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

The last day for me at PAX has come and gone.  We had a great day with not just one, but two WAR presentations by Paul and I.  The booth continued to be great, the game showed really well, and I got to see my brother.  General happiness all around. *smiles*

Apparently there's a seven foot tall man who loves WAR. Maybe he plays a Gobbo.

Before answering questions, I will leave you with some random and odd things from PAX;

• Josh was unable to reach his only real goal for PAX, which was to autograph a baby.  He was not being mean about it, but he was definitely interested in being offered the chance to put his name on someone’s child.
• Paul’s stalker showed up for the 20th time today.  He seemed fairly harmless, and I think all he wanted was to smell Paul’s hair.
• The Stormtrooper sitting in the audience during our presentation was definitely a sight to see.
• We were able to seat around 400 people for our presentation today (the room would not hold anymore).  We were scheduled for one presentation, but when we arrived the line to see us was out the door and around the block.  We ended up giving two presentations and turning a couple of hundred people away (sorry).
• We ran out of swag by noon on the 2nd day of the show.
• People tapping me on the shoulder to get my attention really bothers me.
• Seattle’s Best Coffee still exists. *smiles* (Editor’s Note: See Jeff’s first blog for more info.)
• I met a man who is seven feet tall, and who really loves our game.
• Getting “HELL” shaved onto the back of your head, is one crazy marketing stunt.

OK – Now on to what you all really want to hear; more questions and answers.  There are A LOT more of these than I expected so I will try to answer as many as possible, but will not be able to get through all of them.  Sorry if I don’t get to yours…

QUESTION:  Admit it, the exclusive head for dwarfs HAS A MOHAWK and an EYE-PATCH just to make your dwarf look like a true Slayer. And if it's not, change it now. *big smile*

ANSWER:  I will NOT admit that! *winks*

QUESTION:  Thank you Jeff for being badass and upstaging your fellow colleagues by benefiting the fans.

ANSWER:  You are very welcome, I try my best. *winks*

QUESTION:  Are there any plans to allow character server transfers and/or name changes?

ANSWER:  We have talked about this, but we are focused on launching the game right now, once we do that we will start talking more about these types of “special services”.

QUESTION:  Ok I really enjoy the crafting aspect but the question I have is when the game goes live - or even open beta - will you have talisman making trainers in the game?

ANSWER:  We have a bunch of new stuff coming up in the patch for Open Beta.  This is one of the things that we have planned for the Open Beta release.

QUESTION:  I am curious what the Warhammer team thinks about the initial character balance?

ANSWER:  I think we are in a great place actually.  There are still some kinks to work out, but we are hitting very close to home at this point.  We will, of course, pay very close attention to this and continue to tweak as needed.

QUESTION:  Are you all still planning to include the 'growth as you level' stuff later on down the road, with either a content patch or in the first expansion? I know you said that you all know how you would do it, but do you still plan to do it?

ANSWER:  We would love to do this.  We have talked about it again recently, but have made no decisions on whether to include this after launch or not.

QUESTION:  If it were up to you, what races if any would you add as playable in future content?

ANSWER:  All of the awesome ones *winks*

QUESTION:  How soon will the 4th classes be added to the races that only have 3? Is there a possibility that you will not add a 4th class to these races?

ANSWER:  I can’t talk about this yet, but we are definitely talking about this, and working on our plan.  As soon as we have it all worked out, we will let you know.

QUESTION:  I live in Fairfax, VA and my wife and I would love to say hi and thank you in person. Is Mythic having any sort of launch party or open house event in September?

ANSWER:  We are talking about having a launch event that the public can come to, but we are unsure if we will do it.  Keep an eye on the WAR Herald as we will announce it there if/when we are doing it.

QUESTION:  It may be too early to ask, but in regards to new content and expansions, do you plan to favor vertical or horizontal expansion? Is it going to be new stuff (races/classes/cities/zones/what have you) that parallels what you have now, or is it going to be new stuff (dungeons/scenarios/ranks/gear) that follows after 'completing' the current content?

ANSWER:  It is too early to ask. *winks*

QUESTION:  Is it Mythic's intention to eventually include as many Warhammer Fantasy armies as possible (when they can be applied to an MMO)? Any specifics on ideas that have been discussed about this?

ANSWER:  We intend to add things that fit with the game, and will enhance that gameplay experience of our players.  We look at everything that we have available and will make our decisions based upon the “fun” choice. *smiles*

QUESTION:  Did the membership on Ten Ton Hammer spike when Josh and Paul wrote blogs?

ANSWER:  Man, I hope so!  It might be my only saving grace… (Editor’s Note: Check the forum thread in a few days to get the answer to this question. We’ll see what we can find out.)

QUESTION:  The scenarios in Warhammer seem like the perfect environment for tournament style play that is seen on the semi and pro gaming circuits. Do you foresee Warhammer sponsoring and/or hosting these kinds of tournaments in the future as a way to market Warhammer online?

ANSWER:  It is very possible.  This is something that we have discussed and that fits very cleanly with our game.  As soon as we know more, we will let you know.

QUESTION:  With all the blood, sweat and tears going into this project (and I'm sure countless hours away from home) does it ever make you second guess the sacrifices you make to do something you love or do you get plenty of time off to reassure and help your families understand what you do and what it entails?

ANSWER:  To be frank, it comes and goes.  The entire team is pouring their hearts into this right now and trying to balance their personal lives with their work lives.  It is very difficult sometimes, but we are almost there and morale on the team is very high.

QUESTION:  Can you fight on mounts?

ANSWER:  No.

QUESTION:  Coming from Australia, will the Oceania servers go live simultaneously with the NA servers?

ANSWER:  Yes.

QUESTION:  What are ya drinking?

ANSWER:  I am generally a Bourbon drinker.  Mainly Blantons, though I was drinking Bookers last night.  My favorite is Pappy Van Winkles…

QUESTION:  We've seen Paul wearing a thong. How many subscribers to WAR will it take before you and Josh try one on? *smiles*

ANSWER:  Josh wears a thong everyday and anyone can see it simply by asking.  As for me, it will probably take around a million subs to get me into one…

QUESTION:  Will you guys continue to make podcasts and other things to keep community interaction up? Something on a monthly sort of basis.

ANSWER:  Absolutely!  Paul and Josh especially will be continuing this tradition.

QUESTION:  During the CE phase of the closed beta and the preview weekend, we were occasionally able to loot the corpses of fallen opponents and receive some very nice gear. Has there been any thought given to awarding trophies in such a matter, maybe even serving as a way for members of one realm to acquire trophies belonging to the opposing realm?

ANSWER:  You will absolutely have the opportunity to earn trophies from RvR.  They will mainly be awarded based upon Tome unlocks.

-Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer

(Editor’s Note: Due to the Penny Arcade Expo coming to a conclusion, obviously this will be the last day for Jeff’s PAX blog. That said, the Ten Ton Hammer staff would like to encourage you to continue posting your questions in the blog's forum thread. We are constantly asking the developers a variety of question in our interviews, so we’ll definitely try to ask your inquiries where they are appropriate.)

(Also, if you have not read the rest of Jeff Hickman’s PAX blogs, click here to take your pick between all three of his masterful articles!)

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