This is the spawn of my previous thread about the next big franchise move to the MMO genre.
This is about Warhammer 40k and my thoughts on it.

I BET this post is a filthy copy of a million others, but I'm gonna post it anyway because it's always -so- much fun, thinking up ways to bring WH40K to a game.

So, here are my thoughts:

DISCLAIMER: There are a number of parts of my description that borrow heavily (and honestly) from WoW - this is because WoW was my life for years, and alot of the features are really good, and should be used instead of shunned. Also, as it has been a while since i did anything WH40K, my knowlege is blunted, and i've forgotten some unit/race names. forgive me.

ALSO: I stopped editing/correcting after "--EXPANSION--" because until that point it had been pretty good quality and i got tired of it. Forgive me.

EDITED: Punctuation, other stuff

The starting races should be Space Marines, Chaos Marines, the Orks, and the Dark Elves (that's the race's name, right? sorry it's been a while since i read those books).

The first expansion would introduce a WWI'esque, trench/battle warfare based sect of the Imperial Guard and the Tyrannids, in an ingenious way that i will go over in a moment.

Later expansions would bring in the Tau and a new version of the imperial guard, like, one designed for urban/special forces/behind-enemy-lines missions (see gaunt's ghosts) And also the Chaos worshipping Cult (very much like the Imperial Guard)

-Space Marines-

In my mind you would start the game as an initiate, then become a scout at what would be level 15 in WoW.
You would then fight your way through the levels as a gradualy developing scout (light armour, light weapons) until you get to the equivalent of level 40 in WoW (yes, the original level where you could get mounts in WoW - a comprable thing) at which point you go into your cryo-chamber and, maybe, finish a few special race and class-specific quests in a dream-world thing for one level, finally emerging as a space marine. this would open up the second segment of the Space Marine game-life/campaign.
After you get to the equivalent of level 60 you can become a specialist (heavy bolter, flamer, melee specialist [chainswords ftw]) after a series of quests, then at level 70 a captain, again after some quests, and at level 80 (attainable - like with the WoW expansions except a little later on in the storyline - upon the realease of the imperial guard/tyrannid expansion) a librarian.
As for getting further than that (i.e. to become a chapter master) i hope not, but maybe they could implement something about how, after a certain feat in PvP/PvE, you can be approached by The Ordos Hereticus or something and be given the opportunity to earn what in wow would be a designation as an 'elite' unit. This would happen for other races too. AWesomeeeeee!!!

-Chaos Marines-

As this race you start as a fully fledged Chaos Marine (since it'd be really weird, trying to put into game the development of the marines [i.e. horus heresy - which would have been in the past since this is, after all, the year 40k]) whose handicap would be the fact that he has just come out of a freaky daemon-induced fury which greatly weakened him. Every five levels you would 'remember' a mind-skill (not to be confused with the slightly weaker/more passive every-level skill system based off WoW's talent tree system), and also get a physical boost greater than the small one you'd get every single level.
At level 40 you would have finished your developement within the Eye (that's the name for that area of space - right? >w<) and join up in a Black Crusade, complete two levels on a giant spacecraft while approaching Cadia, then get baptised under fire as a fully fledged, low rank chaos marine.
Much like the Space Marines (a similarity born out of the two race's being distant relatives) you would, at level 60, be granted a specialisation (oh, i forgot to mention jump-pack-specialists earlier: yeah, them too - If other people want 'flying mounts' without being jet-pack specialised they'd have to master teleportation through some side quests - but not through paying a ton of money like in wow) then at level 70 become a squad leader (maybe this can give a chaos/space marine limited powers to control allied NPC soldiers) and at 80 become a chaos priest thingo. (the name escapes me, been a while) Or the melle version, u know.

As for the bonus elite designation, you would be charged with taking a new planet, a feat which you could acheive with the help of your friend (the planet would get bigger/more fortified with every additional friend) but also with daemon NPCs if u go it alone.

--Orks--

Similar to the gimped Chaos Marines, you would start out your life as a ork that has only recently spawned. Orks start out with high-than-average physical attributes, but with very basic armour/weapons. Orks would advance through the attainement of gear, trophies and bulk rather than levels (ork-gear would be rarer, or crafted - and orks without ork-gear would have to rough it with whatever they scrounge up)

At level 30 you will be given a quest chain as the servant of an NPC orc leader, who will be a mobile quest-giver, and at level 40 you will have gathered the phat loots required to let you pwn your group leader and become one yourself.

--You may have seen that this idea incorporates use and command of NPCs more than WoW - I've noticed too.--

At 60, as usual, you specialise, at 70 (remember folks these are just WoW equivalents, not actual levels) you can upgrade your group-leading to, like, waagh-leading, and this would introduce new types of subservient troops, etc. from level 70 to 80 your horde would expand with every ding. At 80 you'd have a huge Waagh, and earn the ability to get into hulks and go smashing into planets. (this game would randomly spawn more planets, which would each last for set time periods, as they would be the base of most fighting)

To become an elite, you have to succesfully crash your hulk into a space marine capital ship and take it over.

