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July letter available from Warhammer Online's executive producer
Back when she was first placed in the position of Executive Producer for Warhammer Online, Carrie Gouskos promised to try for a letter every month. She's stayed true to that promise, and as the end of July approaches at breakneck speeds, there's a new letter for the fans. After a quick recap of the known news about the game (the testing of patch 1.3.6 and the European migration), there are several other updates, starting with the return of the Wild Hunt to the game with the coming patch. The letter also contains the promise of a new 6v6 scenario for the Weekend Warfront rotation, citing the matchup as a popular format that needs more representation. We also get a hint of future plans to help encourage RvR whilst leveling, said plans involving new enemies with high XP values being added to the RvR lakes. There's also a promise of a rework to the mechanics of some of the ranged classes, a coda to the most recent letter which should have several points of interest for dedicated Warhammer Online fans.
Patch 1.3.6 available on Warhammer Online's Warpstone server
It's been a quiet month for Warhammer Online players, unless you've been part of the transition of management over in Europe, but change appears to be on the horizon. Patch 1.3.6 has been in development for a little while now, and the players are getting to take it for a spin this weekend, as it's just been launched onto the Warpstone public test server. As usual, the development team is hosting a Q&A session as well as a stress test during the test phase, and while the official announcement doesn't mention any giveaways, history would seem to imply they'll be there. Of course, all of the testing is well and good, but what does the patch actually contain? Fear not, as the full patch notes are available to read, with the major highlights covering item sets and RvR balance -- the latter addressed via the new "Against All Odds" system that gives a bonus to the underdog in RvR lakes. Items will now be customizable via appearance slots, and the Sovereign armor sets have been split into two potential sets for different playstyles. Take a look at the patch notes, and be sure to head on to Warpstone for a preview of the latest and greatest addition to Warhammer Online.
Update on the Warhammer Online transition for European players
If you've been enjoying Warhammer Online over in Europe, it's been impossible to miss all of the information about Mythic Entertainment taking over the game's operation. Much as it did with the Dark Age of Camelot transition earlier this year, Mythic is replacing GOA as the direct operator. The team behind the game has been trying to keep the process of transition as transparent as possible, and the result has been that it appears to be clear sailing for the switched operators, according to the most recent announcement. Although the original timeline called for the transition to run until July 7th, it appears that the change has been completed, with all existing accounts transferred over with the suffix "_EUR." (So "Facemasher" would be "Facemasher_EUR" to log in.) While the team doesn't anticipate any problems, it's continuing to improve French and German customer service bases. As such, the team is asking for players to submit English requests when possible during the transition period. Warhammer Online players should be pleased at the smoothness of the transition, but are still advised to keep their eyes open on the off chance something went strange.
APB's voice chat feature will contain advertisements
With launch day closing in, crime MMO All Points Bulletin has been getting its payment scheme in order. The game's pricing structure was revealed at the end of April, including several flexible pay-per-time and monthly subscription options. In addition, the game will have a currency called "RTW points," which can be used for character customisations or converted into game time. While looking through the payment options in his account management page early this morning, one APB forum poster spied a strange button that set off a few warning bells in his head. Marked "VOIP Premium," the option removes adverts from APB's in-game voice chat for 30, 90 or 180 days in exchange for payment. This was the first players had heard of adverts being inserted into their voice chat and speculation began to run wild in the game's pre-release forum community. Players feared the worst -- that right in the middle of their game, a radio advert would start playing over their speakers. Community Officer Toxico was quick to address concerns, explaining the exact circumstances under which the ads will be played. For an advert to play, you have to be entering a district and must not have heard an ad for the past three hours. This ensures that they'll never interrupt normal play and won't play in an irritatingly high frequency. While some forum posters are avidly opposing a premium VOIP service, most seem content with the explanation provided and the conditions under which adverts will be played. [Thanks for the tip, Kip!]
