GC: Wrath of Heroes is not a new MMO. Could you explain to us what Wrath of Heroes is please for our readers?

CG: Wrath of Heroes is born from the inspiration of a lot genres, part MMO, part RPG, part FPS, part MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena). Fundamentally, it’s the 15 minute scenario session gameplay from Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning made into a full blown experience. And for those unfamiliar with scenarios, they’re fast-paced objective-based matches with RPG gameplay, and as a twist in this game –three teams! Wrath of Heroes supports the Warhammer community while still offering an exciting and original experience. It has some of the best parts of Warhammer without necessarily requiring all the time or money.

GC: Wrath of Heroes will be free to play. Will there be special content in the future that players will be able to buy and if so, what type of content could gamers expect to see?

CG: Honestly, we have been focusing on the core game experience first. Our goal right now is to make akiller Play4Free game . We want everyone to have a fun and satisfying experience with Wrath ofHeroes. We’re constantly making changes and improvements and along the way, we’ll be introducing new characters, maps etc. that will add more depth and variety to the world. We’ll have  much more details about future content at a later date.

GC: Currently, there is no release date for WoH. Can you give us an estimation as to when you think WoH will release?

CG: Development has gone extremely quickly, we went from conception to public announce in well under a year. But there is a lot more that we want to do. Right now we’re in the process of evaluating beta feedback and making changes to some of the fundamental features of the game. In this new future of public, free, online games, it feels like at the time we used to be in alpha hunkering down on feature completion, we are now letting people see what we’re doing and letting them be a fundamental part of the development process. It takes some getting accustomed to, but it also means that we give up some control over when we expect the game to be released. Additionally, releases are no longer black and white. People will be able to get in and play anytime from now through when the game is open to everyone, and it will never be “finished” in our eyes.

GC: The idea of taking the single PvP element of gameplay out of a game and creating a new game around it is genius! Will this impact Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning at all and if so, how?

Wrath has had a positive impact on Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning in multiple ways. The team we brought on to work on it are providing content, bug fixes, and new opportunities in the same game engine. Any of the art assets, bug fixes, or content that make sense to go in WAR will be ported back into it and incorporated into the main game. And of course it goes both ways, Wrath was born entirely of its predecessor and we continue to learn from and be inspired by it.

GC: Will WO: Age of Reckoning continue to be developed by BioWare Mythic once Wrath of Heroes releases?

CG: Absolutely, Age of Reckoning is dear to our hearts, and we love the core gameplay experience. But we also know that MMOs are living and breathing, so there are many updates to come in that game. With Wrath in development, we look at it as a collective franchise. It’s all about observing how the two games differ and symbiotically help each other. And of course, WAR players will be VIPs in Wrath, so there’s a benefit to being a Warhammer subscriber in both games. We want to offer a great value to people who are interested in both or either Warhammer game.

GC: Are there any plans to make Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning free to play?

CG: We don’t rule anything out, the game industry is constantly changing, and the landscape may be different next year or beyond. However, we have spent time over the past couple years revaluating Warhammer Online, and at this stage, we are very happy with the way the game is. The community support has be great and we are committed to continually improving the experience in this world.

GC: What other character classes will be released in WoH? Will we see the Disciple of Khaine make an appearance at all?

CG: If we told you all the classes coming, where would the element of surprise be! I think it’s probably safe to assume that most (if not all) Warhammer Online playable careers will make some kind of appearance. So a DoK is probably on its way J What’s even more exciting is that we’re able to offer a lot more different types of careers. So far we’ve shown a Vampire, a Troll, and a Tomb King, and there are many more to come! We’ll probably be holding contests to vote for your favourite careers – so keep an eye on the Facebook page for that information.

GC: It’s great to see a PvP game that removes the frustration gamers experience in relation to gear. Wrath of Heroes offers players the opportunity to drop-in and drop-out whenever they want to and to not have to worry about their opponents having better gear. How did this idea for a separate PvP game come about?

CG: Honestly it came from the free to play discussion. Most of the third generation MMOs have all either dabbled with or gone completely free to play, and we haven’t underestimated where the market is and has been going. When we were looking at going free to play strictly in Asia last year, and when we were struggling with the things about Warhammer that make it so “core” and un-drop-in/drop-out friendly was when we made the evaluation to go the other direction. We decided, rather than hack a free experience out of game that was built for an entirely different purpose, let’s build the experience from the ground up. Adding a third team on came from our love of our previous game Dark Age of Camelot (which is now celebrating its 10 year anniversary, go Camelot!), and everything else just fell into place.