Depends on what we consider an MMO. There were MMORPGs(WoW-style ones) built on UE3, and that was years ago. However, EC switched to UE4 when it was already decided that it will be smaller in size. On topic - EC was never meant to be a WoW-style MMORPG, Dark Millennium was, and that thing didn't look well. WoW-style MMORPGs won't work really well in 40k, simply because those games tend to have players play "free adventurers" that can just run around the place and complete random missions for random NPCs. But in 40k, most character archetypes have some obligations(i.e Space Marines have their own military tasks, so it won't make sense for one of them to just randomly help villagers kill wolves when his squad is out there fighting some much more threatening enemy). The only potential archetype for this kind of game would be Rogue Trader, but then the game would have to be set up on a galactic scale, since it yet again won't make sense for a Rogue Trader to help some random villager kill wolves when this villager has nothing of value to the Rogue Trader.
We'll never know for certain will we? It could have turned out well, and it had some good ideas. Though you're right, it could have just as easily turned out awful, or just another mediocre WoW clone. Dark Millennium remains to date the closest we've come to having an actual 40k MMO. Sadly with the way GW likes to sell their IP these days, that is unlikely to change.
Well, from what we know it had stuff like personal mounts that you summon out of nowhere and mobs that randomly walk around areas, waiting to be killed by players. So I guess it would be a WoW clone, or something similar.
Even if it ended up being a WoW clone like nearly all mmos ever released after Blizzard's unparalleled success, if they nailed the 40k feel it could have been good in its own right. It's all moot now, but Dark Millennium was the project that really got fans wanting a massive 40k video game, myself included. A game where the player could feel like a part of the epic battles that make the 40k setting what it is. That's why when EC's original concept was first introduced so many years ago, many thought it was going to be DM's spiritual successor. Another massive scale 40k game...Didn't quite work out that way, unfortunately.
Except there's not much in terms of epic battles in WoW-clones, and they would most likely fuck up the lore in multiple ways. Just look at these animations that were released: View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6VRrtGe8Zk Note that Gretchins have your standard patrolling/aggro animations that mobs in WoW-clones have. Then look at 0:47 - that looks cartoony as hell.
Oh god. So many misinformed tards. DMO was nothing like WoW. Hell, in many ways it was going to be like EC, just more MMO-aspects. Like a skillbar. No crouching or cover. Higher TTK. More Open world war with a huge objective focus. Not "massive" but big. Things like that.
...Is there any way to portray gretchins or Orks in general that isn't cartoony as hell? I always thought that ridiculous aesthetics were part of the Ork's charm. They're cockney murder shrooms after all. What these animations tell me is that bEhaviour Interactive needs guys like Jeremy Fones in their animation department. Maybe then our marines wouldn't run and fight like they are strapped to a pole... and Orks might have finished animations.
The game was canceled before we could really see what it was, but reading old interviews it looks pretty WoW-ish, like here: http://au.ign.com/articles/2010/06/17/e3-2010-warhammer-40000-dark-millennium-online-update Regarding PvP, there's this bit: While it does mention that it will feature more action, it was never confirmed to be an action game(i.e it's entirely possible that it would've been like those "action" MMORPGs that have you manually target your attacks, but play almost the same as classic tab-target MMORPGs). Then there's this one: http://www.pcgamer.com/warhammer-40k-dark-millennium-online-a-grim-dark-future/, just a few months after the first one. In it, they talk a lot about how DMO won't be like classical MMORPGs, but they also confirm that the game will have quests; that while it has no classic skillbar it would still not be a full action game and that your character's performance is still largely affected by your stats and loot. They also talked a lot about the aspect of exploration. I don't know about you, but it would be weird for me if a Space Marine could just randomly go off and start exploring empty areas just for the sake of exploring, all the while his brothers die on the battlefield. They also mentioned that they want to emphasize the "only war" aspect of 40k, but they were very vague at it. It might've been great, but I couldn't help but feel that a lot of it would be really weird from a lore perspective. I probably missed some interviews since most articles I can find either talk about the game being turned into a co-op game, or DMO being canceled entirely. But from those that I found, it still looks like it would be pretty close to classical MMORPGs. I meant the animations at 0:47(Space Marine riding a bike, then jumping from bike into a tank, throwing someone from the tank and jumping inside, then Space Marine summoning his bike out of nowhere). Gretchins to me look fine, I just pointed out that their animations imply that they are classical mobs that aimlessly patrol the area until engaged. It's possible that those animations were very early, and were later scrapped when they changed the game(one interview I came across mentioned that they didn't want to have mob patrols, but they also didn't mention how their PvE would work if it didn't have those).
http://www.vg247.com/2014/03/17/what-really-happened-to-thqs-unfinished-games/amp/?client=safari if they don't planned to realize a wow clone they will haven't looked at swotor numbers vs wow
