Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online

[Heru]

Vigil Games being behind this is a big worry for me, simply due to the complete and total lack of any kind of support from them for the PC release of Darksiders. I had to get a cracked executable just so I could run a 3rd party program (3D Analyzer) to get around two graphic problems that should have been fixed in a patch months ago, and I paid for the game... It's not even a rare issue either, as it affects hundreds of people. <_<

[Brother Delias]

many video games based on the warhammer universe worry me... the worst was IMO Firewarrior, came out for PS2... It was sad, a simple Shas'la should NOT be able to take out not only two daemon princes but a keeper of secrets...

[spiros14]

...and a valkrie

...and practically a whole guard army

...and a pure awesome SPACE MARINE

[Viray]

Tbh, playing a space marine in any kind of game is looking like epic fail so far. An MMO is the worst possible environment to be playing one in. Inquisitors would have been a massively better choice, and making the game a planet-hopping, heretic hunting, xenos killing and deamon investigating Eisenhorn-style affair would frankly have set my underpants on fire. With that, advancement from novice interrogator to lord inquisitor would have been like the ultimate progression game, rather than "my lvl 87 spess mahrine beats your lvl 3 spess mahrine LOLZ" which this game will boil down to, in the end.

Skepti-rant ends here.

I agree wholeheartedly.

 

On that note, I'm surprised that there aren't more people who harbor such negative feelings for this coming MMO. When i first heard rumors about a 40k MMO, I fervently hoped that it was just that: rumor. I'm in the hobby because of the wonderful background that has been created for it by both GW and the player base, so it kills me everytime the fluff is butchered and that is, I am entirely certain, what this MMO is going to do.

[Exhumed]

I agree wholeheartedly.

 

On that note, I'm surprised that there aren't more people who harbor such negative feelings for this coming MMO. When i first heard rumors about a 40k MMO, I fervently hoped that it was just that: rumor. I'm in the hobby because of the wonderful background that has been created for it by both GW and the player base, so it kills me everytime the fluff is butchered and that is, I am entirely certain, what this MMO is going to do.

 

In many ways I am playing devils advocate because of the overwhelming excitement about this game being generated by the other posters, and also I have put a bit of thought into what the ideal 40k based film would be, and I think that would be a good basis for consideration when developing any 40k video game. The vivid and expansive worlds and characters of the Eisenhorn trilogy, combined with the depth of the inquisition as we know it, which goes without saying, simply begs to be put onto the screen or monitor. Instead, they knee-jerk react, worried that the "fan base" won't accept anything less than 100% space marine explodery. Whilst I think Dan Abnett is a little bit up his own bum due to his popularity, he was completely right to say that no 40k writer should start with space marines as their subject matter. They're just too whacked out. Humans in the 40k universe are the onyl real medium to express the horror of never-ending war, and their frailty gives us a kind of perspective that we wouldn't really otherwise get by playing as the poster-boys of games workshop.

(As an aside, I am a marine player and haven't got anything against them, just against the idea that no fan will accept another medium, be it games or films, that doesn't include them as a main or playable element.)

I mean, my own reaction is to jump to the conclusion that the developers of dark millenium have leapt upon the bandwagon and cloned WoW with new skins so they can cash in on the doubtless millions of players who are also part-time 40k nerds. It's not a far-fetched idea; developers have been doing it for years. What really bothers me is the wasted potential of such a game. One problem is, for a lot of younger 40k players, this will be the first 40k video game they will have seen, and even the prospect of seeing their little boltgun wielding dudes running about in rendered 3d is enough to make them buy the game. Then the developers can release a hundred and one expansions... the magic number.

[Cpt. Lacerus]

I think I remember people wondering if you could be an Inquisitor and due to some screens I stumbled over I think we can say yes. http://www.thq.com/us/game/show/6168/Warha...ennium%20Online

Just scroll through the screens and check out the guy in the white. I wonder how the classes will work. Im thinking you can only be an Inquisitor if you chose to be an IG first. I believe the SM will be a completely different class and character. Staring off as a new brother or scout.

 

Captain Lacerus

 

EDIT: Pics 2&7 for the Inqusitor. And I believe that may be is a SM scout to the right in pic 2. Just a thought.

[avragehuman]

I think I remember people wondering if you could be an Inquisitor and due to some screens I stumbled over I think we can say yes. http://www.thq.com/us/game/show/6168/Warha...ennium%20Online

Just scroll through the screens and check out the guy in the white. I wonder how the classes will work. Im thinking you can only be an Inquisitor if you chose to be an IG first. I believe the SM will be a completely different class and character. Staring off as a new brother or scout.

