Preliminary but Interesting - Warhammer Online Expansions
June 25, 2008 – 1:44 pmOkay, chalk this one up to being bored and speculative as we impatiently await the impending “fall 2008,” firm-as-mud release of Warhammer Online. You may also attribute it to the recent (legit) information leak that a team of EA Mythic devs are already working on the game’s first expansion.
I read two posts this morning that touch upon the subject of future expansions. The first was Werit’s prediction on future content updates. The second was Syp’s overview of potential expansion races based on information he read in The World of Warhammer lore book.
I even wrote about it on this site in the past, but this time I’ll change the focus and scope. I won’t even directly compare WoW to WAR - promise! 
This is what I’d like to see happen (but I know won’t):
- 3 new races forming a third faction (3-way war)
- Skaven, Lizardmen, and Undead
- 12 new classes (4 per race - mirrored archetypes)
- 12 new zones (4 tiers per race)
- 3 new capital cities (1 per race)
- RvR dungeon (like Darkness Falls in DAOC)
- No level cap increases (horizontal vs. vertical expansion)
- No mudflation
This is what will probably happen (slightly more realistic):
- 2 new races
- Skaven (Destruction) and Lizardmen (Order)
- 8 new classes (4 per race - mirrored archetypes)
- 8 new zones (4 tiers per race)
- 2 new capital cities (1 per race)
- RvR dungeon (like Darkness Falls in DAOC)
- Some sort of level cap increase (like Master levels - boo hiss)
- Mudflation due to level cap increase (double boo hiss)
Where does that leave Undead? Well, I can see them being added as a joint race (for Order and Dest) in the second expansion because zombies, spirits, animated skeletons, and vampires probably don’t care who they bring into their legion - anyone will do! Then again, I’m no expert on Undead lore in Warhammer, so I may be way off.
What’s your ideal expansion? And on the contrary, what would you hate to see?
Related Posts (auto-generated)
- Will Warhammer Online follow the WoW expansion model?
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- Lessons I Hope They Learned from DAOC
- WAR vs. WoW - Expansion Philosophy
- Warhammer Online Beta Questions and Answers
15 Responses to “Preliminary but Interesting - Warhammer Online Expansions”
I don’t know what my ideal expansion is. I don’t mind the developers thinking about the first expansion. But what I want to happen is for the game to be released this fall in a solid, playable state. So I would like them to focus on this game, not next year’s expansion.
But if I had to list two ideas for an expansion it would be more zones and level cap increases. (I know, kind of boring.) I like exploring new places (new zones) and I like new abilities and gear. So if you level up you can access new abilities and gear which gives a purpose to killing stuff and completing quests. I actually found myself missing the leveling aspect of WOW after my warlock had been level 70 for a few months.
By dave on Jun 25, 2008
It all depends if Mythic sticks to their guns and whether MJB really meant it when he said Mythic learned from the mistakes of Trials of Atlantis for DAoC.
I think Mythic has gotten this far with Warhammer by sticking with their guns. They could of easily fallen into the trap of trying to be the “anti-WoW”, but did not because that mold did not fit Warhammer. They knew Warhammer was going to draw comparisons to Warcraft and said “Fuck it, we’re making WAR to be WAR and if that means looking a bit like Warcraft, playing a bit like Warcraft, then so fucking be it. We’re going to make a game our core fanbase wants with the appeal to draw in the general audience.”
At any point along the way, Mythic could of caved and given into being the same as every other MMO developer out there. They didn’t and I don’t expect them to cave in regards to an expansion. Just talking about it this early and telling us that there is work being done shows that they have the design of WAR wrapped up and fighting ready. Expansions are about content and Mythic learned the hard way (through subscription losses) in DAoC to stick to content rather than introducing alternate advancement systems.
By heartless_ on Jun 25, 2008
Honestly I don’t like Skaven, ratmen just remind me off like a chronicles of Narnia or kiddy feel. Like who made that lore…rat men? Cmon people get a little more creative. The reproduction of greenskins THAT was creative but making ratmen and giving them a different name. Its not that imaginative.
By Djagon on Jun 25, 2008
I hope you’re wrong about everything other than the RvR dungeon. I’m tired of the same-ol’ expansion pack shananigans.
By CoS on Jun 25, 2008
Djagon i dont think thats in anyway constructive criticism, The Skaven of warhammer are in no way like Narnia or Kiddy feel…seriously? The Skaven? Kiddies? The skaven were here ages before narnia, their lore is deep and was really creative with a strong background. You should really read up before you start posting unhelpful comments like that. And lizardmen will not be in Order, if you read their lore you will know why.(remember paul and jeff have to make it lore acceptable before putting in the game) and skaven has a high chance of being in destruction since they do take mercenary jobs…in fact there was a time Archon gave the skaven his best men to be used in their experiments for some powerful warrior. (read up to know more.)
By Zeddtakashi on Jun 26, 2008
Oh and by the way love your greenskin lore site, easy to access and gives loads more detail then you would usually get at wiki or other places.
By Zeddtakashi on Jun 26, 2008
@Heartless - I don’t want to speak for anyone else here, but I think a lot of gamers are coming to WAR because they are plain sick of WoW. It’s not just an issue of meaningful PvP (RvR) - it’s about hating the cap increases, mudflation, overly grindy treadmill feel of the “endgame.”
If WAR brings any of these into an expansion, they can kiss my subscription goodbye.
@Zedd - Thanks! I think the lore feature has been really helpful for a lot of people (it’s the most popular item on this site), and I have NoneSuch to thank for contributing so much of his knowledge.
By Snafzg on Jun 26, 2008
The skaven may have been here before Narnia but if you were to conjour up to mind the scariest thing you could would you think of rat men. If you look at concept they are not exactly all flowers and rainbows, bout im questioning the creativity of these creators. The comment isn’t unhelpful or meant to be, but maybe EA Mythic can come with more ideas to help with the uniqueness of the Skaven.
By Djagon on Jun 26, 2008
BTW I read ALL I repeat ALL the lore on Skaven.
By Djagon on Jun 26, 2008
Well then if you do then i apologize Djagon, but you know there are alot of races in warhammer…when i think mythic were conjuring the scariest thing they could think off chaos came to mind. True i think skaven might not be as lore deep as other races (same players might disagree hehe) but for another race to be added to a list of others i think dagger wielding warp stone shooting rats arent that bad right?
By Zeddtakashi on Jun 26, 2008
Skaven are badass, I will be disappointed if they are not part of the first expansion. But if skaven are skipped, I really hope one of the races will be ogres.
Ogre Kingdoms just seems like a fun race:
Leadbelchers with their huge portable cannons as ranged dps. Ironguts for the tanks. The screaming bulls can fill in as melee healers. And the maneaters as melee dps. Fits perfect =)
By nazgum on Jun 29, 2008
I hope they don’t do 3 realms, it will turn into daoc where the mids and hibs gang up on the albs.
By Vakabiel on Jun 30, 2008
I’ve been thinking about this aswell and there are a number or variations you could come up with such as Wood Elves vs Beastmen for one, or introduce mounted combat through Bretonnia vs Khemri. For the three way Scenario, add Vampire counts to the Empire vs Chaos match up, Lizardmen to the Highelf vs Darkelf match up.
Personnaly I would like to see the former over the latter and fully flesh out another match up. Skaven has never really appealed to me as they are overpowered to the TT version and can’t really see then comign across well.
Cheers, Rom
By Romanus on Jul 1, 2008