Warhammer Total War: Warhammer III

[Riddler]

I guess you are right guys, so the next question is:
Did they decide to implement Cathay so they can re-use the assets from Three-Kingdoms?

They decided to do it because its an interesting concept that is likely to increase the appeal of the game in the Chinese market.

I think it is a little bit of both. Iirc there has also been some sayings that a plurality of the playerbase that vastly prefers human factions, to the point of being almost entirely uninterested in anything else, so that might be another reason they are putting two human factions into this one.

They released some stats a while ago and High Elves and Empire were the most popular.

Hoping chaos dwarf is pre order race pack. Don’t see the appeal of disgusting ogres.

That might just be why it's ogres, so they leave the better selling dworfs as DLC.

On the other hand, they've kind of created a big empty area in the north east corner of the tw2 map, which would correspond more to the chaos dwarves location than the ogre kingdoms. A pre-order bonus where you get to play the faction in the previous game before release could be a pretty good incentive to pre-order, since you actually get something before release.

 

[FreeKaner]

Never would have imagined they could actually add Cathay. I guess the Chinese market is huge.

On the other hand, I am not sure how the combined map will play with so many regions. Already in WH2 the map is a huge resource sink and I can't imagine they could further cut up the map without leaving it too bare bones.

 

[Mazisky]

I guess you are right guys, so the next question is:
Did they decide to implement Cathay so they can re-use the assets from Three-Kingdoms?

They decided to do it because its an interesting concept that is likely to increase the appeal of the game in the Chinese market.

I think it is a little bit of both. Iirc there has also been some sayings that a plurality of the playerbase that vastly prefers human factions, to the point of being almost entirely uninterested in anything else, so that might be another reason they are putting two human factions into this one.

They released some stats a while ago and High Elves and Empire were the most popular.

Hoping chaos dwarf is pre order race pack. Don’t see the appeal of disgusting ogres.

That might just be why it's ogres, so they leave the better selling dworfs as DLC.

On the other hand, they've kind of created a big empty area in the north east corner of the tw2 map, which would correspond more to the chaos dwarves location than the ogre kingdoms. A pre-order bonus where you get to play the faction in the previous game before release could be a pretty good incentive to pre-order, since you actually get something before release.

It seems like the pre-order will be WH3 playable only and not WH2. So it's tied to WH3 map, which is only Far East and Chaos wastes\realm.

What races are left on far east? Ogre are known to be in Cathay region also

 

[Parabalus]

Never would have imagined they could actually add Cathay. I guess the Chinese market is huge.

On the other hand, I am not sure how the combined map will play with so many regions.

Hope they add some way of more quickly moving from one end of the map to the other.

If they really add the full Cathay we might get a 'globe' for the big map, but warps and the north/south would also be nice.

 

[janior]

are they finally adding tyranids?

 

[Agame]

Never would have imagined they could actually add Cathay. I guess the Chinese market is huge.

Cathay is 100% because of Chinese market. They never would have been front loaded like this otherwise, ahead of actual proper factions with army books etc. Maybe DLC at some point. Instead we get prestigious races like Chad Dwarves and Fatty Boys relegated to shitty pre order/ DLC.

CA desperately manouvering themselves onto Winnie the Poohs cock. Actually I am most surprised this wasn't an Epic exclooosive. That would have created a hilarious meltdown online. I wonder how many bags full of money Swiney tried to bribe them with, obviously not enough.

 

[BrotherFrank]

And they already have kislev as the human relatable faction to be this game's Empire or High Elves, so that's another reason Cathay's inclusion is so suspicious.

 

[FreeKaner]

Never would have imagined they could actually add Cathay. I guess the Chinese market is huge.

Cathay is 100% because of Chinese market. They never would have been front loaded like this otherwise, ahead of actual proper factions with army books etc. Maybe DLC at some point. Instead we get prestigious races like Chad Dwarves and Fatty Boys relegated to shitty pre order/ DLC.

CA desperately manouvering themselves onto Winnie the Poohs cock. Actually I am most surprised this wasn't an Epic exclooosive. That would have created a hilarious meltdown online. I wonder how many bags full of money Swiney tried to bribe them with, obviously not enough.

It's a massive market, nothing to do with Chinese government everything to do with the nascent consumer mass that is forming out of 1.6 billion people hungry for content representing them. It doesn't need to be epic exclusive because they are already confident in sales.

 

[Rahdulan]

CA desperately manouvering themselves onto Winnie the Poohs cock. Actually I am most surprised this wasn't an Epic exclooosive. That would have created a hilarious meltdown online. I wonder how many bags full of money Swiney tried to bribe them with, obviously not enough.

