WarCry recently had the opportunity to chat with Warhammer Online Associate Producer Josh Drescher about the game's first year and things to come. Take a look back and sneak a peek at the future after the jump.
Features
The customer service team at EA Mythic had it all - catered lunches, Rock Band-filled break rooms and logo-stamped coffee mugs. But sliding subscription numbers and a slumping economy meant the good times wouldn't last. Jeremy Monken recounts his time as a GM for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning for The Escapist's Issue 213.
In this installment, Jonathan Steinhauer looks at the last MMO class archetypes, the Healer, and why this role at least is solidly developed.
Everything that exists, both in fiction and in reality, has links to what has come before so nothing is truly original. The adage "there is nothing new under the sun" holds true. In order to achieve something that is measurable, I will investigate originality in the sense of what is commonly called new IP.
Our colleagues over at Allakhazam have a two-part interview up with Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning's Live Producer Destin Bales. It's a pretty good read, so head on over and check it out!
With Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning's first major content update set to go live today, members of the WAR team found some time in their busy schedules to speak with WarCry Editor John Funk about Patch 1.1 and the goodies inside it - new live events, an overhauled open-world RvR system, and of course the addition of two previously cut careers.
Crafting remains one of the most tedious aspects of MMOs. For most players, trade skills are a nice addition to the gaming experience but we'd rather not quit our adventuring "day job" for long hours at a time to keep up on crafting. Trade skills are generally time consuming, tedious, and devoid of player skill when they should be enjoyable, not just for the rewards they offer at the end of the hard work, but because the hard work is fun in and of itself.
When Tolkien, the father of modern fantasy, wrote "The road goes ever ever on," MMOs took him at his word. A large part of online gaming consists of traveling from one point to another, but when it takes so much time to get anywhere, frustration mounts. If I'm picking up a book or alt-tabbing to web surf or check e-mail instead of playing the game, there is something wrong with the dynamics.
WarCry contributor Aaron Rapp continues our Guild Spotlight series with Order guild The Elite.
If you'd like your guild to be in the Spotlight, send an email to warguildspotlight@warcry.com!
Character stories area told in MMOs so frequently we often don't even recognize them for what they are. They will exist whether there are active world stories or not. Such tales survive even if they are completely ignored by the devs. But as with all things in gaming, with proper attention character stories can be made stronger.