 

Captain Lacerus

 

EDIT: Pics 2&7 for the Inqusitor. And I believe that may be is a SM scout to the right in pic 2. Just a thought.

 

 

 

nah he's holding a lasgun thats a guardsmen, storm trooper maybe... i think what there doing is making the entire imperium of man one race, you can either be a space marine (Tank type class) Guardsmen (Rogue type) or mars freak (non healing casting DPS such as Mage or Warlock) idea sound good??

[Codicier Lucion]

Any idea who the white clad figure carrying the power sword is in Lacerus' link?

[Artein]

Inquisitor?

Psyker?

 

Kinda hard to look around with those shoulderpads. :D

[RamrodMC]

Psyker? Already not impressed. Psykers are fine, but there should be fluff-consistent party restrictions: Black Templars in your party should mean no Psykers can join. If anyone is allowed to do everything, and classes/races/factions are allowed to mix and match whatever they want, then this is really just Generic MMO #9,761 which happens to have a 40k visual theme applied.

 

At least the Marines look cool, in a WB-cartoon-style kind of way.

[Artein]

Just wait for Black Templar and Eldar Farseer in the same party. :D

[KaosRaptor]

Any idea who the white clad figure carrying the power sword is in Lacerus' link?

I'm personally thinking he's a member of the Ecclesiarchy (sp?). If he was an Inquisitor he would likely be wearing darker clothes/ =I='s everywhere I think. A psyker is always possible too, but then the BT should be tearing his arms off...

After playing WoW for 5 years (I want those years back!) I think I'm gonna give this MMO a miss, even if it does contain my beloved Chaos. :)

[The Emperor's Champion]

Are you guys not clear on the fact that these Marines ARE NOT Black Templar?

I mean seriously, you guys, not a single one of them is even black. Like, not even a Chaplain.

These are probably just another Imperial Fists Successor that were created just for this game. It's pretty much inevitable that they'd create their own Chapter for an MMO, because using an established Chapter in an ongoing MMO story would cause all sorts of havoc with canon synchronicity.

Same reason Relic's Blood Ravens and Fantasy Flight Games' Storm Wardens were created. Each company has freedom to build histories and storylines with far less fear of stepping on the canon's toes in the lesser known details. They can, for example, make what are basically Black Templar except that maybe they LOVE Librarians.

 

One MMO that I could see this game simulating would be PlanetSide, where there is 3 factions, litterally "Only War". No NPC's. 100% PvP. Do a youtube search too see what PlanetSide is like. Except try to imagin it as if it was 40K and it should fit perfect.

I've been saying this for years now. I disagree with there not being NPCs, but gameplaywise it should basically be just like a hugely updated PlanetSide.

Or, to give the full formula of games I'd ripoff to make a Warhammer 40,000 MMO:

PlanetSide

Battlefield 2142

Firefall (it's not even out yet, but it could OBVIOUSLY make a badass 40k game)

Natural Selection

Team Fortress 2

 

Combine the overhead commander elements from Battlefield 2142 and Natural Selection (orbital drop structures for your team's engineers to build, supply drops, orbital bombardment, objective assignment, troop deployment for Deep Strikers.) Let people nominate themselves/other people as their commander, and give the players who'd be under his command the ability to vote for or against the commander. Let them do the same for their Squad Leaders.

Make it so that a variety of different units for each faction can be elected as commander, but people who've leveled up into a commander class (Captain, Sergeant, etc) would have unique bonus abilities that make them better at it than a random trooper who does it.

Give units with advanced helmets (like Storm Troopers, ALL Power/Terminator Armor, Tau, Eldar, Necrons, etc..) Battlefield 2142's NetBat System.

Vehicles can basically act exactly as they do in Battlefield 2142, except that you need to level up your vehicle command abilities to be able to use different stuff. A Marine with no ranks can fly a Land Speeder Storm, one with minimal ranks in Vehicle Command could drive a Rhino, and as he goes up in ranks he gets bonuses to the vehicle's speed and durability, and unlocks Razorback, then Predator, then Vindicator, then Land Raider, etc.

Engineers would be needed for all manner of things. They'd be needed to repair any vehicle damage, for building/operating artillery systems, for assembling structures orbitally dropped by the Commander (think Servitors building stuff in Dawn Of War), building/reinforcing cover, etc etc. A Techmarine, for example, could learn to call down and operate a Thunderfire Cannon in a Drop Pod, he could activate Tarantula Sentries bought and dropped by the Commander, he could repair vehicles, hack computer systems/door locks, use some sort of resource (like metal in TF2) to construct walls and such, and activate vehicle systems that normally don't do anything (like maybe a vehicle's Machine Spirit weapons become way more accurate, or the vehicle's armor starts regenerating slowly, etc).

