Well, if there is anyone reading these ramblings, my apologies for the drop off in posting - kitchen remodeling has been chewing up way more time than I expected!!!!
Anyway, to wrap up my thoughts on the Eldar, they would, of course, have a number of vehicles available to them, starting with jet bikes and then progressing up through war walkers, wave serpents and eventually falcons. Its not the wide rage availed to say the Orks or Imperial Guard, but it should keep players amused.
So, its time to through our fourth and final faction into the mix. The forces of Chaos. Here, at least in terms of Warhammer 40,000 mechanics, I'm on pretty thin ground. I've never purchased or read any of the chaotic codexes (I prefer to play the "good guys") so what I know I know from the books and articles in White Dwarf.
Though there are many followers of chaos in the 40,000 universe, its the story of the traitor marines that are (at least to me) the most compelling, so at least initially, our character progression will be that of a new recruit to a traitor legion. I see the Chaos player as a mix between the Space Marine and the Inquisitor professions. Starting as an initiate, the player would gain skill and expertise in a fashion that initially mimics Space Marines.
Before too long though, the player would begin to have the option to progress further down one of Chaos' 5 primary paths. Choosing between the Khorne, Slaanesh, Nurgle, Tzeentch, or perhaps Chaos Undivided. The path chosen would affect the skills and powers available to the player. As they gain power its possible that they players could begin to attract followers (e.g. cultists a'la Dawn of War), but the eventual ("end game") would be demonic transformation.
Along the way, Chaos players would find vehicles available to them, similar to those available to Space Marines. Starting with Bikes and working up to corrupted land raiders, the chaos player will be able to hide behind inches of armor will slugging out with rivals across the battlefields of the 41st century.
There's a lot of material now in the blog that is what I would charitably call "foundation" from here, on the following posts, we'll dive deeper in to game mechanics and play. I would ask though, if you are reading this, leave a quick post, any post, so that I don't get discouraged :-) After all, what would be more pathetic than someone spouting off on a game in development with no line to the dev team and no one actually reading the posts.
Next week - thoughts on Commissars....
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Oh those sneaky Eldar
(no links today - have to edit them in later. sorry)
Well if there ever was a race that would fit the prototypical MMO mold, Eldar are the one... They have a clear set of classes with hierarchies, they have advanced technology and psi powers that look like magic... Of course we're not going to let that happen in our Warhammer 40,000 MMO! Of course, the real trick is to write anything about Eldar without using the words "enigmatic" or "debased".
The eldar are space elves. No way around it. They are essentially immortal and have been bumming around the galaxy for a very very long time. Unfortunately, for all involved, tens of thousands of years before the times of our MMO, the eldar made a huge mistake which resulted in the birth of a chaos god (more about them next time) and the destruction of most of their civilization. Most of those that are left travel about space in enormous Craft World ships.
Players will start out as basic soldiers - Guardians, and as they gain notoriety they will be able to specialize, increasing their powers or focus until they are able to (should they desire to) choose a more specific combat role. Swooping Hawks, Banshees, Fire Dragons - the lore has more than half a dozen options open to the player. The really cool thing for the player will be that if they want to, they will be allowed to change their specialization. According to the lore, most, if not all eldar spend time learning many roles, switching from one to the next over time. Now how this is handled in game, a re-spec or cumulative skill growth should be driven by the lore and I'm not enough of an Eldar-ophile to be able to suggest a direction yet.
Unfortunately this is going to be a very short post - I'll edit and add to it asap, but ...
Well if there ever was a race that would fit the prototypical MMO mold, Eldar are the one... They have a clear set of classes with hierarchies, they have advanced technology and psi powers that look like magic... Of course we're not going to let that happen in our Warhammer 40,000 MMO! Of course, the real trick is to write anything about Eldar without using the words "enigmatic" or "debased".
