Warhammer Online class cut for good

i think a blind man on galloping horse can see the hammerer is being dropped for the slayer

fuck me, its in the first trailer

@kremlik your post was in before mine, so its not aimed at you

can;t wait for the slayer to arrive

in real life SLAYER (it feels good to just write slayer in caps, makes it much more br00tal) always win. i wonder if it works the same way in mmos...

Slayer is a bit wrong though...

They are supposed to be hell bent on finding death on the battlefield, don't wear any armor because they welcome it and all that.

Making them into a class that resurrects and wears epic items like the rest of them is a no-go in my book.

Got to be the Slayer going in. Empire needs more awesome.

A half naked lunatic with an orange mohican and a deathwish \o/

Almost certainly going to be the Slayer IMHO They are just classics of the Warhammer world.

"Slayer is a bit wrong though...

They are supposed to be hell bent on finding death on the battlefield, don't wear any armor because they welcome it and all that.

Making them into a class that resurrects and wears epic items like the rest of them is a no-go in my book. "

Good point. Mythic are doing a good job of sticking to the Warhammer lore, therefore if the slayer does come in as a class, they shouldn't get armour...therefore who would want to play a class that has no armour? Also there would be the lack of equipment upgrading which makes for part of the fun.

I would like to see the Slayer personally, but I just don't think it could work, however, I'm sure I could be proven wrong

couldn't you have a low hit point, high melee damage rogue type who gets combo points for big hits by dying!? That would (almost) fit into a mmo, without being either a tank or rogue-type - it would be the world's first class where you get a benefit for dying repeatedly!

Mythic are doing a good job of sticking to the Warhammer lore, therefore if the slayer does come in as a class, they shouldn't get armour...therefore who would want to play a class that has no armour? Also there would be the lack of equipment upgrading which makes for part of the fun.

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Maybe they'd be adornments like necklaces, arm-bands, etc? Or maybe even "protective tattoos?" /shrug

Slayers remind me of the Wookies in SWG, by lore they weren't allowed armour... SOE patched it in anyway

"Maybe they'd be adornments like necklaces, arm-bands, etc? Or maybe even "protective tattoos?" /shrug "

Ooooh...'protective tattoos' sounds nifty

"couldn't you have a low hit point, high melee damage rogue type who gets combo points for big hits by dying!? That would (almost) fit into a mmo, without being either a tank or rogue-type - it would be the world's first class where you get a benefit for dying repeatedly!"

Sounds plausible, but damned if I'd be the sucker trying to solo with that type of class

Very well timed news story, just in case everyone who started playing on launch day needs that extra incentive to subscribe. I would have - and have just - subscribed anyway, very much enjoying the game.

@Kremlik
"please plase PLEASE say the hammerer is being replaced by The Slayer"

YES! GIBSL4y3RPLIX!

@Nillsens
"Slayer is a bit wrong though...

They are supposed to be hell bent on finding death on the battlefield, don't wear any armor because they welcome it and all that."

/Pushes imaginary, thick nerd-glasses up nose

They can but they'll probably be lightly armoured.

From what I know of slayers they don't just want to die, they want a good death on the battlefield against worthy foes. I mean, simply wandering unarmed and naked into a goblin warren or standing in front of a line of enemy archers would get you killed easily if that's all you want but that's no death for a dwarf warrior. You won't redeem yourself by just allowing yourself to be killed.

@Magic Panda
"Got to be the Slayer going in. Empire needs more awesome."

YM Order needs more awesome; Dwarves already supply over half the total awesome to the Order side, screw Empire!

Maybe Slayers get buffed each time they die (the opposite of the current debuf when you die)? Now how unique would that be?

i imagine the slayer as follows:-

glass cannon archetype - massive damage, but fragile

very light armour - leather harness and tattoos/charms

a slayer only truly comes alive when faced with incredible odds, so i would imagine a series of buffs that stack, based on either:-

a) how many enemies the slayer tags, up to a maximum of five
b) how many enemy players hit him, up to a maximum of five
c) a combination

In this case, you have a high damage dealing monster, with low hp, who you HAVE to avoid, because the more people he/she hits, the more dangerous they are

in effect, a monster line breaker

YES YES! SLAYER! YES!

@anomagus - I think the way you've described that play mechanic sounds like a good idea...wonder what they've actually got up their sleeves though.

I made this on another forum to quell any naysayers, so thought I'd post it here in case any TT Warhammerers get smarmy!


Q. What's so special about Slayers?
A. Slayers are one of the most iconic part of the Warhammer Universe. They adorn rulebook covers for the table top game, they are totally unique as a Dwarf 'type' when compared to any other Fantasy universe. And let's face it, Dwarves aren't usually 'the cool race' that most would vote for in any fantasy setting. Slayers could change that.

