Warhammer Online

[Nadia]

launched since 09/18/2008

http://www.mythicentertainment.com/warhammer/

wiki (updated with lifted NDA info)
http://www.thewarwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page

another Wiki
http://warhammeronline.wikia.com/wiki/HammerWiki


preview
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/setv ... gameID/239



massively.com is doing an *outstanding* job on WAR info

general topics seen here
http://www.massively.com/category/warhammer-online/


recent topic
Massively goes to WAR: Every Warhammer class explained
http://www.massively.com/2008/06/04/mas ... -nutshell/

Press Release for 09/18 launch
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site ... ewsLang=en

[Nadia]

Mythic Will Be Acquired by EA
http://www.mmorpg.com/newsroom.cfm

Date : Jun 21, 2006
Author : Jon Wood

The following press release appeared yesterday on the official EA webpage. The press release states that EA has acquired MMORPG company Mythic Entertainment, the makers of the popular Dark Age of Camelot, and the upcoming Warhammer Online. The story appears to be verified as the same release appears on Mythic's corporate site as well.

Back on April 3rd of this year, MMORPG.com published a statement from Mythic CEO Marc Jacobs stating that the rumored deal between Mythic and EA was not go forward. "We have no deal with EA. We are currently not talking to EA," said Jacobs.

Jacobs did not categorically deny that a merger might come to pass, saying only that he had recieved a number of differing and very lucrative offers to purchase the company, but that none of them had been a right fit.

Back in April, Jacobs left us with the following statement: "I will not now, not ever do a deal that puts the people at Mythic who made this company great at risk," he was careful to point out at the time, however, that the deal with EA (which didn't happen at that time) did not fall into that cetegory.

With that being said, we are told that with the exception of a name change (EA Mythic) and a few job-title changes at the top, that things are set to remain as they are with the Mythic team making MMORPGs in their officies in Virginia.

We are yet to see how the backing of a video game giant like EA is going to effect Mythic's products, both current and future. Jacobs seems positive about the change, stating in the press release that, "EA's commitment to the online market as well as its focus on creating games of unsurpassed quality, scope and scale gives us opportunities and resources we could only dream about in the past.""

[Ddrak]

Pff - I wanna see Warhammer 40k!

[Nadia]

Mythic Developer, Mark Jacobs commentary
http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=8 ... #msg254809

Folks,

Hey all. Just some quick replies:

1) I'm also frustrated with the current state of MMOs. I think we *all* can do a lot better in the future than we are doing today. WAR is not intended to be Generic MMO # nor is it meant to be THE ONE GAME THAT CHALLENGES EVERYTHING AND MAKES YOU ITS B****! My jumping off point for it was the same as for DAoC, evolutionary game with some revolutionary features. Hopefully, there will be enough really cool stuff to get people excited but only time will tell. Truly revolutionary games will, as always, most likely be done by small studios, with small budgets and not by large companies, with large budgets and teams, much like the film industry. There are exceptions of course but as the budgets rise to heights that they have, the harder it is to get backing for something both revolutionary and expensive. That's one reason I've always thought and spoken highly of guys who do games like ATITD and Puzzle Pirates. Maybe one day I'll get to do a truly revolutionary game (I/Mythic) never had the chance in the past and prior to Mythic, getting money to do any online game was unbelievably difficult (as opposed to just incredibly difficult for Mythic), but I would like the shot at it sometime. Who knows, if WAR succeeds, maybe we get a shot at the title...

2) EA has not involved itself in the game design of WAR in any way whatsoever to date. I know you guys will find this hard to believe but so far, EA's involvement in WAR has been only positive. We've gotten a larger budget, access to top technical resources (guys, gals and guides), lots of new hires (people aren't as afraid of moving to Va. anymore and there are lots of people at EA who have been waiting to work on a MMO) and even more attention from the media. I'm not saying that everything is perfect but it wasn't perfect when Mythic was an independent and so far, the acquisition has been a net positive for Mythic and for WAR.