All Points Bulletin interview on the approaching release
The time leading up to launch for All Points Bulletin has been a bit rocky here and there, with hot spots of controversy regarding the game's pricing model and the review embargo set for a surprisingly late date. But still, with about a week left before the game goes live, there's plenty to be excited about. (We'd link you to our own first impressions, but you'll have to travel into the future to be allowed to read it.) Our sister site Joystiq had a chance to talk with producer Jesse Knapp about the game's state just prior to launch. There are several interesting tidbits in the interview, such as discussion about how the game allows for criminals to fight amongst themselves on the premise that the designers expected an imbalance in that faction. There's also talk about the decision to avoid a microtransaction model in favor of the currently variable spread of subscription options for players. While the developers are still a bit up in the air about the game's status as an MMO, we're sure we have more than a few readers who are anticipating All Points Bulletin and who will find some interesting tidbits in the interview.
Rock Band 3 keyboard hands-on (video)
The internet at large has been joking about it long enough -- "hey, where's Keyboard Hero?" Well, here it is, and it's pretty killer. We're on the fence on how to describe our experience with Rock Band 3's not-a-keytar, because in many ways it's reflective of your own thoughts on the rhythm genre and pianos in general. Those with actual musical backgrounds are likely to scoff at the easy mode's use of five arbitrary keys for the tune -- not the groupings you see above, but a different set of colors, one per white note in the right half, with indicators just above the notes on that crevice between the top panel and keys themselves (picture's after the break). Even if the actual song calls for a F# note, hitting a F or even a B might be called for instead. It's a mentality that's as old as the genre, that what we're really doing is pantomiming instruments -- or in the case of drums, just hitting key notes and letting the game fill in the blanks on lower difficulties. This, however, is an actual piano. The over-simplification is probably a necessary illusion in standard mode -- or even when the keyboard is used as a replacement guitar / bass -- but having actual proper keys will probably drive the more musically apt insane. Then again, if you're not of that mindset, none of this will probably bother you at all, so feel free to ignore our impressions and bang away. Pro mode, on the other hand is pretty killer, for all the reasons that standard mode can be irksome. Even at the simplest levels, you're actually getting to play proper notation. Perfect for us, no matter how badly we flubbed up "Crosstown Traffic" on Expert. Sight-reading is a challenge, but nothing worse than actual notation. As we've seen before, the main lane doesn't show all two octaves, but the warning we're given before shifting to the right or left is easy enough to follow, but just like when you first grabbed the plastic axe, expect a good bit of adjustment frustration. See more pics below, and video after the break. Update: Clarification added to the different color groupings used for Pro and Standard mode. %Gallery-95363%
Waging WAR: An in-depth look at the Producer's Letter
This week, Waging WAR is going to take a deeper look at the Producer's Letter for this month of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. There are lots of new promises coming down the pipeline, and plenty of speculation to follow. Let's sift through some of the hubbub and get into the nitty-gritty of it all. First of all, there's a serious cliffhanger in the notes suggesting that we'll be given a reason to wear all the sovereign gear that's being won in the new city sieges. Currently, there is good reason to wear (or at least acquire) warlord gear if for nothing other than the wards they provide -- and thus the significant advantage they give in the new city sieges. However, there is nothing in the game that requires the wards that the sovereign gear provides. If we insert tab-A into slot-B, the only real conclusion we can come to, speculatively, is that a new expansion is just beyond the horizon, and close to being revealed. Such an expansion could very well add a new tier (and new wards and warded content), in addition to buckets of other new content, such as a new pairing (as has been speculated many times in the past -- Skaven vs. Lizardmen, anyone?) On this point, I suppose we'll have to apply the "wait-and-see" motif, and just wait and see. Also, E3 is also coming up very soon (June 14-17). Could the EA/Mythic booth have some big news secretly tucked up their collective sleeves? As a disclaimer, this is only wild speculation by this particular columnist and nothing above should be taken as official suggestion of anything mentioned at all. But we can hope, can't we?
