Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning : beta

Beta 4.1.1 Producer’s Letter and Update Notes

Zyuu — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:36:26 GMT

Today Mythic Entertainment posted a producer's letter about the Warhammer Online Open Beta. You can also check out the full patch notes for the 4.1.1 update below.

Beta 4.1.1 Producer’s Letter – Open Beta

Hello Everyone,

It's great to see all of you enjoying Open Beta! The past few days have been exciting and eventful and we couldn’t be happier with the feedback we've been receiving. Even so, it's clear there are still some pesky bugs that need to be exterminated and we will continue working around the clock in order to do so!

Before launch we wanted to get out a final update that cleared up many of the topics we've heard from you about, and put the icing on the cake for many of our features. This update is full of fixes and tweaks that, combined, will make your experience playing WAR even better!

We look forward to your feedback with launch just a few short days away. These are exciting times and we're proud to have you with us.

See you on the battlefield…WAAAGH!!
- The Warhammer Online Age of Reckoning Team

You asked for it!

The Community is a vital part of making WAR a successful game. With your feedback we're able to better chart our course as we move into the months and years ahead. It's important that the changes we make are a reflection of the players that will experience them, and so we are dedicated to listening to all of you along the way.

Below you will find a sample of what we've improved directly based on what we hear in game and on the forums. It is our goal to create a fun, engaging, and entertaining experience every time you log into the game. By continuing to play and provide us with feedback you are helping us to make that happen.

Keep up the great work and thank you for helping us make WAR an even better game…WAAAGH!!!

Loot Sparkles
We've continued to improve loot sparkles and have corrected one last small bug that caused corpses to sparkle even when you weren't able to loot them.

Pet User Interface and Behavior
In the near future we'll be working to make sure the Pet UI stays up for as long as your pet does so that it doesn't on occasion disappear when you log out or zone. For now you can re-open the Pet UI window simply by summoning another pet. One change that hs been made to pets already is that they have grown ever braver and will now listen to their masters’ directions. Their responsiveness and pathing has been dramatically improved, and we’ve made improvements to Magus pets and Engineer turrets.

Continued Improvements to Performance and Crash to Desktop Errors

Your ability to play the game smoothly and reliably is always our most important goal. We continue to work to apply fixes that will make your experience even more enjoyable. To help us out and make the experience better for you, be sure you have up-to-date drivers - including audio! Out of date video and audio drivers are among the highest contributors to game crashes.

"Ability Not Ready Yet”

We've recently improved ability responsiveness which will reduce the chance of you receiving the "Ability Not Ready Yet" message erroneously. This should help combat feel more natural!

Open RvR Ruleset Change

You've given us your feedback and we've listened! Open RvR servers will now allow you to play one tier below your current level without turning into a chicken. This will allow you more time to experience the PvE content of the first 3 tiers, and it also adds more danger to the mix.

Improved Graphics Options

We've got some great plans for improved graphics options as we continue through launch. Our number one priority is player performance. It's important in an RvR game for performance to be smooth and allow the game to be accessible to as many people as possible. In order to achieve our goals, we had to ensure a certain level of compatibility between devices. With all of the combinations and options available, we wanted to keep things simple and accessible to everyone.

With that in mind, we have a fix that may improve the ability of higher end machines to load textures, and we will continue to smooth out the process of the way textures load on your screen. In addition to this, we are exploring other options to add which will further enhance the graphics for mid to high range computers. If you find that your textures seem blurry or ‘popping’ <a href="http://help.warhammeronline.com/cgi-bin/eawarhammer.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=20330">visit this site for help</a>.

Improvements to RvR Itemization

We feel that it's important for players to be able to play RvR and PvE without missing out on appropriate loot for their level and career. See below for some of the changes that we’re looking into.

From Battlefield Objectives

Battlefield Sergeants will be itemized with the same loot table we use for other “Rare” spawn champions in PvE. This is to reflect the fact that BO’s do not turn over super frequently and have a 15 minute lockout after they are taken. While they won’t drop awesome loot every time they will drop much better loot more frequently!

From Keep Siege

We have increased the number of “loot bags” that drop from a successful keep capture from 4 to 12. We have increased the number of GOLD loot bags that could drop from a successful keep capture to 2 bags. Players should see more high end loot entering through keeps as a result.

From Fortress Siege

We have increased the number of “loot bags” that drop from a successful keep capture from 8 to 18. We have increased the number of GOLD loot bags that could drop from a successful keep capture to 4 bags. Players should see more high end loot entering through keeps as a result.

