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After the last thread's huge amounts of off-topic-ness, let's try to keep this one clean and on-topic! This first post will be updated with information as they come in. If you find something new, shoot me a PM!
Montreal, 10th June, 2013 – Behaviour Interactive and Games Workshop® proudly announce a new online game in the Warhammer® 40,000® universe: Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade. Behaviour Interactive has obtained the rights to create a wholly new MMORPG persistent war experience for PC, PS4 and Xbox One set in Games Workshop’s universe of the 41st Millennium. In the game, players choose a Warhammer 40,000® race and fight directly as one of their warriors in massive conflicts for territory. It will be up to each faction’s community to determine their own destiny as they vie for control of an entire planet.
Experience the gameworld with 3rd-person, behind the shoulder action featuring precision gunplay and brutal melee combat with excruciating finishers;
Participate in a persistent online war to conquer the planet, its fate completely in the hands of the players;
Become a warrior from one of four initial factions, each unique and opposed to one another: Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, Orks and Eldar.
Participate in truly massive conflicts that simultaneously bring thousands of players to bear over territories and other strategic resources.
Get behind the controls of Space Marine Rhinos, Predators, Ork Battlewagons and other iconic vehicles of the 41st millennium;
Hack through genuinely challenging procedural content alongside your battle-brothers and never have the same experience twice;
Earn the right to customize your builds in a deep progression system drawing on the rich Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Found a Battle Squad with friends and prepare for conflict from your customized shared space in orbit - then drop down to the planet together and seek out glory!
Hot on the heels of Behaviour Interactive's announcement that they are in fact making an MMO based on the Warhammer 40k franchise. I got the chance to sit down with studio head Miguel Caron to talk about Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade.
I had a nice set of safe questions ready. I'd stayed up so late preparing, checking, refining; nothing could have prepared me to face the incredible passion of Miguel Caron for the Warhammer 40K universe. “There is only war!” He exclaimed numerous times before I realized that was my answer. To Caron, that phrase is not a gimmick or sales tactic; it embodies the essence of his team's ultimate universe.
He asked me to call him Miguel as his smartphone crackled in and out. “I'm hiding under an escalator to get enough signal to talk with you!” I offered to get on Skype, but he informed me the internet availability was worse than the cell signal. We made some awkward small talk, then I asked that fateful question: “Can you describe this MMO to me in a nutshell?”
There is only war.
Within the game universe there will be multiple planets, each utilizing a single-server technology Behaviour Interactive's team is currently testing to create a truly massive multiplayer experience. “Think of the largest MMO you know,” Miguel said. “Now double it!” Thriving landscapes become battlefields in a world where humanity is facing its last hour. “It's not if they will be wiped out, it's when. Humanity is minus one from extinction. Every jump they make to save themselves punches another hole to allow Chaos through.” The resulting culture is desperate and brutal.
The four player factions—Chaos Marine, Space Marine, Orks, and Eldar—begin their battle from a personal attack cruiser in orbit. The cruiser is capable of merging with your friends' ships, forming a social guild structure by creating massive warships where in-guild production, storage, and trade can exist. Endgame guilds will be able to actually fire on the planet's surface from their ship, a power they must be careful not to exploit.
“We have taken inspiration from Eve Online in shaping our economic system. We've dumbed it down a bit—no one should need spreadsheets to manage their virtual trade.” There is one currency: requisition points. In the military model the game embodies, a player will have to requisition weapons and armor at supply points. To use the items, the character will have to prove their worth through experience, rank, and training.
Eternal Crusade will follow a free-to-play model, but non-paying players are restricted in faction and progression. “They can only be Orkboyz! It takes five Orkboyz in the tabletop game to take down one Space Marine!” Miguel's excitement grew with every breath. Free players cannot progress in military rank beyond officer.
Much of the game relies on social checks. Officers, squad leaders, commanders: each rank commands the players beneath them, and all are ultimately ruled over by a Council populated by the best of the best. Missions are handed down through rank by the players themselves. Miguel is counting on the lowest ranks to obey their officers a third of the time at best. The catch? You don't progress in-game unless you learn to take orders—then eventually give them. The social balance alone in this game is motivation enough to entice players to purchase premium content.
Obviously this is a PVP heavy game, and I was worried how a PVE/RP player such as myself might contribute to such a strict army structure. Miguel reassured me that there is a hefty need for diplomats, gatherers, crafters, and other non-combat roles. He estimates 60-70% of the players will choose active battle, with the others filling support roles and giving the offensive line something to defend. A player may make their way by saying, “Hey, if you take out that enemy, I'll give you 100 requisition points.” Or a group of miners might remind a squad of Marines that the resources are necessary to their faction, gaining some protection while they mine. Commanders may need to retire to a diplomatic position if they want to reach a position on the Council, and that position gives the greatest wartime powers of all.
While requisition points will be currency, campaigns will be won by the resources gathered and directed by the faction Council. If the Council finds a player strong and trustworthy enough, they can choose to funnel resources into establishing him as a Hero. This special class is granted abilities that can erase enemies en masse from the battlefield, changing the outcome in a few clicks. The abilities decay quickly, expiring at the end of a battle, so the Council must choose the Hero carefully.
The struggles where factions rise and fall and boundaries are shifted daily sound exciting enough, but the team is planning dynamic world events in three-month campaigns. Sweeping through planets one by one, each campaign will give players an epic struggle with clear winners. Miguel shared that he doesn't care for MMOs where the same things happen daily and everyone just moves forward. “There needs to be a victor,” he pointed out, “just as there needs to be a loser.” Players will earn badges and medals, marking them as campaign veterans seasoned on the field of battle.
I didn't get many details on the class system, but there may not be much need: The details have been written in Codex after Codex for the fifteen 40K armies and their chapters. Miguel plans to copy tabletop units stat for stat to make up the classes, complete with chapter variations. "I don't care about game balance at launch" he said. "War is not balanced. Why should a game about war be balanced?" Nevertheless, a system will exist to prevent a faction's monopoly of resources and overwhelming strength. Tyranids, the monstrous beasties that make up the ultimate enemy, will level the playing field, as will an intricate weather system capable of wiping out terrain and fortresses. These random mechanics will be wielded by the developers as needed to keep the factions on equal footing.
Miguel promised more factions would be playable in the future. I brought up my personal favourite, the Necron army, and he assured me Necrons were the most popular army amongst his developers as well. The first four player factions are a great place to start, since they will provide straightforward classes that will be easy for players to understand. Playing members of the other factions, especially Necrons, would involve a more complex knowledge of the game and battle system before the player found them effective rather than frustrating. Miguel doesn't plan to deviate from established lore, regardless. “I'm not worried about content. The 40K universe has enough content already for a hundred years of updates!”
I didn't even need to ask questions about the team's familiarity with Warhammer 40K; Miguel made it clear that every on the project developer is foremost a fan. I expressed my excitement and delight over everything he'd shared—this may be the first Warhammer game (Fantasy or 40K) which has truly grabbed my interest. Still, the gutsy designs are risky from a business standpoint. Miguel did scoff there—rightfully, because at that point I should have known better. "We are not making a game for publishers or marketing, we are making a game for the Warhammer fans." If Miguel and his team stay true to the bold strategy he's outlined, this MMO may wholly embody the spirit of the tabletop version.
For in the grim darkness of the future, there is only war.
