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Warhammer Online Enters Guild Beta Stage
Posted by Mike Fahey at 12:20 AM on July 12, 2008
It's full speed ahead for EA Mythic's Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning as the game enters the final phase of closed beta testing, the Guild Beta. This is the stage where guilds from other games who signed up for beta as a whole will gain access to the game en masse in order to test out the newly implemented guild and heraldry features, as well as the individual servers' capacity for drama.
"WAR's Guild Beta is here and some of the world's most experienced MMO players will now get a chance to play one of the most anticipated MMOs of all time," said Mark Jacobs, vice president and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. "We look forward to seeing them beat, bash and burn their way through the world that we have created for their enjoyment. It's going to be a lot of fun and it's going to be glorious!"
The WoW guild I was in when we signed up for the Warhammer beta has long since dissolved, reformed, dissolved again, and split up into a series of tiny, ineffectual guilds with no hope of ever accomplishing anything. Such is the way of all things.
Mythic Entertainment Launches the Guild Beta for Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™
Select Guilds Prepare for WAR as Highly Anticipated MMORPG Enters Next Phase of Beta Test
FAIRFAX, Va.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts studio (NASDAQ:ERTS), today announced that the Guild Beta for Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ (WAR) has begun. Over 10,000 guilds applied and those selected will have the chance to experience the game's most expansive beta phase yet.
An historic 750,000 applicants have signed up for the opportunity to enter WAR's closed beta, and the selected guilds will join tens of thousands of new participants as the game enters the final phase of its closed beta test. Guild members, many with long histories playing a multitude of massively multiplayer online games, will test WAR's recently added Guild and Heraldry features, as well as Public Quests™, new dungeons, Scenarios, user interface updates and more as the MMORPG advances towards its launch later this year.
"WAR's Guild Beta is here and some of the world's most experienced MMO players will now get a chance to play one of the most anticipated MMOs of all time," said Mark Jacobs, vice president and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. "We look forward to seeing them beat, bash and burn their way through the world that we have created for their enjoyment. It's going to be a lot of fun and it's going to be glorious!"
Based on Games Workshop's epic and longstanding tabletop fantasy war game, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning features revolutionary Realm vs. Realm™ (RvR) gameplay that immerses players in a world of perpetual conflict. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is scheduled for launch on the PC in the fall of 2008.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
V.Volker
Posted 12:55 AM 12/7/08
I just upgraded for this and all the others to come!
V.Volker
Tull
Posted 12:42 AM 12/7/08
Ahh, something to look forward to when I get home from work.
Tull
Rookerith
Posted 12:39 AM 12/7/08
Other news:
EA Mythic is getting their name changed back to Mythic Entertainment.
The collector's edition appears to be selling out, and being pulled from websites for preorder after the weekend: [www.evilavatar.com]
Rookerith
Viper
Posted 12:36 AM 12/7/08
I never got into the beta :( Shame I really wana to play it.
Viper
antialias02
Posted 12:32 AM 12/7/08
Sounds like my Guild Wars Guild. Le sigh.
Also, rumor has it that WAR will go into "Open Beta" (which is apparently very different from "Public Beta") about a month or so after Guild Beta starts. Give or take, you know, a year.. because it's EA Mythic.
Of course, another speculation is that a better sign will be the lifting of the NDA, and that from that day up to about a month after that, the "Open Beta" will start.
Who's to say? I feel like I'm talking about end time prophecy or something...
antialias02
Geminosity
Posted 12:28 AM 12/7/08
One of these days an MMO developer will realise that guilds doesn't equal social gaming. Around that time the world will implode and all that will be left will be cupcakes and paladins.
Geminosity
Coquiton
Posted 12:27 AM 12/7/08
We are getting ever closer to the release date!
Can't wait for this, it's sounding like it's gonna be an amazing MMO!
Coquiton
Fulgurator
Posted 12:22 AM 12/7/08
I'll wait for Banhammmer online.
Fulgurator
Shockeh
Posted 1:00 AM 12/7/08
The only worry is that it's still a gel between two companies both known for profit over game.
Games Workshop have allowed financials to affect their game before, to the negative detriment of the game. EA (despite their recent claims to the contrary) have basically based an entire business model on it.
Can two wrongs still make a right?
Shockeh
Helioz
Posted 12:59 AM 12/7/08
Sadly I think Warhammer will fail terribly. I just don't think there's the market for two MMORPG titles especially now that there are more WoW subscribers than members of some religions (Mormons).
Helioz
taftsearlobe33
Posted 1:51 AM 12/7/08
@ZeroCoin:
1. sounds like a good idea
2. is a shock but depending on how close after release they add the cities will depend on how "cool" i am with that. I just hope they don't pull a Blizz and add the last 2 cities 2 years after release.
