woh
Latest
Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes goes down swinging today
Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes' final month is up and the game is scheduled to be closed at 5:00 p.m. EDT today. That doesn't mean the title will be going down without one heckuva fight! According to Wrath of Heroes' Facebook page, the developers are spending the last few hours in battle with the players. The team has also added a chance for killers to transform into vampire chickens or bloodthirsters. If you're just now finding out about the sunset and want more information, check out EA's FAQ on the closure. [Thanks to Adam for the tip!]
Mythic developers discuss the swan song of Wrath of Heroes
Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes is shutting down near the end of the month, but it turns out that the developers have a few last hurrahs for the game. A recent fansite interview sheds some light on the new heroes that are coming out during the game's final month of operation, with 17-18 heroes being fast-tracked for release. The game's main currency, Gold, will be able to purchase everything in the cash shop including Gold Boost items, intentionally creating plenty of money for players to enjoy the last bits of the game. What's not coming? Most anything else that was in development, including some heroes that the developers just didn't have enough time to finish. There were also Scenarios in development that aren't close enough to completed to be functional; while pushing out heroes quickly is a priority, a half-finished Scenario is fun for no one. Fans looking for fine details on exactly which traditional Warhammer factions will be represented in the last month can look at the full interview.
Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes is shutting down next month
Mythic's experiment in turning Warhammer Online into a microtransaction-flush MOBA has failed. The studio announced that Wrath of Heroes will be closing on March 29th. Wrath of Heroes went into open beta in late 2011 and never officially released. Producer James Casey wraps things up with a few bittersweet memories: "I think we created something special and I would not trade the time creating it or playing it (on all those Friday Fight Fests and anonymously almost every day) for anything." While players' gems will not be refunded, Mythic is planning to release "work in progress" heroes at a quick pace and discounted rate up to the game's shutdown. Additionally, players who purchased and had gems between the first of the year and today will be treated to a free month subscription and a chest of goodies in WAR. [Thanks to Etaew for the tip!]
Four years of WAR: An interview with Mythic's James Casey
To celebrate Warhammer Online's fourth anniversary this week, we got in touch with EA Mythic Producer James Casey to talk about the past, present, and future of WAAAGH! Massively: Four years is a sizable length of time in any MMO's life. How does it feel to hit that mark? James Casey: It feels great to have been able to have support from the Warhammer and gaming community for the last four years. That support has allowed us to continue bringing them the thrilling Realm vs. Realm combat and engrossing worlds that they have come to expect from Mythic and Games Workshop. To your point about four years being a sizable length of time for an MMO, I will say that as a studio, we actually have a stable of MMOs that have been around for a damn respectable amount of time. From Ultima Online hitting its amazing 15th anniversary this year to Dark Age of Camelot having already broken that fabled 10-year mark, we've had a remarkable run in the MMO space, and I think that I can speak for everyone who has come and gone or still remains in saying a heartfelt thanks to all of our fans and customers over all the years. We owe that track record to them, and we hope that as we continue to evolve and develop as a studio and across our products, we can provide more of that sense of community in all of our offerings.
The Soapbox: League of Legends is the new World of Warcraft
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. Every now and then, a game comes out of nowhere with such incredible financial success that it causes the games industry to completely lose perspective. All it takes is one game to start raking in the millions for developers, publishers and investors to stumble around with dollar signs in their eyes for years to come. Innovation grinds to a halt and everyone starts blindly copying whichever game just hit the jackpot. It's like some huge industry-wide superstition takes over and convinces people that if they do the same dance the same way, it'll rain again. World of Warcraft has consistently had this effect since shortly after its launch in 2004. To this day, several studios per year excitedly announce yet another fantasy MMO that lifts its entire feature set and every gameplay mechanic wholesale from World of Warcraft as if it were a model for automatic success. The same thing is happening again in online gaming today, not from MMOs but from MOBAs, a new genre based on the competitive gaming classic DotA. Developers are still chasing the massive money made by yet another hugely successful game, and this time it's League of Legends.
Warhammer Online is cross-promoting with Wrath of Heroes
Are you the sort of player who just can't get enough of Warhammer Online, whether in classic form or the new Wrath of Heroes bite-sized version? Or are you a fan of the latter game and not sure if you want to keep up a subscription to the former? The latest cross-promotional deal for the games is aimed directly at players like that -- starting now, any players with active Warhammer Online subscriptions will receive a 50% bonus to gold and experience in Wrath of Heroes. There's no complicated process to getting the bonus; if you have both accounts on the same EA/Origin account, your characters will reap the benefits, although it may take up to 24 hours for the system to line up if you've just started a subscription. The bonus also stacks with items from the Wrath of Heroes store, letting veterans of Warhammer Online get ahead in the new game.
