Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade

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Warhammer 40,000 Eternal Crusade is a Massive Multiplayer Online Third-Person Shooter (think Planetside clunky Battlefield) that was announced at E3 2013 and is slated to be released in 2016. It will be available for the PC, PS4 and the Xbox One/Ten. Steam Early access has now opened, the NDA has dropped and all that good stuff so there is plenty of content to view at your leisure.

Now many of you think that this is such wonderful news, right ? Well... This is still up to debate since the game is being developed by the people who have given us such wonderful titles like Wet, Dante's Inferno (PSP), The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (DS) and Naughty Bear. However, Behavior (the guys making this thing) pulled in talent from all around - especially from Funcom Montreal (Age of Conan, The Secret World); recently, Graham McNeill and Anthony Reynolds (known for writing the Ultramarines and Word Bearers series, respectively) have been confirmed to be working alongside them as well. The devs have confirmed that if you buy the game, you unlock all the premium content (IE rest of the races), and that Dark Angels and Iron Warriors are *not* the only Space Marine/Chaos Space Marine chapters present.

Orks were planned to be the F2P race, and the devs are hoping this will make them outnumber the rest of the other factions when released. So, that is a higher than average understanding of 40k lore, and is typically considered a genius fucking idea. Unfortunately, this "Free To WAAAGH" system, as it's called, has been delayed indifinitely, announced alongside the publishers announcing the game will be launched to the general public on September 23, 2016, despite the team not even being close to ready for anything beyond late-alpha and the game being clearly unfinished. Which has led many fans to begin wonder if the developers have any control over the game beyond programming at this point.

Dream Big

When the devs first got the license for this game, they wanted nothing less than to shoot for the Moon. An open world the scope and complexity of Planetside 2 with no fewer than four factions, player-driven campaigns, giant fortress climax battles, and everything from Ork nob squads tearing at Wraithguard to a Chaplain rallying the last desperate charge against a fortified Chaos stronghold, with enough different weapons and customization options to always have the player come back for more .

Now naturally you can't just build a game like that in one or two years. Seeing how insurmountable an MMO of this kind of proportions would be to create from scratch, Behaviour decided to scale down the initial size of the game, and then scale that down for Open Alpha. To make sure the engine, weapons, vehicles, graphics, maps, etc. all worked the Alpha is a straight-up classic shooter, with bog-standard matchmaking and 25 to 30 minute control point matches, with factions being added on a "when it's done" schedule. For the release candidate, the game will still have the four races, the classes and general gameplay promised, but the world will be cut up into 20+ instances, where the players will fight in several matches to control the region.

Unfortunately, as the devs churned out a half-decent Early Access game (by the standards of Early Access) the publishers were getting impatient. A mandate came down from on-high...

Current State

Officially, the game was "launched" in September 2016. This is despite the game being completely unfinished, looking identical to the Early Access mode the game was in when Orks were in alpha mode. For all intents and purposes, the game is basically an early Beta state - All announced factions are in, and the games are played as instanced arcade-esque shooters not unlike Space Marine's multiplayer. The long-term plan is to gradually open up the world, making larger regions, until the continent of EC is one region in it's entirety, somewhat like Planetside 2, as was originally the plan. An invading army will need to capture at least 2 of a region's outposts before they can attack the primary base of that region, allowing for large-scale strategic planning. The latest "launch candidate" currently has a primitive world map with matches being set on each faction's borders. There's also Tyranids which you can fight in 5-man kill teams to achieve absolutely nothing except bragging right and Steam Achievements.

While this has lead to much outcry from the Founders and the fanbase in general, many do now see the benefit of improving the core gameplay to be a fun shooter, before making a massive world with barely nothing in it and with poor gameplay. Furthermore, through the weekly Twitch shows and an active cooperation with fans on the forum, combined with a positive reaction to the current Alpha build, the initial outrage over this controversial move has died down a bit.

The developers have said there will be a pipeline of free updates after launch; the list will be made available but the first update will be the addition of TEQs.