It’s been awhile since Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium dropped off the face of the earth. Who knew that just a year after the closure of the THQ studio, we’d be here at E3 2013 talking about a brand new take on the 40K license as an MMO once more. Only this time? Well, this time Chaos Marines, Space Marines, Eldar, and Orks will all be duking it out on a massive scale while fending off the AI-controlled Tyranids in a universal struggle for power. We spent time with Behaviour Studios Head Miguel Caron (formerly of Funcom Montreal and Anarchy Online as well as Age of Conan) talking about the studio’s ambitions and philosophy for their take on Games Workshop’s epic space fantasy. Today, we have so much to tell you about what Behaviour has in store for all fans of the Waaagh.
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Starting right off the bat, fans should note that four races will be playable from the start, with the fifth being the AI-controlled Tyranids (who are there to keep everyone balanced throughout the battle). The four races available at launch (24 months from now, 18 months for Open Beta) will be the Space Marines (Dark Angels), Chaos Marines (Iron Warriors), The Eldar, and the Orks. Miguel told us straight away that the game will be available on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 as a premium Free-to-Play MMORPG. The free race available to everyone will be the Orks. But free players will only be able to progress through the game’s content Ork Boyz: five of which are needed to take down one Space Marine. Behaviour expects that F2P members will always outnumber paid players and the Ork Boyz are their way of balancing F2P with paid members. Once someone becomes invested in the game, they can purchase the other races and open up the full progression paths for each (including the Orks). But perhaps, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s talk a bit about how the game’s ongoing planetary war will actually work.
We will start with the example of the Space Marines that Miguel gave us. You will login, select your character and be ported to your personal Orbital Striker (spaceship, which you can deck out and customize like a form of housing). You can also take your Striker and join it up with your Squad (up to 10 people) and create one shared mobile living space. Your Squad is part of the larger Chapter which is run by an electorate that the players will choose in the game itself. Are you following me so far? Good.
So your squad (or you as a solo player) then chooses a continent on the current campaign planet to land on. Each campaign will last three months, and then a winner will be declared. The game’s focus will reset to a new planet in the universe that Games Workshop has given Behaviour to make their own (it will not immediately be a part of the “canonical” Black Library). Once you land, you will be presented with an overworld map interface that displays where friendly and enemy squads are headed and shows you where action and locales to be explored are available. From this map display, you’ll be able to select a place to take your squad (or go it solo if you choose). Some locations may be rife with PVP while others may be more intimate PVE Tyranid encounters. One example Miguel gave us was a mine that is infested with Tyranids. If your squad is able to clear it out, you’ll gain those resources for your Chapter.
But that’s about the extent of the PVE content in Eternal Crusade. The crux of the game will be focused on the persistent struggle between the four player factions and of course the AI-controlled Tyranids. The PVP is Eternal Crusade’s big sell. As Miguel put it: “There is only WAR.” Combat is a mix between THQ’s single-player cult hit Space Marine and Epic Games’ Gears of War. You will seamlessly go between ranged bolter combat and then hacking apart a bunch of Nobz with your chainsword. It’s all handled via the familiar third-person over the shoulder vantage point. You can build your squad, and change your specs on the fly, between ranged and melee combat with vast array skills and abilities specific to each race and class.
Progression will handled via traditional experience points, but the way in which you earn those valuable XP will be a bit foreign. Sure, you can go off into the world and do your own thing, but if you decide to listen to your Order’s leadership (again, elected by the players) you will get bonus XP and rewards. Say your order sends out the call to sack a particular fortress and you help out? Then you’ll be justly rewarded with XP and Requisition tokens. If you decide to go your own way, you’ll get XP from playing the game as you want, but it’s always in your best interest to contribute to the war effort. Not only will you unlock more classes in each faction, but each class has its own deep skill tree to progress through. So you might start as a base Space Marine, but work your way up to a Chaplain and gain its armor and skillset.
Speaking of Requisition tokens: this is Eternal Crusade’s own form of currency. Like any military, you don’t really care about gold or copper... you just want some sort of allowance from your commanding officers to get bigger and better weaponry to do your job (and armor as well). As such, as you contribute to the War Effort, you’ll get Requisition from capturing objectives, following orders, and killing enemy players and Tyranids. These tokens can be spent with the Requisition vendors in order to fully deck out your character.
So, back to the Campaign. You will drop down into this overworld map, and you’ll see a fortress of the enemy lit on fire. Your squad will vote and all agree to go see what’s happening there. From the overworld map, the camera pans in in real-time to an over the shoulder view of your character. Your squad joins the battle in progress, and let’s say you successfully overtake the Eldar’s fortress. Now you’ve changed the border and territory control of the map, and any resources that were under the purveyance of the Eldar are yours to hold onto. Miguel said it’s a lot like EVE’s economy, but on a much simpler-to-grasp level. Resources are all necessary to make the armor, weapons, ships, and fortress armaments needed to defend your faction’s stake in the world. Once you take the fortress, though you may have ruined a lot of it in the process (because EC comes complete with destructible environments and plenty of cover mechanics) you will rebuild it and hold it to keep the battle-lines drawn in your favor.
All of this: the fight between the four player controlled factions and the fifth wild-card known as the Tyranids rages on for three months. At the end, a winner is decided by overall territorial control and dominance, and the battle shifts from that planet to a brand new one (fresh and ripe for the picking). The new world may have a completely different ecosystem, new resources, new layout, and all of that to fight over. Think of it like competitive “seasons” in any sport. What’s the point of a war if no one wins? And that’s the philosophy behind having a campaign system in Eternal Crusade.
There’s so much more to tell you about Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade, but all we can say is that Behaviour’s vision sounds exactly like what we’ve hoped for out of a 40K MMO. They have full reign to go into all the other races and faction in Warhammer’s lore. Dungeons and other content will be procedurally generated so that there’s always an element of surprise when you go to clear out a Tyranid infestation. Progression is set up to reward those to help their fellow warriors, while not limiting the ability for the lone wolf to play his part. The payment model is designed from the ground up to let anyone play while still making sure that those who feel invested have something to invest in. Ships, artillery, fortresses, airships... it’s all customizable and usable in the field of battle. Said “field of battle” will consist of a lot of people on any given map though Miguel was not ready to let us share the number of persistent on-screen players you can expect. Let’s just say it will be a lot.
Behaviour hopes to have Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade ready for its open beta in 18 months, and launch in just 24 months. Can they pull it off while targeting PC and consoles simultaneously? We shall see. But we are all very keen to find out just how much of their ambitious plans come to fruition, as it’s more than a little refreshing to see 40K treated not only seriously as a game for the fans by fans, but also as an MMO that’s seeking to become something unique in an industry that’s been clouded with also-rans for far too long. If Miguel and his team of MMO veterans can pull off half of what they are planning, we’ll all be in for a treat. Be sure to check back soon for more info on Eternal Crusade as we march ever on and on and pester Behaviour for as much information as they can muster. If you have questions, ask them here and we’ll answer them after we’re all back from the convention.
Alright, so I got extra nerdy and actually e-mailed them. They've asked me to pass on their responses to you folks.
David, your Creative director and Brent lead gameplay love the Sisters!!
My explanation to the media was very simple and made for the mass market and not for the true fans of the IP.
All races and chapters in the IP COULD be playable by the players except Tyranids which have a hivemind (play by us the studio :-) )
But, Necron and Sisters, if we want to be true to the IP will be made for ''skilled'' players since they have a lot of depth and complexity to them.
Like you said, the first 4 races we selected, so far, are everybody's favorite number 2, which make them a good overall selection.
Please convey to the real fans on the forum that we are making THEIR game but that not everybody knows the IP like they do and we all want (including them) to have enough players in the game to make it fun and for the game to last.... Eternal!!!! :-) so in interview I try not to be too Hardcore with my explanation.