Cosmetic armor and more promised in Warhammer Online's May producer letter
The recent release of patch 1.3.5 has brought with it the complete death of Warhammer Online, if you equate a more active city siege environment with "complete death." Even though it came late in the month, it's certainly a major point of discussion for executive producer Carrie Gouskos, and it's addressed in the most recent producer letter for May. But that's the least of what needs to be discussed, and the talk starts with a reversal of the prior announcement that 1.3.6 would allow players to create characters of both realms on the same server. Fan reaction was negative enough to change the decision. Moving along, the producer letter promises the introduction of armor appearance separate from armor stats, similar to how Lord of the Rings Online allows players to wear a purely cosmetic set. There's also the promise of major updates to the Runepriest and Zealot careers, to make both of them more active and engaging to play in either healing or damage. Fans of Warhammer Online should take a look at the full producer's letter to see more discussion about what's coming around the bend for the game.
All Points Bulletin still set for consoles, but in a different form
The longstanding search for a console MMO is ongoing, with All Points Bulletin coming up as one of the bigger hopes for the near future. It's been announced, however, that while the game is still slated for consoles, it's not going to be ported straight over from the PC version. That's the word from EJ Moreland, lead designer, who recently went on record saying that as the development of the game progressed, it became more and more obvious that the game wouldn't work as a straight port of the PC version. Before anyone throws up their hands in despair, however, the game is still planned for release on consoles. There's no specific timetable for it, as the team chose to focus on the PC version first, but it is still slated for release. As to how the game will be different, the only clue is the cryptic explanation that it will be in a form more suited to console play. What precisely that means is unclear, but every All Points Bulletin fan can only hope that the game will still hold on to its unique multiplayer experience.
The siege begins with Warhammer Online's patch 1.3.5
If there's been a recurring theme in recent news about Warhammer Online, it's been the promise that 1.3.5 will be a glorious patch to behold. At the heart are the revamped RvR-focused City Siege events, letting players assault the center of the enemy's power. Last week was the public testing of both redesigned cities, and it must have gone quite well, because the patch has hit the live servers. Now, instead of fighting against the city's ruler in a PvE format, players will fight alongside the heavy hitters in a 24 vs. 24 battle. The changes to the cities aren't the only improvements to the game, however. Mythic has also added several quality-of-life improvements such as changes to inventory spaces and mini-map highlights to help point players to regions of interest. City sieges are the lynchpin, however, and as was discussed during our recent chat with executive producer Carrie Gouskos they're part of the game's major push to celebrate RvR in all its forms. Warhammer Online players can take a look at the full patch notes here -- or just get in the game and into the action as fast as possible.
Dante's Inferno dev hiring for 'sequel to major new IP'
In a recent job listing on Gamasutra, EA's Visceral Games studio put out a feeler for "an experienced Environment Artist for an existing action/adventure franchise." We might normally excuse this as a job listing for the currently-in-development Dead Space 2, but the listing further details the project as "a major opportunity to contribute to a bold new franchise, heavily backed by the EA Games Label ... the sequel to a major new IP at the award-winning Visceral Games." The listing concludes with another vaguely suggestive line about creating a sequel that will "set new quality standards and make the franchise the world-leader in the action/melee-combat genre." Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are mentioned as target consoles. All these clues add up to reasonable speculation that Visceral is recruiting for a sequel to this year's Dante's Inferno. In December, the first game's producer was all for the idea of a sequel, but admitted that continuing to follow the path laid out by the The Divine Comedy source material, which would lead to Purgatory and perhaps on into Heaven, might not make for a great game -- especially in the action/melee-combat genre. Perhaps then, a Dante's Inferno sequel could take a few liberties with the story. [Via Superannuation]
Our talk with Warhammer Online's Carrie Gouskos
It's been a tumultuous time for Warhammer Online of late, but the new executive producer Carrie Gouskos seems to be well-suited to weathering the storm. She's been overseeing the development of the game since February, and under her direction it's moved more and more steadily into an RvR focus. We recently were lucky enough to get a chance to talk with Ms. Gouskos about her involvement with the game, her opinion on the game's state, and what she could let us know about its future. Massively: In the simplest terms possible, what is Warhammer Online's development focus at the moment? Carrie Gouskos: Now that we've gotten through the 1.3.5 patch -- and this is about to surface for the players, but obviously, for the developers, we're always kind of looking at least a little bit ahead, sometimes very far ahead -- our next big thing is sort of twofold. One, I kind of made a renewed commitment to some of the more major bugs that I really want to address. But really, our major one is open RvR, and addressing some of the issues that our players have brought up to us.
