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Ask the Warhammer Online Team
In my recap of 2006's GenCon event, I was somewhat unkind to Warhammer Online. They are far better people than I am, thankfully, and the folks from Mythic Entertainment are extending a hand to the members of the Slashdot community. We have the chance to ask them any questions we'd like about Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. We'll look through your questions, and pass on the best to the development team at Mythic. We've gotten assurances that responses will be attributed, too, so you'll know who is answering what. Whether you're a Massive game fan or an old-school wargamer Warhammer Online has to have something to interest you, so ask away. One question per post, please, and we'll post the answers as soon as we get them.
What's unique about Warhammer Online, other than the universe that its set in? This could be anything, really: design philosophy, new innovations in gameplay, new technical acomplishments.
Put slightly more bluntly, tell me why I should chose Warhammer Online over World of Warcraft.
Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!
As a followup question, how do you plan on balancing the endgame experience of casual players vs. the endgame experience of hardcores?
Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!
Do you want to chew into WoW's player base or are you targeting players from other games, most notably other Warhammer titles? If you're targeting WoW, what do you do you have to offer and do you think they'll really jump ship? And if you do convince players, how do you intend to keep them playing WH other than eternal grind for herbs or whatever?
One of the most entertaining aspects of WH (IMO) next to strategy, planning, and decimating our enemies is the craft and care of the minitures. And one of the enjoyable parts of playing MMOs is the mod community, wether sanctioned or not. With DAoC there was a definate progression between Mythic and the Mod community. What started out as a non-existant link slowly became a colaboration between Mythic and the modders. Mythic introduced a tool (or information about the tool) to allow modders to impliment custom GUI solutions. An idea that has since been used widely in the MMO field.
Are there currently any plans to have a simlar system that would allow for the introduction of player contributed art to the game? Banners, skins, asorted textures, and the like? Such a system would allow players to not only take pride in their victories, but also in their craftsmanship.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
How does it feel to have EA suck the soul out of your studio and make you push your product unfinished with core feature removed since they are too 'risky' and/or will affect ESRB rating?
One of the best features of WoW is the way you can customize your entire interface and create custom modifications. Will players have the same ability to tweak the interface of Warhammer Online?
What are you going to do in order to prevent the repetitive grind that most MMOs are [in]famous for ? How many quests in your game follow ye olde template of "kill 20 goblins and bring me their noses... but a goblin only has a 30% chance to drop a nose" ?
At higher levels, will your game require a massive investment of time into raiding the same dungeon over and over, in order to stay competitive with other players ?
>|<*:=
As a former workshop employee, both domestic and abroad, Here are a few Questions :P
.. Blizzard was the company btw, who managed to release the software anyways to some moderate success :)] I know that recent mindsets on the board have stopped seeing video games as 'the enemy' and started seeing them as effective marketing tools to branch boys into 'the hobby', do you find this to be reflected through out the company as well ?
;P] Do your artists have some free reign ? Do you get to use source material from the GW design studio ? How tight are they on your artistic licence, and is it frustrating to work under those constraints ?
:)
1) How difficult do you find it to work with the studio ? Aside from the time differences, Having spent a little time there, I know how possesive the studio is of their IP, and overall mythos. In the past they [I almost said we] have been very difficult to work with from the vantage of software companies in this regard. [Even going so far as to turn down a brand new software company in the early 90's when they pitched a Humans vs Orcs fantasy game
2) What kind of visuals do you work with ? Again, the paper files in the old Notts. studio were EXTENSIVE, I know that mythic has their internal art department. [A place I once applied to after being encouraged by friends who work there, oddly enough , I would have been perfect on this project, but thats neither here nor there
3) Has GW taken you folks to play paint-ball in Nottingham forest yet ?
4) Do you like the pub in the new head office ?
5) Are Jon Stallard and Chris Harbour still Beardy-Ol-Gits ?
--Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
When i found out that i was getting a beta invite a few months ago, I was pretty excited until i found out this was the fantasy version as opposed to 40K. With the extreme glut of fantasy-based mmo's currently in existence, what prompted you to decide "we have a loyal 40K fanbase, and there are not many sci-fi based mmos, thus we will follow the conventional wisdom and create yet another fantasy-based game."?
I have no issue with you making whatever game you want to make, and think you can make money on. However, I really am curious as to what influenced your decision to go with fantasy over 40k.