RvR – Now With Better Loot

We heard the call and upped your loot! Now, coin gained from RvR kills has been modified so that it scales to be more on par with loot gained in PvE. Also, we improved the item parity between those gained in PvE and those gained purely from RvR. Now you can kill your enemies and reap the rewards!

Thought I Knew Dat…

Abilities will no longer disappear from a player’s quickbar when exiting a scenario. Now your quickbars will stay just as you arranged them while zoning.

NPCs Will Behave

Imagine going to work in the morning and knowing it’s your job to be pummeled into a bloody pulp by the masses. We wouldn’t want to do it either! But we’ve whipped our NPCs into shape. Now they’ll come when provoked, attack back right away instead of flinching and hesitating like wussies, and properly engage the enemy rather than staying stuck at range. Also, they’ll no longer fall into an “Unattackable” state or disappear in mid-combat.

Wait, My Boots are Really Gloves?

Wearing boots on his hands makes it a little difficult for a Bright Wizard to perform his casting incantations, or a Black Orc to swing that axe. All items which displayed incorrect item icons have been fixed.

Mister Who?

We resolved an issue in which Tome titles went missing, so they’re there now!

For the Absentminded Newbies

Rally Masters in the High Elf Tiers 1-2 areas will now give you a replacement Book of Binding if you lose, destroy, bloody, or hack your original one into tiny bits.

More Merchants – Less Confusion

Previously, in some locations normal merchants were also selling Renown gear. This proved to be a source of confusion, and so now this gear will be sold by the proper merchants in the first couple of chapters.

Pick That up, ye Git!

Previously when a Guild Standard was dropped on the field, it would fall too far in front of the Standard Bearer which sometimes resulted in it getting lost in the brush or rocky crevices. Now, when Standards are dropped, they will fall to the Bearer’s feet making them easier to recover.

Melee DPS Archetype

Jagged Edge: The buff window tooltip for this ability now displays the correct information.
Broad Swings: The buff window tooltip for this ability has now been fixed.

Tank Archetype

Shield Wall: This ability now requires a Shield.
Shield Wall: The buff window tooltip for this ability now displays the correct information.
Raze: This ability’s effect now plays for every damage pulse.
Guard: This ability will now display a visual effect when splitting damage. Also, its hate redirection has been changed to 35%.
Challenge: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct information.

Empire Racial Tactic

Sigmar’s Favor: Racial tactic will no longer benefit from Willpower or be able to land a critical.

Archmage

Golden Aura: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct information.

Black Orc

Save Da Runts: This ability now has visual effects when hitting a guarded target.
T’ree Hit Combo: This ability now hits 5 times instead of 3, and its damage per hit has been reduced.
Da Big Un: The damage of this ability has been reduced, but it now has a much longer range.

Bright Wizard

Slow Boil: This ability no longer incorrectly plays its debuff visuals on the player.
Magic Dart: This ability no longer hits before the projectile arrives.
Annihilate: This ability no longer places an icon in the buff window.
Funnel Power: The buff window tooltip for this ability now displays the correct information.
Fireball Barrage: This ability no longer places an icon in the buff window.
Flame Breath: This ability no longer places an icon in the buff window.

Chosen

Suppression: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.

Disciple

Thousand and one Dark Blessings: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.
Chant of Pain: This ability will now properly do damage and heal on each tick.

Engineer

Napalm Grenade: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.
Phosphorous Shells: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.

Iron Breaker

Oath Friend: This ability no longer requires the Ironbreaker to be grouped with his ally.
Oath Friend: The Ironbreaker and the target of the Oath Friend can now remove this ability by right clicking the icon on the buff window.
Heavy Blow: This DoT will no longer stack with itself.
Oath of Vengeance: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values..
Earthshaker: The buff window tooltip for this ability now displays the correct information.
Avalanche: The buff window tooltip for this ability now displays the correct information.
Skin of Iron: The buff window tooltip for this ability now displays the correct information.

Magus

Rend Winds: This ability now hits 3 times as intended.
Daemonic Maw: This ability is now a magical attack instead of melee.

Marauder

Scything Talons: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.
Hulking Brute: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.

Rune Priest

Grungni’s Gift: This ability now has an instant cast animation.
Rune of Shielding: This ability now has an instant cast animation.
Oath Rune of Sanctuary: This ability now works correctly.
Spellbinding Rune: The buff window tooltip for this ability now displays the correct information
Rune of Immolation: This ability’s effect can no longer be removed by right-clicking.

Shaman

You Got Nothin!: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.
Eeeek!: The knockback portion of the ability will not fire if the shaman is stunned or rooted.

