EA Mythic Conference Call

[Garthilk]

You can never ask enough questions about the Magus disks. At least that was the impression I got after todays EA Mythic conference call. The purpose of the call was to was to focus on the recently-unveiled Empire and Chaos armies and their careers. In attendance were Jeff Hickman Senior Producer, Josh Drescher Senior Designer, Steve Perkins Director of Marketing and of course Paul Barnett Creative Director for WAR. Lets go ahead and get into the basics. Just who are the Empire and Chaos?

As described by Paul the Empire and Chaos are essentially humanity in its two forms. The Empire is struggling to survive as their once unstoppable reign over the land now crumbles. The Empire is of personification of medieval Germanic Europe on the edge of extinction and many believe it is the end times. Chaos is of course intruding on the Empires very existence. Chaos is humanity that has become totally perverted and corrupted by Chaos. Chaos is tentacles, huge armored knights, and floating wizards on disks.

And if you are new to the game, each army of course has it’s own unique careers. With the Empire players will be able to choose from Witchhunters, Bright Wizards, Priests of Sigmar or Knights. While Chaos players will be able to become Marauders, Chosen, Zealots or Sorcerers of Zeetch.

Mind you this is just a synopsis. The amount of detail and enthusiasm for the topic at this point is pretty obvious. Paul sounds like he’s practically frothing over the speaker-phone has he describes the tentacles, the crab claws, the cool hats, cloaks, flintlocks, huge armored knights, disks… Well you get the idea.

Anyway, I'm not going to wax on philosophic about how excited I am about the game. I'm not going to get all nostalgic about my Warhammer miniatures. You came here for the details, so lets get into the details. As for my impressions, what did I walk away thinking about when the call was over. We'll, I'll save that for another writeup.

Trophies
They are still talking about what they are doing with trophies, mostly because they want to fit into the teen rating while still maintain the distinct visual style that Warhammer represents. Maybe skulls, bones, etc, Ultimately, they are still discussing what they can do to best represent the two distinct sides.

Magus Disks
Is the disk under the Magus all the time? What about on stairs? On a hill? On a guy named bill? When thinking about disks, picture Hoverboards that you can never get off. This means you won't be riding horses or other mounts. Essentially it’s a living entity, barely kept under control by it’s owner. It’s like a floating demonic shark. The concept of the disk is that as your sorcerer gets more powerful your disk will show a difference and do different things. It is described as the disky’est thing you've ever seen in a MMO. Most importantly the disk and the Magus represent something pretty cool in the terms of tactics. Magus players don't swim, nor sink in water. They float over it. I forsee some cool strategies being evolved from here.

Witchhunters
Don’t’ underestimate the hat. The cloak, nor the flintlock. Do Witchhunters start with the cool hat? Sadly, no. There are variants of the hat. They get taller, floppier, buckleier, wider brims, featherier etc. In some ways they are an aspirational goal. You can get your first bad- hat, fairly early in the game.

Spellcasting
Will casters cast on the run, or stand still? Casting requires concentration and will mostly have to stand still, however a few spells you can cast on the move. You can’t paint the Mona Lisa by running around, and it’s like that with magic. However I do have good news for Bright Wizards, you can detonate on the run.

Loot Distribution
How do you plan to handle loot distribution for gear in WAR? Loot distribution will be handled several different ways, very random rewards, all the way up to very planned out mechanisms. IE, the Public Quest system, where you get to pick your rewards. There’s a lot of ways, drops from monsters, drops from players, drops from RvR capital cities, where you can pick up loot from loot piles, rewards from capturing enemy kings, and their capital cities. Long story short, you get what you deserve, and you get what you work for.

The Importance of PvP in Instances
We've heard about how victory points will be earned in instances. Also that there is a larger point value from the scenarios, however the battlefields are going to be where the war is won and lost. Battlefields are the areas that are the most dangerous and compelling areas in the game. Just because VP’s come from instances, players will still want to be spending quite a bit of time in the battle fields.

