mythic-entertainment
Latest
An eye-opening Aion preview
It's very likely that you've either only heard whisperings of the game Aion or haven't heard anything at all. We honestly couldn't blame you with the huge amount of hype currently gushing out every which-way for Warhammer Online. The human mind, while able to absorb hype like a dry sponge to water can only contain so much of it at a given time. Our hope is that with the release of Warhammer Online just around the bend, you can eek out a little room for NCsoft's upcoming Aion, which was just given a wonderfully entertaining preview over at Eurogamer.The gist of Aion is that it's a game being developed with the best of breed concepts from Eastern and Western MMO developers. User-friendly, PvE and PvP content coming out its nose, highly customizable characters, gorgeous graphics and uh, wings. To be fair, the wings thing is a lot cooler than it sounds when you just say 'wings' like us. You get the idea, however. Currently, Aion is looking at an early 2009 release date.
Mythic's Road to WAR website launched
Anticipation is a beautiful thing. Anticipation without news leads to dangerous speculation, yet anticipation combined with tons of news and activity websites can seal the deal for your launch-date purchase of a game. This seems to be the plan with Warhammer Online's Road to WAR website launched last week by Mythic Entertainment.On this site you can claim your allegiance to the Order or Destruction Realm, recruit friends and gather gold for the fight. What fight, you might ask? Each week until launch, you can participate in a battle for yourself, your state and your Realm. Plus, if having your name on the Leaderboard isn't enough incentive to win, there are plenty of valuable prizes at stake, including a Never Ending Bowl of Custard and a special in-game title. Head on over to the official website to get yourself registered and learn more.
Warhammer Online video interview with Mythic's Josh Drescher
WAR Stratics has posted a rather off-the-cuff video interview with Josh Drescher, Associate Producer with Mythic Entertainment, who has been working on Warhammer Online. The San Diego Comic Con interview is completely unscripted, indeed it may have been unplanned, as WAR Stratics prefaces the video with "this is what happens when you turn fans of the game, who just happen to be press, loose on the devs." But Drescher's humor really shines through, as does his enthusiasm about bringing RvR to a fanbase numbering in the millions. The highlight of the interview is Drescher's response when asked about what will suprise fans the most once they're able to play Warhammer Online. "That everything we've said is true... we like to bring the game to events like this where we can just give people unfettered access to the game exactly as it is right now. And basically prove to them, everything we've been telling them is true. You really can level up through the entire game, never going on a quest. You can play RvR from beginning to end." Drescher racks up a few extra points for the Mad Max reference in there, and closes with, "WAR is coming, baby. Very, very soon." We know a lot of you have been waiting to get your hands on this game, or at least the beta. So on a 1 to 10, how excited are you about playing Warhammer Online?
Mythic publishes Warhammer Online pre-order FAQ
Mythic has created the beginnings of a FAQ intended to help would-be-customers sort out all the details about pre-ordering Warhammer Online. Info included in the FAQ: how to pre-order in Canada, who to poke to get pre-order codes when you place your order through an online store, and details and definitions on the beta testing phases, among other things.Mythic promises that the FAQ will be updated with new information in the future, but doesn't say what kind of information it'll be.The FAQ has some helpful information if you have those specific questions, of course. If you want a more in-depth and badass guide to pre-ordering WAR, though, check out our WAR collector's edition pre-order guide. Which retailer distributes codes in the most helpful way? Which one gives you the best extra goodies? It's all there!
The Digital Continuum: On WAR comparisons
I'm going to start this week's The Digital Continuum off with an obvious, yet necessary, disclaimer: This is my (ie Kyle Horner's) opinion and not Massively's.A high horse can be ridden and a dead horse can be beaten, but can some people get over their assiduous horse fetishes? Apparently, no, they can't. I'm speaking of course about knee-jerk, marketing-mannequin reactions that some people seem to have when Warhammer Online is compared to World of Warcraft. It's almost as though doing such a thing has become a sacred cow, which cannot -- and verily should not -- dare be brought up. Why? "Well, because such discussion occurs ad infinium." someone will say. I say to them, "And rightfully so." Because for all the things Warhammer Online does that are unlike World of Warcraft, it's still a very comparable MMO.
