Massively^™

At long last, Mythic has finally confirmed the last of the High Elf careers for Warhammer Online. After months of speculation and lots of hints, they've finally confirmed that the White Lion class will round out WAR's robust list of player careers. The White Lion will be fulfilling the melee DPS niche on the side of order and will focus on the dynamics between the hardy White Lion and his war lion pet.

Unlike his Destruction counterpart the Squig Herder whose Squigs are relatively expendable balls of sentient fungus, the White Lion's bond with his pet starts at level one, and there will be a good degree of customization available so that each player's pet will be relatively unique. War lions will grow and change as their master grows in power, and will even be capable of fighting in a feral capacity if you fell his master in battle first.

We're excited to see the last of WAR's careers fall into place. Here's hoping we're only a few steps away from the open beta!

Hey everyone, remember Warhammer Online? That one MMO that's supposed to come out later this year? Okay, step away from the Conan beta and listen up, because we have some news on the Warhammer front concerning the Swordmaster.

According to a recent MMORPG.com interview with EA Mythic's Adam Gershowitz, the Swordmaster of Hoeth is the High Elf's entry into the tanking profession. It uses a flurry of swordplay to deflect the blows of its enemies as opposed to simply using heavy armor, like most tanks. As with the other classes in WAR, the Swordmaster has three mastery paths that are variations of differing playstyles:

• Path of Vaul - Includes combos that draw aggro while still increasing your defense. This path caters to situations with multiple foes.
• Path of Khaine - This path is for your area attack combos, introducing more of an offensive twist for the more aggressive tanks.
• Path of Hoeth - This is the tank path that utilizes magical abilities to aid in both defense and offense.

Partners-in-crime IGN and Gamespy recently visited Mythic to get some hands-on time with a couple of the starting areas in Warhammer Online. IGN ended up with the High Elves, taking Swordmaster as their class, and Gamespy chose the Dark Elves and picked Sorceress.

One of the things that Gamespy commented on was the close proximity of the High Elf and Dark Elf starting areas to each other. They also noted that some of the newbie quests deliberately brought the two races together, within striking distance, giving players the choice to either scowl menacingly, or jump straight into PvP. There was unfortunately no mention of a meet-up and subsequent rumble with their noble High Elven counterparts though. Both teams ended their playtime by participating in a public quest, and you can read all about it from either IGN's or Gamespy's perspective.

That's the choice EA Mythic is going to have to make and it will lead Warhammer Online down two very different roads, in my opinion. Neither of these roads are inherently bad, but only one of them is the right choice for WAR -- which means the hard part is figuring out which road is best.