City Capture Scenarios were presented as instanced replicas at PAX and non-instanced real-time scenarios at Leipzig. When I asked for clarification, Eric Correll, Product Manager of EA Mythic stated, "City Capture will most likely be population limited, but not technically "instanced" in the same way scenarios are in lower level RvR zones." Essentially, the details have not been worked out yet. There will be objectives, even certain areas that you may to capture. Mechanisms to help balance zone control and realm population discrepancies are planned although they could not talk about them at this point in time.
Developer Mythic has described the class as a mix of Van Helsing and a grand inquisitor, which is a fair comparison, as our femme fatale was dressed like a medieval (and feminine) Indiana Jones and carried a pistol in one hand and a sword in the other.
Different attacks can be selected from the attack menu along the bottom of the screen, tailored for close- and long-range weapons. Some gun attacks can only be used from a distance, while others are meant to be a shot in the face at close range. Our action options were heavily weighted towards the offensive, as Witch Hunters believe defense is for weenies.
“The whole point with Warhammer Online was that it is all about WAR,” Mark said. “It’s all about battle. Are we turning the industry on its head with this game? No. Are we changing things and doing some things differently? Absolutely! All you gotta do is look at what we’re doing, and you’ll see that most games don’t do it our way.”
“We also have the sacking of capital cities to show off yet,” he continued. “We think that’s going to be a very compelling part of the game.”
“What do you think about burning down a guys castle?” Mark queried (and personally I think it’s awesome and responded as such). “Right! I was actually out in England several years ago and we asked, wouldn’t it be cool if we could do that? And they said yes. Then I asked then if we could do it with major cities that exist in the IP, and they said go right ahead.”
The long-awaited MMO is now in beta, and EA was showing the title off at a recent press event held at their Redwood Shores headquarters. The build of the game showcased some great new concepts along with some design features to make it an adaptable and accessible MMO.
The beta version also played out pretty easily for newcomers or those with limited MMO experience. It feels a bit like World of Warcraft in terms of mission structure, at least early on. The game felt a bit more action oriented, as warrior classes could perform combos in order to do the most damage in the shortest amount of time.
Richard Duffek and EA Mythic parted ways as of this morning. We thank him for his contribution to the organization over the past years, and wish him the best in his future endeavors. James Nichols and Missy Hatch will be acting as general Community gurus for Warhammer Online for the time being.
This contest provides a lucky ten winners with Beta keys that after entered into your Warhammer Online Beta Center account grant guaranteed access to the Beta in the near future.
"We're not going to hit the same numbers as WoW," he told us bluntly. Someone someday no doubt will, but to expect it of any product at this stage is wishful thinking. However, not expecting 8 million subscribers doesn't mean there isn't a lot of pressure. Jacobs told us he would be disappointed if Warhammer Online does not quickly become the second biggest MMORPG on the planet.