Squig Herder

Sharpened Arrers: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.
Horned Squig: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.
Gas Squig: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.
Sharp Toofs: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values, and the ability now functions correctly.

Swordmaster

Wings of Heaven: This ability is now more reliable when it leaps to the target.

Warrior Priest

Vow of Silence: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values..
Soulfire: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values..
Weight of Guilt: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.
Sigmar’s Fist: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.
Castigation: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.

Witch Hunter

Declare Anathema: The knockback portion of this ability will not fire if the Witch Hunter is stunned or rooted.
Confess!: The debuff icons for this ability now display correct timers.
Burn Armor: The debuff icon for this ability now displays information.
Fanatical Zeal: The debuff icon for this ability now displays information.
Sudden Accusation: The debuff icon for this ability now displays information.
Feinted Positioning: The buff window tooltip for this ability now displays the correct information.

White Lion

Pounce: The White Lion cannot activate this ability if stunned or rooted.

Witch Elf

Agile Escape: The knockback portion of this ability will not fire if the Witch Elf is stunned or rooted.
Kiss of Betrayal: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.
Pierce Armor: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.
Kiss Of Death: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct duration.
Masterful Treachery: The tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.

Zealot

Flash of Chaos: This ability now has an instant cast animation.
Mark of Remaking: This ability now works correctly
Chaotic Blur: Zealot now fades out correctly when using this ability, and the tooltip for this ability now displays the correct values.

Community Systems

New Help Interface
Players may now access the new Help Interface by selecting the Help icon (Question Mark) on the Menu Bar or by pressing H. The following five options are now available to choose from:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- The FAQ includes a number of questions and answers available to players with just a click of the mouse.

Game Manual
- Players may select from various categories to learn more about Warhammer Online. The manual covers everything from game basics and RvR to Warhammer lore.

CSR Appeals
- The Help Interface now contains a very in-depth yet simplified means for players to appeal for assistance from a Customer Service Representative (CSR). Players will be able to easily locate and categorize their appeal based on the issue they wish to report.
- Players may only have one open appeal at a time; however, players may report an inappropriate player name or game play violation while they have an active request for assistance.
- Players who need CSR assistance should choose the category which their question/concern falls under and add detailed information in the text boxes provided.
- When a player has an appeal waiting for a CS response, the question mark in the menu bar will display as dimmed.
- When a current appeal needs further information from the player, the question mark in the menu bar will pulse to indicate their attention is required.
- Players may always add more information to their current appeal at any time by using the ‘Add To Appeal’ button. Note: This button will only be displayed when players have an active appeal.

Report a Bug
- To report a bug, players may select the type of bug they are reporting and then enter their bug in the space provided. Please note that bug reports will not receive a response.

Send Feedback
- A drop-down menu is provided for players to categorize the type of feedback they are submitting before entering their feedback in the space provided. Please note that feedback submissions will not receive a response.

Cities

There is now an auctioneer at the Black Market in the Maw who will show up when the Inevitable City is under attack.
Auctioneers in the Inevitable City once again function properly. Enjoy the wares!

Items

Armor Set Bonuses: The proc rates of armor sets have been set to their intended values.
Scorching Blast Potions: These potions will now be thrown at a targeted enemy instead of at a ground target, and will now play a visual effect.
Sticky Bomb Potions: These potions will now be thrown at a targeted enemy instead of at a ground target, and will now play a visual effect. In addition, the Debuff duration displayed on the icon is now more consistent.
Emberbreath Potions: These potions will now play visual effect when activated.
Potions with item levels above 40 will now be fully effective.
Buff potions will now print to your combat log when used.

Realm vs. Realm

Cheers and Jeers: New cheers and jeers ambiance has been added to Warhammer. Whenever a Battlefield Objective or Keep is taken over by your realm, NPCs will react in a positive manner, shouting for glory along with animations of victory. Along with this, a broadcast message and ‘Role Play’ chat will be sent out to the entire RvR lake extolling the virtues of the victors.

Achievements

The following achievements have been enabled:

Unlocks have been enabled for a few city events.
Secret achievements involving plungers have been enabled in tier 4 content for each pairing.
Achievements for salvaging have been enabled.

Bestiary
The following changes have been made to content relevant to the Bestiary section of the Tome of Knowledge:

The Bestiary entry for Rogue has been renamed to Bandit.
The Watcher entry has been moved from the Unmarked Daemons section to the proper section: Daemons of Tzeentch.
A few bestiary tasks had bugs fixed and polish applied.
Wights will now properly give kill credit for Wights. This fixes an issue where Wights were giving kill credit towards an incorrect monster type.
A number of behind-the-scenes changes to treasure indexes have been made to ensure that the drops needed for a number of bestiary tasks have the proper rarity. As well, they have been modified to have a chance to drop as long as someone in the group has need for the item; i.e. have not complete the associated unlock.
All items that are received and required for Bestiary tasks have been modified to ensure they are bind-on-pickup and indicate they are not trash items.

