Warhammer Online: Preview
Dialogue, 2003-11-10

In the Massively Multiplayer Genre, the fantasy setting is a staple. The grandaddy of the modern MMOG, Everquest, is probably the work that most people think of when they think of online gaming. There are more than half a dozen fantasy MMOGs coming out in the next year, including the likes of Horizons, Wish, and the norse-fantasy Mythica. So how does Warhammer Online stand out?

Background

The plot and world of the Warhammer Online game has been drawn from the table-top miniatures game of the same name published by Games Workshop. Games Workshop has been publishing miniature games since the 70's, and the orcs vs. humans battles of the classic Warhammer game have been the introduction for many a young man or woman to the world of gaming. From the setting's beginnings as a mere backdrop to the epic military conflicts of the 70's, the Warhammer world became a truly fleshed out world with the advent of the Warhammer Fantasy RPG in the 80's. Since then supplements to the setting and the exploits of intrepid adventurers have fleshed out the gritty world of brutish orcs, noble knights, and magickal elves. A fantasy setting with something of a gothic twist, the Warhammer setting includes a great deal of additional flair that other fantasy settings lack. The Warhammer world resembles ours in many details, and the current game world planned for Warhammer only covers a part of Europe. The possibilities for places to add in expansions are nearly endless, and include a Dark Elf controlled "North America" and an Africa ravaged by the Undead. Unique creatures such as the rat-like skaven, outlandish contraptions such as the orcish wagons of war, and rich world settings like the city of Marienburg or the forbidding Grey Mountains makes it easy to see why Warhammer would be a good pick for conversion to a Massively Multiplayer game.

The Game World

Available content at the launch of a game is a very important facet of the new generation of MMOGs. The Warhammer Developers have set themselves a daunting content load for the release of the game: "Set within the game area of approximately 400 sq kms are three cities, 12 towns, 30 villages, 30 farmsteads, 18 coaching inns, 15 dungeons, and a variety of other special one off features." (From the FAQ)

This content will be blended into a continuous whole through the use of fully dynamic loading. Warhammer will never force you to sit through a zone loading screen. This dynamic world will also be fully explorable. Characters will be able to jump, climb, and swim to bypass obstacles on the road. Swifter travel will be available through the use of mounts, carriages, and river barges. Seasons in Warhammer will have a visible affect on the environment. In autumn the leaves will fall from trees and in winter snow will fall and icicles will form on buildings. Seasonal changes will also alter spawn locations and possibilities, as well as what types of quests are offered. The moon will play a part greater than simply window dressing in the Warhammer world as well. Magical effects will twist and change as the moon goes through different phases.



This "make it real" view of the Warhammer world will be applied to monster spawns as well. In combat, creatures will attempt to aid each other in battle or run for reinforcements if outnumbered. One of the most fascinating aspects of this behavior is the tendency for monsters to form up into warbands. Two orcs spawning near to each other will begin to take up patrolling together. More orcs spawning will prompt the creatures to set up a camp, which will alter the spawn table of the area. At this point tougher mobs such as Orc Shaman or Warchiefs may begin spawning, further strengthening the power of the orcs over the area. Patrols will begin to be sent out once the camp's numbers are great enough, and soon adventurers may be at a severe disadvantage in campaigning around the camp. This unique approach will ensure that adventurers have an incentive to keep the wilds tamed.

Questing, as well, will attempt to involve players into the game world. Quests will not be entirely randomly generated, but a system will exist to provide you with an adventure specific to your character or party's needs. This system will not simply be for the benefit of the adventurers. NPCs will only produce quests that will benefit them as well, continuing the story of the game for the PCs and NPCs alike. Quests and adventures will be recorded in a character journal, which will automatically track a player's crusade within the game and provide a space to describe the character's background. Quests and Adventuring will not only provide characters will coin and experience, but will draw them into the game through Warhammer's "fame" system. Killing a random forest creature will provide you with skill at a sword, but defending a village from an orcish encampment will also gain you notoriety with NPCs. This knowledge can work both ways if a group of adventurers decides to take the law into their own hands. They may quickly find themselves out of luck in renting rooms or buying gear, living the lives of outlaws.

Even the money system in Warhammer will be an involving feature. Instead of the normal decimal system, Warhammer uses an imperial system with three types of coinage - gold, silver, and brass. There will be 12 brass pennies to a silver schilling, and 20 schillings to a gold pound. Banking will be available, but banks will not feature teleporting money. An item or amount of money placed in one bank will not be available in others. In order to journey without the encumbrance of cash, players will need to obtain promissory notes for their hard earned coin. And that coin can be earned in many ways. Besides monster slaying and quest-taking, there will be a secondary goods market that smart players can play to their advantage. One area may be rich in crops, offering up a bounty for a good price. This cargo can then be taken to another area where crops are more sparse, and sold at a profit, allowing a player to pick up the locally produced textiles for a song. Creation of items will also be a feature of the game, allowing a player who is not entirely interested in combat a means of advancement. Money can also be used to purchase housing or pets in-game. Player lots are going to be made available within and around the major cities, allowing wealthy players or Adventuring Companies to have a place to call home.

Game world mechanics in Warhammer are equally true to the "keep it real" mentality. There will be no radar system in the game. Players will have to improve tracking or orientation skills to allow themselves a better view of the immediate game world. Mapping will be accomplished through the character journal, allowing explorers to quickly learn the terrain as they go. Character death will be handled in a somewhat abstract way, using the tried and true bind point method. Characters must be bound to locations in a logical way, such as by securing lodgings at an inn. Death will invoke a penalty, but the developers state that it will not be such an inconvenience that players will be greatly frustrated. Death Penalties can be mitigated by a higher quality bind point, as well. Perma-Death is not currently planned for the game, though there has been some discussion of the possibility of a hardcore server with Perma-Death enabled.