The team and I play the tabletop everyweek and we have more than 10k$ worth of army at the office.... We will post some pictures soon (when we are done painting them)
I wished you lived in Montreal..... We have thousand to paints!! ;-)
Anyway, for now, we have to trust Eldars to bring Sexiness to the game.... Then again I find Orcs sexy too!! Lol
Only through death does duty ends!
Miguel
-- Miguel Caron, Head of Studio, Online Games division
Like Miguel said Sisters of the battle were in the initial list with Tau and Imperial guard, when we had to select the ones we will launch with.
We had to make tough choices for the 4 initial factions, but please don’t despair, our post-launch plan is to bring more factions into the war.
Sisters of Battle are among the first batch we want to add.
We did select Space-Marines, Orks, Eldar and Chaos Space-Marines because of their popularity mainly and because they are iconic factions of the 40k universe.
For the Sisters of Battle, I agree with you they are not too far from female space marines without the body enhancements coming from the gene seeds of the Adeptus Astartes.
Giving that option for the players of the Imperium was really seducing for us but the implicit implication of the inquisition in the conflict at this point was too much of a constraint for us.
As you well know if we say too much about Chaos and the Inquisition then Exterminatus may follow! But I already said too much… J
Please say hello to the Dakkadakka forum folks for us!
They always have been a great source of information for our regular battles. In case of a disagreement about a point of rule we are checking Dakkadakka before to take a decision.
Thanks for the links by the way (I didn’t know that the Sisters deployed 10 Companies/Preceptories during the wars of Armageddon and 19 during the 13th black Crusade).
Cheers!
David
PS: I am curious, without the Sisters of battle at launch, which Faction will you play in waiting for the Adepta Sororitas?
-- David Ghozland, Creative Director
I have to say, I was surprised to get a reply (a) at all, (b) so soon and (c) from several people in their studio. It seems they like to keep close to the playerbase (which I always liked in a gaming studio), though I expect this may become less regular later on when the game is growing and they get more and more work on their desks. If the Sisters really are amongst the first factions they'd like to add, this is certainly more than I had actually dared to hope for. I'll remain cautious, but let's see what the future holds!
Hi Savij & StMichael, Miguel asked me to jump in and answer some questions!
To address your topic, when it comes to the structure of campaigns and things like territory control, we're trying to create the feeling of a planetary sandbox of war. So rather than really try to limit & control the size or course of conflicts with very strict game mechanics, we're aiming to create logical takeover & disruption sequences as well as motivations for different sizes (or specialties) of groups to tackle different things. Thus while you technically could attack, say, a small resource-producing outpost with a massive army, most of the time that size of a force would be better directed elsewhere. This sort of thing is still under development of course.
Even in situations where a giant force is warranted, however, we're looking at ways to break up the blob. Making big gains will require a faction to make concerted efforts on multiple fronts and in addition we have a strong focus on the "squad"-sized unit so your elite group of specialists still have meaning within the larger army. As a possible example, if a large force convenes on a fortress they're going to want to open up the gates and that might mean you and your friends who've all spec'd out as jump infantry have a specific role to play in getting behind the wall and cracking things from within.
We have received our answers back from our Chapter Q&A, I want to thank Brent and Miguel for all their hard work and taking the time out of their day to work with us and answer our questions!
Guild Questions:
Q: There was mention that multiple players could band together to form a strike cruiser-like "guild hall" Is there a limit to how many players can collaborate in this fashion? For instance, if a gaming group has 100+ members, would their vessel be more akin to a battle barge, or would the smaller vessel accommodate enough personal quarters to facilitate the entire group? Would there be a "disbanding" mechanism if a player chose to leave the ship/chapter?
The plan at the moment is that small groups of players can form Battle Squads with their own space, but Battle Squads can join Strike Forces made up of many Battle Squads. In addition to keeping their own space, the Battle Squad have access to the Strike Force’s space. As in the lore, Strike Forces have their own Strike Cruiser. These spaces have customization elements and trophy display options, as well as potentially other things.
It’s still a bit early for us to nail down size details and other mechanics for managing these structures, but we’re currently thinking 2-10 players in a Battle Squad and ~10 Battle Squads in a Strike Force. As with most community features, however, this is all pending actual player testing and feedback.
Q: You've mentioned squad sizes of 10 players, could we please get some clarification on how this will work with large player guilds , will it be a set up similar to Planetside 2 where multiple Guild squads are linked together so they can communicate and take objectives?
Oops, I kind of addressed this above, but yes, it’s our intention. We want Strike Forces to have some way to form even larger structures as well.
Q: Do you plan to have any guild features in game such as custom banners, custom symbols etc?
Yes – and we are aiming to get details sorted about this feature well before beta so people can start making them!
Army Questions:
Q: Are Dark Angels the confirmed Chapter for the Space Marine faction?
They are A confirmed chapter, but there will be more than one at launch!
Q: In a few of the interviews, Orks were mentioned specifically in regards to their funny mannerisms; their humiliating executions being the main example used. My question is: Will orks be portrayed (once again) as just a joke race? Or will they be brutal, visceral and sometimes scary as they should be, with humorous stuff on the side?
They’re not a joke race at all - our goal is to make them fun for the people playing them and terrifying for everyone else. We want players to identify with their characters and form communities so we’re doing everything we can to make Ork players proud to fight for the Waaagh!
Q. Do you have any plans to add the 4 factions walkers ( Drednought,Wraith knight etc..) and if so would they be player controlled or NPC.s that may be called in by high ranking players ?
We want to have them – but it’s a bit too early to confirm them for launch.
Q: The 40k universe is full of unique and amazing vehicles. Do you plan to have player controlled vehicles in the game? Such as Predator tanks and Thunderhawks?
There will definitely be vehicles – they’re a required part of the Warhammer 40,000 experience. We’re still in the evaluation phase on flyers though.
Q: How will you be representing the different Eldar Aspect Warriors, are they each seperate classes, or will your character be able to "spec" into a specific Aspect?
The most iconic Aspect Warriors will be there but (and sorry to say this again) it’s too early to say too much about the Eldar class design – trust that we’ll be making every effort to allow Eldar players to be the iconic characters they want though!
Q: Will there be healing/support classes in the game?
Yes, but our classes are based more on multiplayer action/FPS classes than the usual MMORPG trinity. Healing & support actions are tools for these classes to make tactical decisions or recover from dangerous situations rather than the only thing they do – expect them to spend most of their time shooting and fighting like the rest!
Customization Questions:
Q: How far will customization and the general fleshing out of a character go? You said that there would be an enormous amount of customization, but as far as chapters, warbands, and craftworlds go how will that work? Will a player be able to have a Goff Ork, Biel-tan Eldar, or Black Legion Choas Marine, or will it be one specific union of each race? ON that note, what Hive Fleet will the Tyranids be, a pre-established one, or something new?
We’re still testing how far we can push customization – at the moment we have to juggle three things:
· How many players we want to be able to display onscreen at once
· Readability of enemy players
· Adherence to chapter color schemes & other features
All of these affect the extent to which a player can customize their appearance. Of course, in the spirit of the game we want to have lots of options – we just don’t have the final details on how it will work yet and to what extent it should be tied to specific upgrades.
As for the Tyranid Hive Fleet – we can’t say just yet!
Q: Will we be able to customize our characters besides their armor? As in facial features and such. Planetside 2 was extremely disappointing in that regard.
We’re aiming to include facial customization so you can stride around with your helmet off, but it’s not finalized yet.