Rewards
The following changes have been made to the rewards given by the Tome of Knowledge:

All pocket items have been audited to ensure that they indicate they are not trash items.
The Tome Trainers in the Capital City library have had their titles changed to ‘Librarian’ from ‘Trainer’ to indicate their purpose in serving the Tome of Knowledge. The visual icon over their head remains as a training icon.

Maps
The following map changes have taken place:

The Dark Elf Chapter 20 map has been added into the Tome.
Map points have been added for High Elf and Dark Elf Warcamps in Caledor.

Old World Armory
The unlock text for a small number of armor set pieces have been updated to fix a bug in which the wrong piece unlock text was being given.

Tutorial Introduction Quest
The tutorial introductory quest text has been tweaked for content as well as grammatical and spelling issues.

Apothecary

Players can now create dyes. To create a dye, a player will need a Pigment, Fixer, and a special container. Crafting merchants sell Fixers and Dye containers. Pigments are usually obtained as a byproduct after a very successful Cultivation attempt.
Players can now create Gold Essence. To make a Gold Essence, a player will need a Goldweed, Quicksilver, Gold Dust, and a special container. Goldweed is grown by Cultivators. Gold Dust can be found by Scavenging or on some humanoid monsters. Quicksilver and Gold-Essence containers can be bought from crafting stores.
Potions effects have been revised. Healing potions are now more potent.
Potion makers can now have two types of super success. The first type of success results in the next level up of that potion, which usually has a higher level requirement. The second type of success results in a more potent potion that has the same level requirement (these are very good).
The UI tooltips regarding the “yellow zone” on the Unstabilityometer have been revised. Note that if the stability of a mixture is in the yellow zone, depending on the overall stability, the recipe will fail or be volatile.
Volatile potions can go wrong when they are used. The side effects can either knockdown a player, make them mute for a short time, or make them drop their weapons.
The stability of Cloudy Water has been increased.

Cultivation

Soil, Nutrients, and Watering Cans all now reduce the time it takes to grow a plant. These “additives” also increase the chance of hybrids and other weird items being grown, as well as the chance that a seed will be returned as a product.
Players can now obtain dye Pigments when they cultivate. For example, Musty Elvish Parsley (used to make restoration potions) can be grown into a hybrid called Trenchant Elvish Parsley, which can be used to make healing potions. Sometimes when Trenchant Elvish Parlsey is grown, you will also get Honeycomb Extract as a bonus product (it rubbed off an insect). Honeycomb extract can be used by Apothecarists to create Yellow dye.
Stabilizing Apothecary ingredients can now appear as Cultivation bonus products.
Growth times have been reduced.

Butchering/Scavenging

Players with these skills can butcher/scavenge any corpse.
When a player butchers/scavenges a corpse, the loot that is obtained is dependent on the player’s skill level. The higher the player skill, the better the loot. However, monsters will not give loot that is above their level.
When a player butchers/scavenges a corpse, the chance of a skill-up is dependent on the player’s level versus the monster’s level.
The skill-up chance becomes less the closer the player’s skill is to 200.

Magical Salvaging

Players with this skill can break down items that are of uncommon rarity or higher into fragments and essences. Fragments are the main ingredient in Talisman Making.
When a player salvages an item, the rarity of the obtained fragment is one rarity lower than the salvaged item. There is a small chance that the player will get a fragment of the same rarity as the salvaged item.
When a player salvages an item, he or she gets to choose which stat bonus to extract from the item. The resultant fragment is of that type.
When a player salvages an item, that item is destroyed.
Players can refine essences by right clicking on stacks of those items in their backpacks. Ten Echoes will refine into one Whisper. Five Whispers will refine into one Magic Essence. Magic Essences are used in Talisman Making.
Tier 1 and 2 monsters can now also drop very-badly damaged equipment (Shattered, Ruined, and Sundered Equipment). These uncommon items can’t be repaired, but can be salvaged. Players will be able to skill-up Salvaging using these items.
There are Salvaging trainers in each chapter 2 and in each city.

