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City of Heroes first ever livestream developer chat
When speaking to this reporter outside the City of Heroes panel at PAX East, producer Nate Birkholz could not emphasize the importance of the community enough. In fact, according to a post back in January, the whole team has upped developer communication to the fans. The players of CoH really help steer this mighty superhero MMO, and the development team wishes to have as many opportunities to speak to its committed community members as possible. Next Thursday, John "Protean" Hegner and Tim "Black Scorpion" Sweeney of the development team and Andy "Zwillinger" Belford and André "Beastyle" Carlos of Paragon's community team will be on UStream to help promote the upcoming Issue 20 and answer viewer questions. For the first time ever, Paragon Studios is opening its doors to video livestream. As an intrepid fan, you will have to watch every minute on the edge of your desk chair. On March 31st from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. EDT, tune in to the official City of Heroes UStream channel to catch all the latest news from Paragon City.
Meghan "Patience" Jenks leaves Turbine, Andy Belford departs Mythic
Today, Turbine lost its Patience -- but not in the way you're thinking. Over Twitter, Meghan "Patience" Jenks announced that after six years, she is leaving the studio to move back to California: "I guess it's time to break the news -- Friday is my last day at Turbine. I'm heading back home to CA. It's been an AMAZING 6 years working on amazing games, but I need to be closer to my family." Jenks has been the online community manager for Turbine since 2004; she was one of the studio's most vocal personalities and the face that the community most often saw in interviews and on convention panels. She indicated that she does indeed have a new job lined up, although she called her stint overseeing Lord of the Rings Online's community "THE highlight of my career." If this news upsets you, then Jenks has a few words to cheer you up: "Don't be sad -- if you play Turbine games, you're still in excellent hands with the awesomeness of the Community Team! And no -- YOU CAN'T HAVE MY STUFF. :)" Update: Meghan's not the only one going to California. BioWare Mythic Community Manager Andy Belford also made his farewells on Twitter earlier today. "Jumping on the go west mentality... I'm no longer with BioWare Mythic. I'm moving closer to the family and have a great new opportunity. [... ] Thanks to the WAR and DAOC communities for the last 2+ years. Thank[s] to Mythic for all of the amazing opportunities. I'll forever be grateful." The west coast (and, no doubt, the gaming companies therein) is certainly about to become much richer! Best of luck to the both of you!
Demonic live events returning to Dark Age of Camelot
It's been a while since demons ran rampant over the lands in Dark Age of Camelot (last summer to be exact), but Mythic's Andy Belford has posted a notice on the game's official website that the live developer events will be returning shortly. "The scholars studying the artifacts and objects left behind by the demons have made some startling discoveries. Rumors have begun to make their way across the realms, whispers of dark portents, rituals, and objects. The rumors have not gone unnoticed," proclaims the cryptic blurb. Belford also mentions that players on the Mordred shard will have the opportunity to take on Mythic devs in PvP, and he gives us a heads up as to the official live event schedule: Glamorgan: Tuesday January 11th, 8:00 a.m. EDT, 2:00 p.m. EDT, 7:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. CET, 8:00 p.m. CET, 11 p.m. CET) Mordred/Gaheris: Wednesday January 12th 2011, 2:00 p.m. EDT, 8:00 p.m. EDT, 11:00 p.m. EDT. Ywain: Thursday January 13th 2011, 2:00 p.m. EDT, 8:00 p.m. EDT, 11:00 p.m. EDT.
Waging WAR: The new RvR... Are we there yet?
This past week was an exciting week for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning as the new RvR systems were released for testing on the public test realm of Warpstone. Greg took part in both the Wednesday night and Friday afternoon sessions, and writes about his experiences and impressions in this week's Waging WAR. When Mythic said that testing would begin in October, I don't think anyone expected to get his hands on the new changes to the RvR system so soon. Wednesday night was the first focused test, and I made it a point to take part. I also took part in the European-friendly session scheduled for Friday afternoon. Both events took place in the Tier 3 (Chaos vs. Empire) pairing across the zones of High Pass and Talabecland. There are certain issues that I feel are important enough to discuss regarding the way the new battlefield dynamics will bring about a golden age for melee careers, but this week, I want to focus on the RvR itself. Things have well and truly been shaken up, and this fresh experience is going to take some serious adjustment for veteran players as well as newcomers to the game. Continue along after the break for more discussion on the topic.