Races

The game will debut with four playable factions and one NPC faction, each including several subgroups, and classes. The class list has been confirmed on the EC forums and it mostly the standard stuff as seen below. Sub-factions will all have unique bonuses which will effect the game such as Space Wolves having access to Rune Priests, Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard and so on. We haven't had full confirmation of each of these effects but they are confirmed as being in. The Eldar and Chaos Space Marines use magic for the support class, able to equip two spells that each have a different mana cost, though they only have access to a few backup weapons. Space Marines and Orks Support don't have access to magic, but can deploy health stations and have access to firearms, among other tools. The Orks and Space Marines will only get magic from their hero characters in the form of Librarians and Weirdboyz.

Space Marines

Ah, Space Marines. Heroes, Mary Sues, warrior monks and nazi supersoldiers, the Space Marines are the "generalist" faction, with no particular strength or weakness. Their Apothecaries tend to be better in defensive environments, and with the addition of the Storm Shield, they have taken defense as their main stick. There's not a lot to say about them; they're marines, what do you expect. The current playerbase is predominantly Space Marines, and Space Marines fans make up 40% of the fans. So nothing new there.

A lot of people are crying on the fora that Space Marines doesn't feel "Space Marine" enough, being too weak and feeble for their taste. While the TTK is slated to be increased, a lot of people are in for a surprise when Marines aren't the most powerful faction in a game with four, equally supported factions. Part of the "problem" here is the engine mechanics, which deliberately makes all characters in the entire game somewhat sluggish (the best example is how infantry have a maximum turning speed, so upping your mouse sensitivity won't let you you 360 quickscope, and there's lots of other more subtle examples)

Space Marine Default Classes
Objective Heavy Weapons Ground Melee Air Attack Medic / Support
Unit Tactical Devastator Ground Assault Assault Apothecary
Weapons Bolter, Stalker Bolter, Storm Bolter, Meltagun, Plasma Gun, Gravgun (upcoming) Heavy Bolter, Lascannon, Plasma Cannon, Multi-Melta, Grav-cannon (upcoming) Chainsword, Power sword, Power Axe, Power Maul, Power Fist Bolt Pistol, Plasma Pistol, Grav-pistol Chainsword, Power Sword, Power Axe, Power Maul, Power Fist Bolter (Wolf Priest cannot has), Bolt Pistol, Chainsword, Crozius Arcanum (Wolf Priest only)
Abilities Capture Objectives Storm Shield (You can choose a sidearm instead, but if that was the case you'd be better off picking Jump Assault) Jump pack Narthecium for heals, Adrenaline for Buffs, Heal Station (AOE, destructible, only one at a time)

Chaos Space Marines

Pissed off motherfuckers de jure, the Chaos Space Marines are, like the Space Marines, a generalist faction, but thanks to their Sorcerers, Chaos Marks, and the skill of the generally neckbearded veteran players, Chaos Marines are more aggressive, and can have some outright insanely long sieges on enemy points. Chaos Marines will be very customizable, and their Marks will make them quite the force to be reckoned with. Said marks include Mark of Nurgle (Defense Buff, stamina penalty), Mark of Khorne (Regain health from kills, but can't be healed by consumables or sorcerers and will die when health reaches zero), Mark of Slaanesh (Speed increase, no armor regen), and Mark of Tzeentch (Faster armor regen, slight health penalty). Otherwise Chaos Marines share most of the same basic loadout as Space Marines, making it fairly easy to switch between playing the two. In addition, the fact that the current playerbase is almost exclusively grizzled 40k veterans make a lot of teams driven and better at coordination. 'Cause dem corpse-worshippin' fellas gotta burn.

Chaos is the second most popular faction at the moment. Only because there've only been 2 factions for the longest time.

