iOS, Android •
As most of you are probably already aware, the much-anticipated dungeon crawler, Warhammer Quest 2, is due to arrive in October. October 19th to be exact. You can find this information all over the internet, but we saw it first over at Touch Arcade where Ben Murch, ex-Rodeo Games and current-Perchang head honcho spilled the beans in their forums (observant readers will notice our own Nick Vigdahl as the author of that TA story. Hooray, Nick!). I was kind of loath to simply write a post regurgitating release date news, so instead we got Ben Murch on the horn and asked him a few questions about the upcoming Warhammer Quest 2. Enjoy!
Stately Play: Warhammer 1 was from Rodeo, Warhammer 2 is Perchang. What has been the biggest difference in developing the two titles?
Ben Murch: The biggest difference has to be the way we work now. Perchang is a remote company, where we all work from home. The difference is huge. No commute time or stress means we can put more hours into the game, and if you fancy doing a few hours on a quiet Sunday, the office is a few steps away! There are so many tools available now that it really makes sense for a small team like ours to work like this. It is a little strange to begin with, but I’ve found it to be the most productive way of working.
SP: One of the criticisms of Warhammer 1 from board gamers was the opacity of die rolls. Will die rolls be visible in WHQ 2? Will you have more visibility into numbers and stats in general?
BM: There won’t be at launch, no. However, we will be updating and adding to the game for the foreseeable future, so it’s perfectly likely that we might put in an option to expose the numbers behind the scenes.
SP: What is the scope of Warhammer 2? Is there an overarching story, or is it a loose collection of dungeon delves?
BM: It’s pretty huge! The core game takes place in Middenland during the End Times, so there is a 10-part campaign narrative that leads you right across the region. On top of that, there are multiple “random” dungeons to fight through, which use a more procedural approach. We’ll also be releasing an expansion campaign on launch which is the same size as the Middenland offering.
SP: How big is WHQ2 compared to WHQ1? Both in terms of hours and size of maps, etc.
BM: The game as a whole is much bigger in scope than Quest 1. We’ve made lots of small additions and changes that really open it up. For example, travel events on the map can now lead to combat where you physically go and fight a bunch of enemies that have ambushed you on the road. Weapons and items are now very different too. We got rid of the idea of Longsword +1, +2, etc. Now each weapon only has one variant, but it plays a very specific role. Different items do different damage types (slashing, piercing, crushing) and enemies have varying resistances. So depending on the enemy type, you’ll need to find the right tool for the job. Then there’s the fire and ice attacks…
SP: Will WHQ2 have any form of multiplayer or will it be a solo affair? If multiplayer, how will that work?
BM: It’s a solo affair for now, but multiplayer is something we’ll be looking at in the future.
SP: The trailers show a lot of varied environments with lava in one area and something out of Lovecraft’s brain on the floor in another. Also, barrels everywhere. Can players interact with the environment, or is it window dressing. (albiet very, very pretty window dressing).
BM: We did have exploding barrels in the original plan, but time is a cruel mistress. They’re near the top of the post-launch feature list though! As for environment details, you can’t pick things up or anything like that, but the environment is fully collision mapped and all ranged attacks work on line of sight. So, if there’s a gap between two pillars and you can “see” and enemy, you can try to hit them. However, the enemy can do that too, so you’d better put your smallest characters behind the larger and more armoured ones!
SP: Is the game coming only to iOS or to Android as well? Is there a PC/Mac version planned?
BM: We’re fully focused on iOS for now, but the Android version will be later this year (hopefully). We hope to do other platforms next year.
SP: Have you considered using this engine for other IP or your own fantasy/sci-fi RPG? I’d love to see something like this wrapped in D&D 5E rules. Just sayin’ 🙂
BM: Haha, I feel like this is heading in a “Hunters” direction! I’d love to do another one of those using this tech. There are other licenses that would be interesting too. If anyone from Lucasfilm is reading, then please get in touch!! I guess we’ll have to wait and see 😉
Thanks to Ben Murch for putting up with us this afternoon. Ben also let us know that the beta would be starting next week with signups via their newsletter which you can sign up for here. We’ll be on top of WHQ2 news until it’s release in just over a month. Stay tuned.
This is one of my most anticipated titles of the year - thanks for getting more info! Any word on pricing / f2p shenanigans?
I honestly don’t mind IAP for expansions, characters, etc., etc., but I can’t stand in-game shops, IAP currencies, and pay-to-win gimmicks.
Hi all. Yes, you’re right, there’s no free to play nonsense in this one. The IAP works exactly the same as Warhammer Quest 1. We’ll have three dlc characters and one expansion available on launch.