 

 

The game wouldn't have to be purely first or third person for any reason I could see (I mean, Fallout 3 is one example of how easily they could just make that an option for the player, so why the hell not?), and it wouldn't have to be purely PVE or PVP. They could basically have PlanetSide with NPCs and towns and cities. There could be random and triggered world events - like say you get a mission to capture a Tyranid Synapse creature and bring it back the the Ordo Xeno Inquisitor's Magos Biologis - then a whole Tyranid swarm might burst out of the jungle and try to get to the Synapse Creature the Inquisitor has captive. Hell, there's no reason Tyranid players could also see that pop up as an objective and they go join the NPC swarm in trying to achieve their objective.

 

 

I could lay out like 30 pages of ideas and abilities for this game. I want it.

 

Now a BFG version of Eve Online... could be interesting.

Hmmm. That seems like a good idea. you could play as a Rogue Trader/Inquisition/Adeptus Mechanicus/Space Marine ship...

I've been saying this for a few years too. EVE Online is insane. It must easily be the deepest game that's ever been made. Give it a 40k overhaul where you can actually join a race's naval forces and be called on to accomplish objectives by a huge all conquering organization instead of just generally doing whatever you want, and the forces involved are waaaaaay more interesting (Hive Fleets anyone?), while retaining the option to be a freelance agent (Rogue Trader, Eldar Corsair, Pirates, Freebootas, etc) and building up your own personal organization in the traditional EVE style, this game could be epic.

Then, if you take the DUST 514 idea and integrate this BFG/EVE game with the aforementioned MMOFPSRPG idea.... I don't think the world could handle that much awesome.

Now a BFG version of Eve Online... could be interesting.

I dunno... I'm not sure I can think of anything worse. Eve is a TERRIBLE game. Far too much grindy BS and stupid math for a proper game.

 

Zero Punctuation said it best : "Eve feels like a game that doesn't want to be played. It's a spreadsheet focused chatroom for nerds who are to nerds, what nerds are to normal people. At the end of the day, Eve is a second job that you have to pay for."

 

Now, if they got rid of all the grinding, stupid skill systems, endlessly replacing ships and stuff, then I guess it could be OK. Otherwise... no. Keep your spreadsheet simulators out of my 40K.

I can understand that line of thinking, but it's based on completely missing the point.

EVE is a game (probably the only game) truly run by the players. The players control pretty much everything on pretty much every level, and there are sooooooooooooooooo many ways to build your character, sooooooooooo many ships, soooooooo many pieces of equipment, and soooooooo many skills that you can easily build a character to do exactly what you want, or get completely lost in the options and have no idea what you're doing. Leave that as an option but set up a bunch of well defined career paths as part of the Imperial Navy, Tau fleets, etc, etc, where you can earn promotions, awards, upgrades, specialized crews, and be given command of more and more powerful ships, and suddenly the game becomes super manageable.

So a Rogue Trader would play as a regular EVE player and have access to pretty much whatever he wants and do pretty much whatever he wants, but he'd have to scrape together anything and everything on his own.

An Imperial Navy Captain would get distress calls from Imperial forces, orders from admirals, etc etc, and always have stuff to do, and have access to faction specific bonuses from faction rewards, battle honours, ships, weapons, etc. So, theoretically, buth game types would have their own upsides and downsides. Also, you add small ships that fly around in first-person mode. So a HUGE ship that's uber tough and slow and deadly and controlled with EVE type controls to allow for operation of all the different weapons systems, or little wimpy Lightnings and Thunderbolts and such that fly around up close and personal to deal with smaller bomber ships and to intercept incoming missiles and boarding torpedoes, etc.

If you add the DUST 514 concept you've already basically got the MMOFPS players aboard the ships, then you can add a layer of Star Wars Battlefront 2 where the MMOFPS players could do ship to ship boarding actions, their engineers could run around the ships interior making repairs, and pilots could go to the hanger bay, hop in a gunship and take off into space to try and take out the shield generators and scanners and such on the enemy ships to cripple them.

 

At that point you'd have a REALLY solid 40k game universe.

 

Did I mention I want to play this?

[RamrodMC]

Are you guys not clear on the fact that these Marines ARE NOT Black Templar?

I mean seriously, you guys, not a single one of them is even black. Like, not even a Chaplain.