  • Legions: Iron Warriors, Word Bearers, Black Legion, Night Lords, Alpha Legion.
  • Faction Leader: Abaddon the motherfucking Despoiler.
    • Sub-faction Leaders
      • Iron Warriors: TBA
      • Word Bearers: TBA
      • Black Legion: Ash'Hy Mok: a badass sorcerer created for the narrative who has been very busy liquefying space marines and Eldar alike in the short stories release each week.
      • Night Lords: TBA
      • Alpha Legion: TBA
Chaos Space Marine Default Classes
Objective Heavy Weapons Ground Melee Air Attack Medic / Support
Unit Traitor Marine Havoc Traitor Assault Raptors Aspiring Sorcerer
Weapons Bolter, Stalker Bolter, Combi-Bolter, Meltagun, Plasma Gun Heavy Bolter, Lascannon, Plasma Cannon, Multi-Melta, Autocannon Bolt Pistol, Chainsword, Chainaxe, Power Sword, Power Axe, Power Maul, Power fist Bolt Pistol, Plasma Pistol, Chainsword, Chainaxe, Power Sword, Power Axe, Power Maul, Power fist Bolt Pistol, Force Sword
Abilities Capture Objectives Mark of Nurgle Jump pack Healing Spell, Warp Instability (Debuff), Nurgle Heal (AOE heal) Slaanesh Lash (Damage + Debuff), Flickering Fire (Damage), Daemonbolt (user-guided missile)
  • Veterans: Veteran Traitor, Veteran Havoc, Veteran Traitor Assault, Veteran Raptors, Sorcerer
  • Elites: Possessed Marine and Terminators (Confirmed for not initial Release)
  • Heroes: Fallen Captain

Orks

The Orks are slated to be the good old underdog faction we all know and love from the tabletop, and will be geared towards close-quarters combat and melee. Unlike what some of you might think (you know who you are), the Orks are not a horde army in the traditional sense, and Ork characters will be on the same level as any other character from another faction, by a combination of 'Ard Armour, Ork tenacity and a little goodwill, as stated by the developers. Discussions on the official forums about whether Orks should control large groups of Orks or be Nobs persists regardless. A WAAAAGH! can be triggered in certain matches, specifically if 5 minutes are left with no extensions. This radically reduces respawn cooldown and makes Orks faster in order to simulate the green tide, since the teams still have to have an equal number of players, however they don't have a down state and die immediately. It has been said however, the Orks have the best community out of all the factions in terms of just good fun and role play. Those that are salty after a match are Grotz in disguise.


Orks will be bolstered by "Free2Waaagh", which will hopefully boost Ork numbers significantly. As of the "release" of Eternal Crusade, the "Free2WAAAGH" mechanic has been postponed until otherwise. So if you want to play, you have to buys it.

  • Klans: Goffs, Evil Sunz, Deathskulls, Bad Moons, Blood Axes
  • Faction Leader: Warboss Skarblitz (a Bad Moon with a Dreadnought's power fist as his Power Klaw and a thing for smashin' Wolves.)
    • Sub-faction Leaders:
      • Goffs: Luguk 'Edpuncha, known for being the largest Goff on Arkhona Orkhona and carrier of the kombi-rokkit launcha called Spare Keys (you know, as in 'Look boss, dis door is locked', 'No worries grot! I brought my spare keys!' KABLOOIE!)
      • Evil Sunz: Brakenek Wazcrash, arrived on Arkhona recently, fought some 'nids and got a cool idea for a plasma cannon design.
      • Bad Moons: Gazzagug, a warphead, and one of the senior members of Skarblitz's tribe.
      • Deathskulls: TBA
      • Blood Axes: TBA
Ork Default Classes
Objective Heavy Weapons Ground Melee Air Attack Medic / Support
Unit Shoota Boyz Lootas Slugga Boyz Stormboyz Painboy
Weapons Shoota, Big Shoota, Rokkit Launcha Dakka Deffgun, Zzap Deffgun, Plasma Deffgun, Deffcannon Slugga, Slab Slugga, Kwik Slugga, Pokkit Rokkit Launcha, Choppa, Chain-Choppa, Electrified Choppa, Power Klaw Slugga, Slab Slugga, Kwik Slugga, Pokkit Rokkit Launcha, Choppa, Chain-Choppa, Electrified Choppa, Power Klaw Slugga, Slab Slugga, Sicky Slugga, Kwik Slugga, Pokkit Rokkit Launcha, 'Utry Syringe (currently their only melee weapon)
Abilities Capture Objectives Improvised Shield (replaces slugga), Capture Objectives Rokkit (Functions identically to jump pack) Can both heal & poison with 'Urty Syringe, Heal Station (AOE, destructible, only one at a time), Poison grenades
  • Veterans: Shoota Nob, Loota Nob, Slugga Nob, Stormboy Nob, Painboy Dok
  • Elites: Cybork Madboys, Meganobz Weirdboys, (Probably Mekboys but not confirmed).
  • Heroes: Skarboy Kommandos has been confirmed as a hero class. Probably Warbosses. No full heroes announced officially though. (Don't be mistaken by the shop, some of those are heroes - others are elites)