Characters

Players will have a wide variety of races to choose from at game launch, including male and female Dwarves, Elves, Humans, and Haflings. Male Ogres will also be available for players with a love of tall sturdy races. Race will determine some in-game abilities, such as night vision for Elves or great strength for Ogres. Character sex will have no bearing on game abilities or scores. There will be no unifying ethos for the races; Players can choose to be "good" or "evil" throughout the course of the game based on their actions. Races each have individual languages, which will be unintelligible without learning the language or without an interpreter. Characters will be customizable through a wide variety of choices at creation and afterwards. Many different choices of character model will be available, and the addition of over 20,000 combinations of clothing and armor will ensure that player characters will have a unique flair. Tattoos and facial hair will not be options, but are planned for in future updates. Warhammer will allow for up to four characters to be created per server, ensuring the ability to diversify if the player is interested in doing so.

Skills are the defining features of Warhammer characters, and outline the bounds of what a player can do within the game world. There are no set classes in Warhammer, but rather careers and archetypes. Archetypes are general roles you choose upon character creation that predispose your character towards types of skills and abilities. Academics are intellectual types, Sneaky archetypes are more subtly dexterous and conniving, while Burly types are more ready for action. Careers are essentially roles that the player can choose to adopt for the character within the archetype they have chosen. These roles will allow the player access to certain skills appropriate to the career. Careers must be adopted through alliances with organizations, and different organizations will allow advancement of different skills up to a certain point. Skills in Warhammer are based on percentage of success, and each organization has a cap on the percentage you can reach with the skills they teach. A local militia, for example, might hire you on and allow you to advance your sword skill to 25%, but then you would have to go on and join an army or group of hunters in order to advance it further. Characters start with basic skill sets, which will be complimented through skills learned through interaction with teachers and career masters. There will be more than 70 skills available to players in the game, covering all areas of combat, magic, stealth and trade abilities. This approach allows for a built-in biography for your character and only further involves the player in the world. Instead of a dwarf with a sword, you know that your character served with distinction in Aezarl's Riders. Some careers and skills will be racially blocked. An elf may be the only one able to achieve ultimate bowman status, for example. Additionally, as you advance in one direction within an archetype, other options diametrically opposed to your choice may become closed to you. However, this system is designed to allow the player flexibility in the skills and abilities that the character ends up with.

Combat will be involving a wide set of skills gained from multiple sources. Basic weapon abilities can be obtained from a number of sources, and once those are in place weapon techniques will become available from career paths and teachers. These techniques will add a great deal of depth to the combat in Warhammer, allowing different strategies to be attempting in the course of a battle. Combat will not be truly real-time, but instead will be "time-sliced" to allow for lag and moments of thought. And thought will be badly needed, considering the number of options available to players: "There are 100 standard, 10 mounted and 30 ballistic combat techniques that will make battle a very tactical and rewarding process." (From the FAQ) Additionally, a multitude of weapon types will be available to martial characters, from traditional hand to hand and melee weapons to magical and blackpowder items. The combat will also feature a hit location system, which will result in wildly different results from a blow depending on the part of the opponent struck. Player Vs. Player combat will also be available, but will be limited by career and player choice. Some careers by design will lead to PvP, as high level careers may be mutually antagonistic. A Paladin and a Death Knight, for example, would be justified in a reason for a duel.



Magic in Warhammer is as unique and setting based as all other aspects of the game. There is no personal mana pool for each character. Instead, magic is cast through channeling the chaos of the area into a coherent form. Every area has a mana pool with it's own tendencies. Some may be shallow with a quick refill rate, allowing for low-power repetitive castings. Some are deep, but have slow refill rates, allowing for single use powerful spells. Spells come in eight varieties or "colors" and much like skills will blend together into a pattern of choices that a player can make about how his character will interact with the chaos energies. Certain spells lead to other types, and mastery of certain areas will be required before others are gained. Spell use and power can be influenced not only by the local area, but by prevailing conditions such as ceremonies, season, moon phase or GM event. All of these aspects are combined such that spell-casters will not simply be warriors with swords made out of fireballs. Magical items will be another facet of magic use in Warhammer, and the developers have ensured a further respect for magic by making them quite rare. The discovery and use of such an item by a player is meant to invoke a sense of accomplishment, and magical swords will not be a dime a dozen as a result. Certain characters, such as the dwarven rune master, will be able to create magical items, but the career is a long road to walk and the demands treacherous.

Pets in Warhammer will play somewhat smaller roles than in other games. Player mounts will be available for those that choose to develop riding skills, but for the most part other pets will be there for color. Mundane options such as a dog or cat will be available, or a mule for transporting items or goods, but there will be no monstrous options for permanent companions. Certain creatures will be summonable through magical means, however, to aid adventurers for a short time.

Finally, one of the best aspects of social gaming is the bonds that players can form. Warhammer supports this through "Companies", much like guilds in other games. Companies can band together and rent out buildings in cities. These Company Halls form the backbone of the Company, providing a private chat channel and storage vaults for Company members. Individual ranks can be set within the Company, and emblems can be created and displayed by members to show off loyalty.

Conclusion

Warhammer Online is slated to begin beta testing sometime around Christmas, and as of right now release is scheduled for the summer of 2004. Considering the fully fleshed out world and ambitious features of the game, here's hoping that they meet their goals. Make sure and stay with MMORPGDot as we continue to watch this project in the coming months.