3) As far as good ideas, we have always talked and listened to the community. Sometimes we heard the wrong thing, sometimes we listened to the wrong part of the community and sometimes we got it right. It's a lot harder than anyone who hasn't been through the mill a few times thinks to design, balance and then maintain these games but we will never stop talking and listening. It was for this reason we started WAR's beta test months ago and are getting lots of feedback from hundreds of EA employees. Since it is, to some here, so easy, then why don't we have a private forum set up here where you guys can talk about these ways to innovate for a game like WAR/WoW/EQ/etc. I'll happily participate as long as three rules are followed: 1) No flaming. I don't have the time nor inclination for that type of stuff anymore; 2) Any idea posted is posted with an acknowledgment that is given freely to the public domain; 3) That nobody expects me to post everyday or even that I respond to all posts/mail. Anyone is free to use it, not use it, get credit, not get credit, etc. I'll tell you this though, any idea that someone posts there that I like and that I pass on to the design team, I'll make sure that the person gets game credit for it as well as WAR swag. So, if you think you have some good ideas but nobody is listening, here's your chance. I've always thought that there are lot of bright people here (as well as some who I would happily put in our of our catapults for a quick one-way trip just as some here would apparently love to do to me) and that's why I've read and occasionally posted here forever (and I post almost nowhere these days).

4) I can also tell you that are intent is not to clone WoW or even do WoW 1.5. For some, that is hard to believe I know but that's the last thing I would want to do for the same reason that I haven't put a DAoC 2.0 into production. And let me tell you, given how many DAoC fans there are at EA, if I wanted to score brownie points with the new bosses, that would have been the first thing I did after the acquisition. I want WAR to stand on its own feet and have its own shot at fame/fortune. We're not looking to get WoW sub numbers and that means we don't have to do some things that would make the game more like WoW to achieve those numbers. WAR will be WAR and if anything, it will draw on DAoC more than WoW.

5) We have lots of new stuff that we will be talking about by the summer of 2007 that will show some of the different directions we are going in then some of the current MMOs. The nature of this industry is way to competitive and derivative to talk about them this early in the process and I've instructed marketing, design and community not to talk about them until much later in the process. I know this may sound like "Secret Tester Version and Features!" from some other games but it isn't. We'll talk about them when we can ensure that they appear in our game before somebody else's game.

6) And no, there will not be RMTs in WAR, that was one of my ground rules going into the acquisition and EA, to their credit, didn't want to see them in this game either. Just thought I would make this point again.

So, Happy New Year to all and to all, a good knight. Smiley

Mark

RMT = Real Money Trades

[Ehron]

I won a beta account at Games Day Atlanta. Maybe I'll post a bit when it goes live.

[Nadia]

delayed to Q2

I think its a decent move, even if Mythic was ready, Q1 looks to be busy with Conan and Spellborn

[Nadia]

delayed to Fall 2008
http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums ... hp?t=31118

[xilly]

Warhammer is not very impressive, sadly.

[Nadia]

time will tell, the game itself may not appeal but I love the idea of Public Quests

I'll take anything for endgame fun -- beyond Raiding, PVP, and Gold Farming Grinds

even if WAR flops -- I hope their ideas march forward to other games

What Warhammer Online will always be remembered for
http://www.massively.com/2008/04/05/wha ... mberd-for/

The Digital Continuum: How WAR will leave its mark
http://www.massively.com/photos/the-dig ... rk/735863/
Excerpt about Public Quests

For years now players in World of Warcraft have been primarily doing one thing at endgame -- raiding instances. The experience can be a fun one where everyone coordinates with one another in an effort to take on immense challenges. The biggest problem with these things is that they can take quite some time to put together and even more time to execute.

For many more casual players -- or players without a lot of time on their hands -- this is a fun-ending problem. This makes raiding a limited experience that only a small fraction of subscribers actively experience. Not anymore!

