Wrath of Heroes

[svartalf]

What is a MOBA, and what does this mean for Warhammer? Anybody?

Wrath of Heroes: Official Announcement Trailer - YouTube

Gamescom 2011: EA and BioWare announce Warhammer MOBA [Updated]



by Jef Reahard on Aug 16th 2011 11:00AM



Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, PvP, News items, Free-to-play, Miscellaneous



If you've always wondered what Warhammer would look like as a MOBA, EA and BioWare have your answer. Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes was just announced at this year's Gamescom, and the fantasy title will feature three-team PvP with six players per side. Another new wrinkle highlighted in the game's press materials is the ability to swap heroes on the fly and "confound your foes and dominate the battlefield," according to BioWare.



The gameplay looks fast, frenetic, and accessible, and EA is positioning the title to capture a piece of the burgeoning free-to-play MOBA market. GameReactor also reports that the new game's scenarios will be built around pre-existing scenarios from Warhammer Online. We'll bring you more on Wrath of Heroes in our Not So Massively column, and in the meantime you can watch the preview clip after the cut.



[Update: You can also sign up now for the beta on the official site!]

• Source: Warhammer Online: WoH producer's letter
• More coverage: GameReactor
  

Tags: bioware, cel-shaded, ea, ea-bioware, electronic-arts, f2p, fantasy, free-to-play, gamescom, gamescom-2011, moba, pvp, trailer, video, warhammer-online-wrath-of-heroes, wrath-of-heroes

 

[Soazak]

That actually sounds pretty awesome, had this have been something that was there from the launch, this game would have probably been a lot better for most people.

This is the type of end-game it needed, will be interesting to see how it pans out.

 

[Gahn]

6 vs 6 vs 6 Arena games with equally equipped chars?

 

[svartalf]

It's a totally different game, a pure multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) - but Mythic hope to use some of the resources used in it for WAR.

Here is the Producer's Letter from WAR about it.

Greetings all,

Today we announced a new product from Bioware Mythic that expands the Warhammer Online universe. Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes, opens up new opportunities for players to experience the rich lore and intense Player-Versus-Player action of the Warhammer Online IP within frenzied fun skirmishes. For an onslaught of information about what Wrath of Heroes has to offer, follow the link!

This State of the Game however is not to tout this new exciting offering but rather to be a champion of WAR by concentrating on what this announcement means for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. When people hear about this new project, the natural thought is going to be, “What does this mean for WAR?”

The short answer is, “The WAR wages on!”

The longer, more informative, and invariably the answer you want to hear is that we are continuing to develop and support WAR and our dedication to the fans and subscribers for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is ongoing. We have maintained our healthy patch schedule, increased communication with the customer base, and have plans laid out for the year. None of these are affected by the demands of the new kid on the block.

“Sure,” you might say, “But doesn’t having another project mean less resources?” Quite the contrary. We brought in people to develop the new title and actually increased our pool of resources. This means that we can leverage things done for one game into the other. A small example is that the new Mourkain Temple layout was a result of some work done for Wrath of Heroes. There are others and a few we want to share with you as soon as possible. New looks perchance?

The additional resources gave us the chance to finish new armors we have had on the shelves for some time. We are still discussing how to introduce them (NOT as a RR100 set) and will come back with more details soon.
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and the team working on it remain steadfast in their goal of delivering the best Realm versus Realm experience on the market. Subscribers will still get a full, rich, rewarding experience. We’ll continue to bring you updates and changes to improve upon this experience. Characters you grow and love will still fight grandiose battles against tireless foes on multiple fronts; from Open RvR to Scenarios, we want you to continue to be invested. In other words, no reason to stray from your old stomping grounds! Get out and fight all people!

As previously teased, the Grovod Cavern will be back in Patch 1.4.5; adding this dark Skaven scenario back into the mix. And there are more alternative scenarios we are looking at in this Developer discussion.
But wait, there’s more. As a subscriber, you not only will continue to enjoy the rich world of WAR but we are planning to offer benefits to subscribers of WAR in Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes. We’re still hashing out the legal and technical bits, but rest assured, being a subscriber will be even more advantageous than ever.
Finally, you may have heard of some of this by now via bloggers, the forums or community updates, but we are actively working on the next patch (1.4.4) where we are looking at ways to incorporate feedback we’ve gotten on RvR into the patch, continue to shake up the scenario queues, and work on some love for a few of our classes. Continued development enriched with things we can take from Wrath of Heroes. The WAR wages on, that really is the message here.