Public testing for Warhammer Online's city sieges
The major gameplay push for Warhammer Online of late has been the imminent patch 1.3.5, bringing with it the fully RvR-focused city sieges. Developer diaries have explained its creation at length, and it's been getting closed testing for some time, but now it's time for it to face up to the watchful eye of the public. Starting on Tuesday, May 11th, both Altdorf and the Inevitable City will be getting tested in their new incarnations, and as always players are invited to take part in the mayhem. Altdorf will be the first up for assault on Tuesday at 8:00 PM EST (5 PM PST), with the Inevitable City beginning its siege on Thursday the 13th at the same hour. After the testing has taken place, the development team will be available for an informal question and answer session on the official Mythic Ventrilo server, as if players needed an extra incentive. The official announcement includes information about copying one's character to the test server, so all Warhammer Online players are encouraged to participate.
Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot olive branches now available
The past couple of months have not been kind to Mythic Entertainment, with an uncomfortable double-header of a huge billing fiasco followed by the closure of the Mythic Store. The billing especially produced a great deal of outrage from players, understandably concerned about their account security as well as the potential impact on their bank accounts. Even reversing the charges didn't leave everyone completely mollified -- but Mythic has put in the effort to try and not just apologize and reverse the error, but help regain the trust and goodwill of the players. Both Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot players will receive two items of their choice on all current and future characters, with Warhammer Online mailing out tokens and Dark Age of Camelot simply allowing you to talk to a Royal Accountant. The items include dyes, decorations, temporary disguises, and other fun toys for players to help recover from the aftershocks. On the off chance that you didn't receive the items and were billed multiple times, the team at Mythic has a specific appeals process to ensure correct delivery. As bad as the error was, it's good to see that players will be compensated nicely for as long as they keep playing.
Warhammer Online talks more about the design of RvR Sieges
If there's a part of Warhammer Online's upcoming patch 1.3.5 that should excite veteran players -- and there is -- it's the shift of city sieges to an RvR-designed focus. One of the central selling points of the game has always been the strength of its PvP, and as the game works to shore up its weaknesses one of the major foci has been enhancing the PvP experience. Content developer Keaven Freeman has penned a developer diary explaining the issues, pitfalls, and ultimate results of the design process and the shift in ethos. As Freeman puts it, the sieges haven't moved completely to PvP only, simply because it doesn't feel quite right to have the capture experience feel equally inviting in an enemy city or an allied one. But the PvE elements exist, from the sound of it, simply to focus attacks on things other than players at times, rather than to give hordes of NPCs to fight. In addition, the diary talks about the cascading control point system, which builds a network of control allowing players to spearhead an assault into the heart of the city. For Warhammer Online players looking forward to answering the call of their respective faction, the diary should be both enlightening and interesting.
