Thoughts on Wargear

[RagnarBlackmane]

This is my first post with these forums so forgive me if im asking something that is already done.

Just wondering what everyones thoughts are on the "wargear" that will be provided upon completing certain missions. And also the wargear found during gameplay as relic has stated this will happen eg. You kill a ork warrboss or something and bang on the ground is a peice of wargear you can equip to a squad or commander. What types of wargear are we hoping for??

PS i dunno about anyone else but i wont even be buying sc2, dawn of war is no.1 Cheers

[Weavern]

Please try to keep the fanboism to a minimum :) and discuss the topic at hand. But yes wargear is definatly something which will make me play the campaign multiple times! CoH had shiny medals, DOW2 will have wargear!

[brothersamuel40]

This wargear implementation seems to have lots of modding potential :)

I'd really like to see ancient power gauntlets (think Ultramar), armor parts that are nice and styled, or just more effective; arcane weaponry, and even just explosive supplies for grenades or melta bombs. This could be all the stuff you find on the field.

In regards to stuff you already can have, from the battle barge, I'd like the ability to, like medals, give squads awards for performing the duties with utter perfection or something, in the form of purity seals, iron halo for the commander, etc etc.

[Tesla]

it'll be interesting what war gear they come up with, but im still a bit skeptical about the whole thing

though i agree that the modding potential is massive

[Cortlendt]

Just how fluffy is for a space marine finding usable equipment on the field?

[NeoHunter]

Modding? I think that would be a great idea! Hope Relic will somehow make modding the game a bit more friendly. Like tutorials on how to add in our own custom wargears or editing of the stats of existing wargears.

[cannonfodder]

Yeah, because arcane things just lie in the open, waiting to be found...

It kinda gives a Diablo2-vibe, when you smash a random crate and an Insane Spear of the Almighty Titans drops out. Eeeeh.

Now, if you got said wargear from the Barge as rewards for your accomplishment; I could live with and love it. But finding stuff on the battlefield? With Space Marines who already have wargears halfway to epic?

[Cortlendt]

Wargear loot makes quite a lot of sense for factions like orks. But for space marines I struggle with finding a reasonable explanation for it.

[RagnarBlackmane]

the reasoning teh give for this(firstly its not a every 1-secs thing) is that peices of lost ancient wargear eg certain power sword like the one ragnar gets in books etc gets stolen lost etc and you recover it from a war boss or certain person. but i agree ...how "random this will be will be interesting

[Jordan]

This guy (http://fr.games-workshop.com/40k/gardeImperiale/galerie/yarrick.asp) uses a weapon he grabbed off someone else

[SpaceMarineFan]

Well, I could see the Blood Ravens fighting the Orks at a dig site for an ancient artifact weapon. Possibly the Alexian blade?

[Croaxleigh]

Well, as it's been said that it'd be perfectly fluffy for Orks to pick up dropped weapons and such... what's to stop the Orks from having weapons that were dropped by killed Marines in another conflict? At least then it'd make sense for a Space Marine to pick up a weapon from a fallen Ork.

(Of course it's not going to happen quite like this, because it's already been stated that the items won't be useable immediately because they'll have to be identified first... but the same logic still stands, that Orks could have found the good loot somewhere in a battle and picked it up to use it.)

[RagnarBlackmane]

as croax said i definatley think this is possible stories to identiy each itme wouild be sick ....where it came from etc etc

[RagnarBlackmane]

Just to keep this forum going... i also wanted to know what peopels thoughts on what kind of wargear peopel want and also what kind of stats etc Liek SS chaos lord had the fire gloves etc.

[Kadaeux]

Yeah, because arcane things just lie in the open, waiting to be found...

It kinda gives a Diablo2-vibe, when you smash a random crate and an Insane Spear of the Almighty Titans drops out. Eeeeh.

Now, if you got said wargear from the Barge as rewards for your accomplishment; I could live with and love it. But finding stuff on the battlefield? With Space Marines who already have wargears halfway to epic?