Before we go… a look at a focus for one of our future WAR patches…

Yep, that’s a fortress. Currently planned for 1.4.5, we have an exciting plan for the fortresses to make their return. You can get some preliminary information on our plans by following the links in this thread. Combined with all the other plans on our plate, the year ahead for WAR looks bright.

See you, as always, on the battlefield!

 

[Gahn]

That article sheds no light on the new game, but seems just a reassuring letter to War playerbase to me -.-

 

[svartalf]

That article sheds no light on the new game, but seems just a reassuring letter to War playerbase to me -.-

That's right. Since the endgame in WAR plays similarly to a MOBA anyway, one might not be surprised to see everybody leave to play the free game instead.

 

[GReaper]

If they can actually get a decent amount of revenue from the WAR IP to help recover from the flop of an MMO, then it seems like a pretty good idea.

 

[Shagrat]

that dwarf armour looks shit.

 

[svartalf]

that dwarf armour looks shit.

The armour looks shit because it's on a dwarf. His armour would look great, otherwise.

 

[svartalf]

BETA SIGNUP here: https://wrathofheroes.warhammeronli...re&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=beta_signup

 

[svartalf]

Bioware TV has an interview with Goosegoose about this.

She spouts some crap about people saying they wanted to play the SCs without spending time leveling and paying for an MMO. Not much else new there, except it's going to be in closed beta until it's ready, to borrow a phrase from Arenanet.

 

[TheDoon]

Bioware TV has an interview with Goosegoose about this.

She spouts some crap about people saying they wanted to play the SCs without spending time leveling and paying for an MMO. Not much else new there, except it's going to be in closed beta until it's ready, to borrow a phrase from Arenanet.

Interesting watch.

Each character only having 5 abilities sounds a little disappointing to me, guess ill need to try it out to see out it plays.

 

[Ctuchik]

They have probably been looking at guild wars for that i think. You probably have access to more skills then that, but you can only use 5 on the skillbars.

It's quite a good idea tbh.

 

[svartalf]

Panel+Nethys (sorry it ends and there is no follow-up vid)
Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes - Reveal Panel (PC) - YouTube

Felicia
Warhammer Online - Wrath of Heroes : Felicia - YouTube

Twitter feed
Twitter

 

[Calaen]

It's the final nail in the coffin for WAR, they are also about to introdcude buyable pets that give yuo a 5% stat boost.

The monkeys in charge of this want shot with shit, the incompetence of all of the people still involved with looking after this game still suprises me.

When doing a panel for WOH this was said

"We went, you know what? If you play the MMO, we give you all this cool equipment on your adventure, and it's a neat thing to do, but let's just get rid of the boring crap and give people cool [stuff] to wear," Paul Barnett said.

Its apparently boring crap. A slightly different attitude to how he once hyped WAR.


Played all of the BETAs so far on WOh and the game is alright, however if two of the three teams meet at the first flag and fight, the third team can grab their own free flag, capture the middle and be 60 points ahead before the other fight is anywhere near to being finished.

The really need to concentrate on just having the three sides fight each other.

 

[Ctuchik]

Played all of the BETAs so far on WOh and the game is alright, however if two of the three teams meet at the first flag and fight, the third team can grab their own free flag, capture the middle and be 60 points ahead before the other fight is anywhere near to being finished.

The really need to concentrate on just having the three sides fight each other.

would it have been different without the flag?

Instead of snatching the flag they would have just steamrolled the other 2 teams.

So nothing would actually have changed in regard of who takes the lead.

 

[Calaen]

would it have been different without the flag?

Instead of snatching the flag they would have just steamrolled the other 2 teams.

So nothing would actually have changed in regard of who takes the lead.

Yes make it king of the hill, it will be self monitored then. Allowing a team to win without killing an enemy isn't in the best interests of an instanced combat game.

 

[svartalf]

When doing a panel for WOH this was said

"We went, you know what? If you play the MMO, we give you all this cool equipment on your adventure, and it's a neat thing to do, but let's just get rid of the boring crap and give people cool [stuff] to wear," Paul Barnett said.