Probably because no matter what insane deal Sweeney may have cut them for exclusivity CA stands to lose massively in terms of general sales and fan outrage otherwise. I would desperately want to see some Troy figures, though.

 

[Parabalus]

And they already have kislev as the human relatable faction to be this game's Empire or High Elves, so that's another reason Cathay's inclusion is so suspicious.

Fits the theme of 2 starting order factions though.

 

[Riddler]

Never would have imagined they could actually add Cathay. I guess the Chinese market is huge.

Cathay is 100% because of Chinese market. They never would have been front loaded like this otherwise, ahead of actual proper factions with army books etc. Maybe DLC at some point. Instead we get prestigious races like Chad Dwarves and Fatty Boys relegated to shitty pre order/ DLC.

CA desperately manouvering themselves onto Winnie the Poohs cock. Actually I am most surprised this wasn't an Epic exclooosive. That would have created a hilarious meltdown online. I wonder how many bags full of money Swiney tried to bribe them with, obviously not enough.

I don't think the DLC races for tw2 were shitty. Norsca got the short end of the stick but both tomb kings and vampire coast were well developed, fun and well integrated into the campaign.

 

[Saark]

Instead we get prestigious races like Chad Dwarves and Fatty Boys relegated to shitty pre order/ DLC.

Have we played the same game? DLC factions were far better than any release ones. Took them like 4 DLCs to make Skaven a fun faction to play, whereas Tomb Kings and VC were insanely well received and far and beyond better than any release race was.

 

[IDtenT]

Cathay addition means that the full combined map will be huge and cover almost all WH world.

Wasn't that the entire point of breaking it out into a trilogy?

 

[tabacila]

Come to think of it Cathay as a base race makes a huge sense from CA's point of view.
3K sold really well, probably with a big boost in Winnie the Pooh land, but player retention was crap. Only a few months after 3K was released player numbers fell below WH2's and in general stayed there: https://steamcharts.com/cmp/594570,779340#All.
Big updates and DLCs for WH2 massively boosted player numbers back to those seen near it's launch. 3K DLCs on the other hand don't seem to have that effect.
I'm pretty sure there is at least a certain segment of gamers in China that will buy any game that has the middle kingdom in it out of nationalistic pride and for increased social credit and then simply forget about it. This is why they need a big launch in China and Cathay will be a big part of it.
If Cathay were a DLC the core market would probably balk at having to also buy the base game.

It seems like the pre-order will be WH3 playable only and not WH2. So it's tied to WH3 map, which is only Far East and Chaos wastes\realm.

I think I missed this part, did CA actually confirm it?
If it's WH3 exclusive my money is on the Chaos Dwarfs since they didn't have a 8th edition handbook. CA could give them a sort of a Norsca treatment, with fewer LLs and some non-lore units to fill out the roster. Ogre Kingdoms will probably then be the first big Race pack DLC.
If the preorder race is in WH2 as well it will have to be available in the Vortex Campaign which seriously limits possibilities. I think the only race that could work in both WH2 and 3's base campaigns will probably be The Southern Realsm/Dogs of War. Base human units flavored with a mercenary mechanic that lets them get some units from other races. In Vortex you can place them on the Settler's coast in Lustria and have them replace the Empire placeholders in Araby. In WH3's base campaign you could make some shit up about some Tilean/Estalian conquistadors out to get riches from fabled Cathay. It will make the Chinese crowd hard if you give them an opportunity to beat the colonialist western devil.
In the Uber large combined map they would also work great since the Southern Realms is the last big and boring Empire copy zone (now that Kislev is coming).

 

[copebot]

Female chaos warriors and lesbian kislevitian berserkers when?

Hopefully never if they like money.

 

[SerratedBiz]

I'm not paying full price for a glorified expansion... again.

 

[Mazisky]

Come to think of it Cathay as a base race makes a huge sense from CA's point of view.
3K sold really well, probably with a big boost in Winnie the Pooh land, but player retention was crap. Only a few months after 3K was released player numbers fell below WH2's and in general stayed there: https://steamcharts.com/cmp/594570,779340#All.
Big updates and DLCs for WH2 massively boosted player numbers back to those seen near it's launch. 3K DLCs on the other hand don't seem to have that effect.
I'm pretty sure there is at least a certain segment of gamers in China that will buy any game that has the middle kingdom in it out of nationalistic pride and for increased social credit and then simply forget about it. This is why they need a big launch in China and Cathay will be a big part of it.
If Cathay were a DLC the core market would probably balk at having to also buy the base game.

It seems like the pre-order will be WH3 playable only and not WH2. So it's tied to WH3 map, which is only Far East and Chaos wastes\realm.