Public Quests aim to maintain the entire epic and social experience of raiding while making them much easier to manage. With PQs, gone are the days of spending one or two hours to put together a raid party -- people can simply jump in or jump out at their leisure.

What really creates an entirely new experience is that as the name implies, Public Quests are just that, public. They exist right out in the open and show up on a player's screen as they move near the quest area, which makes them incredibly powerful social hot spots.

PQs facilitate people playing solo, but they also entice players to group together in order to succeed with greater ease -- this is something that should lead to more friends being made. When more people are making friends, guilds tend to grow larger and when guilds grow larger there's an improved chance for greater realm pride.

[Nadia]

added links to the 1st post

worth taking look at massively.com for WAR info
http://www.massively.com/category/warhammer-online/

[Nadia]

http://venturebeat.com/2008/05/29/a-qa- ... er-online/

VB: So when are you going to war?
MJ: The announced date is this fall. One of the advantages of EA is we won’t release this game until it’s great. With Camelot, we ran out of money and so we released the game. It’s really important for EA to get the quality of our games out. We let the top EA executives into our game, even at the earliest stages. We have nothing to hide. We have almost 700,000 people signed up for our beta test. That’s ridiculous. I want a million. We have people inside now working 24/7 trying to break the game. To compete with Blizzard, we have to use our extra time to polish it.

[Nadia]

50 tidbits from games day 2008
http://waaagh.wordpress.com/2008/06/15/ ... -day-2008/

[Lanlaiely]

Do you know the system requirements for this game yet? I can't find it on their website. I want to get my husband a new compuuter for Christmas that will run this game. But I can't do that until I know the system requirements.

[Nadia]

will hopefully be seeing system specs in the next 4-6 weeks

Guild Beta has begun
http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=53771
Warhammer Online's Guild Beta has begun, over 10,000 guilds applied and those selected will have the chance to experience the game’s most expansive beta phase yet.


Open Beta: Facts and Speculation
http://waaagh.wordpress.com/2008/06/26/ ... eculation/

[Nadia]

silly news but relevant

EA Mythic changes name back to Mythic Entertainment
http://www.massively.com/2008/07/11/ea- ... ment-name/

In an interesting twist, Mark Jacobs announced yesterday that EA Mythic has reclaimed the Mythic Entertainment name.

As to why, according to Jacobs it's as simple as EA wanting to reinvent itself. EA's recently acquired studios Bioware and Pandemic retained their identities.

[Nadia]

Mark Jacobs announces major features cut from Warhammer Online
http://www.massively.com/2008/07/11/mar ... er-online/

In short, the capital cities for the Dark Elf, High Elf, Orc, and Dwarf factions will not be in the game at launch.

The Human city of Altdorf and the Chaos Inevitable City will be the only Capital cities in the game.

Additionally, four classes are being removed, deemed to be in a condition unsuitable for launch. They are:
* The Choppa (Greenskin)
* The Hammerer (Dwarf)
* The Blackguard (Dark Elf)
* The Knight of the Blazing Sun (Empire)

[Nadia]

Mark Jacobs has been responding at the VN boards
http://vnboards.ign.com/ASP/user_posts.asp?usr=1285252

http://vnboards.ign.com/Message.aspx?to ... replies=46

Folks,

Okay, here's the second of the topics I will create today in which I'll explain in more detail, why we made the decisions we made. It's going to be a rather busy day so please don't expect me to respond to every question asked in response or to get into long debates. Obviously, I won't respond to any questions that are off-topic as that's why I'm creating these separate topics.

So, why did we make the decision to have 2 capital cities versus 6 capital cities and what impact will it have on the game?

1) The capital cities are the jewel in our RvR crown. If we mess up with them, WAR will not be anywhere near as successful as it could have been. These cities are unlike any other cities in any MMO that I have seen or played. The amount of true content that revolves in and around them (and not just sticking a quest-giver NPC in a city) is unlike any other game. Both RvR and PvE happens there in a way that also has never been done in any other MMO's cities. Each city has 12 PQs and almost 100 quests (RvR and PvE) that either lead to the city, take place in the city or lead out of the city as well as 3 dungeons.