Talisman Making

Players can create Talismans by combining a fragment, a Gold Essence, a Curio, and a Magic Essence in a Talisman-Making container. Fragments and Magic Essences are obtained by Magical Salvaging. Curios can be also found on some humanoid monsters and from scavenging.
Gold Essence is created using the Apothecary skill. To make a Gold Essence, you need a Goldweed, Quicksilver, Gold Dust, and a special container. Goldweed is grown by Cultivators. Gold Dust can be found by Scavenging or on some humanoid monsters. Quicksilver and Gold-Essence containers can be bought from crafting stores.
Talisman-Making ingredients have “power”. The higher the skill-level requirement and rarity, the higher the power. The final properties of a crafted Talisman depend on the total power of all ingredients used to make it.
The rarity of the Fragment used determines the rarity of the crafted Talisman. There is a small chance that whenever a Talisman is crafted it will be one rarity higher than expected.
There are Talisman-Making trainers (Hedge Wizards) in each chapter 2 area and in each city.
Some equipment has Empty Talisman Slots. If a player Shift+Right-Clicks on an item with a talisman slot, that player can then drag a talisman onto the slot and fuse it to the equipment. The equipment will then get the bonus from the talisman.
Common, uncommon and rare talismans have timers on them. The timers begin to countdown when the talisman is fused to an item. Very-rare talismans do not have timers.
Merchants sell very basic Gold Essences, Curios, Magic Essences, and containers.
Known Issue: Armor and resistance talismans will not work if they are attached to a weapon.

User Interface

Member and Officer notes sections have been added to the guild UI.
We have reformatted and improved layouts for Public Quest, Battlefield Objective, City and Scenario trackers.
We have finalized our charatter introduction cinemas and narrations. Please note that during Open Beta only, for characters that already exist, you may see the introduction play at a random location upon first logging into each character.
Entry to the Leader’s Hall requirements now match in game descriptions.
Cloak Heraldry is now visible to other players.
Respawning in a scenario now triggers the zone load screen instead of the scoreboard load screen.

Open Beta Update

Zyuu — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:52:26 GMT

Based on what Mythic Entertainment's latest "Open Beta Update" we're going to have a very stable build when the game is released. Great news!

Reminder:

Hello everyone, We've received a lot of great feedback from Open Beta already and have some great changes in the works that we'll be adding over the next few days and shortly after launch.

It's exciting to see how much everyone is enjoying the game and we can't wait to see you all playing come launch. Below are just some of the areas we're working on and the changes we have planned. We'll continue to monitor in-game for your feedback and work to make your experience even better! Please continue reading for all the details.

Improvements to RvR Itemization

We feel that it's important for players to be able to play RvR and PvE without missing out on appropriate loot for their level and career. Please see the post for more detail about our plans for bringing RvR loot into line with our goals:

http://warherald.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=242...

Loot Sparkles

We've continued to improve loot sparkles and have corrected one last small bug that caused corpses to sparkle even when you weren't able to loot them.

Pet User Interface

In the near future we'll be working to make sure the Pet UI stays up for as long as your pet does so that it doesn't on occasion disappear when you log out or zone. For now you can re-open the Pet UI window simply by summoning another pet.

Continued Improvements to Performance and Crash to Desktop Errors

Your ability to play the game smoothly is always our most important goal. We continue to work to apply fixes that will make your experience even more enjoyable. To help us out and make the experience better for you, be sure you have up-to-date drivers - including audio! Out of date video and audio drivers are among the highest contributors to game crashes.

“Ability Not Ready Yet”

We've recently improved ability responsiveness which will reduce the chance of you receiving the "Ability Not Ready Yet" message erroneously. This should help combat feel more natural!

Open RvR Ruleset Change

Improved Graphics Options

With that in mind, we have a fix that may improve the ability of higher end machines to load textures, and we will continue to smooth out the process of the way textures load on your screen. In addition to this, we are exploring other options to add which will further enhance the graphics for mid to high range computers. For now, many users are able to turn on features such as anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering using their cards drivers.

This is just a sample of what's to come. We thank all of you for your enthusiastic participation in the Open Beta so far! We'll continue to monitor in-game and across all of our dedicated community forums for your feedback, and make your experience even better. Keep up the great work, have fun and prepare for WAR!

WAAAGH!!!

- The Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Team

EU Open Beta Situation

Zyuu — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:42:44 GMT

An employee from GOA has posted an open letter regarding the current status of the European Warhammer Online Open Beta which experienced many problems as it opened its doors yesterday. Furthermore, the CEO of GOA also went out with an announcement.

Iain 'Requiel' Compton - English Community Manager said:

Firstly let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. Yesterday was in no way, shape or form a success. A lot of things went very wrong. Funnily enough however they didn't go wrong in the way most people thought they would or for the reasons that were being thrown around.