Q: Most MMO's these days depend on item rarity to determine things such as damage and stats. Which in turn ends up to separate new players from more veteran ones. Can we expect Eternal Crusade to keep to the mainstream design in terms of itemization, or will there be other things in place to differentiate my bolter from yours?
Since Eternal Crusade is a PvP-focused game, our goal is to have progression (both from XP and itemization) be as horizontal as possible. Thus you’ll be getting more tactical capability and increasing specialization rather than pure power gain whenever possible. Anything that is clearly more powerful will be limited in some other regard.
Customization of your builds is a key part of this game, so expect to be able to heavily tweak both your player capabilities and your weapons to suit the situation.
Game Atmosphere:
Q: Probably the most important aspect to many fans of the 40k universe is the dark dystopian setting, where as most MMO's out there on the market are somewhat cartooney and whimsical. In Eternal Crusade will you be utilising the very grim dark theme or will you be opening up the game somewhat to a more casual and perhaps younger audience?
As far as we’re concerned, the 40k universe deserves the full grim & dark treatment! This is a game for the fans, so expect things to be gritty and bloody all the way.
General Questions:
Q: Will you be attending any game events soon such as Gamescom, Warhammer Gamesday etc?
Yes – expect details closer to the dates of upcoming events.
Q: Is the ammo infinite, or will there be a set amount of ammo to force melee and tense low ammunition moments?
Ammo will definitely be a factor in the game. Running out and having to rely on your chainsword or combat knife is a key emotional experience!
I’m going to open this article by establishing something: I absolutely love the Warhammer 40,000 setting. There is something so absolutely imaginative about the system which begat something that now sounds as generic as “space marines.”
I mean, let’s look at it: these space marines are actually in service of an emperor who is basically dead, but kept on a bizarre life-support throne which has allowed his consciousness to protect mankind from the forces of Chaos for tens of thousands of years. Except the throne is breaking down, and when it does, his decaying body will finally snuff out. And no one can fix it, because no one understands how technology works any more — in fact technology is treated as religion, not to be understood but to be worshipped.
It’s bonkers. The world of Warhammer 40,000 is bonkers, and very, very dark — after all, if Chaos doesn’t eventually kill mankind, the Tyranids, a countless horde of hive-mind aliens, will. And honestly? If you want to work in that kind of context, that kind of thing has to touch some part of your brain that just thrills you. That’s certainly the case with Miguel Caron and Behavior Interactive, who are working on Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade, a massive online shooter.
If you’ve been following the news, you’ll probably be confused: wasn’t there already an MMO based on Warhammer 40,000 coming? Dark Millenium or something? Well, the answer there is a bit... vague. THQ, who owned the rights, went bankrupt. But before that happened, they announced that the MMO “part” of Dark Millenium wasn’t working out so they were canning it. While it’s never been fully announced that the title is now completely cancelled, that only seems to be because THQ aren’t around to make announcement.
In a chat at this year’s E3, Caron explained. “What happened [with THQ] was a big learning experience for Games Workshop. We have the exclusive rights to the IP for our game, but the way they give out the IP now is they slice it up: we are promising a third-person, over the shoulder shooter with massive warfare. No story, only war. We pitched it to Games Workshop and they carved that out of the IP.”
“There may be other Warhammer 40,000 games!” he laughed, “On iPad, or even a story-driven MMO a la Rogue Trader. Before this, THQ got the rights to the entire IP. But for Games Workshop it’s not about how much money they make selling the IP to someone. They don’t want someone to buy the IP but not actually get a game out with it. So they have the same goal as us: to get a game out that makes the fans happy.”
It’s all good to know that Games Workshop are actively involved in this upcoming game, but with little more than a (scant) press release and an announcement website to go on, what is there to get excited about?
“Imagine the massive warfare of Planetside 2, but we are aiming to double the number of concurrent players in a battle,” Caron boasted. If he’s serious, that means battles with potentially as many as four thousand players. “Thousands of Orks slamming their shields, Space Marines on the other side, running towards each other and slamming into each other like it’s 300. An epic, bloody battle until at the end there’s one huge Ork Nob battling against a lone Space Marine hero, with fallen players and more watching it happen via a feed direct to Youtube.”
Caron talks with a real passion and belief, even if you can tell such ideas are still lodged right in his brain rather than reality. After all, he admits the game doesn’t plan to go into an open beta for two years yet. Caron is so incredibly passionate, however, that as a long time player of the tabletop game he actually left his CEO role at Funcom in order to make this game — approaching and somehow managing to convince the team at Games Workshop to sign on for his MMO without having a studio attached.
“This is my project; when I was with Funcom in Montreal I wanted to use this license but they did not; it was one of the reasons I left. I want to make this game. When I started it was not about the company, but the game. Even on my own, I still had seven people with me working on the game, building it, and they are the core team at Behaviour right now. When I joined Behavior, it was predicated on them not just getting me, but my team.”
He adds that Behaviour are the “best studio” for the job, referring to their long history (originally as the unfortunately named A2M) working on licensed games. He says that one thing the studio has developed over its years making licensed games is strong internal discipline and project management.
Perhaps taking a dig at the last folk to have a crack at a Warhammer 40,000 MMO, he added “Behaviour is all about financial discipline. It’s very important, because when you talk about making such a large game... well you see so many companies go bankrupt trying.”
And make no mistake, while the basic outline of Eternal Crusade as a third-person shooter might not sound that ambitious, Caron could talk for hours and hours about every piece of minutiae they’ve decided for the title. In particular, he’s hugely proud of his plans for the game to be almost entirely player-driven.
“One of the things I hate about massive warfare in MMOs is when you have no real winner. We are going to have campaigns, between two weeks to three months long, across a persistent world. But we will not control it. We will have a three level hierarchy. You can be a squad leader, a chapter leader or a war council leader. This is voted by the players ...So the overall objective will come from the war council, through the chapters to the squads, and each layer can add their own rules to the objective. Players will decide what they do, and the front lines will change and planets [will be] won or lost as a result.”
Now the game will be free-to-play, but before you shut the browser window, Caron is determined to see it as a positive, and one that works with the license. All because of a key restriction: free players won’t be able to play as leaders.
“The four armies we have announced so far are the Space Marine Dark Angels, the Chaos Space Marine Iron Warriors, the Eldar and the Orks. So to take the Orks as an example, we have two strengths of Ork: Ork Boyz and then the Nobs and Bosses. Now, I think balance is a false goal: war is not balanced. Yes, we are going to make sure everyone has fun, and in terms of making each character equal against another character, we will try and do that, but an Ork Boy against a Space Marine? Well you’d need two or three to have a chance. The fans know this; they’d kill me if it was any different. Nobs, that’s different. But having a homogenous balance goes against the IP.”
He continues, “So certain races will be premium, and we’ll talk about this more, but right now I can guarantee the Ork Boyz will be free, because I want them to represent what they do in the IP.”
“Look at it this way,” he explains. “what’s the difference between how free players and paying players view each other? Paid players think of the free players as rude, uneducated about the game; noise on the line. That’s Ork boyz! So when an Ork Nob player gives an objective to his Boyz, ‘go attack the Space Marines here!” well out of 100 Orks thirty are going to say ‘yes boss!’ and the other seventy will do whatever they like. That’s Orks!”
However, he’s not too willing to get bogged down in the specifics of the free-to-play business. “There’s a lot of noise about it, and we have lots of ideas like that, but are just beginning to build the game. In two years, who is to say what the player is going to want? Even players who agree with us now might change their mind.”
He concludes with a promise: “we’ll listen to you, however.”