--Dark Elves--

can't be BUGGERED i was never interested in these pricks someone else do it :P

--EXPANSIONS--

The first expansion would be an Imperial Guard/Tyrannid based expansion, and this is how they'd implement it:

Open the creation of your new expansion character your toon will be restricted to a certain area of the galaxy - one that is exclusively tyrannid and imperial guard. the premise would be that you are one of seven billion or so Imperial Guard troops that have been sent to deal with an invading tyrannid hive. Or conversely that you are one of fifty billion tau floating through space and attacking guard.

Expansion characters would stay in the leveling zone until they get to level 40, at which point they can wander around - imperial guard units can enter vehicles and Tau can control more peeps. More on how this works now:

--EXPANSION #1 RACES--

--Imperial Guard--

You start off as an initiate in the tyrannid-guard theater, and you will fight as one lonely peep in the middle of a massive war for the first 10 'levels', after that you get command of a small squad of men, who you will stay with/upgrade until level 25, at which point each new level with give you one extra grunt until level 40, at which point you and your guardsmen emerge into the galaxy at large.-

Guardsmen fights would be alot like fighting in Battlefield 1942 or it's sequels, in that you would be able to hop in and out of vehicles and such, that at each respawn you can choose one of a number of specialised troop-types (respawn system to be covered last - basically just another WoW-inspired idea since WoW works well and this game can still be unique despite using a few great ideas from the world's most popular mmorpg) etc. You can lead your troops much like the system in Operation flashpoint, or, better still, your toon goes prone and the camera zooms out, giving you a high view of what's going on, and letting you give your troops orders like in an RTS.
FOR THE WIN
...

At 60 you'd be able to requesition specialised weapons for your troops (much to the chagrin of [that faction in WH40K responsible for supplying the guard]) At 70 you'd be a captain and be able to requisition vehicles and troop-drops. At 80 you'd become a Commander and be able to call in air strikes (or worse!)

To become and elite imperial guard, you are to accompany a group of other exepeirenced guardsmen and a captain, infiltrate a chaos world and assasinate a warlord (again, see Gaunt's Ghosts)

--Tyrannids--

Very similar to the guard in terms of development (this is because the two races are similar in terms of how many people they use and how they take orders from officer units/hive minds.)
For the first ten levels you'll mindlessly run to your next quest spot then take control of your tyrannid as you tear apart guard, after that point you'll be in control of your own unit (because you are one a a group of tyrannids that are developing their own conciousnesses - along with any other human players) After 20 levels you'll start to become a bit of a hive leader, and be able to control initially one other - and with every second level and additional - tyrannid. that is until level 40, at which point you will leave the guard-tyrannid theater as the leader of a small hive, and go about your merry way with fellow hive-leaders.
From level 60 to level 70, at every level you will develop a more badass body, from new claws to stronger armour, and also of course get another hive feind. At level 80 you'll become a behemoth thing. I don't know enough about the tyrannids to be very accurate here for the same reason as i don't know much about dark elves.

To become an elite tyrannid you'll have to kill a suitable number of enemies - a few thousand - then complete a quest to devour an entire Hive (not referring to tyrannid hives, a human hive city)

--RESPAWN SYSTEM--
Every time you die you come back at a graveyard/drop point/whatever. Depending on your race though you can select a buff, or some such thing (for example, as an imperial guard, a new weapon set - a la battlefield - as said before) your armour would degrade, yeah, 'cause that system worked fine.

Woot fun. what're -your- thoughts on how a WH40K mmorpg would go?

I love you

I have tried to work out how WH40K would work...

And you just came up with the best i've seen yet. Not perfect, mind, but damn good.

-------Tyranids-------

A gaunt is out of the question, they are slaves to the hive mind and have no possibility to grow.

You would need to start... As a Genestealer Hybrid

A human turning into a Genestealer, you would spend levels 1-15 as a basic grunt, with basic guns and growing Close Combat abilities... until you go purestrain.

Free willed, massively powerful in close quarters and fast, this is the beginning of your journey into Nid-dom. Fighting like a rogue, you try to sneak up on your foe because your armor is light but your claws harder than steel. Levels give you increased stats and 'Biomass' to spend on 'Biomorphs' like feeder tendrils or scything talons. Even flesh hooks. You can put talents in stealth, speed and strength.

At 40, you would show up to a digestion pool... and dive in...

You would be reborn as the next most powerful in the free willed Nids, a mighty Warrior Twice as mutable as a Hybrid you can now branch into biomorphs again, and upgrade your massive claws and ripping jaws. Once again you use Biomorphs to 'Pimp your Ride' as it were. From bio-plasma right up to mighty scything talons. You can once again focus on stealth, speed or strength.

Then... at 60.... You can specialize. Depending on the talents you have taken.

You have 3 choices... Lictor... Warrior... Broodlord...

A Ravener is speed and utility, a Warrior on drugs it mounts powerful ranged weapons in its throat to leave room for ripping claws and powerful talons. You use psychic power buffs to help your allies (not exactly canon, but what the hell, its not that bad a violation) and strike fast and hard. A master of warfare and speed.