The eldar are space elves. No way around it. They are essentially immortal and have been bumming around the galaxy for a very very long time. Unfortunately, for all involved, tens of thousands of years before the times of our MMO, the eldar made a huge mistake which resulted in the birth of a chaos god (more about them next time) and the destruction of most of their civilization. Most of those that are left travel about space in enormous Craft World ships.
Players will start out as basic soldiers - Guardians, and as they gain notoriety they will be able to specialize, increasing their powers or focus until they are able to (should they desire to) choose a more specific combat role. Swooping Hawks, Banshees, Fire Dragons - the lore has more than half a dozen options open to the player. The really cool thing for the player will be that if they want to, they will be allowed to change their specialization. According to the lore, most, if not all eldar spend time learning many roles, switching from one to the next over time. Now how this is handled in game, a re-spec or cumulative skill growth should be driven by the lore and I'm not enough of an Eldar-ophile to be able to suggest a direction yet.
Unfortunately this is going to be a very short post - I'll edit and add to it asap, but ...
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Orks Orks Orks Orks Orks Orks
Lets talk green skins!
In my hope for version of the upcoming Warhammer MMO - Orks would be truely unique. It would be easy give them the same mechanics as Marines, slap some green paint on them, give them a bit of Orky dialog and call it good, but that would really be a disservice to one of the most intersting factions in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Similar to the tabletop game, playing orks is not going to work for everyone. If your the type of player that can laugh just as hard when your kustom grenade explodes for a bazillion points of damage in the middle of squad of Eldar as when you kustom rokkit launcher explodes in your face, killing you and half your raid party, then you're an ork.
Orks will all start out as Newbs (if we can have Nob's, why not Newbs?) which, by the time the basic tutorial is done, should have graduated to basic entry level Boyz. Orks will advance for a while, moving up the basic troop types (Slugga to Shoota) before looking into serious specialization. For specialization, Orks can choose to becoming Doc's, or Meks, or can just focus on becoming a Nob.
Becoming a Nob is what it's all about for an ork. Well except for the fightin and looting and what not. Orks are always working to become the biggest and the baddest. Advancement among Orks comes as a cost to someone else. In the fluff, Orks are always challenging for the right to lead, even in the heat of battle orks will turn on each other in fights for dominance. The game shouldn't be too different.
I think this can be done a couple of different ways. For example, the number of Nobs could be capped and to advance, one player must beat a higher level player in PvP combat. If a player declines a challenge or too, maybe there are no consequences, but if a superior player declines to many rivals challenges, he just might find his position usurped anyway. If there aren't enough Ork players of sufficient level available, there could be reasonable NPC's available for all but the highest levels.
Orks are unique in the 40k universe in that the number of Orks in a mob directly impacts their physiology. The more orks there are, the stronger they get, the bigger, braver they are. And usually with a corresponding decrease in accuracy. It'd be a shame not to introduce some game mechanics to incorporate bonuses for larger Ork groups.
When it comes to vehicles, only the orks rival the guard for deploying vast numbers of machines. Our ork faction would begin by introducing bikes early, and add War trucks, Killer Kans shortly after, eventually working up to da big stuff, like Dreads, Looted Tanks, and Battle Wagonz.
I've mentioned before that there is almost no place for Loot in this game. My son started playing Tabula Rasa again last weekend and watching him play, it just grates on me seeing a military sim where supposed soldiers have to collect enemy faceplates to sell to their requisition officer so they can get ammo for their weapons. I mean, come on, really! What the heck is a guy in the middle of a war zone going to do with alien body parts and what does that have to do with equipment needed to prosecute the enemy?
Of course, among orks, Loot has a role. The traditional MMO mechanic of collecting something off of defeated enemies in order to replace / purchase supplies works well for Orks. Orks collect teeth and other loot to trade with other orks in order to get stuff they need. Sometimes a looted bolter might be just the thing a Shooter Boy is looking for - with a bit of kustomizin of course.