Fans of the IP have been here before, of course, and wishes in this industry are rarely more than that. But talking to Caron it’s hard not to buy into the self-belief of a man who left a company to make this game happen. Will it live up to his dreams? There’s two years at least to wait to find out, and whatever the result, Caron is taking full responsibility.
So I finally got around to listening to the interview that Carl and Geoff over at The Independent Characters podcast (Episode 80) had with some guys from Behavior working on it. Miguel only popped his head in briefly, other than him it was the Lead Designer, Lead Level Designer, and I think a Lead Programmer? The interview was hard to hear clearly because they did it over at Skype, and if there's anyone from Behavior reading this, you guys need a better microphone. Seriously. In any case, it was a short interview and a lot of things were simply repeats of what we already know, but there a few nuggets that I got from it.
1. A really good first clarification that was brought up by the team was that Eternal Crusade is NOT a F2P game, and isn't being developed as such. EC is a fully pay-to-play game WITH a F2P element, much like how a game demo would work to show/introduce the game for those people on the fence about buying it. Ergo, the focus is not on microtransactions, monetization, etc. it's on developing a fully fleshed out game like Guild Wars 2 or Planetside 2. This would explain why the only F2P component is the Ork Boyz and not one per side, especially since they're expecting them to be more numerous. One thing I did realize is that if they had a F2P option for each side, the F2P players may potentially get outnumbered by the P2P players, and then... the Ork Waagh! won't really be a horde so much as a few players...
2. The team working on it consists of a lot of Funcom veterans with prior experience in MMOs, such as The Secret World.
3. They're going for a "Realistic Graphics" approach (like Space Marine) as opposed to "Cartoon" (like in WoW).
4. Immersion immersion immersion. The team's really big on that. That means we're not going to see Space Marines mining with a pickaxe or hammering away at an anvil. Crafting is there, though.
5. Distinctiveness in customization. They want everyone to have the ability to create their own unique look and aesthetic, but there will be limitations based on design and technical capability. What I mean by design is that a Space Marine still needs to look like a Space Marine, a Chaos marine needs to be clearly different from a Space Marine, etc. Technical capability comes down to the engine's ability to render and draw at different levels of detail and how many things to be visible on the screen at once.
6. Focus is on the PvP war aspect. What this means is that even PvE will contribute to the war, such as claiming a new territory to be used by your side's war effort.
Newsletters Newsletter 1:
Spoiler:
GREETINGS, FELLOW CRUSADERS!
Welcome to the first edition of the Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade newsletter. I’m David Ghozland, Creative Director on the project.
First of all, I wanted to say that myself and the team here at Behaviour Interactive can’t thank you enough for your support. We knew there would be a big response to a new 40k MMO, but the passion and enthusiasm we’ve seen from the community has gone beyond our expectations.
We consider this to be YOUR game – the online 40k world that the fans have always wanted. To that end, we’ll be setting up a space where you can communicate with the devs and share your thoughts. Expect some news on this front very soon!
In the months to come, this newsletter will be a platform for expressing our specific intentions on this project and communicating the thought processes behind its development. For the inaugural edition, however, I’d like to say a bit more about the game itself.
A World At War
One of the first misconceptions we saw about the game based on the announcement was that because of the game’s genre, people thought that we were making a "traditional" MMORPG. If you looked out our "required playing" list for new team members*, you'd see that we're planning on making something quite different indeed. We believe that the MMORPG genre is one with vast possibilities – just look at EvE Online or Firefall to see how far it can stretch.
In Eternal Crusade, we’re presenting a war on a planetary scale, but what you want to do in the game world is really up to you - there's no traditional quest or leveling structure in the experience. When you drop down to the planet with your friends, you’ll have a great overview of the ongoing conflict due to both traditional UI elements and community channels. If you want to head to the front lines and fight where you’re needed most, you can drive over there and do so. Along the way you might meet players from the enemy faction skulking about, or maybe you’ll spot a tantalizing entrance to the world beneath the surface or a Tyranid infestation bursting out near one of your strongholds.
Or perhaps one of your squad-mates will get an idea to hit the enemy behind their lines at a particularly valuable strategic position. It’ll take some skill to get there unnoticed and you might be guaranteed to have the enemy’s attention once you’ve done the damage, but the game's not going to stop you!
Part of what makes this possible is that MMO technology has come far enough to allow for true skill & precision-based gameplay and we’ve made a deliberate choice to make progression as horizontal as possible. A small amount of power gain is inevitable, but in a PvP-focused game it’s crucial that the vast majority of progression is about filling out your tactical possibilities and increasing specialization. Tabletop 40k has been a big inspiration in this regard, as you’ll see when we talk more about creating your character builds.
The other part is that we’re not creating a "content-heavy" world, but rather one driven by gameplay systems. There are unique spots to find, environmental lore bits and an ongoing narrative, but community efforts and Tyranid invasions drive the battle for the surface while the shapes and challenges of the underworld are generated procedurally. Our aim is to make an online world that never stops being able to surprise its players.
If this sounds good to you, stick around! We’ll keep talking about the details of the game design and other production updates right here, so if you know anyone else who might be interested in these topics, you can encourage them to register on the site.
Until next time, may the Emperor protect!
David Ghozland
Creative Director
Stalking Miguel Caron (Studio Head) on Dakka for You Disclaimer 1: English is NOT his first language, do not take everything literally.
Disclaimer 2: Some of these quotes may not make sense out of context. Visit the original thread for more information.
6/17/2013
Dear Fans, The Eternal Crusade Team and I are reading all your post and taking your feedback seriously. We love you all even the Tr.. (''); ... heuu! I mean the Orcs!!
;-)
See you on the battlefield! and please keep telling us the good and the bad about YOUR game. Eternal Crusade.
and for the Heretics that still dont believe in either the Team, The Game or Behaviour... I only have one thing left to tell you:
The Emperor will not judge you by your medals and diplomas but by your scars.
Regards
Miguel
Your Studio Head Behaviour Online
6/18/2013
Guys, stop talking about us on the 3rd person. :-) We are HERE reading your comments. The team and I will answer all your questions in the upcoming weeks. Regarding Sisters of Battle, they are one of the favorite from your dev team but we had to choose 4 to start and our plan is to add many more but we need to finish the game first. What I said about them was for Mass Market interview and NOT for the hardcore fan. They are very playable but we feel like the Necron that the Sisters deserve time from us to built them well and we wont have time before launch. We are a no BS studio and I allow ALL the dev team to talk to you with NO firewall between us. So if you want a cool game please tell us what you like and what you dont on the info we gave you. Remember that I am an EXEC. Yes I know the IP well and I am a hardcore player but I will not be the one making your game. The dev team will and all the next interviews will be done by them so expect more meat. I am the container but your dev team is the content.
This said, this openness will have his negative. I will make mistake in communication sometimes (already did many during E3 that my dev have corrected) so hopefully you prefer openness with corrections vs marketing and communication perfection.
I have decided on this very transparent approach, not to ''control'' the marketing messages to you but instead bring you onboard the dev of your Game.
BTW, I dont hate F2P... I hate Pay to Win.
Hope you like it!
Victory needs no explanation; Defeat allows none
Miguel
Your Behaviour Online studio head
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Solardin and Melissa, thanks for your post. Yes we have Twitter and Facebook accounts:
and feel free to connect on all the dev personal accounts as well since I told you that I did not put any firewall between you and your game dev..... As an Exec, I am still scared to death about my decision but after 2 try made by other studio on the 40K licence I still think that THIS game has to be YOURS to work.
Melissa, I really love Trolls since they have to have a real interest in our game to be negative. I never though you were one! :-)
With Time, they will understand that we are listening. If not.... I'll see them on the battlefield.
