Interview with the 40K MMO developers

[Old_Paladin]

Done by the infamous and hilarious AngryJoe; on That Guy With the Glasses:
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/bt/aj/int/26890-warhammer-40k-mmo

Long story short: they're still keeping it very close to the chest at this point.
All they say is "if you see it is the teaser, that's what the game is going to have," and everything else is a 'no comment'.

[Bigred]

Wow, that was a complete non-interview interview... Ahh the defensive skills of the PR rep

[Duke]

I love the whole "thanks for nothing." Seriously I almost lost some interest from this non-interview, interview (As bigred calls it.)

Duke

[Lockark]

IMHO Angry Joe was realy able to save the interview/keep it interesting.


And we did learn a few tidbits about the game. Thow it's more devlopement related.

(Example: They have the game running over the Internet right now for there play tests.)

[Duke]

Seriously, if it wasn't for the host It would have been a totally lost interview

Duke

[Melissia]

Wow, that was a complete non-interview interview... Ahh the defensive skills of the PR rep

They might as well have not even done it.

[Jokubas]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-08-17-thq-on-everything-interview?page=2

This part really makes me nervous again:

I'm a big MMO fan and player. I've played EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, City of Heroes, I've got a few level 80 characters in WOW. Now, imagine that the people making Dark Millennium Online are all a bunch of guys like me, who love WOW and the expansions it's had along the way.

...

But what I know about our 40K game is that if you've played WOW you'll be able to pick up and play this instantly, and you'll find all these things that feel like upgrades, in a way.
In fact, I really didn't care about this MMO until that concept art was released with the promise of more information at E3, then the E3 announcement had things about it that very much concerned me again.

To me, this quote is a very bad sign for multiple reasons. First of all, I really can't imagine how the 40k universe could fit in the World of Warcraft model, and that's huge. Too many MMOs nowadays try to force a unique IP into a completely inappropriate gameplay style, and it's the IP that suffers every time. I don't even know why these companies get these IPs if they apparently have no interest in using the strengths of it in a game. It's not like there aren't plenty of IPs that would be fairly easy to fit into World of Warcraft's model.

I was once a huge MMO fan, but I'm really cynical about any new ones coming out anymore. When the "genre" first started, it was about creating a virtual world and seeing what awesome things you could do with a persistent game world. Now it seems developers and players alike think that World of Warcraft is not only the definition of "MMO," but the only possible way of making an online game with thousands of players. Everything else, including proven past concepts, are completely alien to them.

40k simply can not fit into the World of Warcraft model without great sacrifices, so it's hilarious to me that they keep bragging about World of Warcraft being their inspiration. Oh well, it's doubtful I'd be able to play a race/faction I'd want for many, many years into the game's release anyway.

[Melissia]

Indeed, there are so many better games out there than WoW... a pity. Hell, even making it after Champions Online would have been better (At least it has more action in it).

[Galadren]

I can't think of how many times I've heard people wishing for DAoC 2 over the years. That's all someone would have to do. Take the three faction system, put in an updated UI and quest system, and voila. Presto, instant winner.

I was really hoping 40k online would be more like Planetside, honestly.

Oh well, I'll still play it and then cry myself to sleep every night like some battered wife after the game gets done abusing my love of 40k.

[DarkLink]

I could see a faction system working fairly well, even considering the fluff. You'd have the "good" side (Imperium, Eldar, etc) versus the "bad" side (orks, Chaos, etc). Each side would be loosely allied with each other due to common goals for all the main quests/battles, but they would still skirmish with each other in PvP areas.

[Mr. Smith]

Did anyone look at the gameplay and think that there was no way that a space marine could kill all of those orks in close combat?

[Melissia]

I did, but then people will instinctively (and idiotically) respond "omg marine hate!" if I say anything like that.

[Duke]

Nah, nobody would ever think that...

The thing to remember peeps Is that games suck that are too realistic... Generally.

Duke

[NidzillaFTW]

I could see a faction system working fairly well, even considering the fluff. You'd have the "good" side (Imperium, Eldar, etc) versus the "bad" side (orks, Chaos, etc). Each side would be loosely allied with each other due to common goals for all the main quests/battles, but they would still skirmish with each other in PvP areas.

yeah, you just described Warhammer: Age of Reckoning. The fantasy MMO that is out right now. People didn't like it much.

[Duke]

Right, but I don't know that the factions was what threw people off...So much as the entire game was just one big "huh"

WoW does the faction thing and it has worked pretty well.... I would love to see a style much like Lineage 2 free for all, but I don't think that will happen.

Duke

[Galadren]

A game needs more than 2 factions to survive. Otherwise it just becomes A is bigger than B and B loses alot.

In a three faction system it becomes more A is bigger than B or C individually, but B and C gang up on A and stab eachother in the back as well, keeping things relatively balanced.