Recently we got to take part in a conference call with some of the developers at EA Mythic to discuss the current state of their upcoming MMO Warhammer Online. The game is currently slated for a fall release date, and is currently undergoing testing of its end-game campaign and realm versus realm content. In the conference call we learned about more of the specifics surrounding the RvR combat as well as other information regarding how siege weapons and player guilds will feature in the game.
Warhammer Online is geared from the ground up around the war between the factions, and many actions that players take will contribute to the war effort. Crafting professions will be more in the line of weapon smiths than of bakers, and even players who avoid much of the RvR content will still find themselves often contributing to the success of their side through quests and other aspects of the game. Player versus player combat will be a prominent feature in the game, to the point that players can actually level from the start of the game up to the level cap at 40 entirely by participating in PvP fighting and still gaining gold, experience, renown, and equipment along the way.
The RvR campaign is a massive facet of the game that affects all players to some extent. As the battle between the factions rages, zone control will fluctuate between sides, and when one side gains the upper hand and locks down zone after zone until you can expect them beating on your capital’s doors. Capital city sieges require a large amount of players to succeed, but rewards them with a bevy of loot. This must be completed quickly however, as the longer a zone is controlled by one side the weaker their grasp on it becomes and the defending side can push forward and claim a zone to protect their capital city once again. Balancing this battle is an effort that has not been lost on the developers, and systems will be in place to buff a side if it is clearly losing or debuff a side that has an overly generous advantage in their numbers.
Siege weapons feature prominently in the RvR campaign, especially when the assault or defense of keeps or the capital cities are involved. Siege weapons are broken up into four types, door busters, wall defense, direct fire, and indirect fire. Door busters (battering rams) let attackers break through the massive gates and doors in their way, while wall defense weapons, like vats of boiling oil, can be poured on top of them by the defenders. The other two types of siege weapons can be used by either side, with indirect weapons like catapults raining death down in a large area of effect while direct fire siege weapons (like Chaos Hellcannons) are great at taking down single targets and enemy siege machines.
The siege weapons must be built before they can be used, and each one must be controlled in a way specific to its use and not simply by clicking on it. Catapults and ballistae are controlled almost like a mini-game of their own, with players not only having to aim their fire but also take into account wind to make sure their shots hit their mark.
In addition to the RvR campaign and the occasional open-world PvP fights players will get into the game also features 30 instanced PvP “scenarios” that players can access from the very beginning of the game and choose to enter one simply by pressing a button on their user interface. These scenarios take many forms ranging from familiar game modes such as team deathmatch and capture the flag to the more obscure such as domination and Murderball. In Murderball a flaming skull is placed on the map, and the first player to grab it becomes many times more powerful than normal, allowing them to tear through opposing players with ease. On the negative side the Murderball is slowly but surely killing them as well, giving the player a limited time as a god on the battlefield before they fall over dead from its effects.
Alongside the standard quests that MMO veterans are used to the content of the game is also fleshed out with over 300 public quests in which players that happen to be in the same area can all contribute to a common goal without necessarily being in the same group. These quests range wildly in their storylines from kidnapping princesses to boarding ships and manning their siege weapons, and also serve as a way for players to possibly group up with others. If a player finds themselves fighting alongside someone in a public quest that seems to really hold their own, there’s nothing stopping them from starting a group and going from there.
If you get a full group going you will also have the minimum number of players needed to form a guild. Joining a guild is critical to the success of players looking to progress, and rather than being nothing more than a roster of players and a chat channel guilds have a variety of functionality themselves. As its members complete quests and participate in RvR the guild itself can level up so to speak, allowing its members access to various perks. One such perk is the guild banner, which can be thrown down onto the field to give all nearby guild members an area of effect buff. Such banners would also look great unfurled over the sides of a keep, which guilds have the potential of claiming as their own turf. Systems are in place to help balance things out between large guilds and small guilds, so that while larger guilds may progress slightly faster than smaller guilds the two will grow at relatively the same rate.