These are probably just another Imperial Fists Successor that were created just for this game. It's pretty much inevitable that they'd create their own Chapter for an MMO, because using an established Chapter in an ongoing MMO story would cause all sorts of havoc with canon synchronicity.

Same reason Relic's Blood Ravens and Fantasy Flight Games' Storm Wardens were created. Each company has freedom to build histories and storylines with far less fear of stepping on the canon's toes in the lesser known details. They can, for example, make what are basically Black Templar except that maybe they LOVE Librarians.

 

EDIT: Disregard everying below,

(rest of my argument left for posterity's sake).

 

 

http://www.onlinemassivelymultiplayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Warhammer40K.jpg

 

The ones in this screenshot are black, at least. Plus, most of the others I've seen. Actually, that's not true. I should have said "all of the others I've seen." Not to mention:

 

The heraldic cross stands proud on my chest, where Astartes of lesser Chapters wear the Emperor’s aquila. We do not wear His symbol. We are His symbol.

 

I can see why someone might think it's grey, though. It's the ridiculous amounts of bloom. So I can understand why, in the absolute most pedantic of arguments, it might "not be black." That argument doesn't work with this potential Sword Brother, though...

 

http://www.darkmillenniumonline.com/images/warhammer_background_2.jpg

 

Of all the established Chapters, the BTs would be easily the most suitable choice due to their size. This game could be about one Crusade in the middle of nowhere at the edge of the galaxy and it might never have any effect on the main canon of the 40k universe. If they chose any other Chapter, they'd have to explain why such-and-such battle company is more than 100 Marines and why their specific codex never mentions any of this in the fluff (then again, Blood Angels novels...).

 

Also, you picked a poor example choosing to cite "precedent" of creating new Chapters in other video games, when in reality the facts support the opposite argument.

 

Space Crusade - Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Imperial Fists

Chaos Gate - Ultramarines

Final Liberation - Ultramarines

Space Hulk - Dark Angels Deathwing

Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels: Blood Angels, duh

Fire Warrior - Raptor Legion, Ultramarines

Dawn of War: Winter Assault - Ultramarines (did you forget?)

Squad Command - Ultramarines

Space Marine - Ultramarines

 

The only Chapter made up for video games was Relic's Blood Ravens. The only licensed third-party publication I could find in ten minutes of googling with a made-up Chapter was FFG and their Storm Wardens. So the trend is actually to use Ultramarines, if anything. The fact that the upcoming Space Marine uses the UMs also negates any possible "but the new policy is..." response. I don't think the devs have come straight out and said they're Black Templars, so I will admit those of us who call them "Black Templars" are in fact just operating under assumption (mother of all...), but seeing their colours and their heraldry, it's the closest to any established Chapters we know of.

 

Bottom line, there is no reason this Chapter cannot be the Black Templars.

[The Emperor's Champion]

I can see why someone might think it's grey, though. It's the ridiculous amounts of bloom. So I can understand why, in the absolute most pedantic of arguments, it might "not be black." That argument doesn't work with this potential Sword Brother, though...

This isn't debatable. They're NOT Black Templar (if they're meant to be, they've failed miserably). They're completely and painfully obvious in their medium grey color. They're not more black than the Pre-Heresy Space Wolves or the Relictors.

 

Also, you picked a poor example choosing to cite "precedent" of creating new Chapters in other video games, when in reality the facts support the opposite argument.

 

Space Crusade - Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Imperial Fists

Chaos Gate - Ultramarines

Final Liberation - Ultramarines

Space Hulk - Dark Angels Deathwing

Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels: Blood Angels, duh

Fire Warrior - Raptor Legion, Ultramarines

Dawn of War: Winter Assault - Ultramarines (did you forget?)

Squad Command - Ultramarines

Space Marine - Ultramarines

 

The only Chapter made up for video games was Relic's Blood Ravens. The only licensed third-party publication I could find in ten minutes of googling with a made-up Chapter was FFG and their Storm Wardens. So the trend is actually to use Ultramarines, if anything. The fact that the upcoming Space Marine uses the UMs also negates any possible "but the new policy is..." response.

