What is the general philosophy toward developing PvP content for Warhammer Online?

Jeff Hickman: We generally start everything in our game with a thought toward PvP. PvP isn’t the first thing we think of, but it’s one of the first things. We think of Warhammer Online as a PvP game that also has monster and PvE content. So, when we balance our careers, we balance the content around player verses player, not fighting monsters. We balance the classes against each other. Then, instead of balancing those classes against the monsters, we balance the monsters against the classes. Our philosophy is to make the best PvP game in the world and build the PvE content around it. We know how much damage each class can do and take, plus all the utility each class can provide. So, instead of balancing each ability, we just need to modify the overall damage output and absorption of each career.

Does this approach make modifying the classes easier later on?

Jeff: Modifying a class after launching an MMO is never easy. It would cause us lots of problems in the long run. Knowing where each class fits in relation to each other, and getting the class balances correct, allows us to tweak the monsters. Monster changing is easy, but balancing the classes is difficult. In the long run, because we did things right the beginning, it’ll be easier for us to make minor tweaks moving forward.

How do you go about balancing the factions against each other?

Jeff: There are two realms, Order and Destruction. Each of these realms has multiple classes. Each class fits into one of four archetypes. There’s a melee damage fighter that hits the enemy in the face until it dies; a tank encaged in armor that can take a lot of damage but doesn’t dish it out as well as others; and a ranged character that shoot arrows or fireballs from afar. Then there are healing characters that can also fight very well in our game, but play a role in keeping their friends and allies alive. We take an archetype from each side then balance them against each other, so one would be very good at killing a specific type. A healer might have a good chance at defeating a tank because it will be able to recover damage faster than a tank can dish it out.