A new preview of Warhammer Online is up at HEXUS.gaming:
WarCry also features a new preview. Here's something on crafting:Before we even set foot in Paris, we knew a lot about WAR already. The marketing push has been hard to ignore and alongside screenshots, trailers, feature sheets and zone guides, we’ve been spoon-fed developer diaries fairly regularly since the game was announced in 2005. Make no mistake about it; the creators really, really want this game to succeed. The passion displayed by the EA Mythic staff for their game was infectious, if not a little predictable at times (we’ve never heard the word ‘awesome’ hollered so many times in one day), but after sitting through hours of energetic explanations of WAR’s main features and having actually played the game ourselves, we’ve have to admit it, we don’t think they’re just ‘talking-the-talk’ when they say that WAR “promises to be a game unlike any other.”
More information.Mythic is still developing WAR's crafting system, and they were only ready to show a few aspects of the system. I learned about three gathering professions: butchering, scavenging and cultivating. Butchering allows players to cut up dead animals for components. Scavenging allows you to cut up dead humanoids for components ... or maybe just rifle through their pockets. I like the cutting up version better. Cultivating allows you to grow seeds - found as loot drops or from other gathering professions - into useful items for the apothecary. The apothecary lets players make potions. Starting from a base ingredient that determines the effect, players can then add other items that change the duration or potency. You can make a highly potent but short-duration buff potion, perfectly suited for RvR, or you could make a long-lasting, moderately potent buff for questing or raiding.
One thing about crafting that appealed to me was the removal of the mechanic requiring you to be near a specific crafting station (a forge, anvil, loom, etc.) in order to create an item. Allowing players to make potions on the fly or craft a new weapon or piece of armor in the field removes a large part of the hassle and tedium involved. I'm glad that someone remembered that these games are supposed to be fun and not a second job.