Broodlord is a tank, a walking engine of death and power, slow and simple, but no less deadly. You get up close where thick carapace and mighty claws and skill can take a tank apart, all while holding off a horde of foes. A master of getting up close and smacking shit around.

A Lictor is about stealth, with nothing but massive close combat claws and camouflage to let him close fast... you are all about burst DPS and infiltration. Theres no 'sure you could' here... you are the engine of terror. You get up close before they see you and cut them down. A Master of 'blink and your dead'

----

Things like Carnifex and Hive tyrant are far too huge to make available.

Thoughts people?

BTW yeah i realise there's one 'in the works' but this was fun enough to be worth that slight oversight

Screw it I'm designing a Pokemon MMO later this wee

Combat mechanics are going to be very interesting to work out for your MMO I'm thining

smallharmlesskitten:
Combat mechanics are going to be very interesting to work out for your MMO I'm thining

Aren't they always?

The Fluff is ready to go, with a swanky gameplay concept this would sell like LSD-laced hotcakes

Ultrajoe:

Things like Carnifex and Hive tyrant are far too huge to make available.

Thoughts people?

some kind of defence battle?

smallharmlesskitten:
Screw it I'm designing a Pokemon MMO later this wee

Why they haven't already done this is beyond me. Pokemon is practically begging to be an MMO.

(They're called (Dark) Eldar in 40k by the way)

No love for the Eldar in your MMO? :(

Dark Eldar:
Start as a basic Dark Eldar trooper, lightly armoured with a splinter cannon. Once you reach level 10 you can branch out to either a Blaster or a Dark Lance, or stay with your Splinter Cannon. All a matter of preference. It'd likely be split into Dark Lance=sniping, Blaster= heavy damage, long reload, moderate range and Splinter cannon=basic rifle.

Once you reach level 20 you can specialise into either a Sybarite (upgraded Dark Eldar Trooper with similar abilities but added close combat strength), a Wych (removes armour, gets massive close combat boosts) or a Scourge (winged Dark Eldar Trooper, grants limited flight (improves regen and duration of ability the higher you take your Scoure class levelwise) and increased armour and better heavy weapons. Has next to no close combat power).

Upon reaching 40, Sybarites can choose to specialise into Incubi, which are heavily armed, heavily armoured close combat units. They're armed with a number of close combat weapons. (Melee DPS and support tank)
Wychs can specialise into a Wych Beastmaster role, which is similar to a Wych but has the added bonus of being able to tame a number of warp beasts to use simultaneously. Scourge do not get an option to upgrade at this point. (Melee DPS, support and minor debuffs from the warp beasts.

Max level grants the Incubi the option of becoming a Dark Eldar Lord. With a number of weapons and morale boosting tools at their disposal, not to mention a hell of a lot of experience on the battlefield, the Dark Eldar Lord are not to be trifled with. (aura class as well as a tank)

Wyches and Wych Beastmasters can upgrade to a Haemonculus. They're armed with a number of weaponry similar and are an expert at dishing out pain from both close range and afar. (Debuffer and DPS)

Scourges remain as they are from level 20, however at level 40 and max level they're given the option to respecialise into either Sybarites or Dark Eldar Lords, depending on the level.

I might consider doing something for the Eldar later, might need a tree diagram to work out where all the aspects level up into thoough.

Note that Incubi, Dark Eldar Lords, Wych Beastmasters, Haemonculi and Scourges would all be viable at max level due to their specialised abilities. It just depends where you want to be.

Ultrajoe:

----

Things like Carnifex and Hive tyrant are far too huge to make available.

Thoughts people?

Things like the Carniflex, Tyrant, Zoanthropes etc would work quite well as special weapons of sorts. You don't get to be one, but it would be extremely cool to be able to summon one. As in you mark a target, a freaking great big spore comes hurtling out the sky, then just as all your enemies thinks they've dodged your 'special attack' out clambers Old One Eye.

You sit back and hiss with satisfaction as your enemies scatter in horror.

Of course there could be a balnce issue here, having several players at once able to call upon such massive creatures would make things a bit of a steamroller.

fix-the-spade:

Ultrajoe:

----

Things like Carnifex and Hive tyrant are far too huge to make available.

Thoughts people?

Things like the Carniflex, Tyrant, Zoanthropes etc would work quite well as special weapons of sorts. You don't get to be one, but it would be extremely cool to be able to summon one. As in you mark a target, a freaking great big spore comes hurtling out the sky, then just as all your enemies thinks they've dodged your 'special attack' out clambers Old One Eye.

You sit back and hiss with satisfaction as your enemies scatter in horror.

Of course there could be a balnce issue here, having several players at once able to call upon such massive creatures would make things a bit of a steamroller.