Q. What's wrong with the Hammerer?
A. Hammerers are far too similar in look (grey, armoured) to Iron Breakers. Not only would this go against the general develpoment rule of being able to quickly discern a class just by glancing at it, but it detracts from a class that *is* cool and we have already: The Ironbreaker. Add to the fact that Slayers, being so iconic, would certainly bolster the Order side and it seems more like a no brainer.

Q. What about sticking to the lore of the Slayer's 'deathwish' and dying in WAR?
A. First of all, dying in WAR is only a game mechanic. It's a respawn. There is no way to explain it away as fitting in with the lore for any character, regardless of class and neither should it. Some things will always remain 'game'. The minute you get over that hump, the problem with Slayers dying goes away.

Q. Wouldn't it be silly to have loads of Slayers running around?
A. As silly as hundreds of Magus' flying about on discs? Or Witch-Hunters? Or Sorcerers? All these classes are even rarer in tabletop Warhammer than Slayers. Troll Slayers are actually band together.

Q. Aren't Slayers too powerful to be playable characters?
A. A Dragon or Daemon slayer, you could argue, is very powerful indeed. But isn't a rank 40 player of any class pretty powerful? Couldn't they toe-to-toe it with a wide variety of beasts? If you think of the Slayer types in terms of 'rank'. it's perfectly acceptable for a Slayer to be playable, or as a Troll Slayer only (in terms of 'power'), if it's really a problem to grasp the concept.

Q. They don't wear armour so what about protection?
A. They have magical tattoos. Different designs could be translated as Chest armour and shoulder armour. Plus that would fit nicely with the armour-dying system wouldn't it? Similarly, headgear could be bandanas, eyepatches, bandit masks etc and gloves could instead be bracers. Cloaks, boots and pants would be unchanged. This would also fit if the Orc Choppa (or equivalent)was considered some kind of savage orc - tattoos around!

Q. What about Masteries?
A. Ok I doubt anyone has asked themselves this, but I just wanted to put down my own thoughts. I think the masteries would work well as the different slayer 'types'. Imagine each mastery (one for higher DPS, one for being harder to take down, and one for anti-magic) were thought of in terms of Giant, Dragon and Daemon Slaying-masteries in that order? Just food for thought.

Q. What about models/animation? Surely that stuff would put Mythic off if they had to redo all that?
A. How much they'd have to do in that regard is only known by Mythic themselves. But Slayers are present in the game world already (as NPCs), and there is no reason the Hammerers animations couldn't be useful.

@lemming

Nice one, that's a pretty well-rounded argument for having Slayers onboard!

@sneetch
I know that Slayers don't want to "just" die. The whole reason for them becoming Slayers is that they see suicide as a waste, thus they seek out glorious death.
As cool as Slayers are, I just don't think they should be a player class.

Goodbye Hammerer.

Hello Slayer.

WAR FTW.

@Nillsens
"@sneetch
I know that Slayers don't want to "just" die. The whole reason for them becoming Slayers is that they see suicide as a waste, thus they seek out glorious death.
As cool as Slayers are, I just don't think they should be a player class."

Fair enough. I'm hoping they will be though.

If they come with a head-butt attack I'm ditching my Witch Hunter for one.

@anomagnus
"i imagine the slayer as follows:-

glass cannon archetype - massive damage, but fragile

very light armour - leather harness and tattoos/charms

a slayer only truly comes alive when faced with incredible odds, so i would imagine a series of buffs that stack, based on either:-

a) how many enemies the slayer tags, up to a maximum of five
b) how many enemy players hit him, up to a maximum of five
c) a combination

In this case, you have a high damage dealing monster, with low hp, who you HAVE to avoid, because the more people he/she hits, the more dangerous they are

in effect, a monster line breaker"

I like your "he gets nastier the more people he fights/fight him" mechanic.

I think that if the choppa is lightly armoured then so should the slayer but if the choppa is medium...ly armoured then the slayer should be too (maybe they're very good protective tattoos and torcs for example) as they will need to fill opposing needs to a degree.

However, he sure as hell shouldn't have low HP or die easily. As melee DPS he needs survivability the melee DPS will have to contend with other melee characters as well as ranged DPS and the healers he's trying to kill, basically everyone and their squig will be targeting him.

I'd say giving him huge toughness and wounds in order to counter the lack of armour would be an option.

The ironbreaker already has mechanisms like that and giving an increase to damage, toughness and wounds for each target he attacks and that attacks him would be good. Something like a cross between grudges (which would be appropriate) and balance/accusations.

If they were to drop the Choppa instead though - what would they introduce for the greenskins. I'd like to see what they could do for a Night Goblin Fanatic class!