Blizzard: Yes, some players left for AoC
Say whatever you will about Age of Conan, but it's been one of the only games to actually put a tangible dent in Blizzard's ten million ton monster truck of an MMO, World of Warcraft. The news came from Blizzard president Mike Morhaime who recently said on an Activision Blizzard earnings call, "Age of Conan released with some initial success a couple of months ago, and we did see some of our players leave to try the game. However, we've seen about 40 percent of those players return to World of Warcraft." We know that Age of Conan saw about 700,000 players jumping into the game during its first month on the market. What we don't know is how many of those players were World of Warcraft vets. It must have been fairly substantial though for Morhaime to have even mentioned it at all. With Warhammer Online purportedly coming out sometime this September we're wondering how many players will go and stay gone this time around, especially with Wrath of the Lich King hot on its heels. It's certainly going to be an interesting holiday season this year.
Warhammer Online minimum system specs revealed
Do you like graphics wot be shiny? If so, then you're in luck! Mythic Entertainment has just released the minimum system requirements for running Warhammer Online when it (supposedly) releases sometime this September. They don't look to be very high, although the minimum two gigabytes of RAM for Windows Vista users isn't very surprising. All of the newer games on Vista seem to be asking for that, so if you're running that operating system we hope you've got the RAM already. If you don't have sufficient robot algae memory (that's what RAM stands for, right?), at least buying some more of the stuff shouldn't break your bank or anything.The only thing left is the recommended requirements, which probably aren't going to be too shocking. We're expecting to see a 256MB videocard or better recommendation and probably a mid-level dual-core CPU. You can check out the entire list after the break, if you're so inclined.
Rumor: Warhammer Online set to release on September 23rd
We have a date! Not that kind of date, not the awkward first kind. This is a better date, one where Warhammer Online will be released unto the masses. There have been many 'release dates' since the game went into Beta testing, but this one seems like it might have legs. The preliminary launch date is September 23rd. This release date has been updated on several retail sites, but what lends to its credibility is the official EA site was recently updated with the same date.The developers acknowledged at E3 2008 that Warhammer Online was pretty much done and that the team is in high-polish mode. The guild beta will also be the last beta phase before the open beta starts. Of course, nothing is official until EA and Mythic Entertainment release an official press release or statement but the pieces are falling into place. Aside from any unforeseen circumstances September 23rd is the day that Warhammer: Age of Reckoning will launch. Delay after delay, no longer. There is no denying that WAR is inevitable, and if you need a heads up on what to expect catch-up on all our exclusive WAR coverage. [Via Nullword]
Mythic's Paul Barnett and Jeff Hickman coming to PAX08
If you happen to find yourself up in Seattle Washington on August 29th-31st, then you may want to check out the Penny Arcade Expo. Chances are that if you do, you'll be able to find both Paul Barnett and Jeff Hickman roaming around the convention halls yammering on about waaagh! and other juicy bits of information. Warhammer Online has always had a good booth presence at PAX but now we'll all get to experience the one-two punch of a Hickman-Barnett combo. If you ask us, that alone is worth the price of admission for any nearby WAR fan. Did we mention juicy info bits? With this news, Penny Arcade Expo 2008 is shaping up to be a real treat for anyone interested in MMOs. Mythic Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Blizzard, Cryptic Studios, Flying Lab Software and CCP are all going to be there with games and/or content to show off to attendees. So don't miss it if you can go!
E308: Massively goes back to WAR
Last week was our chance to check back with the Mythic Entertainment staff, touch base with the makers of Warhammer Online. We managed to walk away with a few new interesting insights into the game, and wanted to make sure you had the chance to check them out below: E308: Warhammer's designers explain the career/city removalCareers lead Adam Gershowitz and Associate Producer Josh Drescher were instrumental in making our Massively goes to WAR series a success. Our lengthy discussion with the two Warhammer Online designers resulted in our in-depth analysis of (at that point) every class slated for the game. Last week at E3 our discussion with the two gentlemen turned to the removal of four of those classes, as well as four of the slated endgame capital cities. E308: 'Open Party' system to encourage grouping in Warhammer OnlineOur epic-level talk with Josh Drescher and Adam Gershowitz delved into a number of interesting topics. Warhammer Online is essentially feature complete, they said, and will offer players a level of UI customization we haven't seen in most previous MMOs. They also, interestingly, are working to take care of the looking for group problem with a new tactic: the Open Party. E308: Exploring an improved Inevitable City in Warhammer OnlineOur discussion of Warhammer Online as seen at last week's E3 event continues, with a look at an improved Inevitable City. During our huge Massively goes to WAR feature spread earlier this year, we had the chance to tour the Chaos home base, and came away impressed.
