Welcome to the Warhammer Online Grab Bag, where your friendly neighborhood community manager will answer the most popular, and most interesting, questions in a new regular feature. Many things aren't yet certain, so try to be patient with us. Trust me - we're as eager as you are to see the features finalized, so that we can hear what you've got to say.

Grab Bag #22

Q: Will Swordmasters be able to dual wield?

Swordmasters will not get to dual wield as their DPS specialization comes from using two-handed “great weapons”. They will have access to a Sword + Shield for those wishing to participate as a defensive tank. However, Swordmasters tend to get less shield related abilities and more “great weapon” related ones.

Q: How do Swordmasters accumulate Balance? Can you give us any additional insight on how it works?

A: Balance is based on three basic levels - Open Balance, Improved Balance, and Perfect Balance. Successful attacks will step Balance up to the next level resulting in what is effectively a 3-attack combo that ends with a brutal Perfect Balance attack. This then resets the level of Balance to Open. This allows players to build custom “chain attacks” by mixing attacks from different Balance states.

Q: Can a Swordmaster’s Balance be interrupted in his progression from move to move? If so how? And how does he defend himself from that?

A: Currently Balance cannot be interrupted and players cannot be “knocked out” of their Balance state. We have toyed with the idea of allowing this, but we are holding off on this until we can see how they perform in larger play tests first.

Q: Swordmasters appear to be different from other tanks in that their defense is based on avoidance. How do you ensure that they will be able to compare to their tank counterparts even against the most difficult enemies?

A: The Swordmaster possesses the same basic core tools that every other tank does for avoiding damage. They are in heavy armor like all tanks, can equip shields, and should have no issues performing in the traditional tank role if they choose that play style. The avoidance aspect of the career comes more from the fact that they are generally more effective when using great weapons than other tanks. They take less of a defensive hit when doing so. The trade off here is that they may not be as good as the shield specialist tanks when they choose to go with that play style.

Q: Since Swordmasters are using a dance in combat, has any special care been given to their animations in terms of smoothing them or blending them together to make them appear graceful and fluid as they should?

A: This is ultimately our goal, and we are still working on animations for all careers. However, it is our hope that you’ll be able to see an obvious difference between attacks launched from each point of the dance.

Q: Archmages are a support class and appear to wear light cloth armor. This concerns me a bit because I've played other games that have cloth based healers. In PVP cloth and healer has meant a very soft target that is easily slain and a primary target. What is being done so that this isn't a problem for Archmages?

A: Archmages (as well as 4 of 6 of the other healers) are in light robes. This means they are very much a juicy target for melee careers with high physical damage. This doesn’t mean they are just fodder for the grinder however, since their magic resistances can be as good as (if not better than) even the heaviest armored tanks. Not to mention they can heal large quantities of damage which can work better then armor in some cases.

That being said, in a one-on-one situation you will always be at a disadvantage against somebody that can put out high physical damage, and at an advantage against those who can put out high magic (since you can heal yourself and a Sorceress cannot). That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

In a group situation though there are a number of team play options that will increase survivability significantly. These range from tank guards that can absorb up to HALF the incoming damage, to knock-backs which can be used to push players away from soft targets and into hard targets, which can then tie them up. And let’s not forget that collision detection allows a caster to literally stand behind a wall of allies that must be breached to reach him.

On top of that, you can sacrifice your healing power to improve you’re offensive or defensive abilities through specialization & tactic selection. Overall, we’ve found that healers have been quite potent in most cases (sometimes too potent), especially when they have the support of a solid group backing them.

Q: My question concerns the Archmage and its 'magical reserve' mechanic. There seems to be a lot of confusion over how this works exactly. Some people think that it works in a similar way to the Shaman 'WAAAGH!' mechanic, each spell you cast builds up your magical reserve, which in turn can be spent on casting more powerful spells. Others think it's a sort of 'see-saw' mechanic, where casting attack spells gives you a reserve for healing spells and casting healing spells gives you a reserve for attack spells. Can you clarify how this mechanic works?

