MMOsite: I have watched many Warhammer Online videos and I noticed that most of them are about melee classes. Do you think melee classes are too powerful? Will you weaken the melee classes or enhance magic classes or other classes in the future?

Josh Drescher: One of the reasons we're having such a long beta testing phase is to make sure that we get the balance of careers, abilities, etc. just right.  There have definitely been cases where we've changed the overall strength of some careers or made changes to specific abilities that were direct responses to feedback from players.

Obviously, you can never promise that once the game launches you're never, ever going to change how a career or ability works, but our goal is to as close to "perfect" as we can be before launch so that players can rely on their characters continuing to function in the same way over long periods of time.

MMOsite: Can players get some rare or even unique mounts in Warhammer Online?

Josh Drescher: Unfortunately, that's another one of those top-secret Marketing issues that I can't talk about just yet.  I will say this: It's DEFINITELY our goal to offer unique and special content to players in a number of different ways throughout the game.

MMOsite: Is equipment important in WAR? Do players have to raid bosses again and again in order to get a better end in RVR?

Josh Drescher: Equipment is important, but it isn't the most important factor when it comes to success in RvR.

WAR is very much a game of strategy, skill and planning.  Players who pay attention and learn how to use their characters will be rewarded with success in battle.  The number one thing that will determine your success or failure will be how well you know your character and how well you utilize the tools and tactics available to them in different situations.  Players won't be able to find one "uber" setup that is ideal for a career in every situation.  You'll need different sets of tactics, morale abilities and equipment AS WELL as the understanding of when and where to use them in order to succeed.

As for where items will come from, there will be armor sets and so forth that can only be acquired by completely certain tasks, quests, etc.  Some of those will be repeatable, but many will be one-time accomplishments.  The absolute best stuff will come from taking part in city siege and capture.

MMOsite: How long do you expect Warhammer to stay in beta? Any brief ideas on the release date?

Josh Drescher: We've actually retargeted the launch for quarter two of 2008, as of a few months ago.  Our intention will be to stay in beta more or less right up until the game launches.  Even after the artwork and systems and coding are all finished, there are ALWAYS bugs to find and fix, things to test and tweak and balancing issues to address.

Our team will keep working right on up to the launch and then for years beyond that.

Josh Drescher, Associate Producer, EA Mythic

As an Associate Producer with EA Mythic, Josh Drescher does a little bit of everything from project oversight to high-level design to public relations and press.  Josh joined the studio (formerly Mythic Entertainment) in 2001, prior to the launch of Dark Age of Camelot.  Since that time, he has acted as a Technical Support Lead, Project Manager, Senior Designer and Associate Producer, though rarely all at the same time.

Currently, Josh is hard at work on EA Mythic's upcoming next-gen MMORPG- Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, based on Games Workshops' tabletop fantasy war game, and one of the most-anticipated PC games of 2008.

Graduating in 1999 from Loyola College in Baltimore, Josh has (BA) degrees in Political Science and Philosophy, two fields chosen specifically for their extreme lack of real-world applicability.  Upon realizing that law school was crushing his will to live, he entered the gaming industry and has lived happily ever after.