World of Darkness, from CCP

A few years ago CCP acquired White wolf, and now they are showing off the result

http://www.massively.com/2010/09/24/...

Camcorder footage of the trailer: (NSFW with a nipple)

LOL i took so long trying to look for my original post on this that you beat me to this post.

Oh the Massively article says 2012, but the first reports put it at 2013. Either way there's some time to get excited.

I'll only get excited if it's the entire world of darkness and not just Vampire: The Masquerade. I want Hunters, Changelings, Mages, Werewolfs and Geists!

Kommissar wrote:

I'll only get excited if it's the entire world of darkness and not just Vampire: The Masquerade. I want Hunters, Changelings, Mages, Werewolfs and Geists!

Same here, though it would not surprise me if the initial release was just vampires. Played a lot of WoD pen and paper back in the day, pre-Requiem. If it turns out to be just another kill x smash and grab MMO I will be disappointed though. But if anyone can foster an environment of politicking and whatnot, its CCP.

The social/politics thing is what interests me. Rather than a 'Massively-singleplayer', collect me 8 stakes, game, if they can duplicate some of the player interactions from EVE then it will be interesting to watch.

It would really intrigue me if they can pull off EVE style conventions and mechanics in a non space ship game. Not that WoD is going in that direction. CCP has made a lot of smart decisions with their technology. I hope they revolutionize the land based mmo scene as well.

I am absolutely certain this will be terrible, and equally certain I will subscribe.

To that end, I'm going on PR blackout until 2013. See you guys then!

Seraph wrote:

I am absolutely certain this will be terrible, and equally certain I will subscribe.

To that end, I'm going on PR blackout until 2013. See you guys then!

Why so certain this will be terrible? EVE is probably one of the most fascinating games ever made, even if it doesn't appeal to everyone. The World of Darkness has interesting backstory and I can imagine this game having some potential.

Since this was first mentioned, I got pretty excited. My reticence is that most world of darkness computer games have been great and f*cked up all at once. I just hope this is not another good RPG buried in a pile of crap gameplay and bugs. But if anyone can do it right, CCP has a high pedigree.

While not as sweeping as Warhammer or D&D, White Wolf made some great worlds and rule sets. The only MMO I could get more excited for would be a Lovecraft MMO.

NathanialG wrote:

Why so certain this will be terrible? EVE is probably one of the most fascinating games ever made, even if it doesn't appeal to everyone. The World of Darkness has interesting backstory and I can imagine this game having some potential.

1. There's just no way this game could live up to my halcyon high school memories of playing in the WoD. Even if a product is excellent the battle for my nostalgic affection is never a fair fight, which is too bad because...

2. I've never played a game with such a lengthy development cycle that I felt was worth the wait, including Starcraft 2 and Final Fantasy 13.

That said I'm excited to see CCP talking about the game again, and I certainly hope it's awesome.

I believe they've indicated they'll be focusing more on the player politics than actual combat so I'm definitely expecting an EVE style game where it's all about player alliances and back-room deals as opposed to the "bring me 10 pig snouts" kind of quests.

I've heard the character customization isn't that great. All the hair styles cover one eye and you can only get black clothing.

This is one of those MMOs that I am keeping my eye on. Being made by CCP is a big plus, and being based on the WoD system is another. There is a lot of potential to be something new here.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I've heard the character customization isn't that great. All the hair styles cover one eye and you can only get black clothing.

Wait, people would pick options other than that?

LtWarhound wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

I've heard the character customization isn't that great. All the hair styles cover one eye and you can only get black clothing.

Wait, people would pick options other than that?

If you were Nosferatu you would. At least the hair option would be different. Clothing of course would still be black.

ranalin wrote:

If you were Nosferatu you would. At least the hair option would be different. Clothing of course would still be black.

Nah, Tremere would wear red. So you at least have to have 2 color options.

It's been confirmed that vampires are the only race at launch.

Atomicvideohead wrote:

It's been confirmed that vampires are the only race at launch.

Ya, the vampire race in The Masquerade are broken up by (8-10?) clans who are part of 3 different sects.

So the emphasis on politics is intriguing. I know in our games that was usually the underlying reasons behind our adventures. The occasional werewolf dealings, but those were few.

My old roommate is either art or creative director on this project. I'll see if I can get in touch with him again.

I was at the presentation this past weekend in NOLA. I had a chance to sit down with Chris McDonough a senior designer on this game.

I will post a link to the interview when i get done getting it readable.

Permadeath ftw...

Update from FanFest: http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/commen...

The big World of Darkness presentation is on at EVE Fanfest 2012 right now. Taking notes as I go here...