The website and our entire platform got hammered yesterday - which we expected. We knew how many open beta keys we'd given away and what sort of traffic to expect as a result. We got a lot more than we were expecting and yet the platform held up, the site slowed down (which was inevitable with the sheer volume of traffic, even a basic HTML page would have been slow under that onslaught) but everything stayed up. This is pretty much the big ray of sunshine that we took away, our datacentre took the onslaught and survived unscathed.

The account system broke. This wasn't down to the traffic (although that was a factor), nor the fact that the page was in Flash. There was a problem with our database server which didn't surface during testing. As you can read in the news, we have been working on this all night and we expect this to be resolved soon. Ultimately the system didn't work but we're glad we found the issue now in beta rather than before the headstart or live begins. Many of you criticised the decision to bring the account pages online the same day as the beta began but this was not the cause of the problems. While yesterday was a very painful day for us, there is a silver lining because it means that our headstart and live launch will be significantly more robust.

There was some miscommunication as well which falls entirely on us. The confusion over people with war-europe accounts not needing to create a new beta account was the main issue, other than that the team who were in the office yesterday worked very hard to keep you updated. Magnus and the other CMs who were working yesterday were in the office from 7:30am through to 3am this morning. During that time our teams were working on several different situations at once and the situation was often in a state of considerable flux. We had technical teams working on various solutions, management teams dealing with our partners and, for the most part, these people were busy fixing things rather than writing status reports that were likely to be out of date by the time they hit the CM team. Despite that, Magnus and the others posted what they had, when they had it both on the official news site and around the various fan forums.

Overall then, some things went right - not many to be sure and the important things certainly didn't. We made some mistakes, we expected many problems and we found some entirely different ones. We disappointed many of you by not letting you get into the open beta when we said you would and for that I am sorry. All of us are disappointed that we couldn't bring you the service you expected. I wasn't at work yesterday, Magnus was the man on the scene covering the situation, but I did keep a close eye on forums and was in contact with the guys in the office. A lot of what was said yesterday here and on other forums was entirely out of line. Of course you were disappointed and criticism is certainly warranted but frankly many of the posts made about the situation were borderline sociopathic. If having delayed access to a beta test really drives you to such depths of anger and fury that you felt compelled to make the death threats, racial slurs and other deeply unpleasant posts then - and there is no polite way to put this - there is something wrong with you.

Today we have a lot of people at the office who are preparing to put in a long week after a long weekend to make things right. This isn't magically going to make yesterday alright but we are very much committed to making sure that you aren't disappointed again.

Ghislaine Le Rhun, GOA CEO said:

Dear all,

I rarely address players directly, but I wanted to write you as too few of you have been able to access the open beta today.

As my team explained in the previous post, although we have opened the servers and corrected numerous issues during the last 24 hours but we have not yet solved the issue of saturated Open Beta key activations that we’re currently experiencing. I am sincerely sorry for this, and I understand all the frustration the situation has spawned.

Today was a dark day. We expected a massive influx of players, but reality was even harsher.
I personally commit that we will communicate to you as clearly as possible on the resolution of these current issues. My goal is to give Warhammer Online the success it deserves. Be ensured that all GOA teams, with Mythic’s support, are working hard to bring you the best possible game experience.

Are you having problems accessing your European Warhammer Online account currently? Share your experience!

GOA Confirms Open Beta, Definitely Lowers Prices

Zyuu — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:07:06 GMT

RPS has posted information about the state of Warhammer Online and all the talk about beta testing and the fact that there's no official word on the monthly sub fees as of yet.

GOA has responded with some good information:

“Pre-ordering a standard edition from most of our partners will not automatically give you Open Beta access as we have said previously. We will however be announcing a list of ‘preferred partners’ who will be selling the pre-order with Open Beta access. A full list of these partners will be included with the main announcement this week, I can confirm that both the EA Store and D2D are preferred partners and so those of you who have already placed an order need not worry that you won’t get what you were offered.”

Open Beta Details

Zyuu — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:36:51 GMT

Today Mythic Entertainment went out and announced the open beta of Warhammer Online. 7th September 2008 is the date and thousands of fans will be able to play the very much anticipated PvP-focused MMORPG. Furthermore, WAR will be released the 18th September this year.

In order to access the open beta there's a few ways, you can either pre-order the game or hope you get one of them limited spots via FilePlanet.com, which is the site that Mythic Entertainment and Electronic Arts will work together to distribute open beta access.

"For three years we have been saying that ‘WAR is coming’ and the team has been working hard to deliver on this promise,” said Mark Jacobs, co-founder and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. "In just a few weeks, we are going to throw open our doors and invite more players into the game than ever before. They will have a chance to delve into the open beta and see for themselves that WAR has arrived and it is glorious!"

