Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

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Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning

Developer(s)	EA Mythic
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Designer(s)	Mark Jacobs Paul Barnett Jeff Hickman Lance Robertson Colin Hicks Destin Bales Colin Shannon Greg Grimsby Yvette Nash Maurice Nelson
Release date(s)	Q4 2007
Genre(s)	Fantasy MMORPG
Mode(s)	Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Rating Pending (RP)
Platform(s)	Windows
Input	Keyboard, mouse

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (officially abbreviated as WAR^[1]) is an upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy setting. It is currently under development by EA Mythic, and is slated for release in Q3/Q4 2007.^[2] ^[3] The game revolves around the continual worldwide conflict the Warhammer Fantasy setting is well known for, and almost every aspect of the game will be geared towards ongoing, constant war.

1 Development history
2 Armies and careers
- 2.1 Order
- 2.2 Destruction
3 Community
4 Specific game features
5 Beta test
6 Screenshots
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Development history

Warhammer Online first began development under Climax Online. The project was cancelled in June 2004 at the end of its development, when Games Workshop decided the roll-out costs would be too high.^[4] Work on the game never actually stopped as Climax Online continued the project using their own funds until the company reported in late 2004 that the Warhammer Online project was closed due to difficulty securing a publishing agreement.

With the license available again, Games Workshop was approached by EA Mythic (then known as Mythic Entertainment), which was interested in acquiring the license and developing a new project from scratch. A long standing relationship between several Games Workshop managers and the CEO of Mythic Mark Jacobs ensured that a deal was quickly reached. The Warhammer Online license was acquired by Mythic on May 18, 2005.^[5]

Unlike the Climax Online project, Warhammer Online is not a joint venture with Games Workshop. As such, it will not be using rules from either Warhammer Fantasy Battles or Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. However, decisions on new content must be sanctioned by Games Workshop. Development has seen support from Games Workshop notables such as Rick Priestley and Alan Merrett.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Armies and careers

Warhammer Online contains two separate factions; Order, and Destruction. Each faction contains three separate armies, each of which is further broken down into four career choices.^[1]

Armies	Careers
Dwarfs	Ironbreaker	Hammerer	Engineer	Rune Priest
High Elves	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
The Empire	Knight of the Blazing Sun	Witch Hunter	Bright Wizard	Warrior Priest
Chaos	Chosen	Marauder	Magus	Zealot
Dark Elves	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Greenskins	Black Orc	Orc Choppa	Goblin Squig Herder	Goblin Shaman

[edit] Order

The Armies of Order consist of the Dwarfs, the Empire (Humans), and the High Elves.

Dwarfs: The Dwarfs are a dying race, their heyday long since past. The Dwarfs are a hardy and industrious folk, considered to be amongst the greatest craftsmen of the Old World. In WAR the Dwarfs are paired against their long-time racial enemies, the Orcs and Goblins, known collectively as the Greenskins.^[6]

Empire: The Empire is the largest human civilization in the Old World. Founded by the first emperor Sigmar, who is now deified, the Empire has stood for thousands of years. Although not as skilled in craftsmanship as the Dwarfs or in magic as the Elves, the Empire is not held back by tradition to the extent of the Dwarfs or Elves and has yet to succumb to any threat, external or internal. At the start of WAR the Empire faces off against the destructive forces of Chaos.^[7]

High Elves: Skilled in the arts of magic, the ancient Elven race has taken up arms against the forces of disorder, coming to the Empire's aid, and grudgingly fighting alongside the Dwarfs, as the two races put aside their long-standing animosity to combat the greater threat. The High Elves are pitted against their dark kin, the Dark Elves.

[edit] Destruction

The Armies of Destruction consist of the Greenskins (Orc and Goblin), Chaos (Human), and the Dark Elves.

