Warhammer Online Crafting System Detailed

EA Mythic sent out a press release today detailing the crafting system that they’re implementing in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Video link within:

EA Mythic Reveals the Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ Crafting System

Highly Anticipated MMORPG Introduces Innovative System That Allows Crafters to Create Potions, Talismans, and More to Aid Them on the Field of Battle

FAIRFAX, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–EA Mythic, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS), unveiled new details for the crafting system in Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoningâ„¢ (WAR). With two crafting abilities (Apothecary and Talisman Making) and four supporting gathering skills (Cultivating, Magical Salvaging, Scavenging and Butchering), the MMORPG incorporates an innovative crafting system to aid players in their fights on the battlefield’s of WAR.

(Crafting is a beloved MMORPG element for many players, however, it can often feel like an unnecessary addition to the game,) said Mark Jacobs, general manager of EA Mythic and WAR’s lead game designer. (The crafting system I’ve envisioned for WAR is innovative, fun and doesn’t require hours and hours of grinding materials, items or recipes in order to succeed. It is a system that is tied directly to your Realm’s ongoing war effort whether you are a player who loves PvE, RvR or simply crafting in general.)

The Apothecary crafting ability allows players to create all manner of useful potions, lotions and powders to heal, enhance stats, or cause damage to others. By combining various ingredients, players will even have the opportunity to (design) their own potions according to their needs. The second crafting ability, Talisman Making, will allow players to make useful items imbued with magic powers to be worn by a character.

WAR’s gathering skills produce the raw materials required for Apothecary and Talisman Making:

– Players can train themselves in Cultivating, and plant seeds and spores in order to harvest weeds and fungi, components frequently used in Apothecary creations.
– Magical Salvaging lets players break down magical items, converting them into fragments and essences that can be used in the crafting of Talismans.
– Scavenging and Butchering are used to collect unseen resources off of the corpses of slain creatures Scavenging allows players to recover hidden items from more intelligent creatures, while Butchering allows players to collect meat, skin and bones from non-sentient beasts.

Crafting in WAR is not about grinding for raw materials to create beneficial items, but about using developmental processes that don’t interfere with the Realm vs. Realmâ„¢ battles that are central to WAR. For example, a character with Cultivating training can continue to grow weeds and fungi even while laying siege to the enemy’s city.

To download a video podcast that dives deeper into WAR’s crafting system, visit http://mythicmktg.fileburst.com/war/us/herald/flash/pp_2008-05_crafti ng.html. (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser’s address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)

Based on Games Workshop’s epic and longstanding tabletop fantasy war game, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning features revolutionary Realm vs. Realm (RvR) gameplay that immerses players in a world of perpetual conflict. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is scheduled for launch on the PC in the fall of 2008.

About Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ (WAR)

War is everywhere in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR), the new fantasy MMORPG from the creators of Dark Age of Camelotâ„¢. Based on Games Workshop’s wildly successful Warhammer tabletop fantasy war game, this world provides a rich setting for hundreds of thousands of players to experience the epic nature of war and the glory of battle.

Players are thrust into a grim world of perpetual conflict to fight for the Realms of Order (Dwarfs, High Elves, and Empire) or Destruction (Greenskins, Dark Elves, and Chaos). Next generation Realm vs. Realmâ„¢ game play ensures that players are never fighting alone. With an army of allies at their back, players will defend their homeland, invade enemy Realms, and ultimately lead the siege of their enemy’s Capital City. Every aspect of the game every player, every quest, every encounter, and every battle can turn the tide of the ongoing war and mean victory for a player’s Realm!

For the first time ever, players can engage in Public Questsâ„¢ – multi-stage, communal quests to be completed by allied players fighting together against overwhelming odds. They can also embark on an epic quest to complete the Tome of Knowledge and unlock Warhammer lore, detailed monster information, new abilities, rewards, and major story plotlines. Drawing from a quarter century of highly detailed source material, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will bring Games Workshop’s fantasy world to life in a way that will allow players to create characters destined for great deeds on the field of battle.

To learn more about the game, please visit www.warhammeronline.com.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSâ„¢, EAâ„¢, EA SPORTS Freestyleâ„¢ and POGOâ„¢. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.