There are a total of 75.000 open beta keys which will go out and they already started to have the beta client available via Fileplanet as of last Friday the 15th. http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/warhammeronline/... is the URL and it’s a first-come, first serve basis! Hurry. Apparently they are hosting the client only for North America, Australia, and New Zealand players.

If you previously had North American closed beta access your account will carry over to the closed beta – which is great news, but also kind of expected.

If you have pre-ordered the game go to the account center at http://accounts.warhammeronline.com and enter your open beta code, then you get access to download the client via FilePlanet at zero additional cost.

Prior to the open beta, Mythic will be hosting a special North American Beta Preview Weekend, from August 22nd through August 25th, and 100,000 players will be invited to end the closed beta with a bang. Those who pre-ordered the now sold-out Collector’s Edition will get top priority, but all are welcome to sign up at FilePlanet.com and try for a spot in this exciting event!

Don't forget to check out Warhammer Alliance for the latest Warhammer Online discussions and much more!

Beta Goes Down Under -- Oceanic Players Rejoice

Zyuu — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:39:36 GMT

The Oceanic Beta is now available! Thousands from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore have been invited to the beta.

Additionally, Mythic Entertainment included the good news of Oceanic players being part of the simultaneous launch date the 18th September.

Want to get your guild into the EU WAR Beta?

Zyuu — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:00:08 GMT

Mythic Entertainment has posted over at the official European Warhammer Online website that they are looking for more guilds to join the European Closed Beta test! If interested, follow the link below and show your interest -- perhaps your guild will get chosen.

Now that the guild beta is underway we are looking for even more fresh recruits to bring the WAR to the battlefields of the Age of Reckoning! If you think your guild is up to the task then pop over to this Freddyhouse thread and raise your standard!

The guilds with the best website and the best recruitment post will be given the opportunity to join us in the WAR beta so don't delay, bang your drum and get your comrades into the action!

Guild Beta Launched

Zyuu — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:13:25 GMT

Today Mythic Entertainment launched the Guild Beta for Warhammer Online. Well over 10.000 guilds applied and several guilds have now been selected, which will have the chance to enjoy the game’s “most expensive beta phase yet”.

Over 750.000 people have signed up for the Warhammer Online closed beta and the guilds which has been selected will join tens of thousands of new players in the final phase of the closed beta test.

Enjoy testing the newly added Guild and Heraldry features and Public Quests, new dungeons, Scenarios, user interface updates and more.

“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!”

Was your guild chosen for the beta test? Go find out!

Guild Beta will start soon

Zyuu — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:21:32 GMT

Warhammer Alliance revealed yesterday that the WAR Guild Beta will commence soon. Based on information available to WHA, the European invites will be sent out within the next four weeks. If you're a guild leader and applied, it's very likely you've received an email asking for further information. The deadline to sent it back in is Wednesday, July the 2nd. 2008 of course.

Furthermore, the NDA is remaining.

Some of the requirements are:

Participants have to be 18 years or above.
Everyone working for or otherwise associated with the media or any form of press may not participate.
Everyone working for or otherwise associated with a gaming company or the gaming industry may not participate.
Everyone whose computer does not meet the minimum requirements will not be invited right away. The requirements change frequently, however, so we cannot give you a detailed list. Please make sure, however, that only guild members with strong computers are on your list.

WAR "On The Road"

Zyuu — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:40:06 GMT

Gamers Can Get Their Hands on WAR and Win a Spot in the Closed Beta

Fans looking forward to Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR), EA Mythic's highly anticipated MMORPG, can get hands-on time with the game at events throughout the US this summer. Gamers, including the over 600,000 fanatics eagerly awaiting a spot in WAR's closed beta test, will have the chance to experience WAR's Realm vs. Realm gameplay at several upcoming events. Attendees will also have the opportunity to win access to the closed beta, and meet the developers, including Creative Director Paul Barnett and Senior Producer Jeff Hickman.

WAR is everywhere at the following shows:

New York Comic Con: April 18-20, 2008 (New York, NY)

Catch the WAR stage show extravaganza with Paul and Jeff at 12:00 noon on Sunday, April 20.
Join Jeff for the MMO discussion panel at 4:00pm on April 20th.