E308: Warhammer's designers explain the career/city removal
Careers lead Adam Gershowitz and Associate Producer Josh Drescher were instrumental in making our Massively goes to WAR series a success. Our lengthy discussion with the two Warhammer Online designers resulted in our in-depth analysis of (at that point) every class slated for the game. Last week at E3 our discussion with the two gentlemen turned to the removal of four of those classes, as well as four of the slated endgame capital cities.The announcement of that content removal has been a sore point for some members of the Warhammer community, but Drescher and Gershowitz were adamant that it was the best decision for the game. We talk in-depth with the two about why the content was removed, how the decision was made, and what the designers are going to do with the time they've freed up for themselves. Oh, and they're firm: EA had nothing to do with it. "EA has supported us this entire time, and it's really not EA pressure that led to this decision. What you've got to realize is that we're making a giant game. It's very expansive and it has a lot of features. We could easily fall into the trap of 'forever making the game'."
E308: Warhammer Online's customization options explained
One component of Mythic Entertainment's Warhammer Online that we haven't seen a ton of is character customization. We know that the collector's edition will contain 'rare heads', for example, but what of in-game options. That's exactly what the team set out to correct at last week's E3. Mythic's Adam Gershowitz lays it out for us - make sure to read below the cut for some exciting news about guild banners!I noticed earlier there was a demo for what looked like character customization options? Adam Gershowitz: One of the things we've been having a bit of a hard time with, because we show people live demos, is showing the breadth of customization in the game. So we've put together this presentation which shows off what we have. As you're aware, all of our equipment is career-specific. We've taken a page out of the FPS playbook – we want you to be able to identify a character's career from a distance. Expanding on that, we're showing the armor progression from low to high level in the game. We have over 400 armor sets in the game, they're split pretty evenly amongst the 20 careers. What you're seeing here are just three of the careers - the Warrior Priest, the Witch Elf, and the Chosen – going through some of the armor. I don't think it's all of the armor, maybe just half of it.
E308: Exploring an improved Inevitable City in Warhammer Online
Our discussion of Warhammer Online as seen at last week's E3 event continues, with a look at an improved Inevitable City. During our huge Massively goes to WAR feature spread earlier this year, we had the chance to tour the Chaos home base, and came away impressed. Last week we got the chance to see an updated version of the capital, and learned about what the extra time removing the other capitals has netted the Mythic Entertainment development team. Read on to hear Adam Gershowitz talk about city improvements, the endgame reward cycle, and how the two-cities structure has focused the player experience.Adam Gershowitz: Inevitable City is one of the two capital cities we're going to launch with. It has gotten bigger and better than it was previously. That's part of the reason why we're down to two capital cities - we keep throwing more and more stuff into the existing ones. It got to the point where we were like, "Well crud, just Altdorf and Inevitable City have as much content as we originally planned for all three city pairings. So we kind of wanted to finish the job, to make sure it's really really top-notch so we're focusing down a little bit more. What that does is it actually changes the campaign up a little bit.
E308: 'Open Party' system to encourage grouping in Warhammer Online
Our epic-level talk with Josh Drescher and Adam Gershowitz delved into a number of interesting topics. Warhammer Online is essentially feature complete, they said, and will offer players a level of UI customization we haven't seen in most previous MMOs. They also, interestingly, are working to take care of the looking for group problem with a new tactic: the Open Party. We've already learned how they plan to encourage players to collaborate through Public Quests, but this sounds like it's taking the boundary of solo and group play and stretching it to the breaking point ...Adam: Another major feature we wanted to make sure to mention was the Open Party system. It just went into the Beta in the last couple of weeks. The Open Party system is an extension of the Looking For Group system. We have a fully fleshed out LFG system, but the Open Party system is really kind of an easier, casual way to put a group together. What the Open Party does is, say I come into the game and I'm interesting in forming a group. I go ahead and start the system, and it puts me into a party of one. It immediately updates me on the UI to be available for other players. As players are running around the world, they're going to get notification that there are Open Parties with slots in the area. On our Beta server right now, in most areas, there's anywhere from four to something like eighteen Open Parties for any given area. When you look on the UI you'll see it shows how many people are in a group, as well as the exact distance you are from the party.
E308: Warhammer Online to feature fully customizable UI
We spoke earlier this week with Josh Drescher and Adam Gershowitz about the latest changes to Warhammer Online, and we were enthused to hear that the game will feature a fully customizable user interface. The developers were very forceful about what they did and didn't want to see from this component of the game - something you may have picked up on in our discussion of the Goblin Shaman earlier this year. Here's Adam Gershowitz talking about the game's custom tweaks:Adam: One thing you didn't see previously is our UI editor. The UI and layout editor we just put this in recently. It's a fully customizable UI and layout editor. It was one of the things we thought was really important to put into the game because one of the things everybody really hates is that mods break down when there is a patch. We're obviously going to support modding, but we want to make sure that even the newest player can come in and simply change their UI without having to get updates from the web. That's really where our UI concept came from. You can see here you can move things around, scale it however I want, we'll start putting rotation tools in pretty soon. Are you going to be interacting with the modding community in sort of an official capacity where you might highlight mods that are really worthwhile?Adam: I don't know what the UI mod team's plans are for sure? I know that's what they're currently doing in Beta and I imagine that relationship is going to continue into release.