Said panel is linked in the post before yours, should anybody wish to hear the evidence for themselves. Barnett looks crestfallen/embarrassed throughout. This was his baby and it went to crap because of a few post-launch non-content issues. I'd be embarrassed after all that enthusiasm pre-launch - remember that? Oh he's not so enthusiastic any more.

Its apparently boring crap. A slightly different attitude to how he once hyped WAR.

I don't even play anymore, and I can't really express why, but this comment really pissed me off. It smacks of hypocrisy when the company hasn't even shut down WAR yet.

 

[Calaen]

Said panel is linked in the post before yours, should anybody wish to hear the evidence for themselves. Barnett looks crestfallen/embarrassed throughout. This was his baby and it went to crap because of a few post-launch non-content issues. I'd be embarrassed after all that enthusiasm pre-launch - remember that? Oh he's not so enthusiastic any more.



I don't even play anymore, and I can't really express why, but this comment really pissed me off. It smacks of hypocrisy when the company hasn't even shut down WAR yet.

Yup it was a massive slap in the face to any mmo player really. They also commented on we took what was good from DAOC 3 realms. And I'm thinking you should have implemented that in WAR at the start you tards. Theres a reason DAOC is still talked about regardless of the issues it had, orvr wise it is the daddy!!!

 

[Ctuchik]

Yes make it king of the hill, it will be self monitored then. Allowing a team to win without killing an enemy isn't in the best interests of an instanced combat game.

Sure, but it would still be about who attacks last.

One team just waits for the other 2 to get going and then charge in when those 2 teams are weakened.

So capture the flag or king of the hill, the outcome will be the same.

 

[svartalf]

Yup it was a massive slap in the face to any mmo player really.

Indeed.

It's as though they have asked:
What's the difference between MMORPG and FPS?

...and come to the conclusion that:
MMORPGs have lots of boring crap.

That's the same boring crap that Barnett and pals thought was great fun just two years ago.

They also commented on we took what was good from DAOC 3 realms. And I'm thinking you should have implemented that in WAR at the start you tards. Theres a reason DAOC is still talked about regardless of the issues it had, orvr wise it is the daddy!!!

I think that's a forgivable action on their part, and that two realms would have been fine. I think the population problems in the realms, while clearly a problem, weren't what killed the game.

 

[Ctuchik]

Population balance is always going to be an issue in open world pvp if you have 2 or more sides that are different from each other.

 

[svartalf]

Beta reviews:

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Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes


BioWare Mythic | http://www.wrathofheroes.com Overview Features Forums Hype Links News Reviews Screenshots
Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes: Closed Beta ImpressionsMMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh and Bill Murphy recently had the opportunity for a hands on preview of one of the hottest MOBAs coming down the pike, Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes. They've both got the skinny on exactly how WoH plays and much more. Keep reading and then leave us a few comments when you're through!Previews By Carolyn Koh on September 16, 2011

Carolyn Koh's Thoughts:

Fast, furious and fun. That about describes the short hands-on time I had with Wrath of Heroes over the last weekend. I'd received the beta invite and missed the first beta session because I work on the West Coast and they were testing on East Coast time but I had two hours with it the next day. I logged in knowing that Bioware-Mythic were really just testing the gameplay and balance on the characters already in game. No tutorial or cheat-sheets were available, although some tool-tips – such as the commands for chatting to your war band and setting radio buttons which also had accompanying dings to gain quick attention during the hectic combat. Some quick clicking around and experimenting and I found out how to chat in the lobby, look over the characters, moused over their skills for a description and I joined a random battle. Big red button. Couldn't miss that. Then it was a lot of trial and error as I tested the various characters out.


My first group were all noobs too luckily enough, and we all fumbled around together, getting killed, trying to figure out what we had to do – which was actually pretty simple. We were on a three-way map in a tree-way battle, so each color group – Orange, Green and Blue spawned in between the three flags and there was the center to capture as well. We found out quickly, between dying, that we needed a flag captured to capture the center. We chatted about the characters, died, tried different characters, died, chatted some more, died and died again until the game was won by one of the other teams.



That first game gave me a quick understanding of how the game worked. For this kind of fast action, forget about using the WASD keys to move, you're using the mouse to move and the other hand to depress hotkeys to fire off your skills and do some damage. All the characters available were those shown at PAX and in the short two hour session, I didn't get to play all of them, but quickly moved from the melee (I so sucked) and ranged DPS to my favored finger-waggly classes, then the fun began and I stuck with what I was good at, the mage and the necro (vampire).

