Warhammer Online at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

Getting Bloody With Elves, Witch Hunters, and More!

A Ten Ton Hammer Interview with Erik Mogensen, Licensing Manager for Games Workshop

Questions by Garrett Fuller

June 22, 2007

When Mythic and Games Workshop announced that Warhammer: Age of Reckoning would be delayed until 2008, people were caught off-guard, mainly because the game had attained so much publicity over the last year and they project seemed to be on track for their late summer release. But delays are common in the MMOG industry, and the announcement didn’t keep thousands of gamers from signing up for the Warhammer Online beta test. Gamers everywhere are ready to enter the dark and dangerous world that Mythic has established for them.

With Games Day 2007 coming up this weekend, the Ten Ton Hammer team wanted to check in with some of the folks that work behind the scenes on the Warhammer Online project and see what sort of new material Mythic and Games Workshop is churning out. Garret Fuller, our industry relations expert, got ahold of Erik Mogensen, Licensing Manager for Games Workshop. and fired a couple questions his direction to see what sort of information was ready to be revealed about WAR and the Warhammer 40K MMOG.

Ten Ton Hammer: Games Workshop has a lot on its plate this summer, how have things been going on your end with Warhammer Online as we near the Beta phase of the game?

Erik: ‘Very well’ is the short answer!  I suppose it might be a bit boring to hear by now, but the approvals process continues to run as smoothly as ever.  EA Mythic and GW continue to work closely together on every aspect of the game and I still say ‘yes’ to vastly more material than I have to turn away.  The dev team have truly ‘gotten’ Warhammer and have become experts in their own right.  It certainly makes my life easier!

Ten Ton Hammer: EA Mythic has had a huge presence at all of the GW Games Day Events, what type of response has the game been getting from hardcore fans?

Erik: As we’d hoped, the response has been fantastic.  The only disagreement seems to be over which of the revealed classes looks the coolest!  Given the emphasis on RvR in WAR, I’d say that kind of disagreement is perfectly placed and sets us all up nicely for some in-game grudge matches next year.  Even more encouragingly, we’re seeing a significant amount of interest in WAR from people who aren’t tabletop gamers.  Our goal has always been to make an MMO that appeals to both groups and the signs are all pointing towards that being successful.

Ten Ton Hammer: What are your thoughts on the realization of the Empire and Chaos realms in the game? Are you happy to see these two classic Warhammer realms brought to life?

Erik:  Ah!  Two very different success stories here.  With so much material to draw on, the struggle has been to decide what to include and what could, regrettably, be left out (for now…).  The playable careers that we’ve chosen (or in the case of Chaos to an extent, invented) all address the needs of an MMO but also give a good, broad representation of the inhabitants of the Warhammer World.  With Chaos, the experience has been similar, but the challenge comes from the fact that with Chaos, almost anything goes!  Every decision that’s been made has had to consider how we represent the madness and unpredictability of Chaos while maintaining a cohesive look and feel for the realm as a whole.  Wait until you see the architecture!

Ten Ton Hammer: The Witch Hunter is a very popular character type in the Warhammer world. How do you believe this class will translate into a video game for a player?

Erik: It’s a great example of how well EA Mythic has interpreted the Warhammer world and found ways of turning its themes to create exciting MMO gameplay.  Witch Hunters – well, the clue is in the name, really!  They are the Warhammer equivalent of the Inquisition – fiercely principled and uncompromising in their approach to weeding out the seeds of corruption within the Empire.  The dev team have taken that idea, and created gameplay mechanics to represent it beautifully.  To a Warhammer fan, it’s going to feel just right.  For an MMO player, Witch Hunters are going to be fun melee/short range DPS with a twist!  As far as I’m concerned, that’s equal parts win and awesome.