I get the impression they mean Wargear like Flamers, Meltaguns, Heavy Bolters etc.

The weapons dropped by the slain as in CoH

Not "Hey look, I found the God-Emperors campaigning toothbrush!"

[RagnarBlackmane]

no its been stated that they are peices of wargear that you must first identify them you may equip on commander or units etc etc

[Aguy]

you might even be able to drop some and lure the enemy into a trap.

i think that they should make it an option because it could be confusing to some people.

[Shakrith]

I can see a variety of very cool things that could pop up, especially considering the Blood Ravens aren't far behind the Relictors in relation to grabbing whatever they can find, heresy or no heresy. Hence:

1) Daemon weapons. There is no end to the cool stuff in the old Chaos Codex: swords of course, axes, et cetera, but also staves, whips, and more exotic things like daemon-possessed bolt weapons and warp energy beams which are man-portable. I'd love to see some of these weapons put in the game, though they'd have to be done well. Chaos use these of course, but other factions use them when they can get their hands on them: Inquisitors do it, Relictors do it, and if you think they're a bit suss, well look at Marneus Calgar's Gauntlets of Ultramar: they're taken from a Daemon Prince, with some purity seals and Imperial Eagles tacked on.

2) Golden Age Imperial weapons. There are various artificer variants of the standard power weapons and ranged weapons, but there's also digi-weapons (tiny things which clip onto fingers, or alternatively are mounted inside armour, which pack a hell of a punch at close range), there are mechadendrites bearing ranged or melee attachments, there are things like melta pistols which are hard to come by, and of course a variety of devices blessed by the Emperor or a Saint in some way or another.

3) Xenos weapons. The Imperium are known to make use of devices made by particularly gifted Orks (e.g. Yarrick's fist), Necrons (Assassins in particular often use C'tan phase blades fashioned from captured necron materials, but SM also come by them sometimes, for example Cypher and even some loyalists), and Eldar (the Thunder Hammer used by Gabriel Angelos has a piece of Wailing Doom incorporated into it). It wouldn't shock me if they even used Tau equipment they came across, but I don't have any fluff justification for this; it is, nevertheless, often superior to Imperial equivalents, though up at the higher end of the spectrum of Imperial equiment the human tech's still better.

[Brother Necho]

I think daemon weapons for Chaos and master-crafted Chapter weapons for Space Marines.

[NeoHunter]

I guess its okay that you can get nice drops from killing Orks and Chaos Space Marines. However, what if the enemy were some alien that has no need for master crafted weapons? Like the Tyranids whch fight with just claws, jaws and other organic stuff? Or the Eldar who see everyone else as inferior and primitive?

[Captain Wicha]

is it just me... or does anyone else hope war gear doesnt make it into multi-player i mean sure it was cool in the campaigns but seriously having it in the multi-player makes it seem a little too rpg like and warcraft 3 like for my tastes... basically what i want to say is... when i first got the demo for dawn of war way back when (back when B.O. was the most important thing and morale weapons could cripple you) i remember i was rushed by a SM commander... my first thought was "oh crud here we go" some ONE guy thats about to obliterate my entire army single handedly but low and behold my two plasma equipped squads i had on defense dropped him handedly

my point is this... even the biggest baddest commander (the warboss) is still very killable and the fact that commanders take a back seat when compared to the army (along with the lack of aircraft) is something ive always liked about DOW i would hate to see DOW turn into another warcraft 3!

[NeoHunter]

@Captain Wicha: Nope. I don't think its just you. I don't want to see wargears make it into multiplayer mode as well. It will screw up the game balance I think.

[Soulprick]

I'll advocate what I always wanted for DoW:
Let us get Wargear in Multiplayer. Just make it do diddly squat. Look cool.
I would like my Ork Warboss fully decorated, thank you very much.

Make it that you can "unlock" multiplayer Wargear by doing certain achievements just like current SP campaign does. Once more, they are just for show.

So if you see a Lord-Militant General coming at you in full cracking wargear, you know that the player knows what they're doing with that race.