Origins: June 26-29, 2008 (Columbus, OH)
Comic Con: July 24-27, 2008 (San Diego, CA)
Gen Con Indy: August 14-17, 2008 (Indianapolis, IN)
Penny-Arcade Expo: August 29-31, 2008 (Seattle, WA)

In addition, the developers will be showing WAR at Games Workshop's upcoming Games Days:

Baltimore, MD: June 14, 2008
Toronto, ON: June 21, 2008
Chicago, IL: July 26, 2008
Los Angeles, CA: August 23, 2008

Update from the Beta

Zyuu — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:52:39 GMT

The EA Mythic team--despite being very busy--updates us on all the progress that's been made testing and developing Warhammer Online. The release is still uncertain according to one of the members of their team.

The latest beta build had it's focus on Dark Elves vs High Elves PVP. A bit more lore is displayed as well and there's been beta journals to feast our eyes on. It's too early (and not possible to say regardless) to say how WAR will turn out. They certainly take a different approach on testing the game. Usually most games keep the game open as much as possible, which, WAR is only up for certain time periods, so-called focused testing. Time will tell how that will affect the game. Hopefully positively, though.

The next build of the Warhammer Online beta will be the focus of Empire and Chaos.

Take me to the full article!

Do they invite anyone to beta?

Zyuu — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:27:39 GMT

There's been a lot of discussions surrounding if Mythic actually invite people to their beta or not. Many contest winners haven't received their invites yet.Game designer Josh Drescher clears up all the rumors in his blog.

Yes, it’s true. We let some more folks into the WAR Beta.
Yes, these were people who won contests, attended certain shows, etc.
No, these were not all of the people who won contests, attended certain shows, etc.
No, this is NOT the Guild Beta.
Yes, the Guild Beta is coming.
No, I won’t be offering any information on when or how the next round of invites will go out.
Seriously. Even if I knew, I couldn’t say.
No, we won’t be specifying what metrics were used to choose people for this round (or any round).
No, it’s NOT a vast conspiracy aimed at confusing or punishing you.

Warhammer Beta Sign-ups Breach 500,000

Kody — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 02:08:12 GMT

According to this press release, Warhammer Online's beta sign-ups have breached the 500,000 barrier, making it quite possibly the most anticipated MMORPG to-date.

World of Warcraft eventually had to shut down their Open Beta sign-up process due to demand, but never had this many players eager to get into the game this early on in the beta. With the beta's next phase coming soon, meaning the re-opening of the Closed Beta, does this mean that more players will be allowed in?

Of these 500,000 sign-ups, how many will wait patiently until launch in Q2 2008, if they don't get in? I suppose only time will tell -- it'll certainly be interesting to watch what Warhammer brings to the genre when it finally launches. As of now, though, it's obviously the most anticipated MMO of this year, and initial sales may even rival those of World of Warcraft.

What are your thoughts? Do you think this game will have what it takes to challenge the juggernaught?

WAR Beta Update - Part 5

Kody — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 04:32:48 GMT

The Warhammer Online Herald was updated this afternoon with the latest WAR Beta Update. This edition provides an update from the Cities Team, the UI Team, the RvR Team -- including information on the newly announced Keeps -- and the Combat & Careers Team.

Greetings!

Today we bring your part five of our Beta Update series. The re-opening of beta is swiftly approaching and the furnaces are burning full steam ahead here at EA Mythic. All of the teams have been working like mad men to make magic happen throughout the entire game. This weeks witchcraft brings you even more information about the inevitable city, character creation, and questions directly from the beta testers about Keeps and Career Mastery. Enjoy!

Head over to WAR Beta Update - Part 5 to read more.

Warhammer Beta reopens

Indelible — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:14:50 GMT

The team at Mythic have announced that they are almost ready to reopen beta for Warhammer Online.

This next phase of the beta will be what they are dubbing a, "Dark Elf sneak peak," and will focus mainly around RvR (Realm V Realm) combat.

We’re almost ready to re-open the WAR Beta, and I know that our Beta Community has been gnashing their teeth in anticipation. Guess what? They should be giddy with excitement because we’ll have an amazing amount of new features and enhancements in the game for them to test, as well as brand new Elf content for them to experience.

Mythic also went onto reveal a little tidbit about Siege Warfare in Warhammer Online, comparing it to Keep Battles in Dark Age of Camelot, saying there will be differences but that anyone who has experienced Keep Battles will understand what Mythic are going for with siege weapons.

While we aren’t ready to publicly discuss Keeps and their siege mechanics in great detail at this time, anyone that has taken part in a Keep battle in Dark Age of Camelot® will have an idea of what we have in store for WAR (though it should be noted that this new Keeps system will differ from the one found in DAoC). The addition of Keeps will bring focus and meaning to Open Field RvR and beta participants should be able to experience this new system in its early stages by the end of the year.