[Interview]Roland Cox & Mark Davis Talk about Warhammer Online's Future

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is an MMORPG for the PC which is made by Mythic Entertainment. It's relatively new to the MMO scene though, as it's now approaching its first birthday. Gaming Union caught up with Roland Cox(RC), International Associate Producer, and Mark Davis(MD), Associate Producer, at GamesCom 2009 to talk about the future of Warhammer Online.

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GU: How are you trying to get new players in?

RC: That's a good question. we actually have a new player initiative we are working on. One of the things with all MMOs is that they have barriers to entry that are quite hard. They are probably the hardest and most complicated games to play. First person shooters are super easy, my mum could probably play them. She wouldn't be any good, but she could still sit down and try to shoot stuff. MMOs have a degree of sophistication to them that is very difficult, even for casual gamers. What we're doing is trying to make it easy for people to play. We're looking at all sorts of things, like a lighter client that's easier to download. We're also streamlining the character selection screen so people can get in as quickly as possible.

Our starter areas are really great, but we're looking to add what Mark calls 'Awesomesauce'. We want to add a level of playability and ease of access to them, so we're looking at all sorts of introductory quests as well as looking at our help system. We're also looking introducing the concepts of RvR in the first Tier of the game. The introductory experience is getting more sophisticated and easy to understand. Most people play a character a couple of times before they decide they know which one they want to use. We think that if you can hook them for 3-4 hours in their first session that we've got them. If not, then they will likely quit.

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