Tobold's interview with Paul Barnett

by Shawn Schuster Jul 23rd 2008 at 7:30PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, PvP, Warhammer Online, PvE

It's not often that an unpaid MMO blogger gets the chance to interview an MMO developer, but if anyone deserves the chance, it's Tobold. In a recent interview with EA's creative director Paul Barnett, Tobold fires away with five questions about the upcoming Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

Although Barnett is much more entertaining to hear (or watch) in an interview, he does a great job of vividly answering Tobold's questions. Of particular interest here is Barnett's addressing of the PvE issue in Warhammer Online. The general misconception is that WAR will be a PvP game, whereas Barnett explains that there is so much there for players who don't ever want to fight another player, and wish to simply build their history and enjoy themselves in the environment. He says, "You can do those two extremes. And there is a third way, where you play as much or as little of each type as you want."

Tags: ea, ea-mythic, paul-barnett, pve, pvp, tobold, war, warhammer-online

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Arkanaloth said on 4:08PM 7-24-2008

going to have to sit firmly in the "I'll believe it when I see it" on WAR's PVE content.

FailedNinja said on 4:47PM 7-24-2008

Tobold: Thanks for the interview, Paul. Any final message you want to convey to my readers?

Paul: Sign up for beta, come on in and test it out! Give us feedback and enjoy yourself!

Why is he soliciting more beta sign ups? I still haven't gotten my invite yet. =P

Larry-Steve said on 4:27AM 7-30-2008

I don't think anyone has any delusions that WAR's pve content will not rival the current king. (Word on the street is that w/o their RvR, WAR is 'XoXhammer', but time will tell.) It might be innovative, unique, etc., but those developers are known for RvR first, PvE second, regardless of what an employee of said company tells you. (Car salesman anyone?)

I'm all about the tier'd RvR though, and it contributing to the endgame RvR (/bites his hat that he doesn't get 4 of the six cities promised).

It seems that some MMO's have the GREAT DIVIDE between their PvE'ers and their PvP'ers, when they try to offer/cater to both. They also have difficulty learning the other and learning that what will work against a mob doesn't do jack against a player, and what kills players, won't kill mobs. A thing DAoC had going was that almost all the abilities used in PvE could be used in RvR for the same purposes, or different purposes, but equally as useful. In this spirit, I'm looking forward to see if WAR kept the "learn to PvP while you PvE" idea its predecessor had.