And with that, you have my money😀
This just made my (hectic) morning! @RodeoBenjamin - I’ll buy it at any price!
I can’t wait for the special “js619” edition that costs $200 …
I’d like to say that’s too much and I wouldn’t purchase it, but we all know I’d only be lying…
@RodeoBenjamin @Pitta… IS IT THURSDAY YET?!?
Hahaha! When I saw that this topic was updated, I had a tiny little glimmer of hope that it released early.
You echo my sentiments.
I’m literally dying with anticipation… and according to the TA forums, there is iCloud saving!
Does anyone know what classes are available in this game? And for those of us who don’t really know Warhammer lore, what are their general archetypes?
@Pitta, can you weigh in on this? I know I saw the classes posted on TA forum somewhere, but there are 52 pages there to scroll through lol. And I’m not the guy to ask about lore, WH fantasy or 40k…
They have officially announced just 3 of them.
Empire captain, Dark Elf sorceress and the Vampire Blood knight.
Sorry not to being able to share more…but…I’ve asked just for you @js619 and apparently tonight they will announce the full party and all the extras.
It’s a wonderful game anyway. It has replaced WHQ in a special place in my heart.
I’m still playing it every night till impossibile hours and still find new things, despite having completed it already.
I hope you will it like I do.
Now I’ll have to keep refreshing my web browser AND App Store lol!
Literally bouncing in my chair with anticipation. If I didn’t have several meetings on Thursday I’d be calling out sick to stay home and play this!
Just ask
First (massive) DLC announced, avaible on day one.
I plan on buying all the DLC day one… give me moar!
I’ll probably buy any character DLC immediately but hold off on quest DLC until I’ve gone through the main campaign.
Pic of the initial four warriors!
IT’S HERE IT’S HERE!!!
@RodeoBenjamin- can’t seem to purchase the dlc? Nothing happens when I click purchase, just FYI.
Damn, you beat me to it—was coming in here to post that news.
Is that the US app store?
It’s definitely on the US App Store. I’ll try posting a direct link below …
Warhammer Quest 2 by Perchang
Launch trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd6Dxc3AMxESo I just played just long enough to get the 3rd hero last night. I think the only thing that confuses me is why are there IAP heroes? I don’t have a problem with it, but don’t understand why? I have 3 heroes now, I assume I get a 4th soon. Are the 3 IAP heroes better? Stronger? Easier to play? OP? I assume the game is balanced for the party you get in the game without IAP?
Game is perfectly balanced no matter what you use.
The new character are just different…many are already asking for playable ogres, I asked a Bretonnia knight myself,etc…
It really depends on what ou want to play, but feel free to ignore them.
I’ve completed the game and I used many different parties:
2 Empire captains, glade elf, Dark Elf sorceress
4 glade elves
2 loremasters and 2 Dark Elf soreceress (awesome but difficult)
All dwarves…
Etc…
You can really do what you wish, and you can really personalize your team as much as you want.
I had awesome elven archers, or a super fast melee glade elf that could deathblow everyone and insta kill a stone troll.
Or a dark sorceress that could kill a Minotaur with a single dagger strike.
You will see, items and skills add a ton to the game.
I play with theme for two reasons: one, when it comes to RPGs I really like the character-building element so it is difficult for me to bench heroes I’ve invested in; two, you can remove injuries so unless they are so injured that they drag the team down, I like to continue to grow the character so they aren’t too far behind once healed.
3 attempts at that Cryptic quest now have resulted in total wipe with 3 different teams. I am really upset at my purchase now and that I bought some of the DLC. What a waste of money. At least I get the satisfaction of a 1 star review.
Does anyone know how level up bonuses work? I know they are random at any given level, but will the same bonuses be distributed amongst the ten levels (that’s the cap, right?)? Does my question make sense? In other words, while a level 2 sorceress may have +1 INT while another has an additional inventory slot, by the time the same two sorceresses are level 10, will their stats through leveling be the same?
I’ve only completed the tutorial.
Does that mean I’m not one of the Kool Kids?
No rush! I actually started my game over, as is usual with me and RPGs. I also tend to grind a lot and never seem to advance the actual story all that quickly. That’s just how I play most RPGs.
And I have the crash-after-the-unskippable-scrolling-text-intro bug, so well done all,of you who’ve managed to play the game thus far. Also the teenage-boy fanservice is, uh, outstanding.
You have been ambushed, by monsters 10 levels higher than you… Ok…
Ch1: Bruh, why do you keep taking your armor on and off in the middle of battle?