E308: Warhammer Online is pretty much done
We had a chance to chat today with Josh Drescher and Adam Gershowitz, two of the leading lights behind EA Mythic's Warhammer Online. Even just two months after our huge Massively goes to WAR series, there were new elements to view and discuss. We'll get you that information as soon as we can, but we wanted to share what might have been the biggest surprise of our chat: essentially everything that will be in the game at launch is now in the game. Said Mr. Gershowitz, "Basically where we're at right now is the guild Beta. We're in high polish mode, which means that everything in the game is in at this point. Everything we're going to ship with, for the most part, is in, is being played, everybody is taking a look at it, giving us feedback and now we're doing the final polish."Tune back in soon for information on Warhammer's built-in UI customization, reactions to the recent class and city removal announcements, character customization tidbits, and much more.
E308: Warhammer Online trailer showcases RvR combat
The Warhammer Online folks are keeping sort of a low profile this week, but in honor of E3 they have released a brand new trailer highlighting Realm vs. Realm combat. The video, which is embedded below the cut, shows off the on-foot combat, as well as siege warfare. Siege warfare is the core of the game, with the recent city areas cut not affecting the basic rolling combat that will ultimately overwhelm the two remaining capital cities. Make sure to check out our own coverage of the game's PvP elements as well. They include our look at RvR scenarios, a look at the keep and siege warfare, and what it takes to sack a capital city. %Gallery-21881%
Warhammer Online EU guild beta begins
Severing proposed and often hyped portions of content this late in beta development left Warhammer Online fans devastated. We learned that the capital cities for the Dark Elf, High Elf, Orc, and Dwarf factions all fell victim to the development cycle. Additionally, four classes also hit the chopping block as they were not up to snuff. Mythic VP and General Manager, Mark Jacobs spoke out earlier assuaging the negative feedback by explaining the positive ramifications as a result from the content loss. Mythic Entertainment's decision was exceedingly difficult but the implemented content received more development resources and otherwise wouldn't have been as outstanding. With that said and Warhammer: Age of Reckoning nears closer to release with the announcement that the US guild beta invites were sent out earlier this week. And now the European WAR guild beta is ramping up with both guild beta phases to commence at the same time! The official EU Warhammer Online website is reporting that thousands of guild beta invites have been sent out. Invites will continue to flock to various selected inboxes this evening and throughout tomorrow. If your invite doesn't show up immediately there's still some time, at least until tomorrow night. Good luck.
Mythic offers FAQs for Warhammer's loss of cities, classes
The removal of four classes and four capital cities from Warhammer Online last week continues to reverberate through the fan community. In an attempt to answer prospective player questions in a highly visible place, FAQs have been posted to the official website. They tackle both questions related to the four classes and questions related to the removal of the cities. Essentially, the game's Realm vs. Realm combat works exactly the same. Players will now work through the tiers of content to reach the fortress outside of the three capital cities. To open up access to attack the opposing faction's city, two of these three fortresses must be sieged and captured. The document crows "it works out even better than we had originally designed."The classes FAQ is a also hopeful, noting that the developers will use the extra time freed up by removing these classes to good effect. Literally. Smoother visual effects will be added, as well as additional animations to smooth out the 'feel' of combat. The classes still in the game will receive additional polish as well, with new abilities and class-specific gear the result. Be sure to read both selections to gain more clarity on this somewhat-confusing topic.
E308: New Warhammer Online screenshots
Though Mythic hasn't yet had anything to tell us about Warhammer Online, they have released a handful of new RvR-focused screenshots at E3 today. There are a number of nicely composed moments in there, including the sweet action shot above. Leaping squigs, arcane-blasting Archmages, and a Marauder on the rampage. There even appears to be a screenshot-first of a high-level female Chaos Magus in their distinctive armor. This blogger's personal favorite is what appears to be the last stand of an Empire Warrior Priest. He's facing off against a full compliment of Chosen, Marauder, Zealot, Magus ... and a giant purple demon thing. Anyone more firmly steeped in Warhammer lore want to tell us what that is? %Gallery-27605%