I think I missed this part, did CA actually confirm it?
If it's WH3 exclusive my money is on the Chaos Dwarfs since they didn't have a 8th edition handbook. CA could give them a sort of a Norsca treatment, with fewer LLs and some non-lore units to fill out the roster. Ogre Kingdoms will probably then be the first big Race pack DLC.
If the preorder race is in WH2 as well it will have to be available in the Vortex Campaign which seriously limits possibilities. I think the only race that could work in both WH2 and 3's base campaigns will probably be The Southern Realsm/Dogs of War. Base human units flavored with a mercenary mechanic that lets them get some units from other races. In Vortex you can place them on the Settler's coast in Lustria and have them replace the Empire placeholders in Araby. In WH3's base campaign you could make some shit up about some Tilean/Estalian conquistadors out to get riches from fabled Cathay. It will make the Chinese crowd hard if you give them an opportunity to beat the colonialist western devil.
In the Uber large combined map they would also work great since the Southern Realms is the last big and boring Empire copy zone (now that Kislev is coming).

They say "pre-order will be a race pack for WH3", so in fact it's not exlcuded that it can be playable on WH2 maps. If it is the case, then Ogres are out and Chaos Dwarfs or Dogs of ware are the only possible outcome

 

[copebot]

Do chinkoids actually care about "representation"? Isn't "representation" just an opportunity for minority grifters to chimp out? There are approximately zero white people in the world who look at a jap game and think "I will play this only if I am represented!" Do japs, Koreans and Viets reject western games because lack of people who look like them? Somehow, I find it much more plausible that azns reject western media for the lack of bright, plastic colours and flashing, cartoonish noises that appeal to their infantile minds. We're talking about the race that invented anime.

Of course, CA wouldn't understand this, so they probably are trying to corner azn market but itz not likely to work.

There aren't many racial minorities in China, and those that exist are wisely put into camps to be re-educated or killed (like we used to when we were a competent, growing, and confident civilization). They unsurprisingly like Chinese-rooted culture. Western imports are somewhat popular but obviously Korea and Japan have their own gaming industries with their own styles. 3K did really well because it is the Chinese-rooted equivalent of The Illiad / Odyssey for their region. Asians make games, TV shows, movies, etc. about the 3K period constantly.

It might or might not help out Warhammer in China, but it was probably something that GW and CA considered as a major opportunity for them. TBH would rather games be influenced by Chinese Communism than western tranny/BN/gay worship.

 

[Fedora Master]

Actually there often enough aren't any Japanese people in Japanese media.

 

[Serious_Business]

Do chinkoids actually care about "representation"? Isn't "representation" just an opportunity for minority grifters to chimp out? There are approximately zero white people in the world who look at a jap game and think "I will play this only if I am represented!" Do japs, Koreans and Viets reject western games because lack of people who look like them? Somehow, I find it much more plausible that azns reject western media for the lack of bright, plastic colours and flashing, cartoonish noises that appeal to their infantile minds. We're talking about the race that invented anime.

Of course, CA wouldn't understand this, so they probably are trying to corner azn market but itz not likely to work.

I wonder what those other 2 million posts are about

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

I have 2575 hours in WH2, and still playing it.

Pre-ordered WH3 already, and quite frankly they deserve to get DLC money, well worth the investment of money for the gaming time provided.

 

[Agame]

Instead we get prestigious races like Chad Dwarves and Fatty Boys relegated to shitty pre order/ DLC.

Have we played the same game? DLC factions were far better than any release ones. Took them like 4 DLCs to make Skaven a fun faction to play, whereas Tomb Kings and VC were insanely well received and far and beyond better than any release race was.

Fair enough, but pre-order factions have traditionally been shafted eg WoC/Norsca. And early DLC like Beastmen are a disgrace. CA have upped their game a bit since then. I do think whoever is getting the pre-order treatment will get the short end of the stick. So probably CD or OK, or maybe CA throws a wildcard and we get something wacky like DoW.

 

[Agame]

And also as someone said earlier what the hell are they gonna do with all the ghosts and skellies in the game? Isnt this stuff a complete no deal for China if its included?

They gonna reskin them all as Uyghurs?

 

[Antigoon]

It looks like Steam China will be released quite soon.

Spoiler

At this point, I wouldn't even be too sure that thing is getting a release there. So far nobody really knows what will happen with the regular client once they have launched their own one, but I can't see both running parallel with no further restrictions.

 

[Thorakitai]

Is it predictable for me to believe that the reason why they choose Cathay as a faction so that can cheaply reuse the models and animations from 3k rather than start from scratch?