Ch2: Action Points, son, now step diagonally past me and give some red juice to that vampire knight that is diseased and on fire and stop asking so many questions.
The patch fixed my broken save. Just finished the first campaign. At first I wasn’t sure about the game - thought the mechanics might be a bit too simple - but about halfway through things really clicked and I started to really enjoy it. My characters picked up a few abilities that felt really interesting tactically, and the overall theme really grabbed me.
At its best it almost feels like a tabletop game - it’s very immersive. The odd room can be a bit dull if the arrangement of enemies isn’t interesting but there’s a lot of very exciting and satisfying moments. I originally held back from buying the extra characters, but now I’d really recommend it. It really opens up the variability of the game. I think I’ll be playing this one for a while.
Something about this game just isn’t doing it for me like I had hoped. I think it looks great and I haven’t had any bugs or gameplay issues of note, but I have a couple thoughts:
First, the lack of gold is very apparent. It only took me a mission or two before I did not have enough gold to level up, let alone buy new weapons. Now, I’m not expecting to be flush with gold and have enough to buy what I want when I want, but the game quickly prevented me from feeling much of a sense of progression. I know that gold is available randomly for completing a dungeon, but at best, if I’m really lucky, I might get 500 - not enough to level up or buy something worth buying. More typically, I receive 100-200 for grinding out a mission. Of course, I could spend real money for more gold…it is cynical to see the slow in-game income as tied to the ability to make in-app purchases?
Second, I don’t see much in the realm of tactics. There are no penalties at all for waiting, or for slowly moving around for optimal positions, so every single mission I’ve played pretty much boils down to setting up and letting the enemies come to me, preferably through a bottleneck. Positioning means almost nothing in this game. On top of that, I can take as much time as I want between rooms to regroup. In the original, there was a threat of overwhelming odds every time I chose to end my turn, giving me a sense of urgency. In the Tyrranid Invasion, the overwatch ability made movement and positioning far more important. The game plays the exact same for me every time I open a door.
Third, the UI issues. Nowhere that I’ve found is it explained exactly what stats do what and how they effect combat. I also can’t stand that when I’m shopping, I can’t see what I have equipped. How am I supposed to know if the weapon I am looking at is better than one I already have?
There are some positives here. The game runs really smoothly and I like the selection of heroes. Sometimes then don’t seem differentiated enough, but I can chalk some of that up to the way I’ve customized. Still, the system is almost too flexible as I can, for example, give a melee hero a gun that essentially has the same effect as a sorceress spell. When my melee hero can suddenly do ranged 3x3 damage with fire, he kind of loses his identity as as a sword and shield melee hero.
Personally, my biggest enjoyment in a strategy RPG is building my characters. Final Fantasy Tactics is the pinnacle of the genre for me and I can spend dozens of hours leveling through each job in any given character, enjoying their growth and enjoying the effect they have on the battlefield. I feel very little progress in this game; each dungeon run feels the same and character growth is glacially slow, not because of XP, but because of an incredibly high gold requirement.
I’ve probably rambled a bit, but the bottom line is that I probably personally give the game a C. I like it, and I’ll pick it up from time to time, but I don’t really know what the game is trying to be. Is it a board game? It’s moved beyond that a little. Is it an RPG? Yes, but it is fairly light compared to others. Is it a tactical game? Maybe, but I don’t see much depth in that regard. Maybe this isn’t fair, but I’d rather play a game like Final Fantasy Tactics ad nauseum over a game lie this for some great tactical RPG grinding. There are plenty of others that I enjoy more, as well, including possibly the first Warhammer Quest.
This kind of sums things up for me too… I was so excited for it, and it kind of feels like a bit of a let down gameplay wise.
I really miss the ambushes from WHQ1, which I know some people hated; however, without them, there’s no reason to progress through the dungeon. I can literally stand at a door and spam the end turn button until all of my stuff has cooled down, then go into the next room with fresh items (not that I do, but… )
The graphics are very cool and the lighting is top notch, but the gameplay is pretty repetitive. I hate saying it, considering my level of anticipation for this one… I’d rate it a little higher, at a B or B-, and it will live on my iPad forever, mostly by virtue of having 256gb, but it’s definitely not GOTY material.
It’s funny; I kind of hated the random encounters last game because they would sometimes just pound me. Now that they aren’t around, I see their purpose. Maybe there is a middle ground with random encounters that aren’t 100 freaking necromancers?