Warhammer Online brings 1.3.5 to be tested
With all of the billing nightmares apparently resolved, complete with the peacemaking gifts, Warhammer Online is ready to move back to its core focus. The development team has been talking about the improvements set to come with patch 1.3.5, continuing the game's process of strengthening the Realm vs. Realm gameplay by adding fully PvP-focused city sieges. On top of the improvements to Scenarios and the addition of PvP-bought weaponry, the game is playing to its greatest assets. How successful it's been will soon be in the hands of the players, as 1.3.5 is going to the public test server. The obvious large-scale changes can take some of the flash away from smaller changes, such as allowing Marauders the option to properly dual-wield and improved AFK flagging in scenarios. Numerous bugfixes, changes to NPC locations, and revisions to the Open RvR currency are also present in the patch. And that's not even talking about inventory space... all in all, it promises much for players to be happy about, and little to be disappointed with. Warhammer Online's players can take a hop to the test server Warpstone to take a look at all the changes, and those who'd prefer to abstain can take heart that the changes will likely be going live soon.
The Daily Grind: Warhammer Online's billing woes
It started as innocently as any tale of this sort could possibly start, but Warhammer Online's latest problem has people up in arms, from veterans to those who've only played a few hours. And understandably so, since dozens of charges that overdraw your bank account are fairly universally seen as a bad thing. The MMO blogosphere has erupted with posts on the incident, and even Mythic Entertainment's attempts to calm the waters have left several people feeling unhappy (to put it mildly). Billing issues happen with online purchases, but rarely of this magnitude, and rarely on the heels of a push to involve the community. It hasn't been an easy ride for Warhammer Online thus far, so we're curious to know what our readers think. Is this a death knell for the game, or just a really big mistake? Does it make you feel more nervous about giving away your payment information? Whether you play or not, what do you think would be fair compensation for those affected? Do you see this as a major lesson for the industry? On an issue like this, nearly everyone has an opinion, so we want to hear yours.
Billing issues hitting Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot
Even when everything's going just fine, monthly billing in an MMO brings up the problems of players feeling entitled to quite a bit of free content and getting rather annoyed if it's not forthcoming. It also raises questions of how badly you really want to play the game in question. Luckily for most games, the rebilling cycle for subscriptions is automatic and requires no conscious attention from fans... at least, unless something goes wrong. And unfortunately for Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot subscribers, something did indeed go wrong. Players are being billed more than once for their subscriptions. The customer service team at Mythic Entertainment was quick to explain that they were aware of the issue and working with their vendor to resolve it. Unfortunately, the official solution requires a call and a fair bit of time spent confirming and reversing the charges, rather than being a straight refund behind the scenes. As the game's studio is hosting several of Warhammer Online's blogging pundits, it could hardly have come at a worse time. Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot players are advised to read the official statement and check the charges on your account very carefully.
Warhammer Online courts their notable bloggers
If there was any doubt in the Warhammer Online community that producer Carrie Gouskos was serious when she said she wanted increased community involvement, it doesn't have much of a leg left to stand on. The amount of information that's been coming out of the team has been exceptional, and the regular producer letter has certainly helped the feel of the team being invested. But they're taking it a step further: they're bringing four of the biggest bloggers about their game straight to the office, and they're giving them -- and other players -- a great opportunity to connect with the team. Not only will the invited bloggers have a chance to ask the developers any questions they can think of, with an emphasis on patch 1.3.5, the team is inviting players to send the bloggers questions via Twitter. The event will be taking place on Thursday, April 8th, with the tweeting of questions set to begin sometime after 2 PM EDT. The trip itself lasts both Thursday and Friday, and should provide some of the most vocal Warhammer Online fans with some interesting news about their favorite game. Win-win for the fan community, yes?
PAX East 2010: Hands-on with APB
Despite the low saturation of MMO studios at PAX East last weekend, Realtime Worlds was in full force at their booth with EA to show off the upcoming GTA-style MMO, All Points Bulletin. There were eight stations set up on each side of a large stage, each showing the game as it was live on the North American beta servers. One side showed off the Enforcers and the other, Criminals. I had a demo appointment with community manager Chris Collins for the following day, but I had to jump in early and get my hands on Massively's most anticipated game of 2010.%Gallery-89311%