Victory needs no explanation; Defeat allows none
18/6/2013
Not at all Melissa's feedback is very to the point and we love it. Fans on 40K are humbling to us. Here is what a Fan Heretic Saint sent us regarding Sisters..... I think he married one!! This type of feedback is SOOO usefull for us. It makes us make a better game..... and for cheaper! :-)
__________________________________
Since you've given me the chance, I've compiled a "short" list of GW sources that should provide further inspiration on the Sisters of Battle, starting with a few links, then followed by titles of GW books that (I think) you should be able to request for free review from your partners at Games Workshop, as I heard they offer this service to the freelance writers of their Black Library novel division:
Codex Material (primary sources)
2nd edition Codex Imperialis (contains one of the very few mentions of the Sisters of Battle maintaining their own starships)
2nd edition Codex: Sisters of Battle (also contains extensive background on their organisation, including numbers for the six Major Orders)
3rd edition Codex: Witch Hunters (adds alliance to the Inquisition and confirms that their wargear is equal to that of the Space Marines)
5th edition Codex: Sisters of Battle (as part of White Dwarf #380/381)
Rulebook References (usually just small mentions, but may be nice to know)
1st edition Rulebook, page 268: first mention of the Adepta Sororitas ever, talks a bit about purity control sweeps
3rd edition Rulebook, page 112: very cool/creepy short story about the Sisters' fanatism in regards to flagellantism and self-mortification
5th edition Rulebook, page 120: small mention of the Sisters of Battle and their role for the Imperium
6th edition Rulebook, page 195: very basic but good overview of the Sisters of Battle as an army/faction
Magazine Issues (note: all issue numbers are UK)
White Dwarf #211 - rules to field individual Sister squads as an add-on to Marine and Guard armies, as well as a Codex preview
White Dward #212 - special feature accompanying the release of the 2E Codex, some additional info on the Church Militant
White Dwarf #281 - info bits on the Sororitas Orders active in the 13th Black Crusade on page 47
White Dwarf #292 - Designer's Notes on Codex: Witch Hunters, contains some very interesting developer insight into the faction
White Dwarf #293 - multi-page article "Liber Sororitas", very deep and rare insights into the Adepta Sororitas, very recommended!
White Dwarf #380 - Sisters of Battle 5th edition Codex, part 1
White Dwarf #381 - Sisters of Battle 5th edition Codex, part 2
White Dwarf #382 - Ecclesiarchy missions, accompanied by some nice background on the faction's goals and motivations
White Dwarf #383 - Battle Sister painting guide; page 101 introduced new background on unique characteristics of the different Orders
White Dwarf #384 - two SoB Apocalypse formations: the Repentant Host and Purge Squadrons, on pages 62 and 63
Citadel Journal #49 - article and rules from Andy Hoare about a special Sororitas task force assigned to purge rogue Space Marines Chapters
Whew, that's about it! If you get around starting work on the Sisters of Battle as a playable faction, I hope the above is of some small help. As I said, the 40k background has become very extensive over the years, and details can easily get lost and sink into obscurity, so thanks for giving me the chance of dragging some of it back up for you.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
BTW, I dont remember if I told you but THANKS Heretic Saint for all your info and feedback!
Whilst we draw breath, we stand. Whilst we stand, we fight. Whilst we fight, we prevail
Automatically Appended Next Post:
I dont do sarcastic. I am french, but only french canadian!! LOL
David your Creative Director.... He is real French!! ;-) and both your leads Gameplay and Level are Americain!
6/20/2013
Thanks you guys for a lot of good feedback and suggestions. Dark Apostle, some (not all) of your questions will be answer with this friday upcoming news letter. If David succeed in the mission I gave him this week... we MIGHT have a surprise for you soon as well. I wanted to share something with you as well. I see a real possibility for a new (fun) Cold War. Did you know that Russia, so far, rank number 2 for Eternal Crusade in terms of traffics, BETA sign up and fan pages etc... :-) They even sent TV interview to meet me at E3. They even produce our first video LOL :-) without us even knowing about it. Hey, a good trivia, try to find out where all the cuts scene they use comes from. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuitpcZ9rgk
Yours Truly
Miguel
Your Not so dead Emperor... Head of Studio
Blessed is the mind too small for doubt
6/25/2013
Dear fans, Trying to answer a few questions. First, we are not yet ready for trailers. I dont believe in spending money in cinematics that are not ingame. Not for now anyway. The first video we will show is in the works but far from being ready. I know YOU!! Our first video HAS to be ''Shock and AWE'' if not..... I feel I better change my home adress and disapear. :-) So bare with us! BUT We have something almost as good coming!
In regards to the platforms. We have the right for PC, PS4 and XBOX ONE and we have all intention to make it work with next-gen console. My only issue is the business model/process they will impose on us. We just dont know yet.
Last, how did you guys like our first NewsLetter?
Regards
Miguel
6/25/2013
Dear Fans, (and specifically Zmalamuth),
Sorry if you did not get the NewsLetter, We have issue with Hotmail and other spamfilter. Same for widescreen laptop (Zoom to 80% and you will be able to optin for the BETA). Both issues will be fixed this week.
Regarding Chris Robert's Star Citizen..... :-) For those that did not know.... Its my project as well. Behaviour Online has 2 project announced: Eternal Crusade and Star Citizen. :-)
I dont want to ''spoil'' a reveal but we will have very soon (hope for this week... most likely next week) for Original content from US! Not a video yet.... You can torture me all you want but like I said.... I KNOW you. I prefer this forum to be impatient with me and the dev team vs being upset that what we give you is not to your level of standard..... and you have been very clear with your expectation: HUGE!! :-)
So bare with us, we will keep you informed (and entertained) every week/months until launch in 24 Months.
I am not about HYPE for HYPE but about HYPE to get your attention and opening a channel for you to tells us about YOUR game.
Regards
Miguel
p.s. If you have the chance please go on MMORPG.COM site and rate the game. You need to be an advance user of MMORPG to be able to do so and if you do please be Honest since ''tampering'' with this can result penalty! :-) We need the extended community support!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here is the text of the NewsLetter for those who did not receive it of from some HERETICS :-( that did not yet signed for the Beta on our site. :-)
Greetings, fellow Crusaders!
Welcome to the first edition of the Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade newsletter. I’m David Ghozland, Creative Director on the project.
First of all, I wanted to say that myself and the team here at Behaviour Interactive can’t thank you enough for your support. We knew there would be a big response to a new 40k MMO, but the passion and enthusiasm we’ve seen from the community has gone beyond our expectations.
We consider this to be YOUR game – the online 40k world that the fans have always wanted. To that end, we’ll be setting up a space where you can communicate with the devs and share your thoughts. Expect some news on this front very soon!
In the months to come, this newsletter will be a platform for expressing our specific intentions on this project and communicating the thought processes behind its development. For the inaugural edition, however, I’d like to say a bit more about the game itself.
A World At War
One of the first misconceptions we saw about the game based on the announcement was that because of the game’s genre, people thought that we were making a "traditional" MMORPG. If you looked out our "required playing" list for new team members*, you'd see that we're planning on making something quite different indeed. We believe that the MMORPG genre is one with vast possibilities – just look at EvE Online or Firefall to see how far it can stretch.
In Eternal Crusade, we’re presenting a war on a planetary scale, but what you want to do in the game world is really up to you - there's no traditional quest or leveling structure in the experience. When you drop down to the planet with your friends, you’ll have a great overview of the ongoing conflict due to both traditional UI elements and community channels. If you want to head to the front lines and fight where you’re needed most, you can drive over there and do so. Along the way you might meet players from the enemy faction skulking about, or maybe you’ll spot a tantalizing entrance to the world beneath the surface or a Tyranid infestation bursting out near one of your strongholds.