Death Penalty
The penalty for death is time. No specific details on resurrection sickness have been decided. However you will not be losing any coin or experience. Dying is part of the game. Beating you over the head for what is part of the game, is not part of the game.

Line of Sight
Line of sight blocking by other players will not happen. You can block the movement, but you cannot block his attacks through him. Just because the Goblin is hiding behind the massive Black Orc, doesn't mean your spells cant hit him.

The Zealot
Just who is the Zealot? He's a crazy Chaos fanatic, covered in featherers, he's got creepy fetishes, he throws potions, lotions, he stabs you. He's bloody awesome. Some of you however, will only refer to him as the healer. But he's more than that, he's a crazy fighter with healing abilities.

External Beta
If you are sending in a bribe, be sure to send in a lot. Apparently some folks sent some in, but unfortunately the bribes arn’t getting to the right people. IE, Jeff Hickman. Jeff doesn't get enough bribes, or mentions on this site. Seriously though, EA Mythic is still talking about when it will start. Nothing officially announced.

Audibles
No you won't be listening to thirty seconds of monologue for a quest that takes two seconds to read. However you will still be hearing some cool audible emotes. Yes, Orcs will fart, burp. Yes you’ll be insulted by a NPC, there will be sounds from your character. Some of the gloating emotes are apparently going to be pretty cool.

Famous Characters
Yes, people from the core IP will be in the game. You’ll even be able to fight some of them. People at their keyboards will have an opportunity to be hero’s and yes the folks at Games Workshop are totally behind this.

Roleplaying
The entire game is a roleplaying hot spot. Life long obsessives are going to have fun visiting the places they’ve always imagined from the game. As matter of fact during the conference call Kate Black from games workshop popped by the offices. She’s the brand manager for Games Workshop and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and was visiting EA Mythic. From the roleplay department Kate said, "I’m very impressed by what the EA Mythic guys have got"

Mutations
There are some that are temporary, IE, especially with the Marauder. As far as permanent, they really arn’t talking about it yet.

That's most of my notes folks. I'll go ahead and write up my general impressions and feelings in a separate writeup. This is just the notes from my note sheet. I'd like to thank EA Mythic for inviting Warhammer Alliance. Also to the developer who took time out of their schedules to share with the rest of us, just how cool things are going to be.

[zzz]

I'm glad to hear the Chaos Magus discs will be very animated and that they're thinking of them kind of like hoverboards. This is what I hoped for.

Thanks for the write up.

[Krulltak]

Wow, this is some freakin sweet information , really clears up a few things and makes me all the more eager for WAR. Thanks Garth.

However,

People at their keyboards will have an opportunity to be hero’s and yes the folks at Games Workshop are totally behind this.

I wonder what this means.........do they mean we will get some sort of special thing that allows us to play hero characters ? If so................................................ .................................................. .







Pure.Unadulterated.Awesome.

[drunkmime]

Awesome info. Thanks Garthilk.

[Kromlech]

Garthik, thank you for another great write up. I love you. Please bear my children..

[Seldaren]

Oooo... this was one of the questions over on only-war:

Q. Will the Chaos Magus be able to summon Horrors of Tzeentch? WIll we see another pet class other than Squig Herders?
A. Other pet classes in the game? Yes there are. But it's NOT the Magus.

Very interesting I think. Basically says at least one of the Elven careers is a pet class. Unless of course, one of the known ones is a pet class and we just don't know it.

Seldaren

[Bhazrak]

Nice Information, glad to hear that I'll be able to WAAAGH!.

[Pendrako]

As usual, an excellent write up. Informative and entertaining. I don't know what you put in your secret noodle recipe, but it's definitely working. And you linked hoverboards

Originally Posted by Garthilk

Roleplaying
The entire game is a roleplaying hot spot. Life long obsessives are going to have fun visiting the places they’ve always imagined from the game. As matter of fact during the conference call Kate Black from games workshop popped by the offices. She’s the brand manager for Games Workshop and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and was visiting EA Mythic. From the roleplay department Kate said, "I’m very impressed by what the EA Mythic guys have got"

Great to hear! But that'll be Kate Flack, ex-Climax devloper, current Black Industries editor, and top lass to boot. Having her on board is definitely a Good Thing.

