By Brock "Brokain" Ferguson

Last year, talk was running wild about Warhammer Online:Age of Reckoning. What the game was going to be like? How RvR was going to work? What we could expect to see from the most anticipated game of 2008? Now here it is 2009, and Warhammer talk is still going on, but now it's, How are they going to fix City Sieges? What's the skinny on Open RvR? When will we see Nehekhara in game? Ok, that last one is mine, but still, questions abound about the direction of WAR and where it's headed. Why don't we take a look at a couple of things we can possibly expect to see from WAR in 2009?

Re-introduction of the lost classes, The Hammerer and the Choppa!

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In July, when Mark Jacobs announced that they were removing four of the playable classes from the game, people went nuts. Especially when it was revealed that one of those classes was the Choppa. Destruction folks from all across the globe let out a sorrowful yelp when that news hit. Well, buck up there, little campers! It doesn't take a Magic 8 Ball to predict that "the outlook is good" for us to see the return of the other two lost classes to WAR, the question is... when? In all likelihood, there's an excellent chance that it will be by the beginning of April. With the massive server transfers and loss of subscribers, Mythic will be looking to catch a few of those people who left to return to WoW for their Wrath of the Lich King fix, and are now getting bored realizing that it's the same thing they left earlier. There's no better way, as evidenced by WotLK, to get people back home than introducing new factors to your game. Also, by giving WotLK a few months to lose it's shiny luster, you're not having to fight as hard to drag folks away from that game. They'll be bored and looking for a new gaming fix, and there will be their Hammerer/Choppa, waiting for them with open blades... er, arms. I meant arms.

It's not just adding a class either. By bringing back the Choppa, Mythic would appeal to all those folks who were crushed by its removal in the first place. Many would re-sub just for a chance to play them and certainly newer players would be tempted by the fact that now all six races have a full contingent of archetypes again, thus restoring balance to the force. The Hammerer would get some love too, of course, but I read fewer people upset about losing that class than I did the Choppa across the boards back in July. Add to all this that it's easier to re-introduce to removed classes than it is to kick out an expansion, and you have yourself some pretty good reasons to think that we'll be seeing a dual wielding Orc in the very near future.

Expansion, expansion, EXPANSION!

Now, I know this perked more than a few eyeballs up. There's a very good chance that at some point in time in 2009, an expansion for WAR will be released. When? No clue. However, in a video from Paul Barnett's blog back in October, he mentions that he's already working on "ideas" for an expansion. That was three months ago so there's a pretty good chance that those "ideas" are further along and being worked on as we speak. There's pretty decent evidence that WAR will need to release an expansion within the year inside the game itself. While there is a metric butt ton to do in WAR, leveling does tend to be a fairly simple process. This means that there are already a myriad of players with level 40 characters, many even have multiple 40's.

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Once you've maxed out your character's levels, players tend to lose the drive to do anything else. Sure, you can max level another character, or work on maxing out your Renown Rank, but there's not much else that gives you that sense that you're achieving something with your time. In another 4 months, most of the players who've stayed will have wound up seeing all they wanted to see, multiple times, and the game will become stale for them. New classes (as mentioned above) are a good way to stimulate things, but that's a short term solution. The best way to keep things fresh in the game is to add lots of new content to keep players, well, contented. The best way to add lots of content is an expansion. With new areas to see, new things to achieve, new gear to get, it will keep people happy for awhile and keep them involved in the game.

Raising of the level cap from 40 to a number above 40

As easy as this sounds, don't expect it to come around too soon. Raising the level cap is a good way to get players playing 24/7 again and re-establish that sense of accomplishment they may have missed. However, usually any raise to the level cap comes with an expansion because it's either introduce a new world that was made based on the new level cap, or reinvent the old world, and that won't happen since it's a giant pain in the ass. Since we discussed the probability and evidence that an expansion will be coming above, let's talk raising the bar real quick. By giving the players a few more levels to obtain, you give them a reason to NEED to be in the game. Let's face it, most of us went nuts and tried to get to Tier 4 ASAP so that we could run a City Siege or see what the end game had to offer. A few more levels prompts the immediate and driving curiosity most of us have to know "what the hell is over there?!", which results in satisfaction and playing, so expect to see the level cap raised.

Additional races added

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As stated above this is something that can put a spark back in the game short term. However, the reason that this will probably happen in 2009 is actually natural progression. Outside of wanting to hook players, the story will need to advance, adding new playable races to the war. This part will also be pretty easy. There's two races I can think of that are already in game and could easily be converted to a player race.

One, of course, being the fan favorite Skaven. People love them some rat-men and I can't tell you why, but even before the game launched there was hopeful speculation that the Skaven would be a playable race. Their history doesn't lend to them working well with others, but they will work for themselves, so if the story is spun right, this could work well.

The other class that could be converted to a playable race is the Ogres. We've seen them in game and recently in the Keg end event. In WAR Lore, Ogres are mercenaries without peer. As long as they get to eat what they kill, they'll work for anyone. These guys are big, tough, and nasty making them perfect for the battlefields of WAR.With these two races, Mythic could also explore adding a neutral faction to the game, one that fights against both Order and Destruction for their own purposes.

These are just a few things I expect to see from WAR in the coming year... and Mythic if you're reading this? Tomb Kings. I expect to see Tomb Kings too... pretty please?