Tempest's Guide to WAR

WAR CE Head start begins Sunday 14th

WAAAGH!!!

Can't get enough of Open Beta but you're ready to finally start your journey in the Age of Reckoning?

Starting Sunday, September 14th all Collectors Edition Pre-Order players will be invited to join us as we kick off WAR and officially end Open Beta.

On Tuesday, September 16th all Standard Edition Pre-Order players will join the ranks of Collectors Edition players as we prepare to release WAR to the world next Thursday, September 18th.

Make sure you've used your Open Beta code to download the client from FilePlanet and have registered your Head Start code in the Mythic Account Center so you don't miss a minute of action!

WAR is Coming - We'll see you there!

Keens E3 preview

My second piece for Warhammer has been published over at the Warhammer Vault. It’s actually my notes that I took during the preview that the Mythic dev team gave. Keep in mind that these are just from the preview and my interviews and discussions with other devs (Mark Jacobs specifically) are not included. That stuff is still to come. Graphical Improvements

• Adding lighting by hand and polishing the graphics
• Finishing the entire world before going back and touching up Macro Customization
• They’re taking a page out of the FPS book by having silhouettes be the main identifier. (Think back to DAoC when you knew who someone was just by looking at them from a distance)
• Over 400 armor sets in the game
• “We want you to feel like you can look like your class right from the beginning” was said in reference to armor sets and various outfits your characters can wear.
• Metallic dyes will be in the game using full spectrum of color
• I asked and Adam confirmed: WHITE DYE will be in the game! They have finally figured out how to get this working properly.
• Over 114 different dye colors based on Games Workshops paints for the miniatures. Inevitable City and general city notes
• Special NPCs will appear from the Warhammer lore as capital cities increase in status rank. We got to see a few of them and they look absolutely amazing.
• The King encounter (he looks cool by the way) will be more than simply a “tank and spank” encounter. While fighting the Chaos king you’ll see voids opening around you and the floor breaking apart with chaos swirling all around and the pillars in the room falling. Adam sounded really excited.
• Cities have level 20 and level 40 dungeons PvE
• There are no instanced raid dungeons.
• Most dungeons are public where anyone can enter and fight but the bosses are instanced. (Adam made mention of Darkness Falls here though the details evade me)
• Most group content is designed for 6-12 people. King encounters are “one of the only” encounters that require a larger group of people. Adam expressed Mythic’s sentiment again that raiding isn’t the direction they’re going. Mounts
• Players can get a mount of their own at level 20.
• “Rent a Mule” mounts with charges available pre 20.
• We were shown the Chaos horse (Looked freaking amazing)
• Summoned just like mounts in WoW. Open bags, clicky, poof you’re on the mount.
• Mounts can be customized with armor, colors, and that sort of thing. Think macro customization like I talked about earlier.
• Mounted Combat and Flying Mounts are not completely ruled out but they’re not something Mythic is thinking about doing right now. Definitely not at launch (duh). RvR Notes
• NEW ADDITION TO THE GAME: RvR Fortresses. These “uber keeps” (quote from Adam) of “RvR Goodness” (quote from Mark Jacobs) act as an additional barrier between players and capital cities. They have also replaced the Capital cities in the battlefronts that had theirs taken away. These will offer very interesting RvR encounters.
• A realm must capture 2/3 Fortresses to make the enemy Capital vulnerable.
• Sets of gear will be spread throughout these fortresses so players will have yet again additional sets of armor to strive for from various locations in the WAR world. Scenarios
• We were shown Nordwatch and got to see the game in action as Adam played with real beta testers.
• The combat looked fluid, polished, and extremely fun.
• In this particular scenario Adam played a Zealot and we got to see the role of a healer in action as he healed and cast offensive magic at the enemy players.
• Adam’s Zealot was only level 2 yet he was able to hold his ground against level 7 players because of how scenario’s work - they boost player’s abilities so that everyone feels on equal footing. It was working quite well. The Open Group System
• A new feature just introduced that will allow players to open a window and see who in their region wants more players in their group.
• Joining a “open group” is as simple as clicking the “join button”.
• The Open group window shows how far you are from the prospective group in real-time travel time.
• Can see who is in the group
• Currently no filter for groups to use (IE: Only want healers) but that is more of something you would see in the regular LFG window. Open groups truly are “open”. UI
• Completely modable with LUA still
• Default layout editor comes with the game so that players can adjust the layout of their UI to their liking. This will never break with patches. (Hotbars are currently being worked into this system)
• UI Mods are all local to your computer
• I pushed for more information on whether or not UI mods could change the functionality of the default game and Adam went into details:

- Certian “Hooks” (modding lingo) will not be allowed
- It is inevitable that some people will get around these hooks but they’ll be taken care of.
- Nothing like WoW’s “Click to cure this automatically” or “cast this based on that”.
- “Nothing that automates gameplay at all” will be allowed.
- There will be basic macros allowed in-game.