Take a leaf out of WoW's Alterac Valley. To summon the Ice/Forest Lord there, you needed to move a few NPCs into position and then get ten people to channel on an item for a duration of time. Say to summon a Carnifex, you need to purchase a relatively costly item, have one person use it then get five (or more) others to "sync" with that person, after some time has passed, carnifex pops up (down?) to do some damage. Perhaps better summoning items could yield better levels of carnifex/whatever? It'd work for all races as well, as they could airdrop/warp in a vehicle/special weapon/daemon also.

Amnestic:

fix-the-spade:

Ultrajoe:

----

Things like Carnifex and Hive tyrant are far too huge to make available.

Thoughts people?

Things like the Carniflex, Tyrant, Zoanthropes etc would work quite well as special weapons of sorts. You don't get to be one, but it would be extremely cool to be able to summon one. As in you mark a target, a freaking great big spore comes hurtling out the sky, then just as all your enemies thinks they've dodged your 'special attack' out clambers Old One Eye.

You sit back and hiss with satisfaction as your enemies scatter in horror.

Of course there could be a balnce issue here, having several players at once able to call upon such massive creatures would make things a bit of a steamroller.

Take a leaf out of WoW's Alterac Valley. To summon the Ice/Forest Lord there, you needed to move a few NPCs into position and then get ten people to channel on an item for a duration of time. Say to summon a Carnifex, you need to purchase a relatively costly item, have one person use it then get five (or more) others to "sync" with that person, after some time has passed, carnifex pops up (down?) to do some damage. Perhaps better summoning items could yield better levels of carnifex/whatever? It'd work for all races as well, as they could airdrop/warp in a vehicle/special weapon/daemon also.

AHA! A lictor, master of the pheromone trail, can summon rippers, gaunt, and with enough tyranids... the Carnifex.

And no love for the Hellion or Harlequin? Scourge to Death Jester would just be about as awesome as it gets.

"i'd like to upgrade to death jester please"
"Sure, heres you gigantic scythe shaped gun, antigrav harness, huge-ass leather jacket and helmet in the shape of a grinning skull"

...

...

"Sir? Are you going to take this stuff?"
"Oh right, sorry, i just came"
"Dont worry sir, happens every time, dump your old pants into the incinerator we have set up there"
"Ok, ill just pu-
LICTOR ATTACK OF DEATH JUMPY SPITTY DEADLY DEATH

Who else thinks this game must exist?

And no love for the Hellion or Harlequin? Scourge to Death Jester would just be about as awesome as it gets.

I had considered a Scourge -> Hellion transfer, I decided that I wasn't really a fan of having the flying ranged heavy weapons expert changed into a flrying melee expert, especially when the Dark Eldar already have so much melee prowess. As for Harlequin and Death Jester, I thought those were Eldar-affiliated as opposed to Dark Eldar? Admittedly I've not been really in touch with 40k beyond the Dawn of War series for the past few years, but I remember that the Harlequin was most certainly on the Eldar side of the tracks.

When (if?) I got round to writing the Eldar up, it'd likely have contained a Harlequin specialist class at mid level, specialising in one of the three sections that the wiki is giving me at max level (Death Jesters, Solitaires and Shadowseers).

Lol good idea with Alterac Valley - maybe the ability to summon high level creatures could be a rep reward (or some non-WoW'esque equivalent)- or something you can do after capturing a zone objective, a single- or double-cast summon, yeah?

There are three sort of, tiers of level caps, one at 60, one at 70, one at 80. Like I said I don't know much about the dark eldar (thanks for reminding me their name) so maybe you can think of what big upgrades they can get.

Also, what would be a good elite-quest/quest chain? One that's hard enough to make it so you deserve to be an 'elite'

oh and

Ultrajoe:
I love you

I have tried to work out how WH40K would work...

And you just came up with the best i've seen yet. Not perfect, mind, but damn good.

tyvm :)

Amnestic:

No love for the Eldar in your MMO? :(

Never read the books, never played the race... The books I did read gave very little info about the Dark Eldar because to the Imperium they are still quite a mystery, if i remember correctly. For the record most of my reading has been about the Guard, the Space Marines and, my favorite, the Inquisitors.

I love this idea.... now i've gotta think of a way to get Space Wolves in to the mix, and I'll be happier than a really happy guy on happiness island with a big bowl of happy... flakes...

Come to mention it...

--The Inquisition--

Introduced in the second expansion, the Imperial Guard have a choice, upon reaching level 70, to either stay a guard and attain Elite status, or to move to an Inquisitor's retinue, and work their way up (over the last 10 levels) to being an Inquisitor themselves.

Every second level from 70-80 will give the aspiring Inquisitor a new role in his retinue (from grunt, to heavy gunner, to hacker, to assasin, to second in command), and the hyper-deep storyline (based on a special type of world, set up for your mission, not randomly generated but rather what i will call a "preset-world") will follow a random selection from 20 possible Inquisition quest-lines.

Inquisitors can use Space Marine weaponry (provided they buy hydraulic limbs or strength implants) but are restricted to Imperial Guard armour. They essentially become Space marines with the ability to command their own retinue of hyper-specialised units.
They cannot achieve Elite status, rather they can do the equivalent of Civ III's "future tech" for five levels (essentially making them level 85 non-elites) and they can deal with NPCs from both the Imperial Guard faction AND the Space Marine faction.
They Inquisitorial Signets get them discounts and give them access to Elite Space Marine and Imeprial Guard weaponry. The balancing factor would be the fact that they're not elites, and therefore would have to rely on guile and hyper-effective use of their underlings.

