Interview with Sanya Weathers @ GameBunny

[Garthilk]

A few days ago I got an email from Spridal over at GameBunny telling us they had a new interview with Sanya Weathers of EA Mythic which looks at the current state of development for Warhammer Online. Overall a good read and something both die hard and novice fans alike will get something out of.

Full Story Here (http://www.gamebunny.com/warhammer_online_sanya_chat_pg1.htm).

[AlienOverlord]

Cool article. It's always good to see more insight into the attitudes of the folks at Mythic.

There was one statement that needed modifying:

most people come in, and even if they’re pure PVE people in other games, they find out how exciting PVP can be, and stay
This is where I was before I got into MMORPGs (Yes, WoW drew me in) - I assumed I wouldn't like PvP and I didn't. Then I tried GOOD PvP in other MMORPGs and I realized what the appeal was and that's why I'm looking forward to WAR.

It's not just PvP that will bring people in, it has to be a PvP system that works. But out of everything in WAR, I guess that's something that most everyone is certain Mythic already understands.

This part about Public Quests was great to hear.
When each stage completes, there are public rewards for everyone within range, but you don’t have to be online for that. Your personal reward is measured in “influence” with NPCs, and you earn that as you participate.
It’s a type of PVE that very much appeals to me as someone who only gets to play games in hour, two hour blocks
Maybe they already mentioned you didn't have to be online to get the reward, but it's nice to get confirmation. Sometimes I need to log out without warning (which makes WoW-style raids impossible) but WAR's Public Quests will make sure the effort spent isn't lost. Nice job.

Plus these sound like awesome ways to build community. I'm reminded of the giant monster spawns or building fires in City of Heroes where players spontaneously gather for the same goal. Really fun game mechanic.

[Draeg]

Plus these sound like awesome ways to build community. I'm reminded of the giant monster spawns or building fires in City of Heroes where players spontaneously gather for the same goal. Really fun game mechanic.

I'm glad to see this, some of my best times in UO and CoH were the large mobs that popped during Halloween (CoH) and the Trolls invading Vesper (UO). Finally I think this is the game that I've been trying to find since leaving UO! :D

[Sanya@Mythic]

Dammit, Gar, why'd you repost?! Worst... picture... of me... EVER.

I wanted to clarify, because I failed in the interview to be clear. The influence that you earn (the stuff that unlocks the really good rewards) is earned as you go. The public reward is only for those online and within radius - but since it's free to everyone within radius, even people who didn't help, it's not THAT awesome. My understanding is that the public reward (given at the end of one stage) is something that would assist you in the next stage of the public quest.

And if you DON'T get it because you were offline or had to go to the bathroom or whatever, just wait until it cycles back around and pick it up the next time you happen to be in the area. No fuss no muss.

Let's say you helped with Stage 1, but logged off before it ended. The next time you log in, the quest is on Stage 3. You jump back in, help complete it, get the public reward, spawn the giant that is Stage 4, and WIN TEH GAME. (Cough, sorry, a little punchy today.) Now it resets back to Stage 1. Check your journal. You have not maxed out your influence with the NPC because of the time you were offline. Jump back into Stage 1, or don't, whatever. When Stage 1 completes, you still get the public reward even though you finished Stage 4, see?

[Kilrogg-WHA]

Step 2 is missing somewhere :p

[Trump]

Dammit, Gar, why'd you repost?! Worst... picture... of me... EVER.


Not often you get to see someone playing air-piano.

[Y'vess]

Dammit, Gar, why'd you repost?! Worst... picture... of me... EVER.



Could be worse......you might have had spinach stuck in your teeth ;)

[Garthilk]

I happen to like the picture... :)

[Vegetta]

Hmm

What kind of reset times are we looking at?
Is it dependant on how often the whole quest chain is completed? Meaning that stage 1 will not reset unless stage 4 is completed?
Or once a stage is completed will it have a simple respawn timer?

[Ryuno]

Hmm

What kind of reset times are we looking at?
Is it dependant on how often the whole quest chain is completed? Meaning that stage 1 will not reset unless stage 4 is completed?
Or once a stage is completed will it have a simple respawn timer?

I guess these are the sort of things that are gona be "tweaked" (endless possiblities with that word!), however from what I gather from reading so far, the quests will be in one long progression, so you start at Stage 1, then 2, all the way to 4. When 4 is done it goes back to stage 1. Don't remember reading anything on a respawn timer as such, but if there is I would imagine that would change anyway. Guess it depends on the scale of it too.

All in all though, it sounds very fun, and I really like the idea :)

[Vegetta]

Yeah im looking forward to the public quests too!

[Y'vess]

I imagine certain community quests will take a while to restart.

The example mostly talked about is where you get rid of squigs harrassing a giant, then get him drunk and he stomps off to bash some Dwarfs.

Given a giant on your side in RvR would be pretty helpfull and probably kill severl players before being taken down I can only imagine youre not gonna be doing that 10 times a day.

Perhaps they will have several hours in between the end and the beginning.

I wonder.....could you follow the giant and support him on his rampage, healing him and fighting alongside him.

[AlienOverlord]

The public reward is only for those online and within radius - but since it's free to everyone within radius, even people who didn't help, it's not THAT awesome. My understanding is that the public reward (given at the end of one stage) is something that would assist you in the next stage of the public quest.

Thanks for clarifying more on Public Quests rewards Sanya. I suppose they'll be chiefly encouraging community involvement.

I wonder.....could you follow the giant and support him on his rampage, healing him and fighting alongside himThat would be cool and would certainly be a good way to encourage people to do the public quests apart from the rewards :)

[Soybe]

Firstly I'd like to say how great it is that there is active voices from the dev team here in the community, makes me feel a great sense of trust in the way they are approaching the game development.

I really like the interview, lots of good questions I hadnt realised i wanted answers to.

The public quest idea seems great, I would hate it if I had worked heaps towards a public quest only to have my computer crash/go out/or something to miss out on the reward. The way it seems to be set up is great, the dev team knows that heaps of the player base are not the basement dwelling, online 24/7 types anymore. Most of us are actually normal people who like to play video games when its raining or instead of watching crappy tv. So it looks like you dont have to spend 4 hours raiding a dungeon in this game just to improve your character, but you can if you want... these are all good things imo which help me relax about where the direction of the game is heading.

Thanks mythic!!!:D