silly claims above) and I don't think that the game will move too far away from that number (meaning that I don't expect them going far above either).

If it's stable and polished at release, if the starter areas are newb friendly and if the high end game is feature complete I'll stick my neck out for 500k EU+US at release.  That's a lot of if's though.  Post WoW with a license so similar but with greater depth, I can't imagine them aiming for less.

I think what he's referring to is visual polish - you know, effects that look good, not just functional, well-done textures, high framerate, characters that don't look like total ass and move like robots.

Also, if you want to change characters in WoW, you log out and change, log back in. You don't have to exit the client.

It’s going to be 500,000+, easily.

WoW, has “style”, not polish.

DAoC was/is technically flawless.

I'm amazed.

Btw, it's interesting how WoW tricked EVERYONE into believing that subscribers grow on trees.

The market has NOT grown in the sense that a new mmorpg can come out and expect a lot more subs than in the past. You'll see.

Any informed comments on that issue?

By the time this game comes out wow should be around the 10 mill mark,

It all depends on the quality of the expansion, a sharp fall in subscriber numbers for WoW was already predicted in April last year (http://www.grimwell.com/index.php?action=fullnews&id=262).  I'm expecting it to kick in any second now.  :roll:

Three reasons why Warhammer is a great licence for a MMO:
3- A-pe-pe-cciual work with no ending from where to draw from

Race cliches:
"The high-elves are British posh people. Never done a day working in their lives. Don't understand about "doing the washing". Have had too much time in the da, so they read the lody-dody(?) books, get really good with the swords and doing special magic."

"The dark-elves are English posh people who have taken drugs. Basically Lord Byron. They've got money coming out their ears. They don't take lot of hope into deciding [...] goddamn world [...] any way they want."

"The Chaos is humans that have been toughly(?) corrupted, tentacles, crab close, extra eyes, horns. Some people get confuse and think Chaos is like the devil. No, no, no. It's not fire and brimstone, it's chaos. It's castles falling from the sky. It's an arm that turns into a sword. It's the ability to cut open your arm and mice(?) pour out rather then blood. It's chaos, it's corruption."

- More commitment you put in, you got piles of money, you got a great(?) of played, the more the game rewards you.

And even the style of WoW is iffy. Games Workshop is notorious for using their IP to shut down competitors, even tiny mom and pop operations. It would not surprise me in the least if they served Blizzard with C&D papers on the Orc, goblin, and possibly Dwarves right around launch. And the best part is there is no credible argument that Blizzard could use to say that they didn’t lift the Orc and Goblin visuals straight from GW. They’ve even said they did.  Blizzard shouldn’t be worried about War as a competitor, they should be worried about Games Workshop as a copyright holder with a demonstrated history of using their IP to club the fuck out of people until they cease to exist.

Btw, "France" is not the problem. WoW's servers are also hosted in France and I don't think they have all these problems.

GW's history of corporate IP bullying is against the small guys. Vivendi's very much not the small guys. Warcraft 1 came out more then 6 months ago, and your idea that GW can do jack or shit about WoW's dwarves is even more laughable.

I played DAoC until it was clear they weren't moving in my direction.  They seem to be moving in my direction again, so I am interested again.

Curse-gaming hosts one of the biggest add-on databases for WoW. It's likely those users registered to post on the addon pages and those posts aren't counted by the forum.

How did that place come to be ranked 2,389 on Alexa and I've somehow magically never heard about it? I'm not saying I've heard of every website. But top 5,000 in alexa targeting MMOGs? Should I be embarrased?

That's one of the worst interviews I've ever read. Proofreading necessary indeed.

That's one of the worst interviews I've ever read. Proofreading necessary indeed. How did that place come to be ranked 2,389 on Alexa and I've somehow magically never heard about it? I'm not saying I've heard of every website. But top 5,000 in alexa targeting MMOGs? Should I be embarrased?

Edit:
What the fuck? Threads: 9,137, Posts: 32,473, Members: 112,502.

112k members with only 32,473 posts? I, alone, have more than 1/3rd their postcount and they have nearly 100x more members? whu?

He says that they have a healer roll, a tank roll and a dps roll.

He says that they have a healer role, a tank role and a dps role.

Sanya Thomas, Director of Community Relations for Mythic Entertainment has cleared up the misunderstandings around the WAR beta on Warhammer Herald.

Alpha: The current stage of WAR.
Double Secret Beta: At Summer 2006 with payed testers and Mythic partners.
Beta1: At Fall 2006, with less than a hundred of old friends.
Beta1.7: Early 2007, with recommended community testers.
Beta2: Early Spring of 2007, Still under NDA, with prize winners, DAoC players, guilds and media members.
Beta3: Summer 2007, Under NDA, with around 10000 randomly choosen people from newsletter subscribers.
Final Beta: Summer 2007, NDA free, with people who pre-ordered the game and media contest winners.
(There will be no Open Beta where everyone with internet connection can download the client.)

(Source: WarHerald (http://warherald.com/news/fullArticle.php?newsid=18) )

WAR already said that that they were going have tanks and dps but no healers and rogue.  Maybe people are playing healer hybrids as full healers because people have been trained to play that way.

In retrospect, one of the things I liked about Lineage PvP was that there was no healing class. Healing was either a money sink (potions) a time sink (resting) or a combination (gathered elf food). People could only carry so many potions, and everything didn't center around the freakouts of prima donna healers.

I think that problem can be remedied by playing with people who aren't idiots :/