For the record, I'd be an inquisitor.

Mister Ash:
I love this idea.... now i've gotta think of a way to get Space Wolves in to the mix, and I'll be happier than a really happy guy on happiness island with a big bowl of happy... flakes...

I think that the character creation could be like EVE, in which you choose sub-factions in each race, etc. Space Wolves - were they the jump-pack oriented ones? Blood Angels could get higher stamina, and maybe a lvl 40 (when u become a full marine) racial ability to slowly regenerate up to 20% health if u ever go below it...

I wasn't really interested in a Warhammer 40k MMO to be honest... That Space Marine TPS coming out doesn't look very promising to me either. I want to see a true FPS that works well. And no, Space Wolves are not jump pack oriented- your probably thinking of the White Scars, who specialize in fast attack. Space Wolves are the reverse of regular marines in that their lower ranks are the melee specialists and the more experianced warriors utilize the ranged weaponry, because they're old enough and wise enough not to drop their heavy bolter and charge into melee for blood and glory.

END GAME CONTENT

Sorry if i'm bumping up an old post but i think this is my best post and the one that has always been the most enjoyable for me.

Here's another thing that could be implemented. The end game/raid content and how it would work.

Space Marine End Game
The first raids, like in WoW, would start at lvl 60/equiv (with a few missions like UBRS/straholme - pre-60 practice raids), and since this would be the level where you first chose a specilization, these raids would be 10 or 20 man forays into places like space hulks, where each player's specific specializations would be put to use in different ways (getting a good group mix would be important)

At lvl 70/equivalent each person in the raids would be able to command underlings (since they become 'captains') which would lead to larger raids, with larger, more strategic, objective based fights (breaking away from the WoW-esque dungeon clearing, and going on it's own track of large maps more resembling UT2K4 assault maps)

Level 80 characters would become librarians etc, and would therefore fulfil a role of commanding the battlefield/war effort on the whole. Maybe have command over divisions (each division could be two or three captain-lead companies, which would be NPC or, if a lvl 80 could find willing guild mates/friends, would be filled by players) These raids would be quite large, and the most exciting.

Maybe you guys could come up with a more fleshed out idea for 80 end game content

There's an alternative solution i just came up with: There could just be a large number of raids in which 60s, 70s and 80s could all participate in. Raids involving 3 divisons (3 80s, 9 70-79s, and dozens of 60-69s) in which each division could be given sub-objectives. Companies could infiltrate gigantic enemy strongholds (inhabited by other RL players from a different faction - i.ee Chaos Marines) to take out shield generators etc. AWESOMMEeEEE

more to come... Why don't you guys help come up with some new ideas for the other race's endgame content? I'll keep thinkin stuff up too.

ps. mad props to ultrajoe who has said he loves me twice so far - once on this post and once on another post after i referenced Terry Pratchett's Small Gods

I still want a damn Imperial Guard FPS. Detailing the boots of a Cadian Stormtrooper would be perfect. The first few missions could be fore the guard, then you get noticed by an inquisitor and added to his entorage, then shit gets -really- crazy.

TsunamiWombat:
I still want a damn Imperial Guard FPS. Detailing the boots of a Cadian Stormtrooper would be perfect. The first few missions could be fore the guard, then you get noticed by an inquisitor and added to his entorage, then shit gets -really- crazy.

Yeah. That whole lvl 70 = choice to be drafted into the inquisition could be a component of the end game content.

Imperial Guard End Game Ideas

At 60 Imperial Guardsmen should just try survive in large battles, using their different weapon specializations to snipe/take out tanks/flamer other trenches. Then at lvl 70 yeah, if you are drafted into an inquisitor's squad then you could go on side missions to take out supply lines/hunt down traitors helping the enemy/destroy a hideous warp artifact that's making your soldiers slaughter eachother.

At level 80 you could become that inquisitor, have control over not only your little squad but also the ability to requisition anything you need - and influence the field commander's decisions. Big discounts on certain items, etc etc, but, most awesomly, have the ability to request help from, say, a patron Space Marine chapter, or one of the ordos, or something. Freakin' awesome.

If this game ever got made, or if any WH40K game got made that gave u the chance to be an inquisitor... I'd take it soooo quickly.

My pickle is finding a low-level gun-unit for tyranids. The Hybrid idea is a cop out and theres no low-level shooty alternative to the monster close-combat beast that is a genestealer. You'd have to shift to warrior earlier, which is rather unfair to other races, because a 9 foot 4 armed walking engine of death rather outclasses other mid-rage units.

I think instead of Dark Eldar you have just normal Eldar. That way you have two "good" and two "evil" races to start off with.

By

Freakin' awesome.

I assume you mean the Grey Knights.

Fuck Yeah! You rule mate!