Eldar

Our favorite Space Elves are the fourth faction in the roster, and will probably be the most alien of the four. Eldar will be a faster, more dodgy faction, using hit-and run strikes while backflipping out of harm's way. Eldar have a more limited class customization but have more classes to reflect the paths, as per fluff. Eldar are also the only race of the four with male and female character options, also as per fluff. Not a lot have been shown on the Eldar, but of them and the Orks, the Eldar are a little more settled in their general concept, and as such get less widespread discussion done.

... Or they would be if the fanbase weren't pretty much nazis on anything Eldar shown up until now; upon seeing the first model made for the game, the Eldar part of the forum went mad over how every little detail was messed up. At least they're invested, we suppose.

  • Craftworlds: Biel-tan, Saim-Hann, Iyanden, Ulthwé, Altansar )
  • Faction Leader: Jain Zar, Phoenix Lord of the Howling Banshees.
    • Sub-Faction Leaders:
      • Biel-tan: Possibly a farseer named Ksenyia, found in one of the short stories, but yet to be fully confirmed.
      • Saim-Hann: An Autarch by the name of Maelydahn Windstrider; a young and energetic guy with flowing red hair.
      • Iyanden: Soraya, an old Deathspeaker wearing an azure cloak hiding most of her body.
      • Ulthwe: Warlock Amatheon, a badass old guy who, for some reason, can't see through the Warp for shit.
      • Altansar: TBA
Eldar Default Classes
Objective Heavy Weapons Ground Melee Air Attack Medic / Support
Unit Dire Avengers Fire Dragons Dark Reapers Striking Scorpions Howling Banshees Swooping Hawks Warlock
Weapons Avenger Shuriken Catapult Fusion Gun Shuriken Cannon, Reaper Launcher Chainsword, Shuriken Pistol, Fusion Pistol Shuriken Pistol, Power Sword Lasblaster, lots of grenades for grenade-bombing Witch Blade, Shuriken Pistol
Abilities Capture Objectives Invisibility, Capture Objectives (visible only) Psychic Scream (Suppression) Glide Healing Spell, Jynx (Debuff), Protect (AOE Shield), Destructor (Lightning)
  • Veterans: Revered Dire Avenger, Revered Fire Dragon, Revered Dark Reaper, Revered Striking Scorpion, Revered Howling Banshee, Revered Swooping Hawk, Revered Warlock
  • Elites: Wraithguards and Outcast Rangers
  • Heroes: Autarchs (Probably Farseers but not confirmed)

Tyranids

While Tyranids are confirmed to be in the game, they will not be playable. Instead, they will be an NPC faction, providing enemies for PvE content in underground "Hives", which act as wave defense maps, and acting as a counterbalance to ensure that no one faction remains overwhelmingly dominant over the others by attacking random regions, and so attacking the most powerful factions the most. Using tyranids to maintain the status quo... Now where have I seen that before?

Possible Future Races

The developers have said that they would like to add all races over time, assuming the game is successful enough. Here is a list of non-launch races that have been mentioned by the devs. Feel free to add to this if you've heard any other tidbits.

