Emerging from the Chaos

At their first press event as EA Mythic, Warhammer Online's developers offer a first ever hands-on demo of Chaos and much more.

by Jeff Woleslagle

January 30, 2007 - Members of the press were invited to EA Mythic's studios in Fairfax, VA to get a first-hand glimpse of the latest developments in Warhammer Online. It might have seemed odd that EA Mythic had set aside 4 hours for a game still deep in development- almost the entire afternoon, in fact - but as afternoon turned to evening no one could believe how much time had passed, and more than a few of us wanted to keep playing and asking questions.

The EA Mythic luminaries in attendance at each of the presentations included Senior Producer Jeff Hickman, Creative Director Paul Barnett, and Content Director Destin Bales. For the first time, those outside the EA Mythic enclave were able to play a Chaos character (a "Magus" class), though also on the agenda was a hands-on demo of the Empire "Bright Wizard" class and a couple fully fleshed-out Public Quests or PQs (explained later) in the respective starting areas.

First up, however, were some opening comments about the current state of the game's development. Those on the fringes of the Warhammer Online community believe that the game is infused with player vs. player conflict, which could be a buzzkill for those into more cooperative gaming. Such a definition is slighting, since Mythic has set out to create a tribute to the attractively dark, bellicose lore that defines the Games Workshop IP. More than that, however, EA Mythic is striving to create a fuller realization of the Realm vs. Realm ("RvR") concept first manifested in the Mythic's premier MMORPG, Dark Age of Camelot. "When you look at the wonderful things we bring from the Dark Age of Camelot heritage combined with the Warhammer license - this glorious 25 year old license with millions of fans worldwide - and then the wonderful things we're doing as Mythic itself, all those things add up to what Warhammer Online is going to be," Senior Producer Jeff Hickman stated

At present, two of Warhammer's six races (the Dwarves and the Greenskins) have been deployed, and work is continuing on the Empire and Chaos lands, leaving the High Elves and Dark Elves for later this year. EA Mythic's fast development pace (it was playable at E3 last year after only 6 months of development) is due as much to the quality of the staff as to the quantity. Hickman went on to state that EA Mythic has 150 people working on the WAR project, a colossal number which seems to establish that EA Mythic has World of Warcraft numbers dancing in their heads. It also seems sufficient proof that an EA studio finally commands the resources to put out a polished, top-tier MMORPG. Perhaps as important as what the developers are saying is the "feel" of the studio, and from walking around the EA Mythic building the next day, you got a sense you were in a studio manned by fresh, optimistic, all-business people - not the languid "starving artist" feel horsewhipped studios eminate. Personally, I no longer fear that EA will leave Warhammer Online in the lurch while the game's in production. But enough of that, we came to play...

Continue to "Playing the Chaos and Empire Starting Areas"