Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online Info

[Inquisitor Engel]

Sorry I've not be present around here for long but I've been settling into my new role as Community Manager for a rather larger video game retailer. I was sent down to GDC Online this week (so I got sent back to Austin after just leaving!) and managed to get a tiny bit of info from the very tight-lipped folks at THQ.

• Dark Millennium Online has a "pencilled-in" ship date of Spring 2012.
• Same art style as Space Marine.
• PC AND Console-based. (!!!) The Rep said it would be Cross Platform, but couldn't be 100%. I don't see why it wouldn't be (and it would hurt it if not.)
• Developed by Vigil (Darksiders) and published by THQ. Relic also has a hand in the game in many places.
• "No comment" on "Good vs Evil" lineup. A Relic employee said he was "pleased" with how the factions had been grouped, but wouldn't go further.

That's all I got! Attachment of the poster is included.

Remember - You read it on Warseer first!

[Tay051173096]

Vigil do some exellent art work to screen so this should be good.

[Culgore]

Argghhh, I'm going to be pretty deep into SWTOR.... I will quit it the moment this comes out!!!

[Voss]

PC & Console MMO eh? Thats a bad sign for the UI and inventory system.

[Comrade Penguin]

A console based 40k MMO sounds fantastic, hopefully it will be more action based than the snoozefest that is Final Fantasy Online and WOW. Imagine massive online battles with vehicles and monstrous creatures. If they do it right they could revolutionize the MMO and finally break the death grip WOW has on it.

[BramGaunt]

PC & Console MMO eh? Thats a bad sign for the UI and inventory system.

It's a bad sign for console Players aswell... as long as there are more than 10 commands they will be screwed.

[M'ichal]

Imagine massive online battles with vehicles and monstrous creatures. If they do it right they could revolutionize the MMO and finally break the death grip WOW has on it.

it's not that easy. Larger companies with big budgets have tried to do something like this but there are technical issues involved, that's why you don't have hundreds of players participating in massive battles yet.

We'll see tohugh, maybe these guys will come up with some nice solution.

[IcedAnimals]

The game is suppose to play more like an action game and less like a traditional mmo. some games now are also trying to limit the amount of "abilities" your character can even have hotkeyed or available to them at any given time.

Diablo 3, guild wars, and now possibly this.

Edit: about the massive battles. If planetside could have 200 people on 3 teams with vehicles, planes, and "titans" and fortresses 10 years ago the only thing stopping current companies from doing the same is what exactly? I am not sure how many people here played the original World of Warcraft. But when they very first implemented pvp ranks almost the entire server fought in the small area between tarren mill and south shore. while occasionally the server would crash or lag there were still hundreds of players on both sides. Another example of WoW and this is again almost 7 years ago. Grouping up over 150 players and attempting to force our way into ironforge to kill the dwarven king. HUNDREDS of alliance responded to outnumber us 2 or 3-1 on top of guard chain spawn, and a hero NPC.

If this game can handle (I expect lag in these huge fights) 400 people like other games have been doing for years I will be incredibly excited.

[Voss]

Hmm. I know what you mean (and that does seem to be a definite trend), but I can't help but find that unfortunate. Computer technology is still expanding and increasing- they should be stretching boundaries, not imposing artificial ones because its easier. MMOs in particular have a lot of ways they could grow and be more interactive, but the 'action game' model seems like so much less to me.

It's a bad sign for console Players aswell... as long as there are more than 10 commands they will be screwed.

True. The design requirements require compromises on both sides that generally don't turn out well.

[Idaan]

it's not that easy. Larger companies with big budgets have tried to do something like this but there are technical issues involved, that's why you don't have hundreds of players participating in massive battles yet.

We'll see tohugh, maybe these guys will come up with some nice solution.

There are, in Planetside and EvE Online. That said, all MMO these days sheepishly follow WoW's example, so I wouldn't expect anything much different.

[BorisGT]

it's not that easy. Larger companies with big budgets have tried to do something like this but there are technical issues involved, that's why you don't have hundreds of players participating in massive battles yet.

False

Planetside - Easily supported 400 players.
The sequel will support "thousands" supposedly. All with the full accompaniment of vehicles, both combat and support.

[Raibaru]

I don't know why the above's experiences in WoW were so drastically differant than my own, but holy lag batman. I was on Arthas originally and Southshore couldn't handle even 50 on each side. Hell, look at Wintergrasp on a fairly modern expansion for WOW. It could never function with even 100 people in there and it was never used as anything more than a zoning point for free PvP loots due to the raid dungeon.

WoW was horrendously lagged and horribly balanced since its inception and I would certainly hope DM doesn't follow in its footsteps.

But that said, Relic's poor job with balance, matchmaking, and content delivery with Space Marine doesn't exactly convince me they've got what it takes to release a top tier mmo either.

We'll see though.

[Ranger_Partisan]

is there anything preventing console keyboards from being required?

[Baneboss]

Can we get some fresh videos of this game?

[Ranger_Partisan]

The official site has 2 trailers and the release date stated at THQ.com is 31 MAR 2013.. is the penciled date more accurate?

[Tokamak]

What's so interesting about this is that the action is real-time. In other words, you shoot at what you aim at rather than selecting your targets and facing in their general direction to attack.

[luchog]

That said, all MMO these days sheepishly follow WoW's example, so I wouldn't expect anything much different.

That's hardly true. Perhaps partially so for the big mainstream US-based MMOs; but not even remotely true for others. There is a huge variation in construction and playstyle among MMOs developed by other companies; particularly the Koreans (what with video gaming being their national sport).

No reason that Action or Action-RPG MMOs need to be a problem for a latest-gen console either. My current main game, Vindictus, is an Action-RPG, and would play fairly well on a console. In fact, it has an option for using gamepads instead of keyboard/mouse, with preset button profiles for several of the most popular gamepads. (And, of course, there's the fact that all recent-gen consoles have optional keyboards available).

I can definitely see DMO as an Action-MMO; and if built along similar lines would definitely be an interesting game. My only concern with a console release would be the quality of the porting; particularly how well they take advantage of the hardware capabilities of the individual platforms (something that a lot of recent games have failed miserably at doing).

[scopecreep]

My only concern with a console release would be the quality of the porting; particularly how well they take advantage of the hardware capabilities of the individual platforms (something that a lot of recent games have failed miserably at doing).

This is what terrifies me. DC Universe online is the most recent console/pc mmo I've tried and its just bad. The chat was clunky, the inventory management stunk, and the limitations imposed by having to design for the lowest common denominator (a 10 button gamepad). It went free to play after about 6 months I think.

And to the point of console ports, I preordered RAGE for the PC and I have to say, if John Carmack and id can't get a proper port done I won't be holding my breath for one on this generation of consoles.

[M'ichal]

False

Planetside - Easily supported 400 players.
The sequel will support "thousands" supposedly. All with the full accompaniment of vehicles, both combat and support.

ok, you're right, but it's not just about supporting the # but making it work well. I haven't played Planetside, but I suppose it's a Peer2Peer system? From gamespot: "much of the game experience depends on technical stability and the performance of other players". This is what I meant to say. I should not have said "there are no games".

I haven't tried every MMO out there, the ones I did see did not support hundreds of players on the screen at the same time and for others I'm just relaying some of the stuff I heard.

[static grass]

If this game is only 6 months out why are they so tight lipped still?

Intrigued to see how this pans out. Hopefully it wont just get destroyed by the SWTOR juggernaut.