Target: THQ. Assignment: Termination for Crimes Upon Humanity
From the Office of Sheer Stupidity, subsidized by the Department of How To Destroy Your Game Before Launch (a division of the Department of How to Fail at Game Design by Not Knowing Your Audience):
“But you won’t be able to be a Space Marine right away, because that’s a very unique class, if you know the universe. The road there is a great road, and they are in the game.”
~ Danny Bilson, of THQ in a recent interview with Eurogamer
This astounds me; the sheer idiocy of that statement, and how it demonstrates an utter and complete lack of understanding of the Warhammer 40k game, its players, and the MMO genre as a whole, is monumentally awe-inspiring. Not good awe. Soul crushing awe. The kind that makes me want to go home, pull the shades, and crawl into bed.
Mr. Bilson, a few points for you to note, because you and your team clearly know little to nothing about the Warhammer 40k game, and even less about MMO players:
- Players of the tabletop game may, at any time, use a Space Marine Army. There are no pre-requisites or achievements to be completed, or permission granted from Games Workshop.
- Warhammer 40K players choose their armies as much for their theme and playstyle (and yes, their appearance) as they do for their stats. Any army can stand up to the Space Marines if utilized correctly.
- Toe-to-toe, a single Space Marine can stand up to most other single units. This does not make them invincible, and there are many single units who can take them down. It’s called class balance; your team needs some serious education, fast.
- The Space Marines are probably the mostly widely beloved, frequently chosen, and iconic armies of Warhammer 40K. Not giving immediate access to this class to your players, you are GUARANTEEING FAILURE for your product – years before it launches.
- MMO players really don’t like “Hero Classes”. They don’t work. I don’t care what Blizzard says about Death Knights…you’re better of taking a lesson from SWG on this one. Trust us.
- If this decision stands, I hope you’re prepared for abysmal failure, on par with APB. If you make Space Marines a microtransaction, god help you and have mercy on your soul, because not many others will.
Other than that, this pretty much sums it up.
That’s two games taking a dive on my Excite-O-Meter.
And one last thing. To Games Workshop: how can you possibly allow this?
pix'led life 