Waging WAR: RvR packs, the "wait and see" edition
This week Waging WAR rides the double rainbow of gameplay customization via downloadable content and takes a cursory glance at the RvR packs being teased by the folks behind the development of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Let's follow along and see what Greg can unleash this time. It is difficult to talk about the future of WAR right now. Not because it doesn't have a future, but because the availability of information regarding it is not exactly easy to find. Actually, information on the future of WAR is all but non-existent, surrounded by controversy on all sides, and steeped in rumor, speculation, assumption and misinformation. The best I can put together is that we, as players, can look forward to some sort of set of three different "RvR Packs" allowing us to "customize" our gameplay experience moving forward. The packs have been called "Power," "Progression," and "Personality." What exactly each contains is a mystery, although the few talking points I was able to find regarding these RvR packs are speculatively disappointing at best. Although Carrie, Andy, and anyone else involved with the Mythic development team have said time and time again that they are not discussing moving toward the free-to-play business model, what they're proposing with these customization packs looks suspiciously like the item shop established by Turbine, implemented in Dungeons & Dragons Online and soon in Lord of the Rings Online as well. V.I.P. membership, anyone? Although concrete information is scarce and difficult to find, let's take a look at the most commonly referenced points of interest after the break.
DAoC Producer's Letter puts on training wheels, er, windows
Like fine wine, Dark Age of Camelot is improving with age, at least according to the recent Producer's Letter for the game. Stuart Zissu crowed about the success of the dev team's first Live Event -- called "Infernal Awakenings" -- which saw developer-controlled demons rampaging across the world. Apparently, it was such a success that the dev team is deep into planning the next Live Event. Belford was also excited to talk about the new training window UI, which is set to arrive in the game very shortly. This updated interface lets players map out their specializations in advance via sliders so that they can create the exact character build they desire. Once a desired build is found, the game will automatically refashion your character's stats and abilities to match. The DAoC team is also working on ways to make the game more accessible to all, including additional character transfers and payment methods. You can read Andy Belford's full Producer's Letter at The Camelot Herald.
Warhammer Online reveals new Scenario structure
People were not happy with the first version of Warhammer Online's plan to streamline the game's Scenarios to create a better structure. They were so not happy, in fact, that Mythic Entertainment decided it was better form to pull their original plans, wipe the slate clean, and start over with a clearer picture. And it seems to have worked, as Andy Belford has announced the revised plan for the scenarios as a whole. The result is a slightly larger list, but one with a bit more variety between tiers and a clearer picture of what the development team wanted to accomplish. As the post explains, the biggest concerns for the scenarios was that they feel different from tier to tier, that each one be unique and interesting in its own right, and that each one can achieve critical mass easily enough that neither faction feels completely helpless. Response to the announcement in the thread seems largely positive, with a wider range available at endgame and a careful re-distribution of what scenarios show up when. Warhammer Online players still have the opportunity to test this new environment on the test servers, and in all likelihood it will be going live soon enough, which represents a definite effort at compromise from the developers.
Back to the drawing board for Warhammer Online's scenarios
When Warhammer Online promised to greatly streamline its scenario structure and remove several of its less popular ones with the upcoming patch 1.3.4, the response wasn't altogether positive. There was a definite concern that the game was trying to mitigate its difficult times by removing one of the most fun aspects it had, which sounds like a bad idea all around. However, the developers have clearly been paying attention -- after collecting additional feedback from players and receiving plenty of input from the test server, Andy Belford announced that the team was going "back to the whiteboard" for their plans on streamlining and removing scenarios. While Belford makes it clear that the ultimate goal is the same -- to remove the unused and disliked scenarios and move the lower-tier ones that are well-loved to greater accessibility -- he also says that the team was getting clear input that they'd gone too far in the wrong direction. No dates are set, but a revised scenario setup and mass stability test is planned to go live sometime next week, hopefully with a better lineup. Whether or not you're currently playing Warhammer Online, it's always good to see developers paying close attention to what the players want.
Warhammer Online reveals tidbits about 1.3.4
After the storm of updates, changes, and news over the holidays, Warhammer Online has been pretty quiet lately. Under the circumstances, that might be a little more unsettling for the game's players. But the silence has at long last been broken, as community manager Andy Belford recently shared some information with the community about what can be expected when patch 1.3.4 arrives. And at least one of the announced features is something that should make a large number of players quite thankful -- the promise of weapons available via RvR gameplay instead of PvE. Belford stresses that the weapons will be purchased via a currency system that works with the game's scenarios, rather than any existing medallions or crests. As a connected point, he mentioned that scenarios were due for some more evaluation, with the promise of re-evaluating or removing several of the less popular options. There are also changes planned in the way that the game handles capturing cities, clearly designed to make defending captured areas more of a tactical decision for players. The patch is intended to go live on the test server by the second week of February at the absolute latest, which should be good news for all Warhammer Online fans.