You just created an idea 40k MMO that works, something the internet has been trying to do for years.

Ultrajoe:
My pickle is finding a low-level gun-unit for tyranids. The Hybrid idea is a cop out and theres no low-level shooty alternative to the monster close-combat beast that is a genestealer. You'd have to shift to warrior earlier, which is rather unfair to other races, because a 9 foot 4 armed walking engine of death rather outclasses other mid-rage units.

Maybe they could - hehe parhaps a bit too obvious but it works - use the Alien Vs Predator 2 mechanics - biting heads off etc. I mean it's shameless but it's a great idea.

Fire Daemon:
I think instead of Dark Eldar you have just normal Eldar. That way you have two "good" and two "evil" races to start off with.

By

Freakin' awesome.

I assume you mean the Grey Knights.

Fuck Yeah! You rule mate!

You just created an idea 40k MMO that works, something the internet has been trying to do for years.

I'm glad you think so :) I have -so much fun- with this thread.

U know, in the twenty or so WH40K novels I read, the eldar and dark eldar are mysterious figures. Maybe in this game they could come out in a seperate expansion, or maybe have very limited interaction with the other races, until maybe the first expansion which, along with the imperial guard/tyrannid war-zone, could introduce a coming-out-party eldar/dark eldar war-zone, which would link into the story and therefore bring them into the spotlight more. Or maybe that could happen for them when they hit lvl 40/60

I've thought of another army. The Necrons. I don't know how they'd start though because a basic warrior is supposed to be as good as a fully armoured space marine.

Supernovajake:
I've thought of another army. The Necrons. I don't know how they'd start though because a basic warrior is supposed to be as good as a fully armoured space marine.

Could handicap them by giving them debuffs/giving space marines buffs. I.e. space marines can do alright against necrons because they think laterally and are faster, etc. so when a necron verses a space marine, the marine gets a movement speed/accuracy/damage buff or something.

I don't know enough about the necrons outside of DoW experience, maybe u/someone else could come up with some race info.

urprobablyright:

Supernovajake:
I've thought of another army. The Necrons. I don't know how they'd start though because a basic warrior is supposed to be as good as a fully armoured space marine.

Could handicap them by giving them debuffs/giving space marines buffs. I.e. space marines can do alright against necrons because they think laterally and are faster, etc. so when a necron verses a space marine, the marine gets a movement speed/accuracy/damage buff or something.

Yes! Racial gearing!

This is perfect for helping the lowly guardsman take down a space marine, they get compounded buffs for each additional guardsman! Thus guardsman can, in equal numbers, go toe to toe with the boys in blue!

Right up until the genestealers get into their lines... then buffs cannot help them... WHHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAA

too bad video games aren't made of ideas and pixie faerie dust.

Ultrajoe:

Right up until the genestealers get into their lines... then buffs cannot help them... WHHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAA

Oooo, genestealers. Great opportunity for fun gameplay. copying other people's appearence. Maybe like u can steal genes for an hour at a time, during which time u can communicate to both races. You can get uncovered by lvl 80 characters/NPCs with a certain peice of equipment - one that's obvious (like a bright blue lense over one eye or something) could be a class quest, to infiltrate an outpost and reak havoc, alien-movie-franchise style.

I like the whole MMORPGRTS-thingie you've got going here, I'd play it or die trying. Here's some ideas of my own:

Instead of having Space Marines, Imperial Guards and such as different races/factions, you might just have them all in one faction, The Imperium (which is more accurate in regard to canon IMO). At character creation you can choose different branches in the Imperium military. Either you could join the Ordo Hereticus and an Inquisitor's retinue (working your way up to becoming one yourself), join the Space Marines and start out as a scout (there should also be able to choose which chapter you want to be in, each with their own strengths, weaknesses and level of recognition/respect with the rest of the Imperium). There is also the Imperial Guard, where you'll basically start out as meat-for-the-grinder, then work your way upwards (if you survive). The major fault in this system, I'll admit, is that female characters would not be able to become space marines, though they could become Sisters of Battle, which is basically the same thing.

Another gameplay element I'd be happy to see in this game would be the chance to form smaller groups and "go at it" individually instead of commanding entire legions on the battlefield. Here you would, for example, go down into a hive city and clear some scum off the streets, or maybe lead a strike team to assassinate an enemy leader.

Also, I would like to see the Necrons involved at some point, though not as a playable race (they don't have no identities, they're just machines). Maybe some kind of periodical invasion event?

Okay just the thought of playing as a normal trooper during a 'nid attack Dynasty Warriors style is just... wheres that incinerator again ?

However the problem is (and this is why I doubt it will ever get made) setting up the worlds. You cant dump them all in the same world or galaxy even without getting raped by the fans. Hell you have a attack in a area of space where there isn't meant to be any of that race around and youll get screamed at. "The nearest Dark Eldar/'Nid/Space Marine sect/hive/chapter isn't within blahblahblah"
Normally this would not be worth mentioning as its obvious you have to create new worlds and its not that hard as troops do get shuffled around the universe but Soulstorm threw that basic bit of logic out the window.
However if it was done properly then dear god I would play it just so my imperial guard squad and I could one day board a Baneblade.

