Slightly off-topic, but speaking of eldar faces I'm wondering if the removal of the helmet for the Altansar eldar will only be locked on the battlefield, or if it will also be impossible for us to remove it when we will be taking a break on a battlebarge/our craftworld. The whisper thing is fine with me, but I am kind of reluctant to play a character that has literally no face.
That's a good point. Hopefully not, but it could end up like 'Destiny' being stuck to wearing a helmet in combat and only removable in the social areas. Surely they won't go this direction, and give us the toggle option.
Honestly I don't think it really adds much to force us to wear a helmet anywhere - you prevent Her from taking your mind by wearing a Soulstone anywhere on your person: making it a wasted effort for She Who Thirsts. The point of Warmasks is to help you don the character of the Warrior - and help identify you as the Aspect you represent. The facial covering itself is ceremonial - it may also serve tactical functions such as augmented reality, infra-red / ultraviolet scanning, magnification, communications and information lookup: so it's highly functional. A mask would not dissuade the Lord of Ecstasy, if anything it would only arouse her - the soulstone keeps the daemons away - while the mask is purely a tactical and ceremonial option. Given that, I think it would make the most sense beginning classes to be forced to wear their masks at all time (at least in combat zones) - Banshees, Warlocks, Reapers, Avengers - etc. Veterans though they are, they are all comparatively new to war - they require the tactical benefits of their mask to reach peak performance, and lack the laurels of the Elite to be permitted to break with the ceremony of their Aspect. However, as we get to Elite and Hero classes - Exarchs and Autarchs and such - they can do as they please in battle, for theirs is a face now forged in centuries of war: the ceremony is complete, they have become their Aspect. They have no need for the tactical advantages of the warmask either, or they may not trust the technologies - and seek to master war using only their senses to guide them. So Basic Classes require their mask during battle - but Elites are free to do as they please:
That's all and good, but then you force anyone that's not a Elite to wear a mask. How common are Elites in one match.
And it is still unclear about the Altansar eldar whether they are hiding their faces only to escape She Who Thirsts' attention, or if they are doing so because they no longer look like normal eldar and don't want the other craftworlds to know it. Who knows? Perhaps they don't even possess a body anymore and are locked in their armors just like the rubric marines of the Thousand Sons. That would be some interesting lore for sure, however from a RP standpoint I am not eager to play such a character and would rather join another craftworld.
I think the way it works - correct me if I'm wrong on this - is that Basic Classes are the ones we start as - then there are Elite classes - and I think these are more advanced versions of the basics: a soft RPG element. Hero Classes are the ones that are rarely deployed ultimates on the battlefield like the Ranger / Autarch - neither of whom are wearing a mask. So, an Elite Warlock will probably be a Farseer. The rest of the basic classes will probably just be their Exarchs - so presumably if we play our class enough - we all become Exarchs: that may just be an honorific to acknowledge our mastery, or it may come with additional RPG-esque benefits (more health / damage / movement, etc).
Actually Outcast Ranger is confirmed to be an elite class, and a minor version of the Ranger (a starter class) is likely to be added post-launch. I hope they won't do things that way, that would be so lore-breaking. Exarchs individually are supposed to be commanding an entire squad of aspect warriors, yet with such a system we would see squads entirely or almost entirely composed of Exarchs. That would be like allowing squads that are entirely or almost entirely composed of Space Marine Sergeant to exist, which really doesn't make any sense. Anyway, it has been stated somewhere that Farseer will be a hero class, which are allowed to roam on the battlefield in limited number only and at the cost of a lot of requisition points. So I believe that some restriction will be set for the Exarchs (and the Space Marine Sergeants) as well, even though they are no hero classes (they might even limit the number of elite units in general on the battlefield). That being said, I believe that we will be able to exhibit our veterancy with more generic (and cheesy) title such as "Untamable Slayer" or "Eternal Warrior".
Am I not the most perfect visage of beauty? No? Then i'll skin your face and wear it as my own! Also I do believe Farseer Caerys donned a particular helm http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Ghost_Helm.
Ah ok, I understand. But wouldn't it be kind of annoying for some people to spend a few minutes making their character (face/hair etc) Only to be forced to wear a mask? They would have to make the leveling from basic to elite quick, before people end up sighing. And you would have to consider that the faces might look different on-screen depending on lighting, and in order to fix it they have to play level 0 all over again.
