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WAR - Launch Interview Part Two: Josh Drescher
Recently, MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood had the opportunity to sit down in separate interviews with Jeff Hickman, Josh Drescher and Mark Jacobs to talk about the launch of Warhammer Online, the game that they have both been working on diligently for the last three years. In today's Part Two Josh Drescher answers the questions.
Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down in separate interviews with Jeff Hickman, Josh Drescher and Mark Jacobs to talk about the launch of Warhammer Online, the game that they have both been working on diligently for the last three years.
I asked both Jeff and Josh of them the same set of questions about the game and its launch. In Part One, Jeff Hickman answers our questions, Part Two will give us Josh’s answers to the same questions and Part Three will give you an overview of my one-on-one conversation with Mark Jacobs about not only the launch, but EA, Mythic’s future and more.
In Part Two though, It’s Josh Dreschern’s turn to answer our launch questions:
How do you feel now that this stage of development is over for Warhammer Online?
Josh’s answer:
Josh's answer to this question was almost metaphysical. He actually referenced "Lost in the Cosmos" by Walker Percey who at one point talked about how people can get so involved in what they're doing that day to day things get lost in the shuffle. You stop remembering your drive to work... that kind of thing. He went on to tell me that the day after they let the players in for the head start, he actually walked outside and noticed the sky for the first time.
While this may seem like a bit of an odd answer, it isn't as much as you'd think. Making a game like this, on this scale, can be all-consuming. It's funny what happens to people when it ends.
Did anything make it into the game near the end that you thought might not make it?
Josh’s Answer:
Josh's answer more or less mirrored Jeff's in that he talked about how well planned out the development cycle of every feature was. He actually went further though in explaining to me that they had a system where they identified a number of different types of feature for the game:
- Things that go in no matter what
- Things that should go in or else the project might be in trouble
- Things that could go in if they had the time
- Things that would go in if they had an unlimited time and budget
He told us that the pie-in-the-sky stuff from the "would" category went away a long time ago (pot-pourrie coming out of the CE box, and things just as ultimately wacky and wasteful). Josh felt though that they did get a lot of their "could" category in and credits EA coming in and providing extra time and money for the project. The first two categories though have been the focus of the last two years of development. He said that he was pleased that they managed to get as much of that stuff in as they did. For those of you who might be wondering, he also made reference to those few things that they didn't have confidence in from those categories being scooped out of the game two months ago (yup, that'd be the cities and classes cut).
He feels that they were removed because the cities and classes involved just weren't up to the level that they wanted (which is the same reason given at the time of the announcement).
Is there anything that didn’t make it into the game that you’re looking to add in the next few updates?
Josh’s Answer:
"One of the things that you don't want to do," he said in response, "is leave your customers in the dark, especially about things that have been cut that you've talked about in the past. While you can certainly defend a developer for saying, 'we've talked about this game for three years, of course there are things we said in the past that might not make it in', it's unfair to the community not to express that clearly. That's already been something that we believed in seriously. If there's something that we at some point talked about, we said 'Man, we'd really like to get that in', and then we decided it didn't belong in the game or it wasn't going to fit in our schedule we communicated that as quickly and as clearly to the community as possible so I don't think there's anything that people are going to be surprised by during launch."
Josh went on to tell us that in terms of things that they are hoping to add in later, they are indeed working on expansion planning and also integrating a number of other elements from the Warhammer universe that just didn't make it into the game at launch.
"We have a very distinct vision of where we want to go," he said, "and when the time is right, we'll announce those plans to the public."
There has been some concern among head-starters that Destruction populations are going to dwarf (excuse the pun) Order. What can you say to this?
Josh’s Answer:
Josh told us that they feel that they have three distinct groups of players to draw from, and as they've added in new groups, they've found that this problem has gotten just a little bit smaller:
- Beta Test Community - Josh told us that it's just a fact that when there is a group of people who are excited about playing you game, if there's a "good" and a "bad" side, these folks will almost always be disproportionately in favour of playing the bad guys. "We knew going in that Destruction was going to be far more popular than order with this particular community."
- Collector's Edition and Pre-Order Community - Seemed to bridge that gap between the first group and the post-launch group. As they introduced each of these groups, Josh tells us that they started to see things balance out.
- Post-Launch population - Many of the folks who come in post-launch tend to be the exact flip side of the first group. There is almost always a disproportionate number of people who want to play "the knight in shining armour" and the good guys end up being more popular.
In the end, they think that the populations are going to balance pretty well.
Josh went on to talk about things that they have in place to make sure that the populations don't become too much of a problem. He told us (as Jeff did) that the realms are capped in terms of server population. Beyond that, he talked about incentivising people to join sides on servers that need it. The first and most obvious example of this comes in the form of a screen that a number of us have already encountered in the game. During server selection, the game will inform players that the side of X on X server is in need of recruits. This is completely optional, but at least lets players know where they can help. If there is still a server that "habitually underperforms" in terms of population, they do plan to offer incentives like XP buffs for players who join the under populated realm on a specific server. This also serves to help players who are on the under populated server to move a little more quickly to offset the delay that lower population could cause.