Haha… I see what you’re saying. I always felt a huge sense of accomplishment after killing off 8 quadrillion black orcs! I think maybe my biggest gripe with WHQ2 is that it doesn’t feel like a challenge at all. Really, the only times I’ve wiped is because I’ve forgotten to bring a health potion, or the guy with the potion is blocked in in the back and can’t get to the knocked down person to heal them. And wait - someone gets an injury? I’ll just transfer all of their gear to my other character or six of the same class that I’ve accumulated…
I see over on TA people gaming the characters to make it harder - ie, let’s play with 4 glade guards, or restrict myself to only melee combat. I shouldn’t have to game the difficulty - the game itself should do that.
I think there needs to be a balance between too many random encounters and none. I was annoyed by them in WQ1, just because it didn’t seem like I could move sometimes without having one, which really sucked when I was trying to heal and stuff.
But none just gets boring.
I do think the fact that you can buy gold is a real black mark against the game, because it makes it obvious that the levelling up problems are intentional to get you to buy gold.
I remember not being able to afford to level up in WHQ1 also, and hating that mechanic. Why can’t I just level up automatically when I hit the required xp?
Actually, @Pitta, one thing you said intrigues me.
I actually would be ok with XP beings lower, requiring longer to level up, if they are keeping the gold cost for leveling up the way it is.
The frustrating thing is to have everybody ready to level up, sometimes even two levels, but not have enough money to do it.
That being said, you finished the campaign at Level 6? Then maybe we’re spending too much time trying to level and not enough at actually doing the campaign.
I’m at level 4 (with one character at 5, I think), and I’ve only done 3 or 4 story quests. I was thinking I needed to get stronger before continuing.
That’s EXACTELY the ‘problem’ imho.
You feel you need gold because usually you have enough XP to level 1-2-3 levels but you miss the gold.
Ideally you should have enough money and XP to level up someone, plus or minus a dungeon run (imho of course).
Now XP are tied to damage done, some items are bugged I think and output too much damage, ruining the progression.
I think another patch correcting this is imminent.
Regarding levels…imho the game is on the easier side (unfortunately ‘we’, like people in this forum, are a niche…most people find the game too difficult apparently…same WHQ were the normal difficulty was utterly boring imho).
I feel you can mitigate this trying to level up not that often, ending the game around level 6 (I mean second campaign).
After that white quests become more difficult too.
If you level up too much, the game becomes a bit too easy imho.
Items are more important anyway.
If it was for me, the game would be way more difficult (I’ve suggested a number of ways for possibile future new difficulties or expansions).
I just saw on BGG somebody mention one really bad annoyance with this game.
Why do you have to micromanage your people to not walk through fire?
I understand if you tell them to go somewhere and the only way they have the AP to do it is to go through fire.
But when it’s a matter of “choose this square or that square to move into next on your way to get where you’re going,” why doesn’t it make them take the safe path?
Ugh. How many times have my characters caught fire because I went too fast and forgot to micro-manage?
Too many.
Edit: I haven’t played in a week or so, and I know a patch dropped with bug fixes. If this is one of them, then nevermind…
Man, I can’t express what a disappointment this game is–and those of you who know me from the old PT forums know how heartbreaking this is to say.
@Mirefox hit most of the high points (or low points, really). What it comes down to is the game is just dull. No tension, no balance, few tactics, glacial progression, and much, much, MUCH grinding. And I use the word grinding specifically, because there’s no fun playing when there’s no danger. 20 hours in and–other than a stone troll ambush I had no hope in hell of winning–my characters were never once in danger. I just don’t know how the design could go so wrong.
That sums it up for me too. The lack of danger which has been my fundamental problem. But … 20 hours played. The game is appealing and I want it to be better … I am still playing sort of hoping to be surprised/threatened by later quests/situations. I expect that I will complete both main quest lines. And keep hoping that a better future will emerge for the game.
I’ve just played the tutorial dungeon of WHQ1 out of interest, to see what’s different. Immediately noticeable are the pinning mechanic where you could end up not being able to move a character, the giant spiders being able to fire webs, and each killed enemy drops something, however minor. The market is more readable somehow, with a highlightable list rather than album-flow cards. Characters took damage, rather than standing off and letting hot dark-elf sorceress babe toast the bad guys with her purple wand.
In WHQ2, incidentally, I’ve just picked up a second hot dark-elf sorceress babe who’s 2 levels higher than the first hd-esb. The balance just feels off, really. If I continue, I’ll see if I can recruit another pair so I can go dungeon crawling with a party purely made up of vindictive strippers.
With WHQ1 I used to hold my breath when hitting the turn button. Getting wiped from a bad ambush was annoying, but it did a great job ratcheting up the tension. It was a great risk/reward mechanic for how you used AP within the squad, and is what made that game a “classic” in my mind. I’m sad to learn it’s not there in the sequel.