Dark Eldar

Unconfirmed, but implied in a newsletter.

Tau

Were noted in an interview by Miguel Caron as being one of the three most requested races, at the time of the interview. Watching the devs try to justify the Tau appearing is going to be fun to watch, since the game takes place clear on the other side of the galaxy.

Adepta Sororitas

Were noted in the same interview as being one of the three most requested races. Were also referenced by Creative Director David Ghozland as being on the post-launch list via twitter. They discussed the possibility of adding them in as a hero character rather than a faction, but no confirmation as of yet.

Necrons

Were also one of the three most requested races.

Setting

Notice the planet Simahgr. Take out the 'h' and re-arrange it, and then it spells out as "Sigmar"... clever eh?

Now anyone who has knowledge of Warhammer 40,000 obviously knows the setting. However, the games events will be taking place on the Kharon System, located in the northern part of the Segmentum Obscurus. One of the devs said in an interview that it will follow a planet wide contest for a single undisclosed planet, known as Arkhona, and the events that happen from this game will become canon, but the details are yet to be released. The planet in question is somewhere in the Segmentum Obscurus and was once an effective Imperial settlement, but due to the planets volatile nature, no great foothold could be gained on the planet other than small outposts. The planet was also once inhabited by an alien race, that supposedly was exterminated during the Great Crusade. Now, Tyranids are appearing out of absolutely nowhere, killing everyone left on the planet, apparently coming from the underground of the planet like they had been hibernating there. Weird.

All this calls the playable races to action for different, yet to be revealed reasons, and are now to duke it out on the surface of the planet while the Tyranids eat everything. Lovely.

Arkhona is actually just the primary planet in a system, one that has three different colored suns, for some reason, and with ten planets or moons of playable size, so obviously down the line there will be downloadable content where you start fighting on a new planet.

Arkhona, fifth planet from the three suns, hopefully far enough to not fucking melt in the daylight.

Monetization

Eternal Crusade is partially free-to-play. Without paying, players can access the game but are limited to Ork Boyz, who cannot advance beyond a certain degree. Those who buy the game have access to all factions and full advancement. There is no monthly subscription, however a cash shop is planned. While Miguel Carron mentioned he will have Pay 2 Win "over [his] dead body", players will be able to pay for gear that is about 20% weaker to equivalent gear that can be found through playing the game normally, as well as cosmetics which do not affect gameplay. But apparently multiple classes and vehicles will be available only through the founder's program, so everybody's a little confused about whether this "sidegrades" concept is true, a stealth cover for a Land Raider's worth of pay-to-win bullshit, or something in between. It's too early to tell now, but news regarding additional advantages for players who subscribed to the Founder's Program, the repeated silencing of dissent on the game's forums, and the fact that several major contributors to the game have all left Behavior with little to no explanation (some theorize it might be downsizing or worse) is leading many to assume that the end result will be a far cry from what was originally announced. Assuming it too doesn't go the way of Dark Millennium, that is- a fate that only seems more likely as time passes with little to show for it. Though considering the game has opened a closed Alpha state, it will not be going the way of Dark Millennium, however if it becomes a success is yet to be seen.

Game Features

Read more about the game here

The game will be mostly PvP, happening on multiple continents, with campaigns lasting from a week to unconfirmed, with the actual campaign goals set by a player controlled War Council. When the campaign is over you either win or fucking lose (tears) and move onto the next campaign, with new planets perhaps coming later. Tyranids are NPCs and will be used in part to keep things a little bit balanced if player faction numbers are too unequal or one faction is dominating for other reasons. They will also constitute the PvE content, probably all of it. In short:

  • PVP oriented with splashes of PVE
  • Tyranids are the PVE and are as such not playable. They work perfectly for PvE, and you couldn't balance them properly. Tyranid Warrior >> Space Marine >> Termagaunt.
  • Combat is visceral/skill based over-the-shoulder dakka/melee, much like Space Marine.
  • Vehicles. Currently in the alpha are Predators, Vindicators and Rhinos for both marines, and Wave Serpents, Falcons, and Warp Hunters for eldar. Land speeder type craft are on the table, but not confirmed as of yet. Bikes are guranteed.
  • The devs are also regularly interacting with the fans. Which is pretty much unheard of. Ask some fucking questions.
  • Players will all get their own space ship which acts as player housing, that you can decorate as you like. Guilds can combine their ships together for larger housing and more options (like guild banking). Guilds can participate in tournaments and banner design competitions.
  • Class customization: Players get five preset classes (seven for Eldar) and five slots for custom classes, plus one slot for a veteran class. Each class has 1000 points to spend on weapons, equipment, and upgrades.
  • Character customization: The devs stated that they want characters to be personalized in the same way one would put together a miniature. So you can have your Blood Angel be a Beakie, or give your Iron Warrior hazard stripes, etc.
  • Day/Night cycle
  • Weather, which will affect combat
  • Friendly fire (Now working on the punishment system)
  • Dreads, if they figure out how to implement it
  • Perils of the Warp, which as of the streams have been foretold to work like the 'Gears of War' active reload
  • Red ones go Fasta
  • Executions which give bonus XP when performed and prevent a downed enemy from being revived, but leave the player vulnerable during the execution animation. (Going through a testing phase right now where they happen at double speed)
  • Bleed-out/Revive system stolen from Gears of War, with the option to bleed faster (nominally for avoiding executions, but mostly for respawning faster)
  • Cover system with crouching and vaulting.
  • Classes that use jump-packs can wall jump.
  • No P2W, devs are vehemently against buying power.
    • Some gear can be bought, but it will be of inferior maximum potential compared to gear earned through in-game methods or otherwise not a true upgrade.
  • Miguel has a weird thing about Ork butts, as in two interviews he's described Ork butts and executions in the same sentence.
  • There's been some talk about "multiplayer narrative", which basically means that there are several 'War Councils' (leaders of the factions as chosen by the players in those factions), who will be able to create objectives and put in-game resources towards specific goals and warzones as they see fit, therefore, when you enter the game, you could do the objectives assigned by the WC, do one of the slightly more generic, but ultimately "for the cause" daily/weekly/month objectives that the game will generate, or go of with your buddies and stomp 'nids. All of which ultimately help your faction. I suppose you could always charge of a do whatever the hell you want to, that is always good (Especially FreeToWAAAGH Ork Boys are expected to do this, as they are freelancers without Klans for the most, which frankly is goddamn fluffy).
  • Playable Elite and Hero characters (with a few minutes to a day's worth of cool down. Some of these are gonna smack some heads in).
  • Sonic blasters (no stock Noise Marine class; whether there will be a build-your-own is to be seen).
  • Veterans can be applied to a default class, adding 400 loadout points and veteran-specific aesthetic options, at the expense of only having 2 lives available to a veteran (3 on fortress matches).
  • Supply drops for weapons, gear, mods, etc rewarded to supplement standard weapon unlocks (No CS:GO Loot Key style microtransactions).

See also

Links

Gallery

  • "We go where we wilt, we slay who we wilt. Let the Emperor judge the righteousness of our deeds!"

    "We go where we wilt, we slay who we wilt. Let the Emperor judge the righteousness of our deeds!"

  • "In the name of the Dark Gods, we will bring down the rotting edifice that is the Imperium!"

    "In the name of the Dark Gods, we will bring down the rotting edifice that is the Imperium!"

  • "I reckon these humies are just puny soft gits who need a good stompin!"

    "I reckon these humies are just puny soft gits who need a good stompin!"

  • "How foolish they seem to our eyes. Once, all this was ours, and it will come back to us!"

    "How foolish they seem to our eyes. Once, all this was ours, and it will come back to us!"

  • Where Ultramarines: The Movie had bolters that looked too big, this promotional artwork of the Tyranid reveal has bolters that look too small.

    Where Ultramarines: The Movie had bolters that looked too big, this promotional artwork of the Tyranid reveal has bolters that look too small.

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