[corncobman]

What would be cool if you were say Space Marines and picked up a Chaos Daemon artifact or something, and if you choose to use you gradually become more Chaosy. And all hell breaks loose.

[TheLoneKnight]

I'd just like to see wargear changing the Commander's proficiencies, rather than becoming generic upgrades as they typically were in DC. If I'm given the option to outfit my commander with terminator armour and dual lightning claws or deck him out with a jump pack and a pair of plasma pistols (and perhaps a grenade or two, for kicks), then I'll be satisfied with what they implement.

Wargear should never make a Commander an unstoppable killing machine. It should change how the player uses him and thus what strategies the player can employ.

[NeoHunter]

Eh...then your Space Marine breathren will be forced to shoot down your Force Commander who has become corrupted.

Screws up the entire multiplayer game, don't you think?

[corncobman]

Yes, but it would be hilarious. :P

[NeoHunter]

Hahahaha...yeah. Wonder what happens if an Eldar picked it up in multiplayer too.

[Shakrith]

I'll advocate what I always wanted for DoW:
Let us get Wargear in Multiplayer. Just make it do diddly squat. Look cool.
I would like my Ork Warboss fully decorated, thank you very much.

Make it that you can "unlock" multiplayer Wargear by doing certain achievements just like current SP campaign does. Once more, they are just for show.

So if you see a Lord-Militant General coming at you in full cracking wargear, you know that the player knows what they're doing with that race.

YES! I'd love to see something with Commanders like armour in Halo 3, where you unlock achievements and get cosmetic enhancements as a reward. You could have one for finishing the single-player at all, several for completing side-quests in single-player, some for multiplayer victories et cetera. You wouldn't actually gain anything material for equipping your commander with different sets of armour, they'd just be there to look cool, but I imagine there might be the option for a commander perk or two, where you get to give him a special weapon or piece of equipment which does something in-game, for example (Space Marines):

Jump Pack
Melta Pistol
Special melee weapon (lightning claw, daemonhammer, even a daemon weapon maybe)
Terminator Armour

You'd initially have one or two options for this, but hard achievements would expand the variety.

[FrostPaw]

*Cracks Knuckles*

Ok on the subject of battlefield looting....

Its not typical of space marines looting stuff on the battlefield, not saying it never happens but space marines go through all kinds of rites and rituals annointing their equipment before battle...its part of their chapter and their issued equipment. A Boltgun is considered the primary means of the average spacemarine to deliver the emporers justice so to suggest they might discard it in favour of another weapon is pretty unlikely. However according to the articles I've read its not technically battlefield looting, they find the wargear but they can't make use of it during the battle they aquire it on. So I find it reasonable to assume whoever gets it simply hands over their current equipment back to the master at arms and its re-issued to another marine for the next battle.


"Why don't orks use SM Bolters?" many many years ago orks used to use bolters. Then they came up with the fluff about bolters being notoriously hard to maintain often being prone to jams and other malfunctions. Ever since then and in my opinion a better alternative has been orks using weapons such as "sluggas" and "shootas" slightly London gangster terminology and fits very well with their mentality in general.

While an ork could in theory pick up a bolter and empty its magazine it might even quite like the noisy weapon its not as sturdy for being used as a club or a hammer as a slugga or a shoota and since orks arn't known for their ability to maintain technology in good working order it would be more likely discarded when it stopped working.

"Why don't different races use each others weapons when dropped?" GW believe strongly in giving each race its own identity, their equipment is a big part of that identity. At one time orks used bolters, eldar used las guns and lots of other hilarity by todays standards however since the IP has grown and become a force of nature GW are keen to protect it and anything that dilutes each races identity would never get past them for "regular" units.


Having said all this its been know for certain heros to make use of defeated enemy hero wargear as trophy weapons. Logan Grimnar uses a Chaos Axe, Commissar Yarrick uses an Ork Power Klaw so its possible in exceptional circumstances but never as a general rule and since a computer game is generaly about teaching none WH40K fans some element of the 40k world to get them hooked its important not to take exceptions to the rule and make them general abilities.