Final thoughts Warhammer Online looks amazing. The gameplay that we were shown would take up several pages of explanation just to do it justice. It has come a very long way since we were last shown the game at a convention. Mythic Entertainment is passionate about the game and it’s showing in the final stages of production. WAR is coming sooner than later. The NDA will drop here within just a few weeks and, baring any problems with the guild beta, open beta/release can’t be too far behind.

Mark Jacobs Interview - Punkbuster, Capitol Cities and Careers

In part two of his interview with Mythic Entertainment VP and General Manager Mark Jacobs, MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood reports that the game will be implementing Punkbuster and cutting four capitol cities and four careers from the launch features of the game.
Punkbuster First, Mark Jacobs, the VP and General Manager of Mythic Entertainment, announced to MMORPG.com that the studio has partnered with well-known anti-cheat company Punkbuster in an effort to make sure that their upcoming RvR game (Warhammer Online) is as free from cheaters, hacks and the like as possible.

“As you know,” said Jacobs in an interview, “we have fought a long battle against hackers, cheaters and other assorted slimeballs who think that it’s both fun and fair for them to have an advantage over other players.”
Read the whole article HERE .

Magus Career update
"Warped psychic energy given form, nightmares made reality, an army of insanity and terror - are they not beautiful in their perfection? No doubts, no fears, no pain, no loss; embodiments of destruction and carnage. Tzeentch's daemonic masses are the forces of anarchy loosed upon this world...and all within my hands."

- Kaltira the Daemoncaller

A Magus of Tzeentch is a devoted follower of the Raven God, and has spent his entire lifetime studying pure sorcery with a fevered intensity. Desperate for even a bare glimpse of Tzeentch's great plan, the Magus has learned through his research that Tzeentch's daemonic minions are creations and reflection of the Great Changer, and he focuses his search for knowledge obsessively on this fact - for perhaps, by understanding the servant, he may better understand the master.

While it is plainly impossible for a mortal mind to grasp even the smallest fragment of Tzeentch's thoughts without being shattered into gibbering insanity, it nonetheless amuses Tzeentch to allow his mortal followers to continue in their pursuits. To that end, a particularly powerful and devoted Magus may be gifted with the services of Tzeentch's daemons. Even for the strongest of Tzeentch's followers, to call a daemon is no small task, for these chaos-spawned nightmares are often equally happy to devour either their summoner or his enemies. A Magus has just barely enough control to ensure that any daemon he calls forth will focus its unnatural attention on his foes instead of on himself, but even that slight leash is enough to serve his purposes - after all, ordering a daemon to rend and destroy is redundant, since the daemon will do so regardless. The Magus can call forth several different types of daemonic fiends, but can only maintain the concentration needed to restrain a single one at a time. A clever Magus therefore makes sure to best fit his summoning to his need: a Pink Horror which flings bolts of fire corruption at distant enemies, a Blue Horror which spews out waves of warping energy around itself, or a Flamer which spits blasts of fire at groups of enemies.

Guild Leaders - prepare your recruits for WAR!
It has been one year since the first call for guilds to join the battle was answered and now the moment will soon be upon us. Mighty guilds, long lying in wait, have raised up their banners to make ready and the drums of war resound within their great halls. Legions of fierce warriors form their ranks, and will soon mount their attacks on WAR’s vast battlefields. They stand on the precipice in anticipation, ready to vie for honor and glory in the name of their Realm. Now is the time for the best of the best to band together as one and clash against their enemies. Starting in July, these guilds and thousands of players will compete for domination in the great arena of the Age of Reckoning. Like a fine wine, our Closed Beta and all that it encompasses has only improved with time. Thanks to the tireless efforts of our talented development team and the invaluable feedback of thousands of testers, the game is looking great and stands poised, ready to play host to a legion of guilds and their members. The guilds we’ve selected have touched most every MMO released, and several hail from the frontlines of popular First Person Shooters. These testers cover every play style under the sun, and truly embody the social diversity we will welcome and encourage at launch. These guilds, and many more like them, will be the foundation of a great community that we look forward to serving for years to come. Guilds and new testers alike will have their hands full as they experience the variety of tools, systems, and content that our development teams have been perfecting these many months. Over the course of this Beta phase, players will experience first-hand many of the great things WAR has to offer, including: - All 3 Campaigns from Tiers 1-4
Contested & Peaceful Cities
Continued Career Updates, Including the Introduction of the White Lion
PvE Dungeons, such as Gunbad & The Bastion Stair
New Scenarios
New PQ's
Updated User Interface
Heraldry & Standards
Guild Rewards & Tactics
Crafting
Real Time Website Updates with Character Profiles and RvR Stats And much more! The summer months are really heating up here at Mythic and we can't wait to give many of you a world of reasons to stay indoors and enjoy the air conditioning. We look forward to seeing your standards on the battlefield and hearing your tales of victory.
WAAAGH!!!