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So I have been trying to spend a little more time away from my computer in recent weeks. That is not easy to do when you have the jobs that I do. However, I have started up a new Warhammer 40K Army for tabletop and have been painting away for the last week. Khorne Chaos Marines if you must know. I have never done a Khorne army and despite seeing them everywhere I decided it would be the most fun to paint. Plus I love skulls.

So during the long hours it takes to paint minis. I have been constantly thinking of the Warhammer 40K MMO that is secretly being developed over at VIGIL Studios for THQ. Now for those who may not know THQ was the publisher for Dawn of War, but it was made by Relic. I am a huge fan of the Dawn of War games and am curious on how the other studio is handling development.

The big question is how well will 40K translate into an MMO? Well I do know that of the Games Workshop IPs, 40K is the big one. Fans are fanatical and want nothing more than to jump into the carnage of the 41st millenium. The trick is how to play in that universe as a single character in a war torn environment.

If you are a Space Marine….then that’s it. How can you advance? The world is made up of units and chapters and all that great fluff, so how can an individual character grow? Well, one way would be to implement a squad system that allows players to gain ranks and grow a squad of NPCs on their own. This would be similar to the model tried in Gods & Heroes, which never launched. Imagine, you start as a single marine, do well, and can become a sergeant or something. Perhaps you can upgrade to Terminator status? Again these are just ideas. Eventually you have NPCs join your squad and implement group tactics similar to Dragon Age’s party system….damn this game is sounding sick.

Or what if the entire 40K game was built around player guilds. You played as an individual, you chose a faction, and you joined up a Chapter with other players and whooosh off you go. Now, this may not work with certain 40K races…Tyranids…but it would be damn cool. Also, character advancement does not have to be thought of in terms of leveling and skills. Maybe some new systems could be implemented for characters to grow and earn rewards whether fighting for the Emperor or that insane Ork Boss.

For now I guess I just have to keep painting and praying we hear some news about this game soon. There are so many possibilities with 40k. While other MMOs look to grow with old ideas. 40K definitely gives the developers a chance to throw out the rules and come up with new ideas on how a persistent world can change and grow without having to “level” character skills.

Food for thought…THQ please blow us away at E3 this year with some 40K MMO AWESOMENESS!

PS: Once the army is painted, I’ll post a pic.