2) Because we are focusing on just 2 cities, the team has been able to pour more time into each city and really make them great. They truly are living cities and what you will see and experience in them would not have been possible to do if we had to get 6 cities ready for launch even if we had a lot more time.

3) Each CC takes a tremendous amount of time to design, iterate and release. No matter how much time we spend on the cities during development and beta, once the game is released everything changes. The history of MMOs has shown all of us that no matter how smart the developer or experienced the team, mistakes are made. Given the complexity of our cities, we can expect the same thing to happen to us.

4) Keeping (1) and (2) and (3) in mind, if we had made the decision to keep in all 6 cities, the chances of things going horribly wrong at launch and post-launch would have increased tremendously no matter how long we worked on them. The last thing that we would want to happen is to launch a great game but when players actually got to the city siege part, things were not working. We will not go down that path. By focusing on 2 cities, we lessen the chance of that happening considerably.

5) One of our most troubling concerns was what would happen post-launch in terms of each side's ability to take a city. Having in all 6 cities would mean that the focus of each side could have gotten distracted, the player base more spread out. If this happened, city sieges may have taken a lot longer for each side to accomplish and that would not have been pleasing to anybody. I'm reminded of the line from Jurassic Park where Jeff Goldman says "Now eventually you might have dinosaurs on your, on your dinosaur tour, right?" If players said to us "Now eventually you'll have capital city siege in your RvR game" to us, that would be very bad.

6) We expect over the months post-launch we will learn a lot about how our cities actually function in a truly LIVE environment. We will apply these lessons to the new cities and look at possibly rotating cities in and out of RvR to not only spice up the RvR experience but to allow us to tweak and improve the older cities. This will be both in the short- and long-run to be a major win for the players.

In the end, I'm not sorry at all that we are delaying the release of the other cities. Even if we had an unlimited budget and unlimited time and believed that we could do 6 awesome cities at launch, we know that starting with two capital cities is the best way to ensure a great experience for the players no matter whether their focus is on PvE, RvR or a combination of both.

Mark

[Nadia]

http://www.ea.com.sg/en-sg/games/pc/war ... ollectors/
Release Date:
23rd Sep 2008

[Nadia]

minimum specs
http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warhe ... war?id=168

The wait is over!

We're pleased to announce the current minimum system requirements to run WAR at launch.

We will continue to optimize WAR as we move closer to launch and even beyond but these will provide you with a very accurate idea of what is needed in order to play the game.

So without further adieu the minimum specs for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning:


PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

For Windows XP

· 2.5 GHz P4 (single core) processor or equivalent
· 1 Gigabyte RAM
· A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
· At least 15 GB of hard drive space

For Windows VISTA

· 2.5 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
· 2 Gigabyte RAM
· A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
· At least 15 GB of hard drive space

Supported Video Cards

ATI Radeon(TM) series

· 9500, 9600, 9800
· X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
· X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950
· 2400, 2600, 2900,
· 3650, 3850, 3870
· 4850, 4870

NVIDIA GeForce series

· FX 5900, FX 5950
· 6600, 6800,
· 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
· 8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
· 9400, 9500, 9600, 9800
· GTX 260, GTX 280

Intel(R) Extreme Graphics

· GMA X4500

Laptop versions of these chipsets may work, but may run comparatively slowly. Standalone cards that are installed in vanilla PCI slots (not PCIe or PCIx or AGP), such as some GeForce FX variants, will perform poorly. Integrated chipsets such as the ATI Xpress and the NVIDIA TurboCache variants will have low settings selected, but should run satisfactorily.

Please note that attempting to play the game using video hardware that isn’t listed above may result in reduced performance, graphical issues or cause the game to not run at all.

The NVIDIA GeForce FX series is unsupported under Vista.

[Nadia]

WAR dungeon preview
http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/warhammer- ... 4818190065