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 Kilkrazy wrote:


They didn't have a Murderwolf from planet Murdercide who murdered people with his Murderclaws in a fit of Murderlust.

Now, now, now... There's no need for hyperbole. It's Omnicide, not Murdercide. 'cuz Murdercide would just be silly....

Valete,

JohnS

 MajorWesJanson wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:


They didn't have a Murderwolf from planet Murdercide who murdered people with his Murderclaws in a fit of Murderlust.

Parting gift?

Fits more with Kelly- Canis Wolfborn armed with Wolfclaws riding on a Thunderwolf. Ward has a lot more originality in names: Kosarro Khan, Vulkan Hes'Tan, Kaldor Draigo, Trayzn the Infinite, Oberon, Inquisitor Valeria...

Yes, because "He'stan" isn't a play on words either.... Geddit? "He's tan" as Salamanders went back to their original darker skintone in the book he was introduced.

Looking at Wards blog and facebook page, it seems as though he's planning on becoming a writer.

I'd say Ward's failings were more down to a lack of editorial oversight or proper playtesting. For example, he could write solid rules, but occasionally something really obnoxious would slip through. Similarly, I find most of his fluff to be of the usual standard, but the howlers really stuck out. He could have done with someone to step in and say "no, calm down, we're not putting that in."

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:


They didn't have a Murderwolf from planet Murdercide who murdered people with his Murderclaws in a fit of Murderlust.

Parting gift?

That came to mind...SW Codex was probably written at least 6 months ago, so Ward would have been in the company. It fits to his naming schemes, where he always took one word and made zillion derivates of it. In BA book, everything was Blood-something, in GK codex it was Nemesis-something and so on.

Anyway, I don't read too much into his departure. He was in the company what, over a decade? Might well be he just felt like checking out new pastures. Though it is a bit strange that it was not noted in WD or something.
And if GW needs anything, it's some new blood, fresh people with fresh styles to both lore and game design. Everybody talks about Kirby, but I think that their design department is just as stale as the board.

 Fenrir Kitsune wrote:
Looking at Wards blog and facebook page, it seems as though he's planning on becoming a writer.

>> writes bottom tier, utter trash fluff
>> wants to start writing books

Seems like a good idea.

What GW needs is to get away from making only two games that are both set in a static universe. As far as I can tell, that strategy has been formulated by the senior management rather than the studio.

I think we've been fooled by geedub.

I imagine the rule designers and fluff writers have to get past the megalomania and egotism that's rife throughout management. after they've tossed ward's corpse to the wolves who'll be the next rage magnet?

Kirby and his minion's are the enemy people

 AlexHolker wrote:

 MajorWesJanson wrote:
If he was pushed out, I feel sorry for him. The amount of vitriol spewed at him by people online was insane. He was a game designer, not someone who worked at Haliburton or Bain Capital. The people who called for him to be fired should be ashamed.

Don't be stupid. It's not like we were calling for his summary execution, we just wanted the job done by someone who would do it right.

Exactly. For someone who's accusing everyone of Internet Hyperbole, Wes seems pretty good at demonstrating its use.

 AlexHolker wrote:

 MajorWesJanson wrote:
If he was pushed out, I feel sorry for him. The amount of vitriol spewed at him by people online was insane. He was a game designer, not someone who worked at Haliburton or Bain Capital. The people who called for him to be fired should be ashamed.

Don't be stupid. It's not like we were calling for his summary execution, we just wanted the job done by someone who would do it right.

..And who in the company actually does things right?

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:

 AlexHolker wrote:

 MajorWesJanson wrote:
If he was pushed out, I feel sorry for him. The amount of vitriol spewed at him by people online was insane. He was a game designer, not someone who worked at Haliburton or Bain Capital. The people who called for him to be fired should be ashamed.

Don't be stupid. It's not like we were calling for his summary execution, we just wanted the job done by someone who would do it right.

..And who in the company actually does things right?

With all the poop they recently threw out, they gotta have one hell of a cleaning service.

No one and then they hired that guy from Mantic. I guess when you budget $2 for a writer's salary, you can't be too picky.