Old trailer from the Grand Masquerade event first... gothy as hell, churches and blood, fighting, skyscrapers, lot of focus on Vampires over anything else.
No grand announcement, team is smaller than it used to be after CCP reorganization
Team is from all over and worked on pretty much every MMO ever shipped between them
Movement and character tech, sandbox and city rendering is all being worked on and playtested
A full internal release with an extensive manual - a mini-city with a small playerbase.
"Seamless City Technology". All on one server, like EVE.
A proper CCP game - backstabbing, deceit and deception.
Ramped up teams too fast, underestimated EVE development and team got split up too much
Smaller team now, but still working on it in a focused way. Won't hear much about WoD after this presentation until they're ready.
Production tools and tech are being worked on now, there will be more information this year.
There is no release date. Ready when it's ready.
"Sandbox", "Coffeeshop", "Themepark" - three styles of play that they're catering to. PvP-style, Social-style and PvE-style. Primary focus is on the PvP Sandbox as it's what they're best at.
Intense hand-to-hand combat, politics and formalized alliances that affect NPC.
FASHION! Lots of costumes and outfits in many designs
Very much designing with gender balance in mind. EVE has 40% female avatars, but, uh... that said, they don't want to pander to female players either. Just creating a game with universal appeal.
Sandbox control of cities - players can become the Prince of a city, but you really do have to fight and politic for it.
EVE's gorgeous character creator will be in WoD.

Q&A Session:

Are you cashing in on the Vampire craze? "No, Vampires have always had a huge appeal and we're working with the actual World of Darkness brand. Not Twilight. Definitely not making Twilight."
Do you have any more to show? "We have more, but we're not showing it until it's ready. We also merged a cancelled older secret project with World of Darkness development, since it was thematically compatible."
Rest of the World of Darkness lore - Mages, Werewolves, Wraiths - where are they? "In the beginning, we're focusing on Vampires. We're gonna do Vampires really well and then bring in the rest."
What is the scope of the game world? "We're not ready to talk about it yet. But I can tell you it's gonna be a lot of buildings, multiple cities, single shared world. We're maximising human interaction."
Real-world cities? "Stylised versions of real-world cities. It's not worthwhile for us to model the world, so expect gothic fictionalised versions of worldwide cities."
How bloody and violent? "Quite violent and bloody. Not gratuitous. Not violence porn, meaningful violence. We're upholding the integrity of the tabletop game."
Power balance between cities? "Emptier cities will have power vacuums. We're gonna make sure it's auto-balancing. Naturally some may hold an edge, but no crowded cities and dozens of empty ones."
NWoD or OWoD? "It's Vampire: the Masquerade, not Vampire: the Requiem."
Will permadeath exist? "Can't reveal everything here, but the Prince can call blood-hunts, and that can lead to perma-death."
Age rating? "M, 18, whatever the top non-X rating is."
What will happen when new character types or added? "We don't have that fully planned yet, but basically each race will be competing for different spaces that partially overlap."
Which clans will be available at release? "We're not ready to say yet, but... they're the originals."
Generation/leveling system? "Hell no. Generation is not 'I'm a level 20 Vampire!'. We're trying to avoid leveling systems."
Camarilla and Sabbat? "Yes, there will be that kind of factional warfare."
Death and immortality? "Just because you're dead doesn't mean you can't be destroyed, but you are still effectively immortal except in special cases. Immortal society that needs blood, just because you're all immortal doesn't mean you don't want to kick the sh*t out of eachother."
Crafting, labs, outfits, weapon making? "EVE is very much about industry, mining, supply lines manufacturing... Vampire is not so much about that as territory control. Weapons are less of a priority. Blood is more important than money."

Work-in-progress in-game footage reveal! Art team says it's not finished, and that it's not going onto the internet as-is, but they're showing the current stage of development... and rambling about DUST-514. Okay, trailer's ready to start...

Graphics test March 2012. Looks like gothic NYC. Kinda small so far, but definitely neat. Nothing to write home about just yet.

New in-engine video:

I was really excited when I heard/read all this stuff. Haven't felt this way about a far off in production game in years.

I remain intrigued by this.

Hope that scales well cause it looks killer.

*sigh*

We're still a long, long ways off from release.

I'd love for this come to light but they have a long way to go and a lot can happen. Plus they're never in a hurry to begin with.

This looks amazing and if it was by any other company but CCP I would definitely be excited. But I'm at best a casual gamer and this kind of game seems to be a total waste if you can't play it at least 20-30 hours/week. Also, I had a really bad experience playing the LARP version of Vampire in college. As much as I like roleplaying, the scene was dominated by a number of full-time hardcore who lorded their status as the prince and his court over all the other players. I'm pretty much seeing this play out in the online version.

On the bright side, I look forward to all the stories of betrayal and organized crime.

jdzappa wrote:

This looks amazing and if it was by any other company but CCP I would definitely be excited. But I'm at best a casual gamer and this kind of game seems to be a total waste if you can't play it at least 20-30 hours/week. Also, I had a really bad experience playing the LARP version of Vampire in college. As much as I like roleplaying, the scene was dominated by a number of full-time hardcore who lorded their status as the prince and his court over all the other players. I'm pretty much seeing this play out in the online version.

To be fair, that's pretty much exactly how the Camarilla should have been acting. I can also see why you would have had no fun at all in that situation and why it'd sour you on Vampire. I've always favored the Anarchs, so being in that situation would have soured me too.

That was pretty. My only experience with this was the CCG (and that only had the Werewolves). I had no one to play against, but I was used to that (oh Battletech CCG, I miss you too).
I read the rules and tried to play against myself, but there was a part I couldn't figure out. There was something about voting once a moon or something, but it was never clear what was being voted on, and with just two players competing, wouldn't they vote against each other all the time?