Greenskins: The Greenskins are a collection of Orcs and Goblins, making them unique within the game in that there are two races - although with only two careers for each race there is the same amount of choice as for other factions. Orcs are a large warlike humanoid species, born for battle, fighting, and the occasional brawl. Orcs live in tribal systems with the strongest Orc leading the tribe. Goblins are considerably smaller than Orcs, and are often bullied by the larger more intimidating Orcs. This has caused the Goblins to evolve into sneaky, insidious, and more intelligent creatures in order to defend themselves from their larger kin. Sometimes a particularly powerful Leader will gather many tribes together and form what is known as a "WAAAGH!!!": a nearly unstoppable band of marauding greenskins. With the outset of WAR a new "WAAAGH!!!" is forming and once again the Orcs seek to eradicate their ancestral enemies, the Dwarfs.^[8]

Chaos: The forces of Chaos are bent on corrupting and destroying everything in their path. In Warhammer Online, Chaos characters will be Tzeentch worshippers. However in the Warhammer Universe itself the followers of Chaos may worship one of the four major Chaos gods, Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh. These gods are generally at odds with one another and do not often work together, although some follow Chaos as a whole and are generally referred to as 'Chaos Undivided'. The Human followers of Chaos generally live in the Northern Chaos wastes, and when the time comes for war they are sometimes followed by hideous daemons and mutants. In WAR the forces of Chaos follow the god Tzeentch and are pitted against the Empire.^[9]

Dark Elves: Corrupted High Elves, the Dark Elves have an ancient feud with their counterparts (the High Elves). Their king, Malekith, has his sights set on the throne of the Phoenix King, which he believes is rightly his. While the Armies of the High Elves are away to fight the forces of Chaos, the Dark Elves have taken this opportunity to attack Ulthuan, the home of the High Elves. Because of this the Dark Elves racial pairing at the start of WAR is the High Elves. Malekith also has empowered the leaders of the Greenskins, the Goblin Shaman Gazbag and the Black Orc Warboss Grumlok, bestowing them with magical amulets of great dark power that helped the Greenskins to raise a WAAAAGH! and conquer the original Dwarf capital of Karak Eight-Peaks.

[edit] Community

EA Mythic has an official monthly newsletter detailing the game's continued development to the public. The idea of holding forum contests on fan forums has been suggested/hinted at by the Mythic Community Team, who also go to considerable length to post on existing community fan-forums to mingle with their future market. Mythic has a fondness toward fansites^[10], and a fansite kit is available for download from the official website. Mythic has officially stated that they dislike having forums on their own site^{[citation needed]} and fansites allow for them to get to know the community.

One of the unique features of the development of Warhammer Online is the regular video blog of Creative Director Paul Barnett.^[11] These videos give the viewer an insight into the work that goes on behind the scenes of WAR, often showcasing development screens and concept art for the game. EA Mythic also releases "Development Diaries" from time to time, meant to give readers a deeper look into the development of WAR,^[12] as well as a monthly newsletter containing all the latest news on the game.^[13]

[edit] Specific game features

[edit] Characters

The appearance of characters and other players in Warhammer Online changes as they progress in level and fight more battles. For example, Dwarf beards grow longer and Orcs become larger and darker skinned. Players can cover themselves in trophies, such as the heads of their fallen enemies. Other forms of customization include "Player Tactics:" special powers players can select before a battle, as well as "Morale Skills:" abilities that increase in power the greater the player performs in battle.

[edit] Collision detection

Warhammer Online will feature collision detection, but only against enemy targets. This means a player will be able to "walk through" friendly players and NPCs but will be unable to walk through enemy targets. This feature will enhance the role played by heavily armored characters known as "tanks," as it will help them become far more efficient at holding choke points and thus protect weaker players in their group such as healers and casters.^[14]

[edit] Realm vs. Realm

The game features "next generation" Realm vs. Realm combat (abbreviated as "RvR"). This takes place on 3 different "fronts": Dwarfs vs. Greenskins, Empire vs. Chaos and High Elves vs. Dark Elves. There are four levels of RvR Combat, including Skirmishes (random PvP), present Battlefields (object driven battles in the game world), Scenarios (instanced, point based battles against NPCs) and Campaigns (invading enemy lands and capital cities). RvR includes both Player vs. Player combat and Player vs. Environment (PvE) quests so that you can assist your side.

[edit] Beta test

As with most massively multiplayer online games, a Beta test is planned. One way to receive an invitation to the Beta is by signing up for EA Mythic's annual newsletter and being one of 5 people selected in the monthly random draw. Other contests and drawings are held in various venues, such as the 2007 New York Comiccon.

The beta test is limited in the following way (taken from the January Newsletter): "Beta test participation is subject to the signing of a beta test agreement. Currently open to residents of North America and Europe only."
UPDATE: People from Austalia and New Zealand are also allowed to enter the beta testing as of the newsletter of February 2007, where 5 additional people from Austalia and/or New Zealand were invited to join the upcoming beta testing of WAR.