Ultrajoe:
My pickle is finding a low-level gun-unit for tyranids.

fuck the gun unit, I wanna start life as a ripper tearing around the field with predator vision munching guardmen's feet.

Necromancist:
I like the whole MMORPGRTS-thingie you've got going here, I'd play it or die trying. Here's some ideas of my own:

Instead of having Space Marines, Imperial Guards and such as different races/factions, you might just have them all in one faction, The Imperium (which is more accurate in regard to canon IMO). At character creation you can choose different branches in the Imperium military. Either you could join the Ordo Hereticus and an Inquisitor's retinue (working your way up to becoming one yourself), join the Space Marines and start out as a scout (there should also be able to choose which chapter you want to be in, each with their own strengths, weaknesses and level of recognition/respect with the rest of the Imperium). There is also the Imperial Guard, where you'll basically start out as meat-for-the-grinder, then work your way upwards (if you survive). The major fault in this system, I'll admit, is that female characters would not be able to become space marines, though they could become Sisters of Battle, which is basically the same thing.

Another gameplay element I'd be happy to see in this game would be the chance to form smaller groups and "go at it" individually instead of commanding entire legions on the battlefield. Here you would, for example, go down into a hive city and clear some scum off the streets, or maybe lead a strike team to assassinate an enemy leader.

Also, I would like to see the Necrons involved at some point, though not as a playable race (they don't have no identities, they're just machines). Maybe some kind of periodical invasion event?

awesome ideas...

urprobablyright:
The first raids, like in WoW, would start at lvl 60/equiv (with a few missions like UBRS/straholme - pre-60 practice raids), and since this would be the level where you first chose a specilization, these raids would be 10 or 20 man forays into places like space hulks, where each player's specific specializations would be put to use in different ways (getting a good group mix would be important)

Could make it so that at any point after lvl 60 - even if you're lvl 80 - you can come back and do the lvl 60 raids (small groups with no subordinates) with similarly leveled allies and buffed enemies (like heroic dungeons in WoW)

I like your idea about making the inquisition/ordos race a whole lvl 1-80 thin:
You could start out as an errand runner for the inquisitor (being sent into ganglands to pick up evidence, fighting off thugs etc), get more respect/gift implants from your patron inquisitor over the first 20 levels, then become a footman from 21-40, in which you crew his ship and do cleanup/off-the-ball action. Then at 40 you can join the inquisitor's squad, and help him gain more power as an inquisitor, at lvl 60 you can specialise and start doing lvl 60 rank raids in which you help the other races as an emissary from your inquisitor. At 70 you go in with your inqusitor/his allies to help out, then at 80 you finally become one yourself.

as for women not being able to be space marines, people would maybe accept that as part of the storyline - and yeah, girls could become sisters of battle. that said though they're not quite the same thing, and would maybe be a lvl-60-specialization-choice for a female ordos character -- the males could chose to become grey knights initiates or whatever. Grey knights? I get that right? the ordo malleus' private space marine legion?

avykins:

fuck the gun unit, I wanna start life as a ripper tearing around the field with predator vision munching guardmen's feet.

I would be inclined to agree if Xenos were lumped into one army (Just take some eldar sharpshooters), but Nids cannot do teamwork... they would eat them. Ah, screw it, make nids all Close combat until higher ranks, and have the rabged boys play shooty-support.

Also, I don't think the concept commanding an entire squad would work, and im sure thats not what the OP had in mind.

Thats the problem, the only 'faction' that can play nice is the imperium. You could make some half-baked excuse for eldar/tau but orks and tyranids just refuse to get in the sandbox without slugging anyone near them.

I just want to say 'upgrade time' and dive into a spawning pool.

'Would you like to be a lictor? A Ravener? A Broodlord?'

And then i sit back and bathe in the glow of those words... and then pick lictor.

I do have a problem about your style of advancement...

People would essentially be locked out of a lot of content and gameplay until months after you start playing. I mean, getting to 70 in WoW doesn't sound easy or quick, and forcing people to play a certain way until endgame just isn't a good idea. In WoW, considering you made parallels to it, even from the beginning levels you can be a certain class and play a certain role in the group. With this, it basically sounds like you're all doing the same thing until you hit the later content.

Another issue I have is with the Space Marine Endgame business. Having players do quests/raids that specifically target other races' cities/strongholds is a bad idea. The main problem with doing this is being on the other side of it. It's great fun for the people raiding, but there's probably a good deal of lower-level people around, and they like to use the city and it's inhabitants. Not only that, but most of the other players won't be able to put up anything resembling a fight. Either the city guards will kill the invaders, or the raiders will be able to slaughter everything they see. Anyone not as incredibly well-geared (as would be necessary to go on one of these raids) would just get killed.

The reason this is such an issue is the way you're planning the advancement. It sounds like there would be a massive shift in gameplay/power at these certain levels. Anyone under them is completely overpowered by anyone over them. It goes from being a wide spectrum of skill and power to either having it or not, and those who don't will always be preyed upon by those who do.