"We never do anything that touches RvR," he said. "But we do do a lot to try to balance the population on a sort of PvE basis in the hopes that will then carry over and balance the RvR."
Finally, he told me that if they do find a server where everything has been done to try to balance things out and there is still a side that keeps winning and winning and winning... That's just a part of the game. "We're not going to punish people for being good at the game... At the end of the day, it's a game about competition.
What makes Warhammer stand out the most (especially from World of Warcraft, which some people accuse WAR of cloning)?
Josh’s Answer:
Josh told us that they didn't set out to copy any other game. They set out to create a game that was true to a captured the feeling of the Warhammer Universe. He also made some reference to the fact that some other games might draw their inspiration from the same Warhammer source, which is beyond their scope.
He went on to say that he feels that beyond some aesthetic similarities, Warhammer distinguishes itself in many ways. He feels that RvR changes the face of the game and the reasons that people are playing. He cites the feeling of team play that is fostered through the RvR design and forms the basis of the game. He also talked about where the focus of the game is, noting that in other MMOs a lot of the focus and "fun" is put at the end of the game (known as endgame for a reason). With Warhammer, they tried to give you that feeling right from the beginning.
In the end, Josh feels that Warhammer Online is its own game. He feels that MMORPGs can't just be made because they're popular and expect to draw $15 a month from players. You should be making the game because you have a creative vision:
"With all respect to noble competitors", he began, "it needs to be a vision that extends beyond a weird gimmick. It needs to extend beyond 'in this game you will see geysers of blood, and nipples, please give us $15 a month to play.' If that is all you have to offer, the customer base for MMOs is extremely mature. They're a group of people who vote with their wallets and they vote quickly and they understand the level of quality that they deserve and they expect that from developers. They can see through the pure marketing shtick pretty easily so for us, it was about paying off all of the promises that we made and making sure that anything we talked about over the three and a half years we've been developing the game, all the core philosophies that we've been running around waving our hands in the air and screaming about, that we actually make good on all of those promises. So, for us, it really is about 'we are different, we are unique, we bring something to the genre that no one else has offered so far and we think that it's already been rewarded with the energy that we've seen from the testers and the enthusiasm we have seen from our head start players..." He went on to say that he hoped to see the same from players at launch (yesterday).
Having played many MMORPG's and being in many launches, Mythic delivered for me. My hat is off to them. I nerver played a mythic game and thought that Warhammer was just another WOW clone.
It does have some of WOW's ideas in it. But then WOW has ideas from those MMORPG's that came before it. Warhammer stands alone on it own merits and the Dev's have been open and honest so far. Keep up the good work.
I am having fun and to me that is all that matters.
"In the end, they think that the populations are going to balance pretty well."
In other words, they are on their knees praying on a really thick prayer rug every day and night that this is so.
However, reality says differently: "Thou shalt not have balance with two factions... you couldn't balance three with DAOC, how do you expect to balance two?"
I'm going to have to guess that trying to balancing 2 factions would be waaaay easier than trying to balance 3.
Also the server cap that they can raise or lower at anytime without taking the servers down probably stems from issues they encountered in DAOC. I'm also going to hazard a guess and say it's probably a lot less praying and a lot more research and learning from the past (and present) of DAOC.
On a side note I wonder what game they are talking about here:
"With all respect to noble competitors", he began, "it needs to be a vision that extends beyond a weird gimmick. It needs to extend beyond 'in this game you will see geysers of blood, and nipples, please give us $15 a month to play.'
hey EA has allready started shafting people instead of giving the preorder people the advertised time they decided to arbitrarily change it with about no notice at all other than the servers are down screw you guys go outside .
i know i'll probly get flamed or banned for speaking the truth like i have been on the other forums but i'm really done kissing EA's ass if a product has EA on it i'll treat it like VD and either inject it with penecillin ( bargain bin games) or avoid it all together.
you folks enjoy being ea's fluffer i for one am done.
Hate EA, Hate Funcom, Hate SOE, Hate GOA, Hate BLizzard, Hate eh... who are those guys who've been making Darkfall since i was a kid.. anyway... why the hate... by the game, play the game, pay or quit... stop letting a game that you dont play get your goat...
Nerf warlock, Nerf shaman, Nerf Druids, Nerf Monks, Nerf Barbarians, Nerf EA... blah...
MMO's... Bitchin' for a new generation...
you've been here for almost 2 years and your first post is this? You must really hate EA. They gave the pre-order people the advertised time and then some so I'm not sure WTF you're talking about. Preview Weekend? That wasn't advertised but given. A SECOND preview weekend? The same was not advertised as a "perk" but GIVEN to loyal pre-order people.
Anyway it's not EA they just publish it. It's Mythic and they have been up front with their customers about good things, bad things etc and have owned up to any mistakes and tried to rectify them. That's saying a lot.
I've never seen any other MMO developer listen to feedback (and actually DO things with that feedback), admit mistakes/f**k ups (up front about pretty much everything) and treat their customers the way they should be treated. Other businesses that deal with customers should take a look at how Mythic has handled things and take notes.
On a side note WTF's up with all the double spaces in your sentences?
He's jittery from all the drugs he had to ingest in order to be that incoherent, unfactual, and unintelligent.
As you said, Mythic makes the games, EA just publishes. As well, one of the HUGE factors in Mythic's decision to sign with EA, and one reason it didn't go through once, and had to be offered a second time, is that EA is not allowed to interfere with Mythic's development past the obvious acceptance of important decisions.
Frankly, Mythic did a great job, owned up to everything they did/didn't do, and I appreciate that. I'm sure we've all been screwed by MMO companies lies before, and Mythic is on it's way to greatness from what I can see.
Good luck everyone, and see you online.
After playing WAR, I realize it is nothing like WoW. It is so much fun, too.
Right on with this interview...
We see what the company is thinking, and I don't see any Funcom here.
I like that.
I fear this as well. Destruction still has the most appealing races and classes even after launch. Personally I blame the cone heads ... *coughs* ... high elfs. They drag the whole order down with them. They should have opted for legolassy wood elfs instead. Limb running, tree hugging, natural born killers.
If you want to play order come play on Vortex Its not as bad a most server there.
LOL!! last time I looked..since release we have been having some wait times and high pops. Don't everyone flock to Vortex...unless you check the server numbers first.
As to the OP once again ..refreshing information, the kind of stuff I like to read about the game I am playing. Just want to comment that too many reviewers seem bedazzled by the 800 pound gorilla Wow..and usually in the first paragraph written on a game about to release there is already free advertising for Blizz's baby.
I really detest that...and thanks Jon for not doing that to us.
Cend
LOL...so true! But hey, if people didn't bitch then the world would still be flat and the sun would revolve around us.
(I fear this as well. Destruction still has the most appealing races and classes even after launch.) it was that way in beta all the way through. Destruction ALWAYS had more on it.
Now I just wish they would WATCH there own VIDEO. The sorceress in the video does what? She WALKS on the scene. Yet in WARHAMMER NO ONE can walk but NPC's. How something so small gets by and I see everyone asking for it yet they say NOTHING about it.
Oh then just log in and look at people. They all LOOK THE SAME! WOW you can die your clothes. LMAO was playing RVR and 5 orcs come in all different levels.. yet LOL all looked the same. After watching World OF Warcraft and how PLAYERS LOVE different armor and weapons. Just look at the pistols, swords, Axe's, hats. Wait till you buy that CLOCK (cape) from RVR .. WHITE or some other color thats IT! Untill you get way higher up or have the CE or get a purple.
What really bothers me is I got to rank 5 and never played RVR once. Geee just like WOW you can just stand around or do other quests and LVL in rank with out every playing RVR..
While this may seem like a bit of an odd answer, it isn't as much as you'd think. Making a game like this, on this scale, can be all-consuming. It's funny what happens to people when it ends.
This was very interesting IMO. I suppose MMORPG.COM has seen many developers in this state before, I never thought about it before. They should post an article about their observations about the developer reactions when game's are released - both the successes and failuers.
There a button near the mini-map that allows you to enter Scenarios from anywhere starting at Rank 1. At the beginning levels all races are given quests which specifically explains this button to them (and the quest can be repeated for XP) You are bolstered in the Scenarios so you're not as powerful as someone higher level but you can still contribute and fight.
Claiming you never RvRed by the time you reached the lofty Rank of 5 (which was what, a whole hour or two of playing?) shows you clearly never learned about the little Scenario button. Read Help hints next time.
You can level completely through quests without playing OR you can level completely through PvP and never quest. The choice is yours.
But you have to LEARN how to play the game before you can make that choice.
I'm going to have to guess that trying to balancing 2 factions would be waaaay easier than trying to balance 3.
Also the server cap that they can raise or lower at anytime without taking the servers down probably stems from issues they encountered in DAOC. I'm also going to hazard a guess and say it's probably a lot less praying and a lot more research and learning from the past (and present) of DAOC.
On a side note I wonder what game they are talking about here:
"With all respect to noble competitors", he began, "it needs to be a vision that extends beyond a weird gimmick. It needs to extend beyond 'in this game you will see geysers of blood, and nipples, please give us $15 a month to play.'
Planetside comes to mind with the dev team for ever going around in circles trying to balance the 3 empires. MMO dev team's can balance until the cows come home, but the fact remains, there will always be the human factor behind the characters. A fact of life is, some players will always be better than others with their ability to react, of which I've been on the recieving end of far to many times
I couldn't put it any better than that tbh.
Same goes for me, I was gonna hold off on buying this (I was a launch day player of AoC :S )
But I took a chance, and have been playing since friday.
and like Soultice said above: "I am having fun and to me that is all that matters".
this is by far, the best game I have ever played
not the best mmo, not the best video game
the best game EVER
and it just came out last thursday.
Thank you mythic!
and heroes is on tonight *cheers*
greatest day OF MY LIFE(just rolled a BO and I love it)
I liked the obvious jab at Conan. "In this game you will see geysers of blood and nipples. Please give us 15 dollars." Who else heard Ahnie saying that when they read it?