Warhammer Online - Behind the Career System Part Two

The second part of the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning article, Behind the Career System is up on MMORPG. In the first installment, EA Mythic’s Adam Gershowitz reviewed the evolution of the career system for WAR. In this article, Gershowitz covers career design and game balance.

…while the structure of the classes in Warhammer may seem strange, they are actually designed from “a matrix of choices” created by looking at three specific elements:

1. Race - How does it look? What do they feel like?
2. Archetype - What is their role?
3. Play Style - What mechanics will be needed for the class to work as intended?

“As a result,” he said, “you will always see similarities between two careers that share one or more of the 3 variables above. Careers of the same Race will always have similar visuals. While Careers that share Archetype and Mechanic may play very similar to one another.”

“In reality,” he said, “about 60 - 75% of the game balance can be broken up into 12 Careers shared across 2 realms (24 total). While the remaining 25 – 30% of the unique items to a specific Career become easier to balance because they add the additional flavor to the career not the core balance.”

Ultimately, character classes will fit into familiar roles for MMO players; Tanks, Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, Melee Healers and Ranged Healers. For a full list of which careers fall into these roles, read the full article WAR: Behind the Career System - Part Two on MMORPG.

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