Dawn of War II Producer Mark Noseworthy steps in to field some questions on the game and the impending BETA!

1) You just announced that Dawn of War II has gone gold; how do you feel now that the game is done?

Mark: We’re really excited! The team has worked really hard over these last few years and it’s great to see our work come together in such a great product.

We set very high standards for ourselves and our own internal expectations are just as high as those of our fans (if not higher), so it’s always nerve racking to see how the game is going to be received.

With Dawn of War II we aren’t just releasing a sequel – we’re re-launching a franchise that is going to grow and evolve for years to come. The original game entertained players for almost five years (across several expansion packs) and will hopefully continued to be enjoyed even after DOWII ships. We want DOWII to be even more successful and are committed to making that a reality through ongoing support, downloadable content and future expansion packs.

2) The Dawn of War II multiplayer beta starts this week. Why are you doing a beta if the game is already complete?

Mark: When a product goes gold, that means it’s sent to manufacturing for physical replication and packaging. Version 1.0 of the game is finished and QA approved, but for an online-focused game like DOWII, that’s just the beginning of the game’s lifecycle. This is particularly true when talking about the multiplayer experience – we can only do so well balancing the multiplayer experience on our own and identifying exploits before we need to open up the game to thousands of players.

Our plan is to use the Beta to tell us what needs to be fixed in our first couple of patches, especially the critical multiplayer balance updates for our Day Zero patch.

So Version 1.0 of DOWII may be gold already, but Version 1.1 certainly is not!

3) What can you tell us about the content of the beta?

Mark: The Beta will allow you to play as all four initial races – Space Marines, Orks, Eldar and Tyranids.

Skill-based matchmaking will be tested as will the party system that allows players to invite and search for matches with up to two friends. Leaderboards and player stats for ranked games will be available in-game for you to track your progress against other Beta players.

Players will also be able to host public custom games in case they want to play on a particular map with a particular group of people.

The Beta will include five multiplayer maps - two 1v1s and three 3v3s.

4) The beta will only be available to Soulstorm owners this week? When will the beta be offered to the general public?

Mark: The Beta begins January 21st with exclusive priority access for Soulstorm owners. To get in on the 21st, you simply need to own a valid copy of Soulstorm (either digital or physical), log into Steam and enter your product key. Steam will recognize the key and give you access to the Beta.

As of January 28th, the Beta will be made publicly available on Steam as well as the Games for Windows – LIVE Marketplace.

5) How long will the beta run?

Mark: The Beta will run up until DOWII ships to stores, so roughly about four weeks.

6) What can you tell us about your post-launch plans? Will there be downloadable content for Dawn of War II?

Mark: We have extensive post-launch support planned, but before we talk about post-launch, I can shed some light on what we are planning pre-launch or at the very least, with our Day Zero update. We’ve already patched the Beta based on internal THQ developer feedback a week before it has even gone live to the public!

For Day Zero, we’re already making improvements to the game based on early feedback to ensure fans get the best possible experience. In addition, within the first week after launch, we’ll be adding two additional multiplayer maps to the game.

As for post-launch plans, we are extremely interested in working with Microsoft to offer several types of free and premium downloadable content through their Games for Windows - LIVE Marketplace. In fact, there may even be some DLC available during the first few weeks after the game’s released if everything goes to plan.

For long term support we’ve got planned scheduled patches and data updates through 2009 and beyond.

7) Anything else you would like to share with the Dawn of War II community?

Mark: DOWII is a blast to play and has an incredible amount of depth that you’ll enjoy exploring for years to come. The initial release of Dawn of War II is just a starting point - it’s an evolving product that will undergo gradual updates and changes over the years that will continue to improve both the campaign and multiplayer experiences.

Relic’s dedication to supporting one of its games has never been stronger.