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:

 AlexHolker wrote:

 MajorWesJanson wrote:
If he was pushed out, I feel sorry for him. The amount of vitriol spewed at him by people online was insane. He was a game designer, not someone who worked at Haliburton or Bain Capital. The people who called for him to be fired should be ashamed.

Don't be stupid. It's not like we were calling for his summary execution, we just wanted the job done by someone who would do it right.

..And who in the company actually does things right?

Well there was.. wait no he's gone.
Oh.. no wait he left too.
There was the P- nope they left.
Ale- nope gone as well..

There are probably still some cool guys manning the stores who aren't all 'BUY BUY BUY BUY THEN GET OUT'?

Well, I am sure that corporate GW thinks this is "Great News!!!" In reality it is quite sad.

Ward was obviously a force for change in the company. His War of the Ring rules were very different than GWs other games. If there was no change in the rules, we could just play 2nd edition. I found WOTR refreshing and fast paced, something LOTR is not at a large or even medium scale.

I wish him success in his future endeavors.

So... how long until the guy who has previously worked with the Alesio and Rick Priestly turns up at Warlord? He's shown that he's not the greatest fluff writer in the world - turn him loose on historicals, where the fluff is pretty well defined...

 Boggy Man wrote:
Under the blog tab.
http://www.thetowerofstars.co.uk/
He's not Churchill, but his writing is far more intelligent than I thought it would be.
Since it's slowly been revealed that codices are a collaborative effort, wouldn't it be hilarious if Kelly and Cruddace were writing all the parts everyone hated?

Thanks. Yeah, he seems nice. Are you sure it is the same guy, though? He does not reference Warhammer or GW nowhere on his site or twitter?

I wish he had given use interesting Sister characters. I mean, I think the Sisters are really awesome as a faction, but there is no particular character that I find awesome. Dolan Chirosius is really, really awesome but he is a preacher…

 Daba wrote:
In 2nd ed at the time, a Marine Captain was S5 T5, so Mephiston was only +2S +1T on one.

Canoness too. S5 T5 Canoness. Let that sink in.

Yes, Matt Ward is also the one who made most of the rules for War of the Ring - which was quite different from the core games, a "true" wargame having more in common with Warmaster than Warhammer Battle.

It's obvious he's just a scapegoat. Too bad for him, guess all the 40k fans will do the same than what happened with Thorpe - until their hate will go on someone else still working at GW. 'cause, of course, even without Ward, the game rules/fluff will still be crap.

 Sigvatr wrote:

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:

 AlexHolker wrote:

 MajorWesJanson wrote:
If he was pushed out, I feel sorry for him. The amount of vitriol spewed at him by people online was insane. He was a game designer, not someone who worked at Haliburton or Bain Capital. The people who called for him to be fired should be ashamed.

Don't be stupid. It's not like we were calling for his summary execution, we just wanted the job done by someone who would do it right.

..And who in the company actually does things right?

With all the poop they recently threw out, they gotta have one hell of a cleaning service.

..Right, well you are certainly one likable fellow.

It's obvious he's just a scapegoat. Too bad for him, guess all the 40k fans will do the same than what happened with Thorpe - until their hate will go on someone else still working at GW. 'cause, of course, even without Ward, the game rules/fluff will still be crap.

And ironically it's his rules that usually ended up while strong, never really OP as hell compared to other ones.

Ward gave codex marines thunder fire cannons, sternguard veterans in their 5th ed form, bikes as troops, storm shields that are worth their points, masters of the forge, and the most inclusive space marine codex released to date at that point, with far more non ultramarine a special characters than what the 4th edition book had.

Cruddace may have given me grav cents, but Ward gave codex marines so much more.

Goodbye and good luck, sir!

Ousted because he didn't have the right ego . Now if everything he made was called ward-claws, ward- missiles, ward-cannons and an occasional mat-hammer, then he would still be there.

Wasn't he also responsible for the 11 man drop pod?

It might just be career and financially motivated. He’s been there ten years on a studio salary which probably hasn’t changed much in that time and its probably fairly galling that Jervis is on probably c100k and you, who do the work, will probably be lucky to break 40k if you stay there you whole life.

