Previews

The speculation about the release date of Warhammer: Age of Reckoning can finally come to an end with the official confirmation by EA. This might be a good time to put in for some vacation...

In this week's RoleCraft, Jim Moreno looks at the standard D&D concept of alignment, how it works in roleplaying, and how it's applied to MMORPGs.

Warhammer Online and Mythic have put together an FAQ regarding the Age of Reckoning pre-order. After a flurry of rumors about the preorder, this should lay some of them to rest. See what we mean after the jump.

The system requirements for Warhammer Online have finally been nailed down. They are definitely higher than World of WarCraft's requirements but are still extremely modest.

PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

For Windows XP

· 2.5 GHz P4 (single core) processor or equivalent
· 1 Gigabyte RAM
· A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
· At least 15 GB of hard drive space

Hit the jump or go here for the announcement.

Warhammer Online features a nifty guild interface that receives some developer love and player information in this week's article. See how the GI can help you and your guild after the jump.

Jonathan Steinhauer continues his application of the writings of Carl Clausewitz to MMOGs, this time focusing on defeat and "life after death" in online worlds.

In case the news has escaped notice, there's a little thing called "Comic-Con" going on later this week in sunny San Diego, California. Warhammer Online and Mythic plan to be there. Find out when and all the rest by clicking below.

Warhammer Online has an interesting article for guilds looking for advancement in the Warhammer universe. The article goes into detail about ranks and rewards and more. See what we're talking about by clicking below.

This week in RoleCraft, Jim Moreno looks at ways for roleplayers to deal with the Fairer Tongue of Elvish.

A new video from E3 08 is now available. The video is a mix of new footage along with a compilation of older footage.

Check it out here.

The Warhammer Online/EA Mythic folks have released ELEVEN new screenshots from Age of Reckoning at the 2008 E3 convention. You can see them all by clicking below.

EA Mythic has produced an FAQ for fans/players concerned about last week's announcement about feature cuts. Today's FAQ spotlights the capital cities. Check it out by clicking below.

Jonathan Steinhauer continues his application of the writings of Carl Clausewitz to MMOGs, this time looking at what happens when victory is yours.

Good news and bad news for people looking forward to EA Mythic's upcoming Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning: the Guild Beta has started, but significant content - including four capitals and four classes - have been cut. Read more below!

EA Mythic's creative officer Paul Barnett came out swinging calling last week's Game Developers' Conference (GDC) a "combative, peacock display" according to a report at Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Them's fightin' words. Read the rest after the jump.

Warhammer Online has revealed The Bastion Stair, a PvE dungeon for players to explore together. Check out the lore behind it, some screens and grab the link to a video by clicking below.

This time on RoleCraft, Jim Moreno wants to hear from you roleplayers out there.

GameTrailers.com is hosting a new gameplay video of Warhammer Online. The new video shows off some new footage of the epic locales within the Warhammer Online world.

You can find the trailer here.

EA Mythic co-founder and Age of Reckoning lead designer Mark Jacobs introduces players and fans of the Warhammer series to the crafting system to be implemented in the upcoming expansion. Watch the video after the jump.

EA Mythic has sent along several goodies today. Starting with a description of the Dragonwake Zone, developers have also included some concept art. Check it all out by clicking below.

In this installment of RoleCraft, Jim Moreno looks at an interesting idea from WoW RP Realms: Full Immersion Roleplaying (FIRP).

Jonathan Steinhauer continues his study of Clausewitz and examines the art of the kill.

Warhammer is looking for customer support personnel. EA Mythic has posted a "help wanted" advertisement on the Warhammer Online site. You can read all the particulars by clicking below.

According to a recent study by a US-based psychiatrist, admitting to sex-addiction is preferable to revealing one's addiction to MMOs. Dr. Jerald Block has even gone so far as to press the American Psychiatric Association to enter "Internet Addiction" as a new diagnostic term. Read some of what Block has to say about it all by clicking below.

The Warhammer Online folks have assuaged some fan worries with an announcement that, despite what Amazon says, pre-order open beta codes provided with the Collector's Edition will NOT expire on June 10th. Read the announcement by clicking below.

Gamasutra has an interesting article with commentary from EA Mythic's Mark Jacobs about the newest MMO controversy: Pay-to-Play versus Micro-Transactions. Jacobs has some pretty harsh words for the free-to-play/micro-transaction model folks and he comes out swingin'. Check out some of it by clicking below.

Just in case you may not be aware, RoleCraft isn't the only place where you can find roleplaying related info on the interwebs. Of course you know that, and I'm only joking. During the course of my day, I am given and locating sites which are directly related to or merely referencing some aspect of roleplaying, and I consider it part of my duty to help keep you, my fellow roleplayers, informed as much as possible.

WAR-RvR.net is sponsoring an "Ask the Dev" thread where players can ask all the burning questions they have about the newly-announced White Lion class. Here's a sample of one of the questions:

1.) How do squigs and white lions match up? It would seem to me there would be an OP issue between the 2 pet classes. How have you handled the balancing of these 2 classes?

Head over to check out the questions already asked and add one too.

Adam Gershowitz discusses the latest announced class the White Lion at Gamespot. Replete with concept art and lots of information about the class, it's 4:04 minutes of heady fun for those anticipating Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

GameSpot: We are proud to unveil the new white lion class, which joins the swordmaster and the archmage as classes of high elf. Give us an overview of these beast-masters from the north.

Adam Gershowitz: In short, the white lions of Chrace are more savage than their southern cousins, striking out with great axe and claw to rend through their opponents. They fill the role of the melee damage-per-second (DPS) or "brawler" career for the high elves. Their most unique feature is the war lion that accompanies them. While capable fighters on their own, the white lion really shines when working together with his feline companion.

In WAR, we've chosen to delve deeper into the lore of the white lions of Chrace, working with Games Workshop to fill out the backstory and history of these noble hunters from the north. The most notable part of the backstory is the concept of the war lion and how certain courageous and skilled white lion warriors train these beasts to be powerful and loyal companions.

Check it out!

Gamespy is featuring an interview with EA Mythic's Mark Jacobs. The discussion focuses on two big issues with players: Gold farming and Crafting.

GameSpy: What else have you done to discourage gold farmers from gaming the system?

Jacobs: One of the really nice things about (this system) is that it's timed. Let's just take WoW as an example. When you've been in the high level areas, you've seen the guys who do nothing but run around the world getting minerals. You know they're farmers. They don't talk to you, they don't interact, they just go around and around and around. The nice thing about this system is you can't do that. Let's just say that you have a plot of land, and it can produce one high-level seed every 30 minutes. Again, you're not sitting there doing nothing for thirty minutes because that would just be unbelievable tedium. But let's just say that for the various steps you have to do, it takes a total of 30 minutes. You do that once. Let's say you do that twice an hour. In the real world, if you use a plot of land too often, what happens to it? Well, the land goes bad. Farmers have to rotate their crops.

It's going to be the same thing in this system. It will have no effect whatsoever on normal players -- but if you're one of those farmers who wants to run an account 24/7, you can't! Your plot will not produce. Simple and easy. Now, (the farmers') number one asset is time - they can do this forever. Time is irrelevant to them because they're getting paid. All of a sudden, they can't do that with that same character.

It's an enormous article with lots more to read. Pop over to Gamespy for a look.

Short, sweet and to the point: Devs announced that beta invites are on their way:

WAAAGH!!!

Summer comes early as we heat up this May with more invites going out to lucky Beta applicants. Check your inbox and Beta Center to see if we chose you to join the WAR.

Good luck and stay tuned for new announcements and chances to win!

Well? What are you waiting for?