A: Casting certain offensive spells will generate a store of extra energy, called High Magic, the Archmage can then use to power defensive spells. The more High Magic stored (points built) the less Action Points it costs to cast a defensive spell. In some cases, the next defensive spell could be free if you had enough High Magic reserved. This makes High Magic very similar in function to WAAAGH!, We purposely designed the two careers to be similar in nature with a complimentary mechanic so players have this casting option available to them when playing for either Order or Destruction. We don’t want a scenario where a player LOVES to play a certain mechanic, but cannot because all of his friends play for the other side.

Q: In Warhammer lore, Archmages are some of the most powerful spell casters in the world. Are you creating the spells with this in mind?

A: Obviously from a balance standpoint, we have to keep the relative power of the Archmage in check. This will mean that the standard High Elf Archmage will not be a towering beast of a spell caster, rending apart mountains as he sees fit and raising the dead at the same time. However, their power is reflected in the fact that Archmages get access to a wide range of potent abilities in healing, damage, and support lines. Many of the other careers have a much more focused specialty.

Q: Will Career Mastery paths for Shadow Warriors allow players to customize the feel of their character and enable them to be more melee focused or more ranged focused if desired? An earlier video makes mention of the Shadow Warrior taking a path to become an "Ambush Specialist" and he can use his bow to soften targets before assaulting. Can you elaborate?

A: The Shadow Warrior is first and foremost a ranged DPS career. As such, an effective Shadow Warrior can never just be a melee character; they just don’t have the breadth of options and abilities available to a pure melee DPS or a tank. However, Shadow Warriors will be able to fine tune the amount of melee combat they are capable of based on how they wish to support their ranged abilities. A Shadow Warrior who wishes to focus on more of a skirmish or caster killer role will naturally gravitate towards move & shoot abilities with a good helping of melee (mages HATE when you get in their face). Whereas a Shadow Warrior who prefers more of a scout role will gravitate to long range attacks with some move & shoot attacks for when things start to get close. They will rely on melee only as a last resort. The much rarer “assault” Shadow Warrior will use ranged attacks to soften up an opponent before entering melee combat. The “assault” Shadow Warrior is still viable, but in general will be much harder to play since it’s not playing up to the Shadow Warrior’s strengths.

Q: Other classes have WAAAGH! or Grudges and other systems that make a specific class unique. Can you give us some insight on what Shadow Warriors bring to the table that makes playing one unique?

A: The Shadow Warrior’s most unique feature is the ability to move & shoot. Couple this with strong long range and melee options, and this makes for a very potent fighter. In addition, the Shadow Warrior has a stance-style mechanic. They can choose which stance they are in to unlock different abilities. Therefore, their challenge is not in managing a special meter, but in managing which sets of abilities work best at what ranges, and toggling stances at the proper times to be effective.

Q: What are some unique abilities Shadow Warriors can use their bow for?

A: The most unique bow abilities available to the Shadow Warrior revolve around his ability to move & shoot. These are powerful tools, but have only half (or less) the range of his long range attacks.

Q: What is your favorite or the "coolest" Shadow Warrior ability?

A: Vengeance of Nagarythe, it’s the icing on the cake for the Shadow Warrior and is essentially a miniature Berserk. When used correctly it can greatly affect the outcome of a battle both at range and in close combat.

Q: Will Shadow Warriors have to purchase their ammunition?

A: Nope.

Q: Will Shadow Warriors have "traps" or some kind of utility that compares to squig pets and engineer turrets?

A: No traps or pets. Giving a career that can move and shoot a way to root, or otherwise tie down an opponent, would greatly overpower him. However, he has a number of abilities he can use to momentarily stop or slow an opponent so he can get back to range. The Shadow Warrior relies more on hit-and-run then he does on set-up a trap and pound them before they break loose (like the Engineer or Squig herder).

Q: Will the Shadow Warrior have some skill to use if an enemy gets too close? Something to daze, blind, or cripple them so they will be able to put distance between them and their target?

A: Yes.