Or perhaps one of your squad-mates will get an idea to hit the enemy behind their lines at a particularly valuable strategic position. It’ll take some skill to get there unnoticed and you might be guaranteed to have the enemy’s attention once you’ve done the damage, but the game's not going to stop you!
Part of what makes this possible is that MMO technology has come far enough to allow for true skill & precision-based gameplay and we’ve made a deliberate choice to make progression as horizontal as possible. A small amount of power gain is inevitable, but in a PvP-focused game it’s crucial that the vast majority of progression is about filling out your tactical possibilities and increasing specialization. Tabletop 40k has been a big inspiration in this regard, as you’ll see when we talk more about creating your character builds.
The other part is that we’re not creating a "content-heavy" world, but rather one driven by gameplay systems. There are unique spots to find, environmental lore bits and an ongoing narrative, but community efforts and Tyranid invasions drive the battle for the surface while the shapes and challenges of the underworld are generated procedurally. Our aim is to make an online world that never stops being able to surprise its players.
If this sounds good to you, stick around! We’ll keep talking about the details of the game design and other production updates right here, so if you know anyone else who might be interested in these topics, you can encourage them to register on the site.
Until next time, may the Emperor protect!
David Ghozland
Creative Director
*: The four games Eternal Crusade devs must play:
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
• Planetside 2
• Borderlands
• Mount & Blade: Warband
26/6/2013
Please dont make fun of Zalamut being respectfull to the Emperor!!! LOL
Zalamut, I do not take ANYTHING offensive... well except when I play MMO or when I pratice MMA ;-)
Dear Fans, I apologise, I am not yet familiar with all the forum tools (like how you just add your comments below someone else).
I cant has well answer all questions on ALL forums that the team and I are trying to follow like mmorpg.com (go check this new article on history of 40k Games).
We are making all of the Planets, Space station and Outpost for StarCitizen.
I am working very hard for a new reveal this week but it might have to go for next since we have a very very Long weekend in Canada this weekend.... Canada day. :-)
I will keep in touch but dont blast me too much while I am away resting (actually moving houses!! :-( )
Until then:
It is better to die for the Emperor than to live for yourself
Miguel
6/27/2013
The team and I really appreciate your support and suggestions.
My new ''no firewall between dev and fan approach'' kind of make them shy! Hey! Brent! :-) but starting next week they will be more present.
I have to apologise for being kind of a tease, saying I am here, answering one or 2 questions only at the time but I am sure you prefer that than nothing and you want me to focus on making the game.
So for now, I will leave you with a reveal that my dear Creative did in a french interview with jeuxonline. http://www.jeuxonline.info/actualite/40638/miguel-caron-david-ghozland-nous-parlent-warhammer-40-000-eternal-crusade The funny part is that the dev team is always holding my leash for me NOT to reveal to much right away and this reveal was not suppose to be out already.
sooooo!!!
I tricked you saying we will only have on faction by race. At launch Space Marine will have 4 Chapters available. :-)
guess which one we choose for you. Well we choose the one we think the majority will prefer AND I have to say that I did leave the team to please themself as well in the choice. I hope you dont mind.
Enjoy the weekend (long weekend for Canadian).
and remember that yes we will take your suggestions at heart but:
A single thought of heresy can blight a lifetime of faithful duty
Miguel
Your Studio Head Behaviour Online.
7/03/2013
Dear Fans, I am back after a long weekend moving House :-(
So I will try to answer a few questions/comments:
1-JWhex, YOUR game is NOT a shooter. Its WAR with strategy, tactics and Melee actions. Its the Whole War with supply chain and politics. Quite simple but deep Gameplay. Like I said in other post, please dont just tell me you dont like it. We are making YOUR Game so I love when you tell us what you dont like but please bring us suggestions.
2-Pricing: The next person that mention Pay2Win...... I will Troll you for life ;-) Seriously, our model is called F2P Premium Hybrid Model. Yes the Orc Boys is the F2P factions but a free player will be able to do EVERYTHING in the game... forever EXCEPT Leadership. To be a leader you need to buy different packages or you can upgrade your Boyz into Noobs through MTC. What I mean by Premium is that you can buy one of the package and play the rest of your life without paying anymore (Like Guild War 2) and what I mean about Hybrid is that we have solutions in between all of this in a ''a la carte'' approach.
3- I was reading a comments from one of you who is worried about balance with the Orcs F2P: When I say WAR is NOT balance, I mean the balance is not just about population size nor is it only about the faction/class strentgh and weakness but more of the WAY you use it. While I was doing my university in a military college in Polemology (Strategic and Military studies) we have a class (very very tough class!!) on War Mathematics where General use algorithm to forcast the future of the war. Each strategies (guerilla, conventinal, naval, etc) had its own algorithm and each tactic and tools (soldier, tanks, mines) had their values attached to it. Playing with these math you see that balance can ''almost'' always be achieved but its asymetric balance. A chess Game is balance, but a Queen vs a Pawn is NOT balance nor are you guarantied winning if I switch 2 of your pawn for a Knight. One F2P Orc Boys alone might feel underpower BUT if he has a good Orcs Noobs Officer that bring good tactics that maximise the Orcs Boys strenght (numbers, melee, surprise, etc..) then he will feel like Super powerfull. Same with Eldars. The way I will play my Eldars is following one of Sun Tzu teaching: A true General has already won the way when for the first time he step on the battlefield. I will destroy ALL the enemy Outpost and cut their supply chain so when the big battle arrives.... I will see a bunch of Dead Emperors fans doing clic clic clic with their Bolters!!!! :-)
And yes...... Reveal 2 is ''MOST LIKELY'' will be done this week. We are trying very hard for it.
Regards
There is ONLY WAR Miguel
Your studio Head Behaviour Online
7/03/2013
Dear Fans,
First, I took note of everybody that made fun of my Noobs vs Nobs LOL and I will see you on the battlefield where only the language of your blades matters. :-) I will take the time to review my orthograph next time I post and Yes french is my first language but NO nothing will be artificialy increase because I love Chaos.
Second, many of DemetriDominov assumptions are approximately correct. Please, dont worry too much about it, YOU (if you want to) will be part of early BETA's where we will test all the algorithm for balance with YOU until the majority is satisfied.
Regards
Miguel
Your Studio Head Behaviour Online.
7/04/2013
Dear fans, This whole discussion about females made me think of asking you a personal question that has been nagging me for a long time and where I did not find any info in any of the Codex:
I know Orcs are kind of mushroom and reproduce by spores but........ What is their life cycles? do they grow like worns underground? Does ANY of them produce live spores (like any limb you hack can regrow?!?! but if its the case... how does it eat to actually grow?)
Its has nothing to do with the game (yet!! :-) ) but I am just curious.
Same for other races, the dev are 50-50 spit in the opinion that spacemarine have no reproductive organes.
Is this kept in the dark (no pun intended) on purpose?
Miguel
Your Studio Head
p.s. Trust a french canadian to ask a sex question LOL
Updates in progress... Collecting all the information from the other thread's 41 pages...
This message was edited 12 times. Last update was at 2013/07/04 23:41:54
Click here for my Swap Shop post - I'm buying stuff! DR:90-S++G++M+B++I+Pw40kPbfg99#+D++A++/eWDR++T(T)DM+ Black Legion/Iron Warriors/Night Lords Inquisitorial Friends & Co. (Inq, GK, Elysians, Assassins) Elysian Droptroops, soon-to-add Armored Battlegroup Adeptus Mechanicus Forge World Lucius
Well they do have a solid team that's working with the community and that has the passion for it too, so perhaps this has hope? And hopefully the thread lasts just as long?