If you can churn the stuff out, and I suspect he can, Black Library will pay near enough the same, give you virtually carte-blanche to maul the background as much as you like, and if you do okay at it, can be a launch-pad for a career in genre-fiction and hack-for-hire scripting. Hey, it worked for Gav ‘I can’t believe they pay me to write this Thorpe, and he can barely string a sentence together.

Major Wes: I wasn't really expecting (or demanding, if that wasn't apparent without half a dozen smilies) anything, but thanks.

 Grimtuff wrote:
Yes, because "He'stan" isn't a play on words either.... Geddit? "He's tan" as Salamanders went back to their original darker skintone in the book he was introduced.

Great. Now I can't unsee it.

If he has indeed left, best of luck on your next job. I hope you do well.

Piling on someone (that isn't Micheal Vick) is rude, gents.

 MajorWesJanson wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:


They didn't have a Murderwolf from planet Murdercide who murdered people with his Murderclaws in a fit of Murderlust.

Parting gift?

Fits more with Kelly- Canis Wolfborn armed with Wolfclaws riding on a Thunderwolf. Ward has a lot more originality in names: Kosarro Khan, Vulkan Hes'Tan, Kaldor Draigo, Trayzn the Infinite, Oberon, Inquisitor Valeria...

While I'm mostly on your side, naming an ancient immortal being Oberon isn't the height of originality.

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:
And who in the company actually does things right?

Forge World sculptors. Most illustrators. Some people on the GW proper design team.


It's not like everyone at GW is incompetent.

 His Master's Voice wrote:

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:
And who in the company actually does things right?

Forge World sculptors. Most illustrators. Some people on the GW proper design team.


It's not like everyone at GW is incompetent.

Actually, yes, totally forgot about them. FW quality is far up-ahead of regular GW quality, including rules and fluff. Then again, the price difference is similar.

Wasn't Ward responsible for the latest iteration of WHFB? And I thought he had a strong hand in 40K 6th/7th.

I disliked most of his background stuff and I felt like his rules were upping the ante too much when it came to complexity and power level. When I was still playing 40K competitively I would probably have been happy, but I don't care any more because it's not like I'll be buying any GW rule books at the prices they are charging these days anyhow.

Not sure about whfb but 6th was his fault and most likely 7th as well.

Also never forget this is the man who killed whfb as it never recovered from his demon army book.

 MajorWesJanson wrote:

 Grot 6 wrote:
I can't happy dance this mutt leaving enough.

It would be nice for them to fall back on what actually was good about 40K before this clown got his mitts on it and started with his ret-conning. Much the same as all of this company's idea of "Attitude over skill" Its a hot air wish list to want to see some of the old guard come back on board and set the ship back on the right course of no nonsense gaming and fun, again.

I'll go on and say that I'm glad to see the ax falling on people who deserve it. We can't see some new books, nullifying this clowns garbage fast enough. He is a hack, pure and simple. I never enjoyed reading anything he wrote.


Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Wart.

Let me know if the axe falls on you so I can celebrate you losing your job and do a happy dance. I can't wait to see some new poster come along either, nullyfying your garbage posts as well. You are a hack, pure and simple. I never enjoy reading anything you write.

Huh. It is easier to mock and insult people you don't know on the internet. Hmm. Maybe you are right. Schadenfreude is fun!

Hopefully (but unlikely) point made. Internet would be a nicer place if everyone treated other people with a minimum of civility and human decency.

Thanks, Matt.

Civility goes to someone who doesn't drive me away from a game because they can't write a codex. Nice thought hat you want to make an opinion personal, especially in light because you did it to yourself.

Had you even one iota of writing skill, you'd have written something that you could have been proud of, and not have to try to sophise it at every turn. Now run on along and stop defending the indefensible. The guys writing was weak, the codex unplayable, and retconning the game was inexcusable.

Opinions are pretty much on the table, even if you want to try pointing that self-righteous vitriol in everyone else's direction and doing exactly what your crying about.

Don't like it? I can't help you.
Because of Wart, I invested over 2 grand in an army, I expected I'd like to play it sometime, instead the stuff sits in a box in the closet based on the poor form of the codex. If that's not worth ill will, go on ahead and send me to your GW reeducation camp, so I can shell out over 5 G's more for a reach around.

Like I said, good luck job hunting, Wart.