Warhammer Online merges two more servers
It wasn't entirely unexpected -- after all, Jeff Skalski gave some indications this might be coming in our recent interview with him -- but it's still unbalancing. Warhammer Online community manager Andy Belford confirmed today that two of the game's servers, Dark Crag and Phoenix Throne, will be shutting down. The population of these servers will be allowed a free transfer to two other servers each -- Iron Rock or Badlands for Dark Crag, Gorfang or Volkmar for Phoenix Throne. He also mentions that there will be a 20% bonus to experience and renown in the weeks following the transfer, to at least slightly take the sting off the event. It looks as if there will be slightly more servers in the European region, as they have a total of 13 still open... but several of those are due to the different languages, and at least one of the realms is scheduled for shutdown. As for what this means for the game itself... it's hard to call it anything but bad news, even with the promises of a boost incoming to ease the impact. We know that Warhammer Online's future looks a bit shaky after recent events, but this is more dire than any of us had expected or hoped. We'll keep up on any news as it becomes available. [ Thanks to JP for the tip. ]
Warhammer Online interim city siege fixes
Mythic has been pulling out all stops lately in an effort to improve Warhammer Online. One of their latest changes was to remove fortresses from the RvR campaign equation because many players found them to be a laggy and boring hurdle to be overcome. Doing so, however, had a predictable result: Cities were sieged much more often. While Mythic was acutely aware this would happen, they didn't have measures in place to handle an "all city siege all the time" situation. Today, Andy Belford announced a suite of interim city fixes. Check out the official forums for the complete run-down. A few notables include: The durations of stage 1 and 2 city siege have been cut in half, many parts of the city are no longer tied to city rank, city rank recovers much more quickly, and the Reikland Factory and Twisting Tower scenarios are making a comeback to provide those not engaged in city siege with something to do. Many players and bloggers have pointed out that these fixes only address the symptoms and not the core issues related to WAR's RvR campaign. Andy was quick to mention that these are only initial changes and more will be coming (e.g., the Underdog system). Testing of these changes should begin next week so keep your eyes on the Herald.
Looking for WAR? Blame the ISP!
If you're wondering why the Warhammer Online main website isn't working (click the link for yourself to find out), or why you may be having connectivity issues with the game, it's because their ISP just did something they didn't want to happen.Mythic Entertainment (not like you can reach that website either, right now) is aware of, and on top of, the issue. Currently players are unable to connect to the patcher servers, meaning that new players will not be able to get back into the game until these issues are fixed. In the mean time, until everything comes back online, all pertinent data on the status of Warhammer can be found through Andy Belford's Twitter account, @Andy_Mythic. He'll keep players apprised of the situation until the main website can be brought back online.
GenCon Indy 09: Mythic and BioWare and Cryptic, oh my!
Syp of the BioBreak blog drove five-and-a-half hours to Indianapolis to experience GenCon Indy 2009 for a day and he surely didn't waste any time chatting with a few of the biggest MMO developers out there. He managed to get some one-on-one time with Robert Mull and Andy Belford of Mythic, Chris Priestly of BioWare, and Jack Emmert of Cryptic.Andy discussed Mythic's revised approach to Warhammer Online's development, some misconceptions about server performance, and his role in the Second Skin MMO documentary amongst other things. Chris was unable to talk about Star Wars: The Old Republic specifically as he was there to pitch Dragon Age: Origins, however, there is a little tidbit about ehancements they're making to their morality system, which fans will be sure to speculate upon. Finally, Jack seems confident that Champions Online hype will drastically escalate via word of mouth once the NDA drops.Check out Syp's trip to Indy part one and part two. It's full of interesting information about the convention and boasts numerous photos of himself, some devs, and the growd in general. He notes a bit of disappointment that neither Blizzard nor Turbine were in attendance, otherwise, he'd surely have assaulted them with questions too.
Mythic may take radical approaches with Warhammer Online
As Warhammer Online fans wait for a post-BioWAAAGH! pep talk from Mythic's new General Manager, Rob Denton, they'll have to make due with part three of an Executive Producer's letter from Jeff Hickman.The letter primarily discusses the ways Mythic plans to resolve the top 5 issues identified last week by various focus groups. Warhammer Alliance has an excellent summary in bullet form for those unwilling to wade through the whole article (though we suggest you do for full context).Jeff makes a few really interesting comments in his letter that jumped out at us. He states that Mythic is still committed to Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online and will be sharing their plans for both titles in the near future. We know about the new UO expansion but haven't heard much about DAOC lately. Where oh where are you, Origins?It appears Mythic is "looking at some fairly radical approaches" to address server population issues in WAR. Maybe we'll finally see that realm queue system they had working pre-release...Finally, it sounds like fortresses may be on their way out if Mythic can't find some way to fix them. Andy Belford had this to say: "How do we make it a fun encounter while not diminishing the epic feel of it? At what point do we say, enough is enough, and cut off the offending appendage?" Radical indeed.