Remember what happened with the WoW zombie thing? People couldn't stand it because there was always some idiot running around killing the person they needed to turn in quests or repair or whatever. The lower-level players couldn't do anything against the higher-level zombies, and the 70's were annoyed by it.

Never make PvP oriented towards making the other side not able to play the game.

Another thing: The races don't seem to be on even playing fields. The levels at which they get abilities are mostly the same, but the abilities they get are vastly different. I know this will provide for diverse gameplay, but the only way to make interaction between opposing races balanced or fun is to set them relatively equal in style. Making things so varied between races is a surefire way to make things unbalanced when it comes to PvP.

avykins:

However the problem is (and this is why I doubt it will ever get made) setting up the worlds. You cant dump them all in the same world or galaxy even without getting raped by the fans. Hell you have a attack in a area of space where there isn't meant to be any of that race around and youll get screamed at. "The nearest Dark Eldar/'Nid/Space Marine sect/hive/chapter isn't within blahblahblah"

In a diablo2-esque thing, you could have the different worlds/missions spawn i areas of space that adhere to the storyline. The space itself could be like EVE - very large lol. only difference is you'd be able to land on worlds (kind of reminds me of supreme commander) and pound/[insert WH40K verb] face.

If the fans whined, you could tell them to make petitions and, if they got a big number of votes (say, 90% of the game population who ticked the box marked "I care") they'd get sent to the developer and they'd have a look at the suggestions.

I'm gonna write in ur quote because i need to leave the office soon...

meatloaf231:
I do have a problem about your style of advancement...

People would essentially be locked out of a lot of content and gameplay until months after you start playing. I mean, getting to 70 in WoW doesn't sound easy or quick, and forcing people to play a certain way until endgame just isn't a good idea. In WoW, considering you made parallels to it, even from the beginning levels you can be a certain class and play a certain role in the group. With this, it basically sounds like you're all doing the same thing until you hit the later content.

You could simply chuck a WoW and put in instanced (see ragefire chasm, deadmines, and everything else from mauradon to blackrock depths) content etc. By your logic WoW had the same problem but they managed to make you feel totally absorbed. the advantage of this would be that we'd tailor the instances for whatever stage of developer characters are meant to be at. not only would this make them uniquely enternatining for lower leveled people, it would also combat people getting 5 minute run-throughs by higher lvl toons (i admit, i loved that in WoW but to be fair i'll look at it from a developer's POV.

Another issue I have is with the Space Marine Endgame business. Having players do quests/raids that specifically target other races' cities/strongholds is a bad idea. The main problem with doing this is being on the other side of it. It's great fun for the people raiding, but there's probably a good deal of lower-level people around, and they like to use the city and it's inhabitants. Not only that, but most of the other players won't be able to put up anything resembling a fight. Either the city guards will kill the invaders, or the raiders will be able to slaughter everything they see. Anyone not as incredibly well-geared (as would be necessary to go on one of these raids) would just get killed.

As mentioned in an earlier post (yeah if this ever goes anywhere one would really need to edit it to make things more clear) these battle-hosting planets would be randomly generated. all the civilians would be NPCs, only certain baseworlds would be permemnant places. talking about that, guilds could save up and buy headquarters on moons floating around permenant worlds.

The reason this is such an issue is the way you're planning the advancement. It sounds like there would be a massive shift in gameplay/power at these certain levels. Anyone under them is completely overpowered by anyone over them. It goes from being a wide spectrum of skill and power to either having it or not, and those who don't will always be preyed upon by those who do.

Yeah it'd require some ingenious planing to make the transitions smooth, but even now i can think of a few ways to do it. for example, if you look at the first ideas for space marine leveling, when they got to level 40 they'd spend one or two levels in a special zone, fulfiling class/race specific quests to get used to things. Of course there'd be alot of things to address~

Remember what happened with the WoW zombie thing? People couldn't stand it because there was always some idiot running around killing the person they needed to turn in quests or repair or whatever. The lower-level players couldn't do anything against the higher-level zombies, and the 70's were annoyed by it.

thank god i quit wow long before that happened

Never make PvP oriented towards making the other side not able to play the game.

yeah, as said just earlier, this would be in fact PvE - though i'm intereseted in figuring out special PvP raids - maybe u can put some brainpower to it

Another thing: The races don't seem to be on even playing fields. The levels at which they get abilities are mostly the same, but the abilities they get are vastly different. I know this will provide for diverse gameplay, but the only way to make interaction between opposing races balanced or fun is to set them relatively equal in style. Making things so varied between races is a surefire way to make things unbalanced when it comes to PvP.

Good point. for now, i quote ultrajoe:

Ultrajoe:

Yes! Racial gearing!

This is perfect for helping the lowly guardsman take down a space marine, they get compounded buffs for each additional guardsman! Thus guardsman can, in equal numbers, go toe to toe with the boys in blue!

Right up until the genestealers get into their lines... then buffs cannot help them... WHHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAA