2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade

2017-07-21T03:12:50Z

2A02:C7F:4C09:DD00:5451:B0A5:1E37:CC74:

[[File:Warhammer-40000-eternal-cursade-logo.png|700px|center]]

{{cleanup}}

'''Warhammer 40,000 Eternal Crusade''' is a Third-Person Shooter (think Battlefront) that was announced at E3 2013 and released in 2016, available for the '''PC''', <s>'''PS4''' and the '''Xbox One/Ten'''</s>.

Now many of you think that this is such wonderful news, right? Well... This is still up to debate since the game was being developed by the people who have given us such wonderful titles like '''Wet''', '''Dante's Inferno''' (PSP), '''[[The Lord of the Rings]]: Conquest''' (DS) and '''Naughty Bear'''. However, Behavior (the guys that were making this thing) pulled in talent from all around - especially from Funcom Montreal (Age of Conan, The Secret World); recently, [[Graham McNeill]] and [[Anthony Reynolds]] (known for writing the [[Ultramarines]] and [[Word Bearers]] series, respectively) were confirmed to be working alongside them as well.

'''The game is dead now.''' For real this time. As of July 2017, devs have admitted through Twitch they have absolutely no resources and staff to add new content. This means that any plans to expand the setting and polish the game mechanics have been scrapped and their last hope is to collect as much money as they can from its current rotting state. Players have been completely abandoned and have been left with a mediocre arena shooter with a 40k skin. Yet another trailblazing failure in the infamous pantheon of 40k gaming. ''(So basically the Imperium. A sort of delicious irony.)'' Emperor helps us all.

==Dream Big==

When the devs first got the license for this game, they wanted nothing less than to shoot for the moon. An open world the scope and complexity of Planetside 2 with no fewer than four factions, player-driven campaigns, giant fortress climax battles, and everything from Ork nob squads tearing at Wraithguard to a Chaplain rallying the last desperate charge against a fortified Chaos stronghold, with enough different weapons and customization options to always have the player come back for more .

Now naturally you can't just build a game like that in one or two years. Seeing how insurmountable an MMO of this kind of proportions would be to create from scratch, Behaviour decided to scale down the initial size of the game, and then scale ''that'' down for Open Alpha. To make sure the engine, weapons, vehicles, graphics, maps, etc. all worked. Updates continued to pour in, and all the races were added.

Unfortunately, as the devs churned out a half-decent Early Access game (by the standards of Early Access) the publishers were getting impatient. A mandate came down from on-high...

==Current State==

Officially, the game was "launched" in September 2016. This is despite the game being ''completely unfinished'', looking identical to the Early Access mode the game was in when Orks were in alpha mode. For all intents and purposes, the game is basically an early Beta state - All announced factions are in, and the games are played as instanced arcade-esque shooters not unlike [[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine|Space Marine's multiplayer.]] The long-term plan was to gradually open up the world, making larger regions, until the continent of EC is one region in it's entirety, somewhat like Planetside 2, as was originally the plan. An invading army would had need to capture at least 2 of a region's outposts before they can attack the primary base of that region, allowing for large-scale strategic planning. The latest "launch candidate" currently has a primitive world map with matches being set on each faction's borders. There's also Tyranids which you can fight in 5-man kill teams to achieve absolutely nothing except bragging right and Steam Achievements.

While this has lead to much outcry from the Founders and the fanbase in general, many do now see the benefit of improving the core gameplay to be a fun shooter, before making a massive world with barely nothing in it and with poor gameplay. Furthermore, through the weekly Twitch shows and an active cooperation with fans on the forum, combined with a positive reaction to the current Alpha build, the initial outrage over this controversial move died down a bit.

In March 2017, the game went free-to-play, with certain limitations to lure the player into buying the complete version. While there were far more people playing on both the Virginia and Frankfurt servers after this switch, the decision was seen by many players as a bad omen. Despite its very lackluster state, the devs remained confident in the game having a future. But it was too late.

As of July 2017, the game is dying. There's only about 500 players on at any one time, console releases were scrapped, there haven't been any content updates for months, and Behavior no longer has any animators, modelers or any significant staff on the game. It appears they're trying to milk it for what it's worth before it finally dies, another testament to GW's mistake of handing out their IP to multiple different developers without any thought behind it.

== Races ==
The game has four playable factions and one NPC faction, each including several subgroups, and classes. Each race has unique bonuses which affect the game in some way, such as the Eldar and Chaos Space Marines using magic for the support class, able to equip two spells that each have a different mana cost, though they only have access to a few backup weapons. Space Marines and Orks Support don't have access to magic, but can deploy health stations and have access to firearms, among other tools.
===Space Marines===

Ah, Space Marines. Heroes, [[Mary Sue|Mary Sues]], warrior monks and nazi supersoldiers, the Space Marines are the "generalist" faction, with no particular strength or weakness. Their Apothecaries tend to be better in defensive environments, and with the addition of the Storm Shield, they have taken defense as their main stick. There's not a lot to say about them; they're marines, what do you expect. The current playerbase is predominantly Space Marines, and Space Marines fans make up 40% of the fans. So nothing new there.

A lot of people are crying on the fact that Space Marines don't feel "Space Marine" enough, being too weak and feeble for their taste. While the TTK was slated to be increased, a lot of people are in for a surprise when Marines aren't the most powerful faction in a game with four, equally supported factions. Part of the "problem" here is the engine mechanics, which deliberately makes all characters in the entire game somewhat sluggish (the best example is how infantry have a maximum turning speed, so upping your mouse sensitivity won't let you you 360 quickscope, and there's lots of other more subtle examples). It also doesn't help that many new players first start out as Space Marines before deciding which faction to go to next.

*'''Chapters''': [[Ultramarines]], [[Space Wolves]], [[Blood Angels]], [[Dark Angels]], [[Imperial Fists]].
*'''Faction Leader''': [[Belial]], Master of the [[Deathwing]].
**'''Sub-Faction Leaders''':
***Ultramarines: Something called a "Techmarine Suprema" the devs puled out of an old White Swarf. The only named Techmarines the Ultras have are Vexos and Fennias Maxim. We'd mention Sevano Tomasin, but he's dead.
***Space Wolves: [[Ragnar Blackmane]].
***Blood Angels: [[Mephiston]], Lord of Death.
***Dark Angels: [[Interrogator-Chaplain]] Cassiel.
***Imperial Fists: <s>TBA</s>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Space Marine Default Classes
!
! Objective
! Heavy Weapons
! Ground Melee
! Air Attack
! Medic / Support
|-
! Unit
| [[Tactical Squad|Tactical]] || [[Devastator Squad|Devastator]] || [[Assault Squad|Ground Assault]] || [[Assault Squad|Assault]] || [[Apothecary]]
|-
! Weapons
| [[Bolter]], Stalker Bolter, [[Storm Bolter]], [[Meltagun]], [[Plasma Gun]], [[Gravgun]], [[Bolt Pistol]], Plasma Pistol, Grav-pistol || [[Heavy Bolter]], [[Lascannon]], Plasma Cannon, Multi-Melta, Grav-cannon || [[Chainsword]], [[Power sword]], [[Power Axe]], [[Power Maul]], [[Power Fist]], [[Bolt Pistol]], Plasma Pistol, Grav-pistol || [[Bolt Pistol]], Plasma Pistol, Grav-pistol, Chainsword, Power Sword, Power Axe, Power Maul, Power Fist|| Bolter, [[Bolt Pistol]], Plasma Pistol, Grav-pistol, Chainsword ''([[Wolf Priest]] cannot has)'', Narthecium/Fang of Morkai ''(Second is [[Wolf Priest]] only)'', Crozius Arcanum ''([[Wolf Priest]] only)''
|-
! Abilities
| Capture Objectives || Suppressing Fire, Dedicated Anti-Vehicle Weaponry || Storm Shield (You can choose a sidearm instead, but if that was the case you'd be better off picking Jump Assault)|| [[Jump pack]] (Less armor than Ground Assault, but more mobile) || Narthecium/Fang of Morkai for heals, Can Revive Downed Allies at Full Health by Injecting Them, Can Neutralize Poison by Healing, Different Injection Vials (Adrenaline for Melee Buff, Survival for Damage Resistance, Narthecium for HOT), Heal Beacon (AOE, destructible, only one at a time, infinite supply, has cooldown, lasts for some time), Medicae Grenade (Small AOE, Gives HOT, infinite supply, has cooldown, only one at a time, last for a short period)
|}

*'''Veterans''': Veteran Tactical, Veteran Devastator, Veteran Ground Assault, Veteran Assault, Veteran Apothecary
*'''Elites''': [[Legion of the Damned]] Legionnaire, <s>[[Terminators]] and maybe [[Techmarine]]s, among others.</s>
*'''Heroes''': <s>Master of Relics, [[Librarian]]s and [[Chaplain]]s, among others.</s>

===Chaos Space Marines===

Pissed off motherfuckers ''de jure'', the Chaos Space Marines are, like the Space Marines, a generalist faction, but thanks to their Sorcerers, Chaos Marks, and the skill of the generally [[/tg/|neckbearded veteran players]], Chaos Marines are more aggressive, and can have some outright insanely long sieges on enemy points. Chaos Marines are very customizable, and their Marks makes them quite the force to be reckoned with. Said marks include Mark of Nurgle (Defense Buff, health buff, stamina penalty), Mark of Khorne (Health buff, regain health from kills, but can't be healed by consumables '''''or''''' sorcerers and will die when health reaches zero), Mark of Slaanesh (Speed increase, slow armor regen), and Mark of Tzeentch (Faster armor regen, slight health penalty). Otherwise Chaos Marines share most of the same basic loadout as Space Marines, making it fairly easy to switch between playing the two. In addition, the fact that the current playerbase is almost exclusively grizzled 40k veterans make a lot of teams driven and better at coordination. 'Cause dem corpse-worshippin' fellas gotta burn.

Chaos is the second most popular faction at the moment, if only because there have only been 2 factions for the longest time.

*'''Legions''': [[Iron Warriors]], [[Word Bearers]], [[Black Legion]], [[Night Lords]], [[Alpha Legion]].
*'''Faction Leader''': [[Abaddon]] the motherfucking Despoiler.
**'''Sub-faction Leaders'''
***Iron Warriors: <s>TBA</s>
***Word Bearers: <s>TBA</s>
***Black Legion: Ash'Hy Mok: a badass sorcerer created for the narrative who has been very busy liquefying space marines and Eldar alike in the short stories release each week.
***Night Lords: <s>TBA</s>
***Alpha Legion: <s>TBA</s>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Chaos Space Marine Default Classes
!
! Objective
! Heavy Weapons
! Ground Melee
! Air Attack
! Medic / Support
|-
! Unit
| Traitor Marine || [[Havoc]] || Traitor Assault || [[Chaos Raptors|Raptors]] || [[Chaos Sorcerer|Aspiring Sorcerer]]
|-
! Weapons
| Bolter, Stalker Bolter, [[Combi-weapon|Combi-Bolter]], Meltagun, Plasma Gun || Heavy Bolter, Lascannon, Plasma Cannon, Multi-Melta, [[Autocannon]] || Bolt Pistol, Chainsword, Chainaxe, Power Sword, Power Axe, Power Maul, Power fist || Bolt Pistol, Plasma Pistol, Chainsword, Chainaxe, Power Sword, Power Axe, Power Maul, Power fist || Bolt Pistol, [[Force Weapons|Force Sword]]
|-
! Abilities
| Capture Objectives ||　Suppressing Fire || Capture Objectives || [[Jump pack]] || Healing Spell, Warp Instability (Debuff), Nurgle Heal (AOE heal) Slaanesh Lash (Damage + Debuff), Flickering Fire (Damage), Daemonbolt (user-guided missile)
|}

*'''Veterans''': Veteran Traitor, Veteran Havoc, Veteran Traitor Assault, Veteran Raptors, Sorcerer
*'''Elites''': [[Possessed Marine]] and <s>[[Terminators]]</s>
*'''Heroes''': <s>[[Fallen Angels|Fallen]] Captain</s>

===Orks===

Da Orkz are slated to be the good old underdog faction we all know and love from the tabletop, and are not particularly geared towards either melee or ranged. Unlike what some of you might think ([[Space Marines|you know who you are]]), the Orks are ''not'' a horde army in the traditional sense, and Ork characters are on the same level as any other character from another faction, by a combination of 'Ard Armour, Ork tenacity and a little goodwill. A WAAAAGH! can be triggered in certain matches, specifically if 5 minutes are left with no extensions. This radically reduces respawn cooldown and makes Orks faster in order to simulate the green tide, since the teams still have to have an equal number of players, however they don't have a down state and die immediately.

Currently, the Orks have the best community out of all the factions in terms of role play(all by player choice), friendly players, and just good fun in general. Those that are salty after a match are Grotz in disguise.

*'''Klans''': [[Goffs]], [[Evil Sunz]], [[Deathskulls]], [[Bad Moons]], [[Blood Axes]]
*'''Faction Leader''': Warboss Skarblitz (a Bad Moon with a Dreadnought's power fist as his Power Klaw and a thing for smashin' [[Space Wolves|Wolves]].)
**'''Sub-faction Leaders''':
***Goffs: Luguk 'Edpuncha, known for being the largest Goff on <s>Arkhona</s> Orkhona and carrier of the kombi-rokkit launcha called Spare Keys (you know, as in 'Look boss, dis door is locked', 'No worries grot! I brought my spare keys!' KABLOOIE!)
***Evil Sunz: Brakenek Wazcrash, arrived on Arkhona recently, fought some 'nids and got a cool idea for a plasma cannon design.
***Bad Moons: Gazzagug, a [[Weirdboy|warphead]], and one of the senior members of Skarblitz's tribe.
***Deathskulls: <s>TBA</s>
***Blood Axes: <s>TBA</s>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Ork Default Classes
!
! Objective
! Heavy Weapons
! Ground Melee
! Air Attack
! Medic / Support
|-
! Unit
| [[Ork Boy|Shoota Boyz]] || [[Lootas]] || [[Ork Boy|Slugga Boyz]] || [[Stormboyz]] || [[Painboy]]
|-
! Weapons
| Shoota, Big Shoota, Rokkit Launcha || Dakka Deffgun, Zzap Deffgun, Plasma Deffgun, Deffcannon||Slugga, Slab Slugga, Kwik Slugga, Pokkit Rokkit Launcha, Choppa, Chain-Choppa, Electrified Choppa, Power Klaw ||Slugga, Slab Slugga, Kwik Slugga, Pokkit Rokkit Launcha, Choppa, Chain-Choppa, Electrified Choppa, Power Klaw || Slugga, Slab Slugga, Sicky Slugga, Kwik Slugga, Pokkit Rokkit Launcha, 'Utry Syringe (currently their only melee weapon)
|-
! Abilities
| Capture Objectives || || Improvised Shield (replaces slugga), Capture Objectives || Rokkit (Functions identically to jump pack) || Can both heal & poison with 'Urty Syringe, Heal Station (AOE, destructible, only one at a time), Poison grenades
|}

*'''Veterans''': Shoota [[Nob]], Loota Nob, Slugga Nob, Stormboy Nob, Painboy Dok
*'''Elites''': <s>Cybork Madboys, [[Meganobz]] [[Weirdboy]]s.</s>
*'''Heroes''': Skarboy Kommandos

===Eldar===

Our favorite Space Elves are the fourth faction in the roster, and are the most alien of the four. Eldar are a faster, more dodgy faction, using hit-and run strikes while backflipping out of harm's way. Eldar have a more limited class customization but have more classes to reflect the paths, as per fluff. Eldar are also the only race of the four with male and female character options, also as per fluff.

Out of all the factions, they have the lightest armor and highest speed, vehicle-wise and on foot. Eldar have great versatility at the start, from stealth melee, to anti-vehicle, foot troops, and heavy weapons.

They're also one of the most hated in-game due to their unbalanced nature and their tendency towards swift hit-and-run tactics. (For reference, [[Rage|a single Fire Warrior can destroy a rhino in less than 6 seconds, Swooping Hawks get the highest points for sniping, and Witchblades can 1-hit you]])

*'''Craftworlds''': [[Craftworld Biel-tan|Biel-tan]], [[Craftworld Saim-Hann|Saim-Hann]], [[Craftworld Iyanden|Iyanden]], [[Craftworld Ulthwé|Ulthwé]], Altansar )
*'''Faction Leader''': Jain Zar, Phoenix Lord of the Howling Banshees.
**'''Sub-Faction Leaders''':
***Biel-tan: <s>Possibly a farseer named Ksenyia, found in one of the short stories, but yet to be fully confirmed.</s>
***Saim-Hann: An Autarch by the name of Maelydahn Windstrider; a young and energetic guy with flowing red hair.
***Iyanden: Soraya, an old Deathspeaker wearing an azure cloak hiding most of her body.
***Ulthwe: Warlock Amatheon, a badass old guy who, for some reason, can't see through the Warp for shit.
***Altansar: <s>TBA</s>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Eldar Default Classes
!
! Objective
! colspan = "2" | Heavy Weapons
! colspan = "2" | Ground Melee
! Air Attack
! Medic / Support
|-
! Unit
| [[Dire Avengers]] || [[Fire Dragons]] || [[Dark Reapers]] || [[Striking Scorpions]] || [[Howling Banshees]] || [[Swooping Hawks]] || [[Warlock]]
|-
! Weapons
| Avenger Shuriken Catapult||Fusion Gun || Shuriken Cannon, Reaper Launcher, Tempest Launcher ||Chainsword, Shuriken Pistol, Fusion Pistol || Shuriken Pistol, Power Sword|| Lasblaster, Sunrifle, lots of grenades for grenade-bombing || [[Force Weapons|Witch Blade]], Shuriken Pistol
|-
! Abilities
| Capture Objectives || || || Invisibility||Psychic Scream (Suppression)|| Glide || Renewal (Healing), Jynx (Debuff), Protect (AOE Shield), Destructor (Lightning), Embolden (AoE Healing/Damage Reduction)
|}

*'''Veterans''': Revered Dire Avenger, Revered Fire Dragon, Revered Dark Reaper, Revered Striking Scorpion, Revered Howling Banshee, Revered Swooping Hawk, Revered Warlock
<s>*'''Elites''': [[Wraithguard]]s and [[Eldar Ranger|Outcast Ranger]]s</s>
<s>*'''Heroes''': [[Autarch]]s</s>

'''Note:''' ''As of July 2017, the Eldar campaign haven't started yet and, considering the current status of the staff, it's unlikely they will get any future updates, including new gear and characters.''

===Tyranids===
An [[NPC]] faction, providing enemies for PvE content in underground "Hives", which act as wave defense maps, <s>and acting as a counterbalance to ensure that no one faction remains overwhelmingly dominant over the others by attacking random regions, and so attacking the most powerful factions the most.</s> Or at least that was supposed to happen. Using tyranids to maintain the status quo... Now [[Games Workshop|where have I seen that before]]?

*'''Creatures:'''
**'''Small:''' [[Hormagaunt|Hormagaunts]], [[Termagaunt|Termagaunts]]
**'''Medium:''' [[Warriors]]
**'''Large:''' [[Carnifex|Carnifexes]]

==<s>Possible Future Races</s>==

Progress for the game has crashed and burned, but for a while the developers said that they wanted to add all races over time. A testament of the original ambition and confidence the team had back in the day, here is a list of non-launch races that have been mentioned by the devs.

===Dark Eldar===
<s>Unconfirmed, but implied in a newsletter.</s>

===Tau===
<s>Were noted in an interview by Miguel Caron as being one of the three most requested races, at the time of the interview. Watching the devs try to justify the Tau appearing is going to be fun to watch, since the game takes place clear on the other side of the galaxy.</s>

===Adepta Sororitas===
<s>Were noted in the same interview as being one of the three most requested races. Were also referenced by Creative Director David Ghozland as being on the post-launch list via twitter. They discussed the possibility of adding them in as a hero character rather than a faction, but no confirmation as of yet.</s>

===Necrons===
<s>Were also one of the three most requested races.</s>

== Setting ==
[[File:arkhona_vision_starmap.jpg|800px|thumb|right|Notice the planet Simahgr. Take out the 'h' and re-arrange it, and then it spells out as "Sigmar"... clever eh?]]
Now anyone who has knowledge of [[Warhammer 40,000]] obviously knows the setting. However, the games events take place on the Kharon System, located in the northern part of the [[Segmentum#Segmentum Obscurus|Segmentum Obscurus]]. The original intention was to follow a planet wide contest for a single undisclosed planet, known as Arkhona. The planet in question was once an effective Imperial settlement, but due to the planets volatile nature, no great foothold could be gained on the planet other than small outposts. The planet was also once inhabited by an alien race, that supposedly was exterminated during the [[Great Crusade]]. Now, [[Tyranids]] are appearing out of absolutely nowhere, killing everyone left on the planet, apparently coming from ''the underground of the planet'' like they had been hibernating there. Weird.

All this calls the playable races to action for different, yet to be revealed reasons, and are now to duke it out on the surface of the planet while the Tyranids eat everything. [[How Imperial Life Is Worse Than You Can Imagine|Lovely.]]

Arkhona is actually just the primary planet in a system, one that has three different colored suns, for some reason, and with ten planets or moons of playable size, so obviously down the line there will be downloadable content where you start fighting on a new planet.

Arkhona, fifth planet from the three suns, hopefully far enough to not fucking melt in the daylight.

==Monetization==

===How it was===

During early stages of development, Eternal Crusade started out by offering a "Founders" program, in which future players could, through an important sum of money, basically "fund" the game and receive exclusive weapons, gear, updates and many other goodies with the hope of getting even more benefits as the game expanded, not unlike any pre-order or Patreon pledge. How many people bought these packs is anyone's guess, but the truth is that said sums were pretty high, and it was a risky investment since there was no clue how it was going to turn out.

During the Alpha stage, EC was known for its ridiculously high price, at a staggering $39.99 on Steam (more or less depending of the country.) While this scared off potential buyers right away, players who bought it were shocked as they got an incomplete, sluggish mess of a game, filled with bugs and completely unoptimized. Devs insisted again and again through weekly streams that they were working to improve everything, but time was running out and progress was minimal, even after a year.

A cash-shop was then introduced. Items sold are almost entirely cosmetic, and they can be bought through RTC (Rogue Trader Credits), an in-game currency you can get in exchange of real money. Prices range from 2,000 RTC for a helmet or chapter symbol, to 10,000 RTC for unique deluxe weapons, like a golden power fist. While devs repeatedly stated there wouldn't be pay-to-win in any form, there's a special subset of weapons that have minor buffs at the cost of taking up far more loadout space (such as the infamous Abaddon's Grace Autocannon, which deals minor soul blaze damage).

There's one huge problem with the shop: RTCs can only be obtained in packs of odd amounts (4000, 9000 and so on), while all prices in the shop are in even numbers. This means, if you want an item that costs 5,000 RTCs, you ''have'' to purchase the 9000 pack, which leaves you with 4000 unusable credits left unless you go for cheaper stuff. And to makes matters worse, the catalogue is relatively scarce, with no option for deeper customization. It's a scammy, unfair cash-grab, which has lead to much outrage from many players.

On the plus side, there was another currency introduced called "Requisition Points", which are basically skill points obtained through performing various actions in a match including kills, captures, executions, etc. These can be traded for "Supply Drops", which are mystery packs that contain weapons, upgrades and unique gear not available through the cash-shop. While opening all the boxes takes much time and effort, at the end the loot obtained isn't that great and once you've got everything, you can't do anything else. [[Games Workshop|Unless, of course, you want to give more money to The Man.]]

===How it actually turned out===

Originally, there were plans to have a free-to-play dynamic known as "Free To Waaaagh!", in which players could enter the game but limited to the Orks faction. The idea sounds brilliant and its quite fluffy, since Orks are literally a huge, green piledrivin' horde, and for that, you need players. However, concerns in game balance/population, and the fact that matches never went beyond 60 players crushed that possibility.

But eventually it happened. The game went into a freemium state, with a few restricts. You can't access the Assault class and progression is slowed to 1/3 normal state, but the other 2/3s will be given to you upon upgrading to premium or spending $20 in the cash shop. In other words: Without paying, players can access the game, but receive a third of their earned requisition and experience. Those who buy the game are given all of the currency and experience they were withheld from while free-to-play.

This transition caused quite an outrage in the Steam community, specially those who ended up spending $40 or more during the early years. But at this point is obvious it was the Founders who got the short end of the stick.

To add insult to injury, the last noteworthy addition to the cash-shop were the "Heroes", which are unique characters with special abilities, but they come at the insulting price of 25,000 RTCs. Ouch.

== Game Features ==

In short:

===What we never got===

*Planet-wide open world with multiple continents
*Long-lasting global campaigns
*From huge climatic battles to swift skirmishes over territory, supplies, etc.
*actual campaign goals set by a player-controlled War Council
*Tyranids as NPC balance mechanism (e.g. attacking the faction with most territory and/or most abundant in resources)
*Huge array of vehicles and weapons
*Players and Guilds getting their own space ship as HQ, with visual customization.
*Day/Night cycle
*Weather, which would had an impact on combat
*Dreadnoughts, Terminators and faction equivalents
*The opportunity to get a massive game that reflects the large-scale epicness of the 40k universe.

===What we ended up with===

*PVP oriented with splashes of PVE
*Combat is visceral, skill-based, over-the-shoulder dakka/melee, basically an expanded copycat of [[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine|Space Marine multiplayer.]]
*Predators, Vindicators and Rhinos for both marines, Trukks and Kill Burstas for Orks, and Wave Serpents, Falcons, and Warp Hunters for Eldar. Land Raiders and equivalents where planned but ultimately scrapped.
*Five preset classes (seven for Eldar) and seven slots for custom classes, plus one slot for a veteran class. Each class has 1000 points to spend on weapons, equipment, and upgrades.
*Limited and expensive visual customization.
*Extremely scarce variety of weapons and upgrades
*Friendly fire (which leads to a frenzy of teamkilling, specially the typical newbie with the plasma cannon)
*Bleed-out/Revive system, with the option to bleed faster (nominally for avoiding executions, but mostly for respawning faster)
*Executions, which give bonus XP when performed and prevent a downed enemy from being revived, but leave the player vulnerable during the execution animation.
*Cover system with crouching and vaulting.
*Classes that use jump-packs can wall jump.
*Playable Elite and Hero characters.
*Veterans, with extra 400 loadout points and veteran-specific aesthetic options, at the expense of being able to deploy it only once per match.
*Supply drops for weapons, gear, mods, etc.
*Mediocre performance optimization, with FPS drops even on a behemoth rig
*Regular matches never go beyond 40 players.
*No more new content from July 2017 onwards

==See also==
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]''
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millenium]]'', which was canceled then un-canceled then turned into ''Eternal Crusade''

== Links ==
* [http://www.eternalcrusade.com/ Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brMfsxMs5F4 Meet the Team Video] Notice how the opening looks strangely familiar.
* [http://gamingbolt.com/warhammer-40k-eternal-crusade-interview-staying-relevant-with-f2p-all-out-online-war-next-gen-consoles-and-more An interview with the developers, lots of information.]
* [http://forum.eternalcrusade.com/ Official Forum]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuVeZ8n4CAQ Meet the Team 2] This video shows some very early game footage.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9H7LEecCB0 Full Pre-Alpha Footage Gameplay]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAlOe8fUoG0 Wars of Arkhona Official Trailer]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image: Eternalcrusade battlescene new.jpg| "We go where we wilt, we slay who we wilt. Let the Emperor judge the righteousness of our deeds!"
Image: Eternalcrusade web chaos.jpg| "In the name of the Dark Gods, we will bring down the rotting edifice that is the Imperium!"
Image: Eternalcrusade web orks.jpg| "I reckon these humies are just puny soft gits who need a good stompin!"
Image: Eternalcrusade web eldar.jpg| "How foolish they seem to our eyes. Once, all this was ours, and it will come back to us!"
Image: Eternalcrusade web tyranids.jpg| Where Ultramarines: The Movie had bolters that looked too big, this promotional artwork of the Tyranid reveal has bolters that look too small.
</gallery>

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Video Games]]

Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade

2017-07-21T03:12:29Z

2A02:C7F:4C09:DD00:5451:B0A5:1E37:CC74:

[[File:Warhammer-40000-eternal-cursade-logo.png|700px|center]]

{{cleanup}}

'''Warhammer 40,000 Eternal Crusade''' is a Third-Person Shooter (think Battlefront) that was announced at E3 2013 and released in 2016, available for the '''PC''', <s>'''PS4''' and the '''Xbox One/Ten'''</s>.

Now many of you think that this is such wonderful news, right? Well... This is still up to debate since the game was being developed by the people who have given us such wonderful titles like '''Wet''', '''Dante's Inferno''' (PSP), '''[[The Lord of the Rings]]: Conquest''' (DS) and '''Naughty Bear'''. However, Behavior (the guys that were making this thing) pulled in talent from all around - especially from Funcom Montreal (Age of Conan, The Secret World); recently, [[Graham McNeill]] and [[Anthony Reynolds]] (known for writing the [[Ultramarines]] and [[Word Bearers]] series, respectively) were confirmed to be working alongside them as well.

'''The game is dead now.''' For real this time. As of July 2017, devs have admitted through Twitch they have absolutely no resources and staff to add new content. This means that any plans to expand the setting and polish the game mechanics have been scrapped and their last hope is to collect as much money as they can from its current rotting state. Players have been completely abandoned and have been left with a mediocre arena shooter with a 40k skin. Yet another trailblazing failure in the infamous pantheon of 40k gaming. (So basically the Imperium. A sort of delicious irony.) Emperor helps us all.

==Dream Big==

When the devs first got the license for this game, they wanted nothing less than to shoot for the moon. An open world the scope and complexity of Planetside 2 with no fewer than four factions, player-driven campaigns, giant fortress climax battles, and everything from Ork nob squads tearing at Wraithguard to a Chaplain rallying the last desperate charge against a fortified Chaos stronghold, with enough different weapons and customization options to always have the player come back for more .

Now naturally you can't just build a game like that in one or two years. Seeing how insurmountable an MMO of this kind of proportions would be to create from scratch, Behaviour decided to scale down the initial size of the game, and then scale ''that'' down for Open Alpha. To make sure the engine, weapons, vehicles, graphics, maps, etc. all worked. Updates continued to pour in, and all the races were added.

Unfortunately, as the devs churned out a half-decent Early Access game (by the standards of Early Access) the publishers were getting impatient. A mandate came down from on-high...

==Current State==

Officially, the game was "launched" in September 2016. This is despite the game being ''completely unfinished'', looking identical to the Early Access mode the game was in when Orks were in alpha mode. For all intents and purposes, the game is basically an early Beta state - All announced factions are in, and the games are played as instanced arcade-esque shooters not unlike [[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine|Space Marine's multiplayer.]] The long-term plan was to gradually open up the world, making larger regions, until the continent of EC is one region in it's entirety, somewhat like Planetside 2, as was originally the plan. An invading army would had need to capture at least 2 of a region's outposts before they can attack the primary base of that region, allowing for large-scale strategic planning. The latest "launch candidate" currently has a primitive world map with matches being set on each faction's borders. There's also Tyranids which you can fight in 5-man kill teams to achieve absolutely nothing except bragging right and Steam Achievements.

While this has lead to much outcry from the Founders and the fanbase in general, many do now see the benefit of improving the core gameplay to be a fun shooter, before making a massive world with barely nothing in it and with poor gameplay. Furthermore, through the weekly Twitch shows and an active cooperation with fans on the forum, combined with a positive reaction to the current Alpha build, the initial outrage over this controversial move died down a bit.

In March 2017, the game went free-to-play, with certain limitations to lure the player into buying the complete version. While there were far more people playing on both the Virginia and Frankfurt servers after this switch, the decision was seen by many players as a bad omen. Despite its very lackluster state, the devs remained confident in the game having a future. But it was too late.

As of July 2017, the game is dying. There's only about 500 players on at any one time, console releases were scrapped, there haven't been any content updates for months, and Behavior no longer has any animators, modelers or any significant staff on the game. It appears they're trying to milk it for what it's worth before it finally dies, another testament to GW's mistake of handing out their IP to multiple different developers without any thought behind it.

== Races ==
The game has four playable factions and one NPC faction, each including several subgroups, and classes. Each race has unique bonuses which affect the game in some way, such as the Eldar and Chaos Space Marines using magic for the support class, able to equip two spells that each have a different mana cost, though they only have access to a few backup weapons. Space Marines and Orks Support don't have access to magic, but can deploy health stations and have access to firearms, among other tools.
===Space Marines===

Ah, Space Marines. Heroes, [[Mary Sue|Mary Sues]], warrior monks and nazi supersoldiers, the Space Marines are the "generalist" faction, with no particular strength or weakness. Their Apothecaries tend to be better in defensive environments, and with the addition of the Storm Shield, they have taken defense as their main stick. There's not a lot to say about them; they're marines, what do you expect. The current playerbase is predominantly Space Marines, and Space Marines fans make up 40% of the fans. So nothing new there.

A lot of people are crying on the fact that Space Marines don't feel "Space Marine" enough, being too weak and feeble for their taste. While the TTK was slated to be increased, a lot of people are in for a surprise when Marines aren't the most powerful faction in a game with four, equally supported factions. Part of the "problem" here is the engine mechanics, which deliberately makes all characters in the entire game somewhat sluggish (the best example is how infantry have a maximum turning speed, so upping your mouse sensitivity won't let you you 360 quickscope, and there's lots of other more subtle examples). It also doesn't help that many new players first start out as Space Marines before deciding which faction to go to next.

*'''Chapters''': [[Ultramarines]], [[Space Wolves]], [[Blood Angels]], [[Dark Angels]], [[Imperial Fists]].
*'''Faction Leader''': [[Belial]], Master of the [[Deathwing]].
**'''Sub-Faction Leaders''':
***Ultramarines: Something called a "Techmarine Suprema" the devs puled out of an old White Swarf. The only named Techmarines the Ultras have are Vexos and Fennias Maxim. We'd mention Sevano Tomasin, but he's dead.
***Space Wolves: [[Ragnar Blackmane]].
***Blood Angels: [[Mephiston]], Lord of Death.
***Dark Angels: [[Interrogator-Chaplain]] Cassiel.
***Imperial Fists: <s>TBA</s>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Space Marine Default Classes
!
! Objective
! Heavy Weapons
! Ground Melee
! Air Attack
! Medic / Support
|-
! Unit
| [[Tactical Squad|Tactical]] || [[Devastator Squad|Devastator]] || [[Assault Squad|Ground Assault]] || [[Assault Squad|Assault]] || [[Apothecary]]
|-
! Weapons
| [[Bolter]], Stalker Bolter, [[Storm Bolter]], [[Meltagun]], [[Plasma Gun]], [[Gravgun]], [[Bolt Pistol]], Plasma Pistol, Grav-pistol || [[Heavy Bolter]], [[Lascannon]], Plasma Cannon, Multi-Melta, Grav-cannon || [[Chainsword]], [[Power sword]], [[Power Axe]], [[Power Maul]], [[Power Fist]], [[Bolt Pistol]], Plasma Pistol, Grav-pistol || [[Bolt Pistol]], Plasma Pistol, Grav-pistol, Chainsword, Power Sword, Power Axe, Power Maul, Power Fist|| Bolter, [[Bolt Pistol]], Plasma Pistol, Grav-pistol, Chainsword ''([[Wolf Priest]] cannot has)'', Narthecium/Fang of Morkai ''(Second is [[Wolf Priest]] only)'', Crozius Arcanum ''([[Wolf Priest]] only)''
|-
! Abilities
| Capture Objectives || Suppressing Fire, Dedicated Anti-Vehicle Weaponry || Storm Shield (You can choose a sidearm instead, but if that was the case you'd be better off picking Jump Assault)|| [[Jump pack]] (Less armor than Ground Assault, but more mobile) || Narthecium/Fang of Morkai for heals, Can Revive Downed Allies at Full Health by Injecting Them, Can Neutralize Poison by Healing, Different Injection Vials (Adrenaline for Melee Buff, Survival for Damage Resistance, Narthecium for HOT), Heal Beacon (AOE, destructible, only one at a time, infinite supply, has cooldown, lasts for some time), Medicae Grenade (Small AOE, Gives HOT, infinite supply, has cooldown, only one at a time, last for a short period)
|}

*'''Veterans''': Veteran Tactical, Veteran Devastator, Veteran Ground Assault, Veteran Assault, Veteran Apothecary
*'''Elites''': [[Legion of the Damned]] Legionnaire, <s>[[Terminators]] and maybe [[Techmarine]]s, among others.</s>
*'''Heroes''': <s>Master of Relics, [[Librarian]]s and [[Chaplain]]s, among others.</s>

===Chaos Space Marines===

Pissed off motherfuckers ''de jure'', the Chaos Space Marines are, like the Space Marines, a generalist faction, but thanks to their Sorcerers, Chaos Marks, and the skill of the generally [[/tg/|neckbearded veteran players]], Chaos Marines are more aggressive, and can have some outright insanely long sieges on enemy points. Chaos Marines are very customizable, and their Marks makes them quite the force to be reckoned with. Said marks include Mark of Nurgle (Defense Buff, health buff, stamina penalty), Mark of Khorne (Health buff, regain health from kills, but can't be healed by consumables '''''or''''' sorcerers and will die when health reaches zero), Mark of Slaanesh (Speed increase, slow armor regen), and Mark of Tzeentch (Faster armor regen, slight health penalty). Otherwise Chaos Marines share most of the same basic loadout as Space Marines, making it fairly easy to switch between playing the two. In addition, the fact that the current playerbase is almost exclusively grizzled 40k veterans make a lot of teams driven and better at coordination. 'Cause dem corpse-worshippin' fellas gotta burn.

Chaos is the second most popular faction at the moment, if only because there have only been 2 factions for the longest time.

*'''Legions''': [[Iron Warriors]], [[Word Bearers]], [[Black Legion]], [[Night Lords]], [[Alpha Legion]].
*'''Faction Leader''': [[Abaddon]] the motherfucking Despoiler.
**'''Sub-faction Leaders'''
***Iron Warriors: <s>TBA</s>
***Word Bearers: <s>TBA</s>
***Black Legion: Ash'Hy Mok: a badass sorcerer created for the narrative who has been very busy liquefying space marines and Eldar alike in the short stories release each week.
***Night Lords: <s>TBA</s>
***Alpha Legion: <s>TBA</s>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Chaos Space Marine Default Classes
!
! Objective
! Heavy Weapons
! Ground Melee
! Air Attack
! Medic / Support
|-
! Unit
| Traitor Marine || [[Havoc]] || Traitor Assault || [[Chaos Raptors|Raptors]] || [[Chaos Sorcerer|Aspiring Sorcerer]]
|-
! Weapons
| Bolter, Stalker Bolter, [[Combi-weapon|Combi-Bolter]], Meltagun, Plasma Gun || Heavy Bolter, Lascannon, Plasma Cannon, Multi-Melta, [[Autocannon]] || Bolt Pistol, Chainsword, Chainaxe, Power Sword, Power Axe, Power Maul, Power fist || Bolt Pistol, Plasma Pistol, Chainsword, Chainaxe, Power Sword, Power Axe, Power Maul, Power fist || Bolt Pistol, [[Force Weapons|Force Sword]]
|-
! Abilities
| Capture Objectives ||　Suppressing Fire || Capture Objectives || [[Jump pack]] || Healing Spell, Warp Instability (Debuff), Nurgle Heal (AOE heal) Slaanesh Lash (Damage + Debuff), Flickering Fire (Damage), Daemonbolt (user-guided missile)
|}

*'''Veterans''': Veteran Traitor, Veteran Havoc, Veteran Traitor Assault, Veteran Raptors, Sorcerer
*'''Elites''': [[Possessed Marine]] and <s>[[Terminators]]</s>
*'''Heroes''': <s>[[Fallen Angels|Fallen]] Captain</s>

===Orks===

Da Orkz are slated to be the good old underdog faction we all know and love from the tabletop, and are not particularly geared towards either melee or ranged. Unlike what some of you might think ([[Space Marines|you know who you are]]), the Orks are ''not'' a horde army in the traditional sense, and Ork characters are on the same level as any other character from another faction, by a combination of 'Ard Armour, Ork tenacity and a little goodwill. A WAAAAGH! can be triggered in certain matches, specifically if 5 minutes are left with no extensions. This radically reduces respawn cooldown and makes Orks faster in order to simulate the green tide, since the teams still have to have an equal number of players, however they don't have a down state and die immediately.

Currently, the Orks have the best community out of all the factions in terms of role play(all by player choice), friendly players, and just good fun in general. Those that are salty after a match are Grotz in disguise.

*'''Klans''': [[Goffs]], [[Evil Sunz]], [[Deathskulls]], [[Bad Moons]], [[Blood Axes]]
*'''Faction Leader''': Warboss Skarblitz (a Bad Moon with a Dreadnought's power fist as his Power Klaw and a thing for smashin' [[Space Wolves|Wolves]].)
**'''Sub-faction Leaders''':
***Goffs: Luguk 'Edpuncha, known for being the largest Goff on <s>Arkhona</s> Orkhona and carrier of the kombi-rokkit launcha called Spare Keys (you know, as in 'Look boss, dis door is locked', 'No worries grot! I brought my spare keys!' KABLOOIE!)
***Evil Sunz: Brakenek Wazcrash, arrived on Arkhona recently, fought some 'nids and got a cool idea for a plasma cannon design.
***Bad Moons: Gazzagug, a [[Weirdboy|warphead]], and one of the senior members of Skarblitz's tribe.
***Deathskulls: <s>TBA</s>
***Blood Axes: <s>TBA</s>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Ork Default Classes
!
! Objective
! Heavy Weapons
! Ground Melee
! Air Attack
! Medic / Support
|-
! Unit
| [[Ork Boy|Shoota Boyz]] || [[Lootas]] || [[Ork Boy|Slugga Boyz]] || [[Stormboyz]] || [[Painboy]]
|-
! Weapons
| Shoota, Big Shoota, Rokkit Launcha || Dakka Deffgun, Zzap Deffgun, Plasma Deffgun, Deffcannon||Slugga, Slab Slugga, Kwik Slugga, Pokkit Rokkit Launcha, Choppa, Chain-Choppa, Electrified Choppa, Power Klaw ||Slugga, Slab Slugga, Kwik Slugga, Pokkit Rokkit Launcha, Choppa, Chain-Choppa, Electrified Choppa, Power Klaw || Slugga, Slab Slugga, Sicky Slugga, Kwik Slugga, Pokkit Rokkit Launcha, 'Utry Syringe (currently their only melee weapon)
|-
! Abilities
| Capture Objectives || || Improvised Shield (replaces slugga), Capture Objectives || Rokkit (Functions identically to jump pack) || Can both heal & poison with 'Urty Syringe, Heal Station (AOE, destructible, only one at a time), Poison grenades
|}

*'''Veterans''': Shoota [[Nob]], Loota Nob, Slugga Nob, Stormboy Nob, Painboy Dok
*'''Elites''': <s>Cybork Madboys, [[Meganobz]] [[Weirdboy]]s.</s>
*'''Heroes''': Skarboy Kommandos

===Eldar===

Our favorite Space Elves are the fourth faction in the roster, and are the most alien of the four. Eldar are a faster, more dodgy faction, using hit-and run strikes while backflipping out of harm's way. Eldar have a more limited class customization but have more classes to reflect the paths, as per fluff. Eldar are also the only race of the four with male and female character options, also as per fluff.

Out of all the factions, they have the lightest armor and highest speed, vehicle-wise and on foot. Eldar have great versatility at the start, from stealth melee, to anti-vehicle, foot troops, and heavy weapons.

They're also one of the most hated in-game due to their unbalanced nature and their tendency towards swift hit-and-run tactics. (For reference, [[Rage|a single Fire Warrior can destroy a rhino in less than 6 seconds, Swooping Hawks get the highest points for sniping, and Witchblades can 1-hit you]])

*'''Craftworlds''': [[Craftworld Biel-tan|Biel-tan]], [[Craftworld Saim-Hann|Saim-Hann]], [[Craftworld Iyanden|Iyanden]], [[Craftworld Ulthwé|Ulthwé]], Altansar )
*'''Faction Leader''': Jain Zar, Phoenix Lord of the Howling Banshees.
**'''Sub-Faction Leaders''':
***Biel-tan: <s>Possibly a farseer named Ksenyia, found in one of the short stories, but yet to be fully confirmed.</s>
***Saim-Hann: An Autarch by the name of Maelydahn Windstrider; a young and energetic guy with flowing red hair.
***Iyanden: Soraya, an old Deathspeaker wearing an azure cloak hiding most of her body.
***Ulthwe: Warlock Amatheon, a badass old guy who, for some reason, can't see through the Warp for shit.
***Altansar: <s>TBA</s>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Eldar Default Classes
!
! Objective
! colspan = "2" | Heavy Weapons
! colspan = "2" | Ground Melee
! Air Attack
! Medic / Support
|-
! Unit
| [[Dire Avengers]] || [[Fire Dragons]] || [[Dark Reapers]] || [[Striking Scorpions]] || [[Howling Banshees]] || [[Swooping Hawks]] || [[Warlock]]
|-
! Weapons
| Avenger Shuriken Catapult||Fusion Gun || Shuriken Cannon, Reaper Launcher, Tempest Launcher ||Chainsword, Shuriken Pistol, Fusion Pistol || Shuriken Pistol, Power Sword|| Lasblaster, Sunrifle, lots of grenades for grenade-bombing || [[Force Weapons|Witch Blade]], Shuriken Pistol
|-
! Abilities
| Capture Objectives || || || Invisibility||Psychic Scream (Suppression)|| Glide || Renewal (Healing), Jynx (Debuff), Protect (AOE Shield), Destructor (Lightning), Embolden (AoE Healing/Damage Reduction)
|}

*'''Veterans''': Revered Dire Avenger, Revered Fire Dragon, Revered Dark Reaper, Revered Striking Scorpion, Revered Howling Banshee, Revered Swooping Hawk, Revered Warlock
<s>*'''Elites''': [[Wraithguard]]s and [[Eldar Ranger|Outcast Ranger]]s</s>
<s>*'''Heroes''': [[Autarch]]s</s>

'''Note:''' ''As of July 2017, the Eldar campaign haven't started yet and, considering the current status of the staff, it's unlikely they will get any future updates, including new gear and characters.''

===Tyranids===
An [[NPC]] faction, providing enemies for PvE content in underground "Hives", which act as wave defense maps, <s>and acting as a counterbalance to ensure that no one faction remains overwhelmingly dominant over the others by attacking random regions, and so attacking the most powerful factions the most.</s> Or at least that was supposed to happen. Using tyranids to maintain the status quo... Now [[Games Workshop|where have I seen that before]]?

*'''Creatures:'''
**'''Small:''' [[Hormagaunt|Hormagaunts]], [[Termagaunt|Termagaunts]]
**'''Medium:''' [[Warriors]]
**'''Large:''' [[Carnifex|Carnifexes]]

==<s>Possible Future Races</s>==

Progress for the game has crashed and burned, but for a while the developers said that they wanted to add all races over time. A testament of the original ambition and confidence the team had back in the day, here is a list of non-launch races that have been mentioned by the devs.

===Dark Eldar===
<s>Unconfirmed, but implied in a newsletter.</s>

===Tau===
<s>Were noted in an interview by Miguel Caron as being one of the three most requested races, at the time of the interview. Watching the devs try to justify the Tau appearing is going to be fun to watch, since the game takes place clear on the other side of the galaxy.</s>

===Adepta Sororitas===
<s>Were noted in the same interview as being one of the three most requested races. Were also referenced by Creative Director David Ghozland as being on the post-launch list via twitter. They discussed the possibility of adding them in as a hero character rather than a faction, but no confirmation as of yet.</s>

===Necrons===
<s>Were also one of the three most requested races.</s>

== Setting ==
[[File:arkhona_vision_starmap.jpg|800px|thumb|right|Notice the planet Simahgr. Take out the 'h' and re-arrange it, and then it spells out as "Sigmar"... clever eh?]]
Now anyone who has knowledge of [[Warhammer 40,000]] obviously knows the setting. However, the games events take place on the Kharon System, located in the northern part of the [[Segmentum#Segmentum Obscurus|Segmentum Obscurus]]. The original intention was to follow a planet wide contest for a single undisclosed planet, known as Arkhona. The planet in question was once an effective Imperial settlement, but due to the planets volatile nature, no great foothold could be gained on the planet other than small outposts. The planet was also once inhabited by an alien race, that supposedly was exterminated during the [[Great Crusade]]. Now, [[Tyranids]] are appearing out of absolutely nowhere, killing everyone left on the planet, apparently coming from ''the underground of the planet'' like they had been hibernating there. Weird.

All this calls the playable races to action for different, yet to be revealed reasons, and are now to duke it out on the surface of the planet while the Tyranids eat everything. [[How Imperial Life Is Worse Than You Can Imagine|Lovely.]]

Arkhona is actually just the primary planet in a system, one that has three different colored suns, for some reason, and with ten planets or moons of playable size, so obviously down the line there will be downloadable content where you start fighting on a new planet.

Arkhona, fifth planet from the three suns, hopefully far enough to not fucking melt in the daylight.

==Monetization==

===How it was===

During early stages of development, Eternal Crusade started out by offering a "Founders" program, in which future players could, through an important sum of money, basically "fund" the game and receive exclusive weapons, gear, updates and many other goodies with the hope of getting even more benefits as the game expanded, not unlike any pre-order or Patreon pledge. How many people bought these packs is anyone's guess, but the truth is that said sums were pretty high, and it was a risky investment since there was no clue how it was going to turn out.

During the Alpha stage, EC was known for its ridiculously high price, at a staggering $39.99 on Steam (more or less depending of the country.) While this scared off potential buyers right away, players who bought it were shocked as they got an incomplete, sluggish mess of a game, filled with bugs and completely unoptimized. Devs insisted again and again through weekly streams that they were working to improve everything, but time was running out and progress was minimal, even after a year.

A cash-shop was then introduced. Items sold are almost entirely cosmetic, and they can be bought through RTC (Rogue Trader Credits), an in-game currency you can get in exchange of real money. Prices range from 2,000 RTC for a helmet or chapter symbol, to 10,000 RTC for unique deluxe weapons, like a golden power fist. While devs repeatedly stated there wouldn't be pay-to-win in any form, there's a special subset of weapons that have minor buffs at the cost of taking up far more loadout space (such as the infamous Abaddon's Grace Autocannon, which deals minor soul blaze damage).

There's one huge problem with the shop: RTCs can only be obtained in packs of odd amounts (4000, 9000 and so on), while all prices in the shop are in even numbers. This means, if you want an item that costs 5,000 RTCs, you ''have'' to purchase the 9000 pack, which leaves you with 4000 unusable credits left unless you go for cheaper stuff. And to makes matters worse, the catalogue is relatively scarce, with no option for deeper customization. It's a scammy, unfair cash-grab, which has lead to much outrage from many players.

On the plus side, there was another currency introduced called "Requisition Points", which are basically skill points obtained through performing various actions in a match including kills, captures, executions, etc. These can be traded for "Supply Drops", which are mystery packs that contain weapons, upgrades and unique gear not available through the cash-shop. While opening all the boxes takes much time and effort, at the end the loot obtained isn't that great and once you've got everything, you can't do anything else. [[Games Workshop|Unless, of course, you want to give more money to The Man.]]

===How it actually turned out===

Originally, there were plans to have a free-to-play dynamic known as "Free To Waaaagh!", in which players could enter the game but limited to the Orks faction. The idea sounds brilliant and its quite fluffy, since Orks are literally a huge, green piledrivin' horde, and for that, you need players. However, concerns in game balance/population, and the fact that matches never went beyond 60 players crushed that possibility.

But eventually it happened. The game went into a freemium state, with a few restricts. You can't access the Assault class and progression is slowed to 1/3 normal state, but the other 2/3s will be given to you upon upgrading to premium or spending $20 in the cash shop. In other words: Without paying, players can access the game, but receive a third of their earned requisition and experience. Those who buy the game are given all of the currency and experience they were withheld from while free-to-play.

This transition caused quite an outrage in the Steam community, specially those who ended up spending $40 or more during the early years. But at this point is obvious it was the Founders who got the short end of the stick.

To add insult to injury, the last noteworthy addition to the cash-shop were the "Heroes", which are unique characters with special abilities, but they come at the insulting price of 25,000 RTCs. Ouch.

== Game Features ==

In short:

===What we never got===

*Planet-wide open world with multiple continents
*Long-lasting global campaigns
*From huge climatic battles to swift skirmishes over territory, supplies, etc.
*actual campaign goals set by a player-controlled War Council
*Tyranids as NPC balance mechanism (e.g. attacking the faction with most territory and/or most abundant in resources)
*Huge array of vehicles and weapons
*Players and Guilds getting their own space ship as HQ, with visual customization.
*Day/Night cycle
*Weather, which would had an impact on combat
*Dreadnoughts, Terminators and faction equivalents
*The opportunity to get a massive game that reflects the large-scale epicness of the 40k universe.

===What we ended up with===

*PVP oriented with splashes of PVE
*Combat is visceral, skill-based, over-the-shoulder dakka/melee, basically an expanded copycat of [[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine|Space Marine multiplayer.]]
*Predators, Vindicators and Rhinos for both marines, Trukks and Kill Burstas for Orks, and Wave Serpents, Falcons, and Warp Hunters for Eldar. Land Raiders and equivalents where planned but ultimately scrapped.
*Five preset classes (seven for Eldar) and seven slots for custom classes, plus one slot for a veteran class. Each class has 1000 points to spend on weapons, equipment, and upgrades.
*Limited and expensive visual customization.
*Extremely scarce variety of weapons and upgrades
*Friendly fire (which leads to a frenzy of teamkilling, specially the typical newbie with the plasma cannon)
*Bleed-out/Revive system, with the option to bleed faster (nominally for avoiding executions, but mostly for respawning faster)
*Executions, which give bonus XP when performed and prevent a downed enemy from being revived, but leave the player vulnerable during the execution animation.
*Cover system with crouching and vaulting.
*Classes that use jump-packs can wall jump.
*Playable Elite and Hero characters.
*Veterans, with extra 400 loadout points and veteran-specific aesthetic options, at the expense of being able to deploy it only once per match.
*Supply drops for weapons, gear, mods, etc.
*Mediocre performance optimization, with FPS drops even on a behemoth rig
*Regular matches never go beyond 40 players.
*No more new content from July 2017 onwards

==See also==
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]''
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millenium]]'', which was canceled then un-canceled then turned into ''Eternal Crusade''

== Links ==
* [http://www.eternalcrusade.com/ Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brMfsxMs5F4 Meet the Team Video] Notice how the opening looks strangely familiar.
* [http://gamingbolt.com/warhammer-40k-eternal-crusade-interview-staying-relevant-with-f2p-all-out-online-war-next-gen-consoles-and-more An interview with the developers, lots of information.]
* [http://forum.eternalcrusade.com/ Official Forum]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuVeZ8n4CAQ Meet the Team 2] This video shows some very early game footage.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9H7LEecCB0 Full Pre-Alpha Footage Gameplay]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAlOe8fUoG0 Wars of Arkhona Official Trailer]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image: Eternalcrusade battlescene new.jpg| "We go where we wilt, we slay who we wilt. Let the Emperor judge the righteousness of our deeds!"
Image: Eternalcrusade web chaos.jpg| "In the name of the Dark Gods, we will bring down the rotting edifice that is the Imperium!"
Image: Eternalcrusade web orks.jpg| "I reckon these humies are just puny soft gits who need a good stompin!"
Image: Eternalcrusade web eldar.jpg| "How foolish they seem to our eyes. Once, all this was ours, and it will come back to us!"
Image: Eternalcrusade web tyranids.jpg| Where Ultramarines: The Movie had bolters that looked too big, this promotional artwork of the Tyranid reveal has bolters that look too small.
</gallery>

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Video Games]]

Drachenfels

2017-07-21T02:30:34Z

2A02:C7F:4C09:DD00:5451:B0A5:1E37:CC74:

[[Image:Drachenfels.JPG|right|thumb|400px|The single most evil being in any Warhammer universe.]]

A character and subject of book written in the ye olde days of WHFB, by [[Jack Yeovil]], more widely known as the film critic/horror buff Kim Newman. Imagine if you mixed the classic mustache and goatee twirling depiction of Satan in a business suit with Dracula, and threw him in the [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] universe. That's Drachenfels.

==The Legend==

A long time ago (15,000 years to be exact) before the arrival of the [[Old Ones]] to the world, there lived a tribe of neanderthal humans by a river during the ice age of the world. Drachenfels was counted among their number, and after becoming sick while in old age he was left out in the wilderness to die. He feigned death by exposure, and when one of his tribe came close he somehow (unknown even to himself) managed to kill the man and absorbed his life energy (keep in mind this is before [[Chaos]] entered the world, and thus there's no deus ex machina you can use through them here).

[[Image:Castle Drachenfels.jpeg|right|thumb|200px|Casa De Drachenfels.]]
He used his newfound power to continue living. His body still rotted however, and he took to forming a new body out of the remains of his victims to continue looking human. The faces he likes the most are preserved with magic, and he wears them to go amongst the mortal races of the world in disguise.

At some point, he established a fortress named after himself in the [[Old World]]. From here, he launched attack after attack at the races of the mortal world using all the armies of Destruction, as each submitted to him as a superior being. After the collapse of the [[Warp Gates]], he traveled to the Warp and looked upon the Chaos Gods. Despite being of near power to himself, he declared them to be his subordinates, and demanded tribute of [[Daemon]] forces periodically afterwards. They hastily obliged each time.

Rather than having a direct goal (like taking over the world, destroying the Empire, consuming the Warp, and so on) Drachenfels has never sought specific ends. Each time he attacks the outside world, he does so merely out of boredom. He usually takes plenty of captives back, which he tortures or otherwise "plays with" in abominable ways before consuming their souls and using their flesh to keep himself spry. Since he tends to completely destroy anything he attacks, the only recorded incidents involving him in history are times that he was beaten or for some reason chose to spare the conquered.

The first time, [[Sigmar]] had only just united the tribes that would be the [[Empire]] when the land fell under attack from an army of [[Orcs & Goblins|greenskins]] lead by Drachenfels. Drachenfels was defeated, and the greenskins driven back to his castle. Although Sigmar believed he had dealt true death to the vampire/necromancer/devil/whatever, Drachenfels regenerated his body from nothing after 1000 years.
The next time he appeared in history, he marched his forces of Daemons and [[Vampire Counts|Undead]] through [[Wood Elves (Warhammer)|Athel Loren]] and attacked a [[Bretonnia|Bretonnian]] province called Parravon. Once there, he defeated the guard of the city to the last, then demanded the wealth of the province in tribute. After receiving it he executed the nobility of the region, then returned to his castle with his army. Among those killed was the father of [[Genevieve Sandrine du Pointe du Lac Dieudonné]] (quite a name, eh?) who would become a vampire shortly later and travel the world.
Only a few decades later, Drachenfels went unarmed to the Empire and announced he'd reformed his evil ways, and would be an ally from that point onwards. He put on an elaborate PR campaign of using the wealth from Parravon to pay reparations to the victims that had escaped his castle, and pleaded for forgiveness at the graves of those whose bodies had been recovered. After the dimwitted public accepted that he'd turned good, he invited the entire court of the Emperor to a feast at his castle. He served them wine laced with paralyzing poison, then laid an elaborate feast out in front of them. Once the nobles were incapacitated he had the nobles' children tortured to death within earshot of them and mocked them by slowly and nonchalantly eating some of the food in front of them before leaving the paralyzed nobles to starve to death with the feast sitting nearby.

One of the children who survived grew to be Oswald von Konigswald, who became an Elector Count. He hired the now adult (and king fu master) Genevieve, who had become a bar wench in Altdorf, along with a few other no-name adventurers to travel with him to Castle Drachenfels and put the monster down for good. Oswald managed to deal the killing blow to him and his death destroyed the Undead and Daemons in his service. The greenskins fled the fortress, and anything that remained was killed. The fortress itself was left intact and transferred to the ownership of Oswald.

* Spoiler: What people didn't know was that Oswald was [[That Guy]]; he was secretly a bitter, power hungry pussy. After shitting himself when it was him and Drachenfels, Drachenfels decided to make a deal with him and keep him alive for lulz. Oswald gets to be the hero who killed Drachenfels and overthrows Karl Franz, while Drachenfels gets to return and fuck a whole new group of people over. He let Oswald kill him, killed lots of his servants and laid low until possessing the actor playing him at the play about his "defeat". Things go south for Drachenfels when Genevieve and Deltef (the latter buffed by the power of Sigmar) kill him (it's implied to be for good), along with the asshole Oswald.

Years later, Oswald hired a great playwright to direct a production within the castle of Oswald's "heroic" defeat of Drachenfels. The most important individuals in the Empire attended, as well as the newly crowned [[Karl Franz]] and his son Luitpold II. The production was hindered by many spooky incidents, not the least of which was the eccentric behavior of the actors. As would be expected, Drachenfels returned to life during the play and slaughtered a fair number of the audience and cast. Genevieve and the director of the play, Detlef Sierck, were blessed by Sigmar and dealt a killing blow to Drachenfels (again). Although this is described as having killed him once and for all, everyone who has killed him has thought the exact same thing. Regardless, his fortress was finally razed to the ground on Franz's command.
The castle itself hasn't been seen by a living being in ages, as no sane creature would travel there.

==Canon?==

Because the books Drachenfels is in were released at the turn of the 90s and the entire setting has been retconned a million times since, Drachenfels conversations within the Warhammer Fantasy community, and on /tg/ especially, tend to garner a fair amount of [[Skub|"civilized" discussion]]. If these books weren't half as popular as they are Black Library wouldn't periodly reprint them despite them being SO out of date. It's easier to summarize arguments by category.

'''Drachenfels relies on retconned information.'''
* '''Pro'''
Old Ones in current canon actually created humanity and in it's current state. Thus not only is it impossible for him to have preceded them, but there never were neanderthals. Any humans reaching that state have devolved either through Chaos or Necromantic exposure.
* '''Con'''
Many (new) Black Library books continue to reference things from the story, and his castle is still shown on maps in modern army books as well as heraldry books. In addition, the Drachenfels/Genevieve books were kept in print long after the information in them became non-canon due to their popularity and being regarded as well written. In addition, the Old Ones did not create mankind; they are stated in the 8e Lizardmen book to have uplifted and altered preexisting races/animals. The Old Ones could have done the latter, and then moved their experimented humans batch to pre-Nehekara. Thus, Drachenfels would have been essentially Warhammer Vandal Savage.

'''Drachenfels was replaced by [[Nagash]]'''
* '''Pro'''
Nagash indeed has taken the role of Drachenfels as a mortal undead tied into the backstory of the Empire, who is a threat to every single faction in the game. It helps that Nagash was always credited with the invention of the widespread version of necromancy while Drachenfels wasn't.
* '''Con'''
That's like saying [[Malekith]] and [[Mannfred von Carstein|Mannfred]] are non-canon because Nagash fulfills the role of big non-Chaos baddie. Drachenfels can be considered the Vandal Savage to Nagash's Darkseid.

* '''Pro'''
Yeah, that's a pretty glaring example of being a Villain Sue. They should at least explain what he is/how he works to the fanbase.
* '''Con'''
That doesn't make it non-canon. In addition, making the Chaos Gods /win simply by virtue of the fact they're Chaos Gods is part of the argument that Games Workshop tends to Mary Sue the entire Chaos faction. Also, the idea that Drachenfels is better than the Chaos Gods could only be true in the eyes of Drachenfels himself, as he is arrogant. Considering it was just after the Warp Gates collapsing, it could be possible due to the fact that we have no knowledge as to how powerful the chaos gods were at that time, they may have ruled the warp already but that doesn't automatically mean that they were as powerful as we know them to be by the time of the "End times".

==On the Tabletop==

As Drachenfels only ever existed in one book series and one Warhammer Fantasy RPG book, he's unlikely to ever get a miniature. Due to his transformative nature however you could easily make something look like him using another mini.
As for how to field him? Daemons army. Vampire Counts army. Orcs & Goblins army. Hell, ally all three together in a 3 on 3 match. All that matters is that you put Drachenfels somewhere on the table, and after you lose you laugh about seeing the other player soon. Then tell him a week later Drachenfels came back and ate the soul of his children.

==The End Times==
In the game [[The End Times: Vermintide]], Castle Drachenfels was added as an expansion. Apparently it was either not destroyed or reformed, and was invaded by Skaven who were channeling its magic into portals to summon Daemons, and were searching the castle for cursed magic relics. The heroes put down the Skaven, although nothing else of note was found within. Disturbingly, the Poisoned Feast is still set up...

With the impending release of [[The End Times]], the 2014 big apocalyptic event for [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]], it looks like GW have finally convinced Newman to release a likely updated, rewritten version of Drachenfels, who is getting re-added into the setting as a "[[Mortarch]]" of [[Nagash]], though so far he's only referred to as "The Nameless". Indeed, his whole reason for siding with Nagash is to try and recover his identity, because he's forgotten who he is. He's described as a bodiless spirit that specializes in possessing and controlling large groups of people at a time, and also a huge dick who likes to screw people over for his petty whims - one day deciding he wants banners of flayed skin, so his victims start skinning each other, the next day he makes them rip out their bones to make totems because he's bored with the skin banners. In fact, this petty dickery actually screws him and Vlad von Carstein over, because it disrupts their takeover so much that it makes Balthasar Gelt come to see why <s>things are acting odd in the area they've conquered</s> the guards in the area weren't reporting in. Though Gelt joins them later due to this, so everything ended up working out fine.

At some point afterwards before the end of the world, Drachy decides that the big bonedaddy doesn't have his interests in mind and eventually just breaks off to do his own thing. He manages to control an entire village and gets to personally possess Luthor Huss, Witch Hunter extraordinaire. By this point, Drach decides to throw his lot in with the winning side (that is Chaos) and is in league with the corpse of [[Isabella Von Carstein]]. However, he runs into Vlad and Vlad manages to wake up Huss and then the Witch Hunter's power of PURE SIGMARITE FAITH burns the bodiless Mortarch to oblivion. And thus was the end of Drachenfels' return. For the time at least ...

So this pretty much confirms Drachenfels as canon.

By extension, Genevieve is now full canon too. Which by extension makes this the best article ever written as we now have confirmation of Sigmar possessing someone to skull fuck someone with a Warhammer.

[[Category: Warhammer Fantasy]] [[Category: Vampire Counts]] [[Category:The Empire]]