Click here for my Swap Shop post - I'm buying stuff! DR:90-S++G++M+B++I+Pw40kPbfg99#+D++A++/eWDR++T(T)DM+ Black Legion/Iron Warriors/Night Lords Inquisitorial Friends & Co. (Inq, GK, Elysians, Assassins) Elysian Droptroops, soon-to-add Armored Battlegroup Adeptus Mechanicus Forge World Lucius
I have an in with the dev team on this one (apparently the studio got around 15K of 40K kits dumped on them last week). So if you have any questions, I can try and go the unofficial route.
GamesWorkshop wrote: And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!
Mathieu Raymond wrote: (apparently the studio got around 15K of 40K kits dumped on them last week)
So... 2,000 points worth?
Ok, ok, I'll stay on topic. I *AM* looking forward to this... but I'm still skeptical the finished product will see the light of day. I really hope I'm wrong on that.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/05 00:40:29
"Hard pressed on my right. My centre is yielding. Impossible to manoeuvre. Situation excellent. I am attacking." - General Ferdinand Foch
I'm still skeptical the finished product will see the light of day. I really hope I'm wrong on that.
I think it's got a good chance. We have no reason to think that Behaviour Interactive is financially unstable, the team seems very motivated and seems to have a fairly clear idea of what they're making.
But of course, way too early to say anything solid. But as we are now, I would say that chances are favourable.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/05 00:55:59
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Mathieu Raymond wrote: I have an in with the dev team on this one (apparently the studio got around 15K of 40K kits dumped on them last week). So if you have any questions, I can try and go the unofficial route.
Great! Thank you!
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I would like to know more about how they are going to implement Orks and Eldar. How many Craftworlds, and how many Clans? If you're planning on making Space Marines overpowered, how do you plan on allowing Orks and Eldar to compensate for the SM's intentional brokenness?
Meaningless nonsense like mentions of strategy and Sun Tzu are a complete non-answer.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/05 05:49:23
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1st; good work Engiwolf for reviving the thread, that looks like it took quite a bit of effort.
2nd: after going to the fireworks show in my town, I realized something. Explosions and gunshots and everything else that accompanies it really do need the audio invested with them. Having your chest pounded repeatedly, and hearing the rolling thunder of distant explosions is quite possibly the greatest ambient experience one can have in anything resembling war - so long as you're not actually in the war... I'm assuming that our weapon sounds are going to well crafted anyway, but if I am allowed to emphasize any request that's not for a specific faction or general gameplay, it would be the quality of sound in 40k and its ambiance.
Defining good quality sound isn't easy, especially when the closest example I have for faraway sounds is this:
But the best example I have is really the experience of an all day 4th of July celebration. I hope that someone from the dev team understands what I'm talking about. That all day thunder and flashing of fire on the horizon. Maybe another dakkanaught can help me out here, I'm too tired to explain it any further tonight.
My question is then, are you making this type of investment in the game, and how so?
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/05 06:05:39
But the best example I have is really the experience of an all day 4th of July celebration. I hope that someone from the dev team understands what I'm talking about. That all day thunder and flashing of fire on the horizon. Maybe another dakkanaught can help me out here, I'm too tired to explain it any further tonight.
I think you're referring to the sights sounds of war from far away, right? That would be pretty cool, like "omens" of war or something. It's basically all the flashes and deep bass rumblings of explosions happening.
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Enigwolf wrote: I think you're referring to the sights sounds of war from far away, right? That would be pretty cool, like "omens" of war or something. It's basically all the flashes and deep bass rumblings of explosions happening.
Yeah, like an approaching thunderstorm.. distance makes it foreboding. Its proximity makes it terrifying.
I hope it's not just background noise though. I want it to be full implementation of a proper sound-scape, where noise travels according to terrain.
"See that those flashing lights off in the distance? That low rumble? Yeah, that's our friends over there getting hammered by Earthshakers..."
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Man imagine those sounds in a trench field, walking through the path ways gathering you company for an assault, hearing the roar of engines ready for war, the mortar shells bombarding the area, the roar of orks at the other side, the heavy bolter fire screaming through the air.
Then all is silent....... FOR THE EMPEROR!!
Then just a mass tide of shouting and firing erupts from the trenches as the 2 armies clash on the field. God that would be amazing.
CthuluIsSpy wrote: Any news on the specs? I would like to play the game with my current build.
None. They haven't even announced platforms or engines being used yet either.
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Enigwolf wrote: I hope it's not just background noise though. I want it to be full implementation of a proper sound-scape, where noise travels according to terrain.
"See that those flashing lights off in the distance? That low rumble? Yeah, that's our friends over there getting hammered by Earthshakers..."
Just keep in mind this isn't a AAA title, the developer, so far, mainly produced shovelware.
Enigwolf wrote: I hope it's not just background noise though. I want it to be full implementation of a proper sound-scape, where noise travels according to terrain.
"See that those flashing lights off in the distance? That low rumble? Yeah, that's our friends over there getting hammered by Earthshakers..."
Just keep in mind this isn't a AAA title, the developer, so far, mainly produced shovelware.
Yes, but that's just the name of the studio. The majority of their team consists of MMO vets from Funcom. AO was a pretty big hit in its time, but it didn't do well because it was competing against other titles like EQ, which had a significant amount of marketing pushed to it by Sony.
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‘I am Pax Imperialis and it is I.
We are one, we are now the Gods of war.
Instruments of holy destruction.
Emperor’s sight guides our weapons.
Let his fury power our hate
There is now no peace.
Only glorious war’.
Kinda, I imagine the sound base to be more like BF3 though, but I've never played that Medal of Honor. Idk, there's something to be said about having jets screech overhead and actually hearing them accurately through surround sound. Experiencing them approach in your ears and then swoop onto the screen following the sound you just heard really makes for some epic experiences. (It works just as good the other way as well.) It's pretty much the reason between a good and great play combat flight simulator.
Man, I am so hyped for this game, which means it'll probably die...but I'll keep hoping.
As much as I'd love to see my IG in the thick of things I can't imagine playing a trooper when you've got CSMs, SMs, and Orks running around. Maybe a Storm Trooper? Ogryn? Psyker?
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The fact that there's no localized servers killed the game for me though. I quit DotA 2 because of the terrible, terrible Russian players refusing to speak English. Localized servers OR forced English is an absolute must-have, else you'll have a huge communication mess that basically takes the fun out for solo players.
Have EU West, EU East, Asian and US servers and IP-block players. EU West and US could be able to play together given they are capable of speaking English for the most part, but EU East should absolutely be blocked from joining EU West or US servers.
Sigvatr wrote: The fact that there's no localized servers killed the game for me though. I quit DotA 2 because of the terrible, terrible Russian players refusing to speak English. Localized servers OR forced English is an absolute must-have, else you'll have a huge communication mess that basically takes the fun out for solo players.
Have EU West, EU East, Asian and US servers and IP-block players. EU West and US could be able to play together given they are capable of speaking English for the most part, but EU East should absolutely be blocked from joining EU West or US servers.
This. Definitely this. I have enough people around me who can neither speak german nor english. Don't want to call my russian neighbour so I can understand what the people in my video game are talking about.
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"Hard pressed on my right. My centre is yielding. Impossible to manoeuvre. Situation excellent. I am attacking." - General Ferdinand Foch 
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