You've missed the point entirely. They always go with well known Chapters when creating games that are a mere drop in a bucket for the Chapter's history. Every game with Ultramarines in it can be summed up as something they went and did for a couple days one week. When they have a long term need for a Chapter in which a lot of facts will be brought up they create a new Chapter. They don't want to create a whole series of Dawn Of War games chronicling the history of a Chapter when that history simply doesn't fit into any existing timeline for that Chapter, so instead they created a new one, and now they can do whatever they want with the Blood Ravens storyline for hundreds of years at a time if they want. It's also why You'll never see the Blood Ravens show up in non-Dawn Of War related fluff, despite them being an official Chapter with an Index Astartes entry and everything. The Storm Wardens fulfill a need for a Chapter they can use to cite examples with and not contradict some obscure reference regarding an established Chapter. Like they wouldn't want to say "A Veteran Company rarely deploys as a whole. Only in dire circumstances, such as when the entire Ultramarines 1st Company deployed in the Battle Of X in year M#" when it is elsewhere stated that half the Ultramarines 1st Company is actually at the Battle Of Y at that time. Instead, they can say "A Veteran Company rarely deploys as a whole. Only in dire circumstances, such as when the entire Storm Wardens 1st Company deployed in the Battle Of X in year M#" and not have to worry about other references to where the Storm Warden Veterans might've been at that time because they're keeping track from the ground up.

I don't think the devs have come straight out and said they're Black Templars, so I will admit those of us who call them "Black Templars" are in fact just operating under assumption (mother of all...), but seeing their colours and their heraldry, it's the closest to any established Chapters we know of.

I'll agree with you there, they do look more like Black Templar than any other existing Chapter

Bottom line, there is no reason this Chapter cannot be the Black Templars.

Aside from being a medium grey, not black. One viewing of the gameplay trailer is enough to prove that.

[RamrodMC]

This isn't debatable. They're NOT Black Templar

 

Oh, I'm glad you, head of the dev team, were here to clear that up.

[The Emperor's Champion]

This isn't debatable. They're NOT Black Templar

 

Oh, I'm glad you, head of the dev team, were here to clear that up.

I mean that in the sense that they're not black. So unless there's such thing as grey Black Templar, they're not Black Templar.

Grey Templar, maybe.

They're "Grey That's Definitely Light Enough Not To Be Confused With Black Templar".

[The Normish]

I'll agree with The Emperor's Champion here.

While they certainly appear very similar to Black Templars, when I watched the trailers and saw the pictures for the first time, my first thoughts were "wait a minute, these aren't Templars, they're sort of grey-ish".

I can't see their colors as black, even taking bloom into effect.

[Cadorius]

Black Templars have been named. http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/54...-Interview.html

 

The marine in the trailer right after "there is only war" looks pretty black to me. I'd say it's more likely that they brightened the armor to create contrast against shadows and the recessed areas of the armor. The same reason you don't use pure black in the SM Painter. If you watch the roaring ork's left leg, you'll notice how grey it looks despite being black on black.

[Something Wycked]

Confirmed that they're Black Templars. The Vigil Games General Manager, David Adams, was interviewed in October 2010, and states that the first playable class to be revealed is the "Black Templar Space Marine" at 00:18 here:

 

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gc-10-da...llennium/705949

[The Normish]

Well, then I suppose they are Black Templars. But they really do look grey.

So, Marines are a class, not a race? Interesting so far.

[RamrodMC]

In fact, from the wording of the devs in the interviews that Cadorius and Wycked linked to, I'm almost given to think that Black Templar in particular is a class, and we might see other Marine Chapters as other classes.

 

... base playable Space Marine is the Black Templars...

 

... first playable class, which is the Black Templar Space Marine.

 

Might just be me being crazy, but I get the feeling that there is an important reason as to why they are specifically pointing out that the class is called "Black Templar Space Marine."

[The Emperor's Champion]

In fact, from the wording of the devs in the interviews that Cadorius and Wycked linked to, I'm almost given to think that Black Templar in particular is a class, and we might see other Marine Chapters as other classes."

One would hope. It'd be sad to have the Space Marines as a whole misrepresented by a bunch of zealot nutjobs.

 

Weirdly, Marines are like a Class/Race from what I can tell. They seem to have access to all manner of Space Marine weapons and wargear, and they start as Scouts and become Marines...

So really, it seems like you can probably make most of the Space Marine classes just by your wargear choices. ....except that you'll be stuck as a melee specialist, ability-wise, I guess.

[The Normish]

One would hope. It'd be sad to have the Space Marines as a whole misrepresented by a bunch of zealot nutjobs.

Some of us Sons of Dorn prefer to be called "zealot crusaders". Words can even hurt the feelings of Space Marines, you know. Grimaldus is sobbing now. Are you happy?

 

Perhaps the Space Marine (Chapter notwithstanding at this moment) is a general tank-like class with even further specializations along the lines that you've suggested, based on wargear choice?

[Something Wycked]

There was some verbage there in the link posted by Cadorius that we can play other chapters, with words to the effect of "what would an MMO be without customization?" So we will get to play other chapters, but they might just be specializations off of the Black Templar class.