WAR (Warhammer Online)

I am surprised that noone has posted this yet, so here goes:

The original information was posted on
http://www.warhammeralliance.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=770
and apparently a pre-release of an interview in Mondays PC Gamers

source

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<...yadda yadda yadda, talking about the history between Mark and GW guys... Realm versus Realm combat... basic story... >

"You'll also get to choose from two different archetypes: the Warrior and the Adept. Warriors, not suprisingly, rely heavily on brute force. Adepts are better at skilled professions. Each puts you on a unique career path in which you'll be able to make selections that further detail your profession (A Human Warrior, for example, may rise through the ranks of being a soldier, a rifleman, mercenary, knight, and ranger - sometimes mixing and matching facets of each if desired)."

<Going on, emphasizing early-level RvR combat, interresting little bit about NPC guilds that newbies can join until they create their own or join a PC one...>

"Eschewing character levels altogether, Warhammer Online [sic] will be a what-you-see-is-what-you-get world. ...And the mark of your personal progress will be shown physically: Orcs, for example, will grow in size and become more musclebound, while Dwarfs' beards will gradually become longer to indicate their venerable status. ...you'll be able to outfit your character with personal trophies, such as adorning your Orc's spiked armor with Dwarf skulls...

"..."Death" isn't permanent in Warhammer Online[sic, and they really do know it is WAR, he just calls it that 4-ez, as they say], but each death-ish mishap will bring you closer to the brink of insanity. Die too often and the accumulated insanity points will befin to drain away the amount of experience you gain..."

<PvE goes towards RvR, da-te-da...>

"PvP will be broken into four types: Skirmishes, Battlefields, Sceanarios, and Campaigns. Skirmishes are... two or more enemies clashing in unstructured combat. Battlefields... fighting for in-game resources, such as lumber mills and temples. Scenarios are similar to Battlefields, except these large-scale battles will be instanced and evenly matched by the server (adding bots to balance the sides).. and factor the most into which side takes a zone. Campaigns will be the PvP end-games - a final, humiliating invasion of the losing race's capital city.
Once [the capital is taken, yay for wanton slaughter of NPCs]... the server's metagame will spawn in AI reinforcements, drive out the invasion force, and then reset the server.... You get to keep [all your phat lewts]... At launch, there will be approximately 33 zones and 1800 quests...

<Fin>

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For more information please see link above the quote

We also seem to have some first screenshots (although I cant guarantee whether they are for real or not)

screens

The Artwork reminds me a lot of WoW. Apparently WoWs artists were heavily influenced by the original Warhammer tabletop figures...tabletop-orc

So for all of you who hoped for super-realistic graphics - aint gonna happen. But at least they will stay true to the original Warhammer Designs...
yeah well, we will see how this one will turn out ;)

The PC Gamer was released about a week or so ago, that seems to be a follow up on it.

The whole Warcraft series itself was actually influenced by Warhammer, and the same goes with Starcraft to Warhammer 40,000. It even got to the point where rumors were spread that Starcraft was at first a Warhammer 40k game, but Games Workshop dropped out and Blizzard continued it, which is completely false.

The graphics should be updated by the time beta rolls around. It is still in the early stages of development, but I wouldn't expect too much of a dramatic increase.

I am getting really worried though, because as it is now many Warhammer Table-top and RPG fans won't be satisfied with this as an outcome. Much of the story right now is made up, but the general background follows true to Warhammer Lore. Not to mention the incessant martyring of anything "WoWish".

Seems pretty exciting.

A free-form, skill and profession based system with no levels and with loads of different types of PvPs included.

the Battlefield seems to be World PvP also as they don't say is instanced, so i can see they are pointing to resource conquest as the way to keep world pvp alive even with the instanced scenarios.

THe possibility to actually control zones of the land is a feature wanted by many and the chance to sack the enemy capital is also definitly desired feature.

I just wonder about this last point, however, as WAR seems to be heading for non-consensual PvP, i wonder how that is gonna work.

Looking very good so far. Glad their are no (visible) levels. If things keep moving this way, I will be all over this game.