Before closing out - a poster over at Warhammer 40K Online (Warhammer 40K Tabletop online, not an MMO site. I still haven't found much operating yet for the MMO) pointed out a problem with faction play. Everyone has a favorite faction and everyone has that one friend that insists on playing something else. As much as I really belive that the primary thrust of this game has to be faction vs faction, I do think that there should be a number of experience appropriate zones, a handful that are PvP and and maybe even some PvE. While the puriest in me really thinks that a combat team made up of two orks, a space marine, and 3 eldar is counter to the basic premise of the Warhammer 40k universe, players are going to really want the chance to occasionally mix it up without repercussion.
Next up - Eldar
In my hope for version of the upcoming Warhammer MMO - Orks would be truely unique. It would be easy give them the same mechanics as Marines, slap some green paint on them, give them a bit of Orky dialog and call it good, but that would really be a disservice to one of the most intersting factions in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Similar to the tabletop game, playing orks is not going to work for everyone. If your the type of player that can laugh just as hard when your kustom grenade explodes for a bazillion points of damage in the middle of squad of Eldar as when you kustom rokkit launcher explodes in your face, killing you and half your raid party, then you're an ork.
Orks will all start out as Newbs (if we can have Nob's, why not Newbs?) which, by the time the basic tutorial is done, should have graduated to basic entry level Boyz. Orks will advance for a while, moving up the basic troop types (Slugga to Shoota) before looking into serious specialization. For specialization, Orks can choose to becoming Doc's, or Meks, or can just focus on becoming a Nob.
Becoming a Nob is what it's all about for an ork. Well except for the fightin and looting and what not. Orks are always working to become the biggest and the baddest. Advancement among Orks comes as a cost to someone else. In the fluff, Orks are always challenging for the right to lead, even in the heat of battle orks will turn on each other in fights for dominance. The game shouldn't be too different.
I think this can be done a couple of different ways. For example, the number of Nobs could be capped and to advance, one player must beat a higher level player in PvP combat. If a player declines a challenge or too, maybe there are no consequences, but if a superior player declines to many rivals challenges, he just might find his position usurped anyway. If there aren't enough Ork players of sufficient level available, there could be reasonable NPC's available for all but the highest levels.
Orks are unique in the 40k universe in that the number of Orks in a mob directly impacts their physiology. The more orks there are, the stronger they get, the bigger, braver they are. And usually with a corresponding decrease in accuracy. It'd be a shame not to introduce some game mechanics to incorporate bonuses for larger Ork groups.
When it comes to vehicles, only the orks rival the guard for deploying vast numbers of machines. Our ork faction would begin by introducing bikes early, and add War trucks, Killer Kans shortly after, eventually working up to da big stuff, like Dreads, Looted Tanks, and Battle Wagonz.
I've mentioned before that there is almost no place for Loot in this game. My son started playing Tabula Rasa again last weekend and watching him play, it just grates on me seeing a military sim where supposed soldiers have to collect enemy faceplates to sell to their requisition officer so they can get ammo for their weapons. I mean, come on, really! What the heck is a guy in the middle of a war zone going to do with alien body parts and what does that have to do with equipment needed to prosecute the enemy?
Of course, among orks, Loot has a role. The traditional MMO mechanic of collecting something off of defeated enemies in order to replace / purchase supplies works well for Orks. Orks collect teeth and other loot to trade with other orks in order to get stuff they need. Sometimes a looted bolter might be just the thing a Shooter Boy is looking for - with a bit of kustomizin of course.
Before closing out - a poster over at Warhammer 40K Online (Warhammer 40K Tabletop online, not an MMO site. I still haven't found much operating yet for the MMO) pointed out a problem with faction play. Everyone has a favorite faction and everyone has that one friend that insists on playing something else. As much as I really belive that the primary thrust of this game has to be faction vs faction, I do think that there should be a number of experience appropriate zones, a handful that are PvP and and maybe even some PvE. While the puriest in me really thinks that a combat team made up of two orks, a space marine, and 3 eldar is counter to the basic premise of the Warhammer 40k universe, players are going to really want the chance to occasionally mix it up without repercussion.
Next up - Eldar
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