50 Tidbits From Games Day 2008

This past Saturday, Baltimore hosted Games Day 2008, an event at which EA Mythic attended to further spread the word of Warhammer. Here are the 50 most interesting tidbits I gathered from the show (much thanks to Book of Grudges for prompting me to do this):

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