Every character has similar type skills (I didn't get to the healer before the two hour session was over). A spammable skill, like the fast firing fireball for the mage and the fast firing bow for the ranger, a single target snare and a group snare, with two more providing the flavor for that particular class.



To capture a flag or the center, you had to have enough members of the team in close proximity for a short amount of time to capture it. Perfect for a mage to cast a group snare with rain of fire and for the rest of an opposing group to pile on in. I was in my element, raining fire and throwing balls of fire, but dying really fast if I got stunned or snared and pounded on by the heavy hitters, but I really liked the heavy damage and seeing my kill score go up. As long as I protected my healers, I was in fat city.

Nethys, the vampire was a different kind of gal though, and everything she did, she drew life from, which in the whole scheme of things meant a lot less death, and there was a little more nuanced play with her. With her, I actually went after the mages and healers.



All in all, I didn't get in a lot of time, but the game was exactly as promised, fast, fun and furious, each round completed in 20 minutes then it was back to the lobby to talk and learn. For the experienced MMO or MOBA player, the learning curve is short of the “how to play” aspect of the game, the “mastering” may take a little longer, especially with characters that may offer a little more nuanced play. If I had a regular war band to play with, this game could really rock.

Bill Murphy's Take

I don't have too terribly much to add to Carolyn's overview. I spent most of the weekend as Korith Deathbringer, the pointy-eared elf with a nasty bow. Not exactly my first choice, but once I got a feel for his ranged DPS, I couldn't stop. During the recent PAX Panel, we were told Korith was really dangerous, and that's the truth. I spend each match taking down healers from afar, though often enough I had to run and watch my ass as Korelei the dark elf came screaming at me and she can slice you up but good. She can dodge my attacks like no other, and it's not uncommon to see her pop up on the field should there be one or two Koriths around.



This is the thing about Wrath of Heroes: it's Warhammer in the art and name only. Having all these races fighting on the same side is ludicrous, but that doesn't mean it's not fun. Like SMITE from Hi-Rez Studios, the MMO combat makes things much more fast-paced and frenetic than your normal MOBA. And while SMITE seems to have more strategy at this point, Wrath of Heroes wins in the area of pure maniacal and quick action. The matches last no longer than a normal Scenario in WAR would, and though the heroes don't level, your account does and you'll get points to spend on additional tactics to buff your account out.

This isn't a game about building characters and playing in a world… it's the kind of game you'd pick up if you just wanted to log in and bash heads for a few minutes. And it's quite good at that. I'm anxious to see what layers they can add onto the game to make it more compelling in the long term, but for now I'm pleased to report that it's quite fun, quite hilarious, and pretty addictive. Is it Warhammer? Not really, but I'll be damned if it's not a hoot.










Article By: Carolyn Koh

Created On: September 16, 2011





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[Gahn]

It seems i got into Beta, gonna get back with impressions if i find time to try it out ...

 

[Calaen]

Population balance is always going to be an issue in open world pvp if you have 2 or more sides that are different from each other.

Yes but that in itself was the beauty of Cammy, whoever were the underdogs sorta made temporary truce for the sake of toppling the big guy. I know cammy still had it's problems and I really did love the pvp in WAR.

However I felt they left out loads of the good elements of daoc like the combo chains, there wasn't any real positionals in WAR that openend up via other abilities. It was all a bit button mashy.

 

[Ctuchik]

However I felt they left out loads of the good elements of daoc like the combo chains, there wasn't any real positionals in WAR that openend up via other abilities. It was all a bit button mashy.

Sure, you could do that, but many skills works better after others have been used. So in a sense you still have chain combos, they are just not restricted to certain abilities.

And getting positionals off in WAR were a pain in the ass because of collision detection, so that's why they revamped them to work whenever but still retained a bonus if done "properly".

 

[svartalf]

However I felt they left out loads of the good elements of daoc like the combo chains, there wasn't any real positionals in WAR that openend up via other abilities.

This was another reason I preferred WAR over DAoC. What you consider "good", I would term, "awkward". When you have an online game (especially one as laggy as DAoC), it's better if you get rid of ability chains and positionals.

If anything, DAoC was more mashy because you had to spam the entire chain backwards every time you wanted to try and hit someone.