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by Syp, Level 43
Last updated at June 15, 2008, 1:49 pm
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This past Saturday, Baltimore hosted Games Day 2008, an event at which EA Mythic attended to further spread the word of Warhammer. Here are the 50 most interesting tidbits I gathered from the show (much thanks to Book of Grudges for prompting me to do this):- Attendees were given closed beta codes and a code for an in-game item on release.
- The White Lion will be playable in beta after two more rounds.
- Blood red dye is only available to players with high renown rankings.
- Black Guards were given little to no new info and were not playable.
- Iron Breaker and Engineer classes were playable, following their revamps.
- Banner scraps can be turned in for rewards.
- Each server will give you 10 character slots, all from the same faction (Order or Destruction).
- Currently, squigs and lions are not nameable, but Mythic wants them to be.
- The top 10 renown PvP guilds get their heraldry displayed in or near the guild taverns.
- Marauders have debuffs they can throw on casters or melee that, when their skills are used, causes them to take damage.
- The "Flee!" ability gives you a huge 10 seconds speed burst, at the cost of all your action points.
- The Marauder's tentacles are called "Wave of Mutilation", a debuff which causes the enemy to attack slower (and in PvE, acts as a de-taunt).
- The full lighting system was not implemented in the version shown at the convention.
- Collision detection was working great.
- The transportation system is still under consideration -- a portal-type system vs. a flying mount system.
- Mythic rep on system requirements: "Any PC within the past 3 years will more than likely run WAR without issues."
- No final word on stealth -- the issue was deflected in the Q&A section.
- The game will try to persuade players to join a realm/faction that needs a population bump (no specifics given, however, perhaps bonuses).
- Servers will have population caps on each side to keep them balanced between Order and Destruction. Most MMOs have server population caps; WAR will have realm caps (i.e. two separate caps per server).
- You can have up to 4 action bars (perhaps more, but at least 4).
- There's a queue button on your UI that lets you cycle through available scenarios to play.
- There will be balance measures in RvR that if one side is getting dominated by the other side, the owned side will get help of some kind.
- Loot will be awarded on an "aggro" or "hate" basis -- basically, if you're doing the job of your class well (dps, tanking, healing), you'll be awarded the loot you deserve.
- Lairs are sprinkled throughout each zone, will not be announced where they are, and are in the tier 4 zones.
- The account management page will be updated to allow pre-launch codes (for in-game items) after open beta starts but before head launch program does.
- Skavens are NPC-only (duh).
- The backpack looks to host 40 item slots, plus another tab for quest items.
- They have plans to have at least some of a player's Tome of Knowledge available on the web (for out-of-game viewing).
- No weapon dyes currently planned.
- No non-combat pets at launch (NOOOO!) -- they seem pretty discouraging of this feature.
- No specific guild housing features are in development, but it's a possibility.
- No guild/faction-controlled dungeons (similar to capturable keeps) at launch. They are in deep discussion about it, however.
- Mythic is already planning the first two years of release, the first two big content patches, and is currently in pre-production into the first expansion pack (!).
- Open beta will offer players a lot of "free reign" but may not open up the entire game to play.
- It's a huge game world that takes a "really long time" to run from one end to another.
- Other successful MMOs in the past 4-5 years has severely helped the entire industry, including WAR.
- They're looking to compete with other MMOs by setting themselves apart with features -- RvR, PQs, Tome of Knowledge -- that no other MMO has.
- They're still testing and trying to figure out what the population cap per server will be for the sake of the best and most fun RvR.
- Level 40 isn't the actual end game -- there are still 80 renown ranks, armor sets ("around 20"), Tome of Knowledge unlocks, claim keeps, unlock content in the capital cities, and so on to explore and achieve.
- Your first armor set is available to gain around level 5-6.
- Guild leveling "is pretty hard".
- Lots of visual customization -- character creation, armor sets, dye, titles, trophies.
- Again, character aging/growing effects will not be at launch, but they're still looking into it.
- A Station Pass option for all of EA's MMORPGs, a la SOE? "Under discussion."
- A Magus is always on a disc, but when other players get their mounts, the Magus' get a visually different, faster disc.
- The Inevitable City has wings devoted to various gods.
- Since Warhammer is such a large IP, they really can't put it all in right away.
- Some of the best armor sets in the game are achieved through RvR renown.
- Healers are some of "the most powerful characters" due to their ability to fill multiple roles.
- No RvR dungeon at launch (a la DAoC), but they're talking about it a lot.

27 comments
Keen and Graev’s Gaming Blog » Blog Archive » Baltimore Games Day Warhammer Videos and info! Jun 15, 2008 at 2:21 pm
+1 votes
[...] one of my co-hosts from ChaosCast, created a comprehensive list of 50 things he found interesting. Some of the things on his list can be seen in the Q/A videos [...]
» June 15th Update - Games Day Baltimore 2008 » Warhammer Geek: an MMOGeek Production Jun 15, 2008 at 2:43 pm
+1 votes
[...] PvE Marauder Movie: Waaaagh! Shouting Video: Waaagh! Blog - 50 Tidbits from Games Day Baltimore Expect further updates as we get the information! Posted in Community [...]
Baltimore Games Day snippets « Book of Grudges Jun 15, 2008 at 3:33 pm
+1 votes
[...] head over Waaagh, for a list of 50 tidbits from Games Day Baltimore. It’s a much more comprehensive listing than I’ve managed here. Possibly related posts: [...]
arbitrary Jun 15, 2008 at 3:35 pm
+1 votes
Nice work! I've linked to it in my much more brief version 
CoS Jun 15, 2008 at 3:53 pm
+1 votes
Nice write up! Number 33 is one of my favorites.
Champions of Stuff » WAAAGH! Jun 15, 2008 at 3:58 pm
+1 votes
[...] over at the WAAAGH!, has posted up a list of 50 tidbits to remember from GamesDay this [...]
Stigus Jun 15, 2008 at 5:40 pm
+1 votes
Great sum up bro, and I am glad I made your day. I just had to put it in my sig because it really hit it on the nail for me to.
Railith Jun 16, 2008 at 1:12 am
+1 votes
I wonder how queuing up for scenarios is going to affect open world pvp? I mean if it's accessible from the standard UI then what's stopping me for always having a scenario ready to warp to if I get in trouble?
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