Interview: Josh Dresher

Atomic chats to the Associate Producer of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

As an Associate Producer with EA Mythic, Josh Drescher does a little bit of everything from project oversight to high-level design to public relations and press. Josh joined the studio (formerly Mythic Entertainment) in 2001, prior to the launch of Dark Age of Camelot. Since that time, he has acted as a Technical Support Lead, Project Manager, Senior Designer and Associate Producer – though rarely all at the same time.

Currently, Josh is hard at work on EA Mythic’s upcoming next-gen MMORPG, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, based on Games Workshop’s tabletop fantasy war game. We recently got a chance to quiz him about the WAR, and what it’s going to be good for...


Atomic: WAR has had a few delays in coming to market. How hard is it to balance all the development and needs of a modern MMO?

Josh Dresher: Every time we’ve adjusted our perspective launch timing it’s been because we believed the project needed more time, attention and polish. The modern MMO fan has an expectation of quality, stability and completeness and we feel that they deserve a game that offers all three. So, at the end of the day, it’s not a balance at all – we simply won’t release the game until it’s ready.


Atomic: Have there been any difficulties in dealing with such a tightly controlled IP as the Warhammer world?

JD: Honestly, no. Games Workshop is protective of the Warhammer IP, as you might imagine, but our team is populated – from top to bottom – with people who’ve been Warhammer fanatics for years. As a result, we have a deep sense of respect and affection for the IP and wouldn’t think of doing anything that might violate the 25-year tradition of Warhammer across countless media. It’s extremely rare that GW comes back and asks us not to do something we’ve requested.


Atomic: Where there any issues where the dev team felt they had to deviate from the established cannon of Warhammer?

JD: We were careful to set WAR outside of the ‘official’ Warhammer timeline. The Age of Reckoning exists independently from the established, canonical progression of the Warhammer world. We chose to do this so that we could shamelessly steal... um... I mean... leverage and take inspiration from every bit of the Warhammer IP.


Atomic: Okay, let’s talk good stuff. What would you say is the single best thing that WAR has to offer possibly jaded MMO players?

JD: RvR combat – without question. Large-scale, world-spanning conflict and competition aimed at the utter demolition of your enemies, domination of the entire game world and eternal struggle and glory for you and your allies. It’s like the World Cup – but with axes, fireballs and mutated tentacle arms.


Atomic: What would you say is the biggest point of difference between WAR and other fantasy MMOs?

JD: I’ve already mentioned RvR, which is our stand-out differentiating factor, so I’ll touch on some development philosophy that sets us apart. With WAR, we provide a complete hobby experience – by which I mean the following: we give you something to obsess over and fixate on, but in a way that allows you to interact with other people and share the obsession. Unlike other games, however, that interaction is both cooperative (you play with other people) and competitive (you play against other people). Shared experiences, shared goals, shared defeat, shared triumph. You’re part of something bigger than just your involvement in the game.

It’s like being a football fan. Your experience isn’t limited to the rules of the game, it also includes looking forward to game-day, painting your whole body blue and screaming alongside your fellow fans. And screaming at the fans of the other team. And then going home, coming back for the next game and doing it again.

Like I said – eternal conflict, never-ending battle in an epic fight for conquest and glory alongside an army of thousands. That’s what we offer.


Atomic: If you can cover it, what kind of end-game content is WAR going to offer for the serious raiding community?

JD: You mean besides being able to lay siege to an enemy’s capital city, break into it, slaughter the citizenry, loot and pillage like mad and then face off against the King?

We’ve got dungeons aplenty, as well as major raid-level encounters that are mostly tied to capital city attacks. High level players won’t have any trouble staying busy.


Atomic: Finally, let’s get personal – what MMOs do you play? You know, purely for research purposes...

JD: At the moment, WAR and WAR alone. We’ve got a really strong, engaged beta community working with us and they’ve been a blast to play with over the past few months.

Previously, I spent a long time playing DAoC, I played Ultima back in the day, and prior to that I fussed about in various MUDs.

I try to at least take a look at most of the major titles that come out in the MMO market, because – even if a certain game isn’t really ‘for me’ – it’s always cool to see what other folks have done with their games. While we’re competitors, there’s also something deeply satisfying about seeing other professional craftsmen (and women) do new and interesting things within the MMO genre.