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.
A few months ago, Kieron Gillen sat down with Paul Barnett, EA Mythic’s Creative Director, and has been posting bits and pieces of that interview session ever since; this week, we were treated to one of the best cynical descriptions of GDC ever. Barnett explains why, despite being asked to go, he declined the chance to go to GDC and went to the LIFT futurism festival instead:
Russians, listen up! Warhammer Online is coming. That’s right, a fully localised version of EA Mythic’s MMORPGH Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will be released in Russia for PCs early next year. Whew! Make it through the post without a “Because in Soviet Russia, Warhammer Online plays you” joke. Oh. Wait.
Hit the jump for the short press release, which is thankfully free of such tired humour.
newVideoPlayer("warhammeronline1.flv", 506, 423,""); Want to know everything there is to know about Warhammer Online crafting? Do you want it badly enough to listen to EA Mythic GM and Warhammer Online lead designer Mark Jacobs drone on and on and on and on about it? You might think you are, but after a couple of minutes you might be tempted to just hit the jump and get what info you can from the press release in order to save your sanity.
In short, Warhammer Online’s crafting consists of alchemy apothecary and talisman making, with several gathering professions to help back those up. It isn’t a recipe based, so you aren’t likely to find yourself with an inventory full of crap you can’t use. You’ll be able to harvest items by cultivating plants, stripping the flesh off of animals, scavenging corpses, and Magical Salvaging, which is like disenchanting, only with a ridiculous name.
Don’t take my word for it though! Take Mark’s, for thirteen minutes. I’ll be napping if you need me.
Update: The offer is available at more retailers than I first thought! They have been added.
EA’s just sent word that Australian gamers can now preorder the Collector’s Edition of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. It weighs in at a chunky $129.95, which sounds darn expensive, but not horrible when you consider the preorder bonuses and the contents of the CE.
Preorder bonuses? Yes, I definitely said bonuses. I don’t have to make them up either – EA went ahead and included them in the press release. Thoughtful, don’t you think?
Okay, okay. Here they are:
• Access to Open Beta• Special early access to the live game• Bonus in-game items:RITTENBACH’S PORTABLE CAMP: Rest your weary soul and heal your wounds between battlesSENTINEL’S AMBER BAND: Enhance your stats and cast “Touch of Earth,” increasing your chance of doing additional corporeal damage with each hit (Usable in PvE combat only)
Note the preorder offer is valid only at EB Games, JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, Dick Smith, GAME, GamesMen, Games Warehouse and a number of independents. That’s a very healthy smattering of retailers.
If you’re keen, I wouldn’t recommend waiting. According to EA, only 6,000 copies of the Collector’s Edition are available in Oz.
The CE itself has its own delicious treats. They come in the form of a Games Workshop miniature of Grumlok and Gazbag (goblins, not Klingon warriors, as I first assumed going by the names); the graphic novel Prelude to War by Graham McNeill; the 224-page The Art of Warhammer Online; The Grindmonger Trilogy, an in-game item that allows you to earn experience at an increased rate; and bonus in-game content including quests, titles, rewards and character heads (for that unique look).
Hit the jump for a juicy, detail-filled press release. More »
The worldwide launch for EA Mythic’s Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning just got a bit more worldwide. Recognising the legion of Warhammer fans in Australia and New Zealand, the two countries along with Southeast Asia will bet getting the game the same time those of us in Europe and North America do, complete with their own servers so they don’t have to mingle with dirty Americans. EA Mythic VP Mark Jacobs breaks out ‘down under’ so I don’t have to.
Here’s a rather interesting viewpoint on World of Warcraft’s MMO genre dominance. Rather than seeing the Blizzard game’s dominance as a detriment to new games, EA Mythic’s senior designer Josh Drescher suggest that it actually makes developing a new MMO easier. “If you actually look at the MMO-sphere right now, that is since WoW launched, the vast percentage of MMOs that launched after it have been successful,” Drescher explained. “Obviously no one has eclipsed the 10 million subscriber number, but there have been numerous titles that have come out on different platforms and multiple genres all over the world that have been far more successful than MMOs had been previously.”
You know, I think this is the first time I’ve actually seen Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning in motion? You’d have thought I would have caught site of it at an event or something, but nope. Now that I search back a bit, I did find this cam footage from back in 2006, but it hardly compares to this video, created by the content creation team for the game using closed beta footage. It looks…well, it looks like an MMO, make no mistake. A very stylised one at that, which isn’t a bad thing. The whole thing comes off as a bit stiff, but MMO videos hardly ever live up to the real thing in motion. I’m just glad I got through this entire post without saying World of Warcraft. Dammit. More »
Sure it’s been delayed again, but look at all of the nifty stuff you get! EA Mythic has revealed the contents of the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector’s Edition, perhaps in an attempt to get you to look beyond the release date, which they’ve done twice now. If that is their tactic, it seems to be working for me. All I can think of now is getting my paws on the exclusive Games Workshop miniature, hardbound graphic novel, and 224-page hardcover art book packed inside what is sure to be a massive, weighty package. Now how much would you pay? Wait, there’s more! The collector’s edition also comes with bonus in-game items, quests, rewards, titles, and even special heads for your characters, setting them apart from the plebeians who couldn’t scrounge up the extra dough. $US 79.99 secures you one of these babies, but you’d best preorder now, as quantities are limited to 60,000 in North America.
Editor’s note: Gallery incoming.
Push it back, push it back, waaaaaay back! It helps if you imagine Warhammer orcs in cheerleader outfits, though that might just be me. Speaking during a press conference today in Paris, producer Jeff Hickman revealed that Warhammer Online: Age Of Reckoning isn’t quite ready for the 2nd quarter release they were aiming for when they delayed the game the last time. The new target date for the ambitious MMO is sometime this fall. Considering the pace they’ve been keeping up so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if the game wound up being a Christmas release. Just remember, it isn’t a delay – it’s an extended development cycle.
Warhammer Online delayed again [Eurogamer]