[V'raneth]

Originally Posted by Garthilk

The Importance of PvP in Instances
We've heard about how victory points will be earned in instances. Also that there is a larger point value from the scenarios, however the battlefields are going to be where the war is won and lost. Battlefields are the areas that are the most dangerous and compelling areas in the game. Just because VP’s come from instances, players will still want to be spending quite a bit of time in the battle fields.

Best thing I've heard in a while.

[XShrike]

Hopefully that little bit will quite down the people calling instances a plague on MMOs that only Nurgle could have conceived.

Sorcerers being able to fly over the water is going to be interesting. Makes me wonder even more how well they will do in CQC.

[Jegger]

Line of Sight
Line of sight blocking by other players will not happen. You can block the movement, but you cannot block his attacks through him. Just because the Goblin is hiding behind the massive Black Orc, doesn't mean your spells cant hit him.

Great...

First there was the revelation that collision detection isn't "hard" but can be pushed through with some effort. Now this. Tell me again. What exactly is a tank class for again?

[zzz]

Originally Posted by Jegger

Great...

First there was the revelation that collision detection isn't "hard" but can be pushed through with some effort. Now this. Tell me again. What exactly is a tank class for again?

I can tell you what they're NOT for. They're NOT for jumping around like a french poodle and interrupting a spell you might have been casting for 3 seconds with a wiggle of their asses.

Also, just because you CAN expend energy and push through the enemy, timing is everything. Basically, it will be just fine.

[Duvall]

Originally Posted by Garthilk

Witchhunters

Don’t’ underestimate the hat. The cloak, nor the flintlock. Do Witchhunters start with the cool hat? Sadly, no. There are variants of the hat. They get taller, floppier, buckleier, wider brims, featherier etc. In some ways they are an aspirational goal. You can get your first bad- hat, fairly early in the game.

Loot Distribution

How do you plan to handle loot distribution for gear in WAR? Loot distribution will be handled several different ways, very random rewards, all the way up to very planned out mechanisms. IE, the Public Quest system, where you get to pick your rewards. There’s a lot of ways, drops from monsters, drops from players, drops from RvR capital cities, where you can pick up loot from loot piles, rewards from capturing enemy kings, and their capital cities. Long story short, you get what you deserve, and you get what you work for.

The Importance of PvP in Instances

We've heard about how victory points will be earned in instances. Also that there is a larger point value from the scenarios, however the battlefields are going to be where the war is won and lost. Battlefields are the areas that are the most dangerous and compelling areas in the game. Just because VP’s come from instances, players will still want to be spending quite a bit of time in the battle fields.

About the Witchhunters - After reading that write up I might be leaning to play a Witch hunter now.

About the Loot System - It was a relief to hear " Long story short, you get what you deserve, and you get what you work for." From what I took from that is even the cuasual players will be able to obtain the top tier loot. A power gamer might get it first, but in the long run everyone will have it in the end.

About the PvP Instances - I am glad to hear that the PvP instances where not the end all. It sounds like open field RvR is hear to stay! Thank you Mythic!

[Kromlech]

Originally Posted by XShrike

Hopefully that little bit will quite down the people calling instances a plague on MMOs that only Nurgle could have conceived.

You won't hear me say another bad thing about instances, excepting city sieges.

[Jegger]

Originally Posted by zzz

I can tell you what they're NOT for. They're NOT for jumping around like a french poodle and interrupting a spell you might have been casting for 3 seconds with a wiggle of their asses.

That's not what I had in mind at all. I was considering being able to stand or step in front of an enemy's target to take the spell damage/effect in their place. If the issue is simply LOS for interruption purposes, I'm fine with that.