World of Darkness Online - Confirmed

I know this game has seemed to fall between the cracks since the merger of CCP and White Wolf in late 2007, but it appears now that it's been hard at work behind the scenes and today, officially announced the WoD MMOG.

http://www.wodonlinenews.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ArticleView/mid/367/articleId/88/UPDATE-WoD-MMORPG-confirmed.aspx

So buck up guys. CCP's got this and nobody could make a better WoD, them being the kings of sandbox, open world, player driven MMOGs (see Eve Online.)


[Edit: Link Fixed. -MrGone]

Now if only we could get an official forum... *hint hint* White Wolf!

awsome, this should bring class to the MMOG platforms which they so need

any info released about what we would be playing?

Ulgulanoth:

awsome, this should bring class to the MMOG platforms which they so need

Always nice to meet a fellow optimist. :)

blackhatmatt:

Ulgulanoth:

awsome, this should bring class to the MMOG platforms which they so need

Always nice to meet a fellow optimist. :)

Hee hee...someone has to be that sometimes.

c34r34lk1ll3r:

any info released about what we would be playing?

I think the strategy would be to release the core three races in the beginning (Vamp, Were, Mage).  Then, later on, they would release the other races as expansion packs.

seems logical; i could see them making the others be NPCs first.

Hot damn. Yet another reason to happily give White Wolf my money. I'm very curious about this project and wonder if it will incorporate the Supernatural Templates or begin as core World of Darkness fluff (and supporting crunch) with the option to add Templates later.

ANTICIPATION!

c34r34lk1ll3r:

seems logical; i could see them making the others be NPCs first.

It would be smart to leave them out of major stories until the expansion itself comes out. 

For example, while the supers are used to dealing with human hunters, it isn't until the Hunter expansion pack comes out that they have to start dealing with Conspiracies, Tactics, and Endowments.  When the expansion pack comes out, the whole city is flooded with Hunter related storylines.  If you buy the Hunter expansion itself, you get all the abilities to form a Cell, as well as the potential to form a Compact with a larger body of hunters (Sort of like a Guild or raid group from other MMOs).  To match up to the other supers, you probably will have to be a member of a Conspiracy as well, with access to Endowments.

Similarly, when the Changeling Expansion comes out, old key NPCs may be revealed to be imposters or alien somehow through storylines.  Everyone gets to encounter the Wyrd and bizarre with the content patch, but those that purchase the Changeling.  Odd anomalies and madness begins to leak its way into the city.  And, of course, you can buy the expansion pack, and create your own highly-customized Changeling character, complete with Seeming, Kith, and Court. 

Promethean might have some trouble being realistic in the game.  They would be very much the "solo" race of the game, able to exist better as independent or as part of a Throng, but nothing larger scale than that.  How would we explain the large number of Prometheans in a single area, as would happen with the MMO?  Perhaps there is a famous Lineage founder there?  Perhaps there is a powerful Promethean, who is said to be able to teach others how to become human? 

Luckily, due to the secretive nature of all the supernatural races, the delay of certain playable races could easily be chalked up to "Well, you just haven't heard of them before now.  They've been there all along, you just never saw them."  Even still, I think with the x and y splats of the three super races to choose from, you have a crap-ton of options at the get-go.

I'm actually interested in how they are going to do Mages.  Obviously, you aren't going to be able to Creative Thaumaturgy, so it will boil down to rotes and maybe the ability to manipulate certain terrains/objects.  What Rotes will be available, would more be accessible, etc etc?

The only issue with the promethean idea is if they were to allow you to complete your pilgrimage (which i believe they should otherwise you are gong to have serious problems) they would have to make a mortals section specifically for them. presonally prommies are my favoritesbut they would have trouble being involved unless they were to build a mortals subsection

c34r34lk1ll3r:

The only issue with the promethean idea is if they were to allow you to complete your pilgrimage (which i believe they should otherwise you are gong to have serious problems) they would have to make a mortals section specifically for them. presonally prommies are my favoritesbut they would have trouble being involved unless they were to build a mortals subsection

I think it would be cool that a Prommie who completes his pilgrimage (No easy task on its own, and probably not possible for a while until after the Promie expansion is released) would create a totally normal human NPC out of his character.  He can then create a new character of any sort (Any race, even non-Prometheans) and respend all of his exp.  He would essentially get to reroll, trying out a new uber character of a different sort, as a prize for "Beating the game", so to speak.

Cleverest of Things:

c34r34lk1ll3r:

The only issue with the promethean idea is if they were to allow you to complete your pilgrimage (which i believe they should otherwise you are gong to have serious problems) they would have to make a mortals section specifically for them. presonally prommies are my favoritesbut they would have trouble being involved unless they were to build a mortals subsection

I think it would be cool that a Prommie who completes his pilgrimage (No easy task on its own, and probably not possible for a while until after the Promie expansion is released) would create a totally normal human NPC out of his character.  He can then create a new character of any sort (Any race, even non-Prometheans) and respend all of his exp.  He would essentially get to reroll, trying out a new uber character of a different sort, as a prize for "Beating the game", so to speak.

i can see that as a good idea but all the power gamer min maxers would roll em and not have as much to do with the actual pilgrimage

c34r34lk1ll3r:

i can see that as a good idea but all the power gamer min maxers would roll em and not have as much to do with the actual pilgrimage

It wouldn't be an easy task to complete the Pilgrimage.  It'd be an epic-level feat, something with a lot of different things involved. IF there are people playing the NPCs, there might be a Qasmal that appears to test him, and would probably be able to tell whether the person is roleplaying out the Pilgrimage, especially if certain Story events and cutscenes are kept in a person's memory record.

And then, if the occassional min-maxer goes through all of that effort to become a mortal and reroll as something else, all the more power to him.  It was probably very fun for his friends to go along with the ride.. and it will be exciting to have a new powerful PC show up in the area and cause a shift in power.

Perhaps every race could have this option.. Vampires have Golconda, Mages have Ascension, Changelings can become Fae, etc.  The Prommies are the only ones that are almost all moving towards that goal, but it'd be the ultimate feat that the Expansion Pack has to offer.  In WoW terminology, it would've been the Arthas or Illidan of the game.  Also, considering the fact that Prometheans are the best solo characters, they are incredibly resilient, AND they can purchase extra lives through exp (How would Death be handled in a WoD MMO?  Would it happen more rarely than in a typical one?  How serious would it be?), the reroll would just mean that Prometheans would appeal to solo and casual gamers.  They have their own built in goals, their own survivability, and the ability to return from death.  This means they will be less likely to rely on others than, say, Changelings or Mages.