3. a total shock. However in a way I can respect that I mean cutting 4 classes instead of just throwing in some half assed classes takes brass balls. But at least its not a class a cared about.
taftsearlobe33
ZeroCoin
Posted 1:38 AM 12/7/08
Other announcements were
1. Warhammer will use punkbuster to find cheaters.
2. Game will launch with 2 capital cities total instead of 6
3. 4 classes are being cut
[www.mmorpg.com]
ZeroCoin
taftsearlobe33
Posted 1:27 AM 12/7/08
@Helioz: yes thats it there is only room for one MMO thats why there are dozens of MMOs on the market all of them doing well.
taftsearlobe33
c0rnpwn
Posted 1:26 AM 12/7/08
I wonder what other announcements Mark Jacbos has for today, other than this. Or maybe this is it. :(
c0rnpwn
Shockeh
Posted 2:00 AM 12/7/08
1. Fine. The amount of Cry Wolf that goes on about Punkbuster is astounding. I'd say it's fairly mature as a product, although I don't know what it's realistic success rate is. I guess if it cuts down the 'casual cheat' (those with no knowledge of their own downloading 3rd party tools) I'm fine with it. Especially if it cuts down on the inevitable gold farmer population.
2. Let's see. The lack of cities is understandable if they had to do it for a quality standpoint, although I'm somewhat skeptical about the 'No EA involvement' point of view. Hell, when you feel the need to point it out in your interview, that tells us they know exactly what the gamers of the world are going to think.
But wait...
3. Of all the classes to lose, they chose the Orc Choppa?
Could they have picked anything more well known in the Warhammer universe? I mean, Knight of the Blazing Sun, who cares, they're Knights Templar but would have inevitably (with that particular one) ended up as some sort of WoW-esque Retridin, but the Orc Choppa?
*Sulks*
Shockeh
Bigfoot
Posted 2:43 AM 12/7/08
@Helioz: What do you mean by fail terribly? Do you mean fail by not getting 9 million subscribers? Look at DAoC. It has such a small player base compared to what it used to be, and it's still making money.
Besides, you don't think there's market for two MMOs? WoW isn't the only MMO you know.
@Shockeh: EA is just providing them the money as far as I know. Mythic is fully in charge of WAR, and Games Workshop is just there to make sure that the actual WAR universe Mythic is making is correct.
Bigfoot
LemmingX
Posted 2:34 AM 12/7/08
Such a shit MMO. I'm in the beta, nothing can save it.
And it's run by a bunch of pricks, just check the videos (^^,)
LemmingX
desterion
Posted 2:29 AM 12/7/08
They're lying when they say guild beta has started. They have yet to notify anyone going in with this phase, much less update the betacenter for them. At this point, it has not started.
desterion
Zamzoph
Posted 3:13 AM 12/7/08
@Shockeh: WHAT?! NO CHOPPA?!
Seriously now, why are we ending up with one Orc class and two goblin classes? That totally isn't right. And now everyone who wants to be an ORC has to go with the tanking-class Black Orc...
Zamzoph
Boudabras
Posted 3:56 AM 12/7/08
Damn humies! Eyes wanz to be da Choppa!
Boudabras
Lazz
Posted 3:41 AM 12/7/08
Hrm.. Not too happy. I had already figured Altdorf and the Inevitable City were going to be the only two capitals at launch, cause they haven't mentioned any other one, ever.
But the Orc Choppa.. that hurts.
Lazz
taftsearlobe33
Posted 4:26 AM 12/7/08
@LemmingX: clearly not in the beta. I don't understand the need of WoW players to bash every other game out there
taftsearlobe33
gaijira
Posted 4:14 AM 12/7/08
More like World of Warhammer. Online. Craft.
gaijira
desterion
Posted 5:32 AM 12/7/08
@Mattz: So they are actually starting to send out the keys? 7 hours after the press release and I still don't got mine and neither does anyone else i know.
desterion
Mattz
Posted 5:20 AM 12/7/08
Goddamnit...the Orc Choppa was were I was going to cut loose from my serious healer/spellcasting Druid...and my beta key arrived today as well...
Gah....
Mattz
belo
Posted 5:49 AM 12/7/08
@ZeroCoin: Ouch. Two of the tanking classes. That'll hurt alittle.
I mean hell I'll still play a Black Ork and a Chaos Champion, sure. But the design and lore behind the Blackguard/Knight of the Rising Sun interested me.
Theres still a chance they could be added in at a later date if they rework them well enough, but its only a chance.
belo
Shockeh
Posted 7:02 AM 12/7/08
@Bigfoot: Unless they've changed it since I worked for them (once upon a time, many, many moons ago) GW insist on a clause in anything using their IP that basically lets them can the entire project at any time.
This has actually been used on more than one occasion, although with the rise of gaming as a more mainstream hobby they've gotten a lot more relaxed.
Shockeh