Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning : newsletter

April Newsletter is out

Zyuu — Thu, 08 May 2008 01:39:15 GMT

The Warhammer Online April Newsletter is out! It's filled with interesting information. Everything from artwork, screenshots, information about guilds, the collector's edition, WAR books, career mastery updates, zone information and a lot more.

Check out the Warhammer Online April Newsletter here!

Warhammer Online January newsletter is out

Zyuu — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:40:22 GMT

The January issue of the Warhammer Online newsletter is out. It's filled with a lot of interesting tidbits. The spotlight is the Shadow Warrior. A ranged archer type of class, that is able to dish out bow shots at a short range. They also wield short longswords and wear light leather and scale mail armor. The neat thing about their appearances is that they wear hoods, mantles and draped over concealing cloaks. Suits the name Shadow Warrior. There's many interesting races and classes in the Warhammer Online world, I suggest checking out The Armies of War.

We have lost our families, our lands, and our innocence. Even our kin look upon us with suspicious eyes, for all they remember is the atrocities of Malekith and his ilk, not the nobility of those who remained. It is for these reasons we fight this Shadow War, for redemption can only come from tears and blood. Only when Malekith breathes his last, his heart pierced by Nagarythe steel, shall we ask Lileath for forgiveness. Until that day nothing will stand in the path of our vengeance

- Filamar the Swift, Shadow Warrior of Nagarythe

The newsletter also cover:

PVP Scenarios, Episode 1: Nordenwatch and Highpass Cemetary. A very interesting overview, telling you how the scenarios work and how to win them.

War Novel -- Empire in Chaos. Preview Chapter. I read it and I find it quite well written and it's definitely making me consider to order the full novel. If you're interested in ordering it, you can do so from The Black Library. The novel should be out in May 2008.

Check out some awesome concept art images of Dwarf Engineer's and their rifles. It's from the War Cinematic.

Avelorn zone overview. The verdant realm of Avelorn is among the most ancient of Ulthuans kingdoms. A vast, magical forest bathed in the warm light of eternal summer, Avelorn is land of great cultural significance to the High Elves.

Quest boss Lorkoth and Scornlash. Order players will attempt to infiltrate the House Arkaneth Black Ark staging ground on the cragged shores of the Blighted Isle. Here they will fight their way through various regiments and their commanders as they are deployed from the mouth of the floating fortress, until finally they have to face off with the veteran Beastmaster Lorkoth and his prized beast, the War Hydra Scornlash.

Trophy System. Its really important in WAR to be able to identify a players career with a simple glance orangey robes, big staff, and hair on fire, thats a Bright Wizard!

January Video Podcast. Paul and Josh are kickin it old-school around the kitchen table talking about the latest and greatest in WAR. From armor dies to siege equipment, from the campaign map to city siege testing and a lot more. Worth to check out, I personally enjoyed it quite a bit.

Warhammer Online Video of the Month. This month it covers RvR (Realm versus Realm) battles. Absolutely worthy your time, watch it now!

Also check out, this month's beta journal entry, the grab bag of questions for this month, Kevin Boehm Lead Artist, Mike Stone Development Manager

Warhammer Online Delayed Again

Kody — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 04:49:35 GMT

The latest Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Newsletter is out now, and in it includes a State of the Game that can also be found on the WAR Herald. In it, Mark Jacobs - VP of EA Mythic - announces another delay of Warhammer Online. The game has been pushed back to the 2nd quarter of 2008, which will place the launch some time between April and June 2008 at the earliest.

There's a thread going on over at Warhammer Alliance about the state of the game article, so head over and join in. Here's the letter to the Warhammer Online fanbase, from Mark Jacobs:

In 2005, when Mythic signed the licensing agreement for Warhammer, I promised Games Workshop that we would create a great and glorious game. When Electronic Arts acquired us a year later, I told them the same thing. Now, a year after that acquisition, nothing has changed: we still intend to deliver the next great MMORPG. As many of you may have heard, we have extended WAR’s development cycle until the 2nd quarter of 2008. The reason is simple; we will not release Warhammer Online until it is the game we set out to create two years ago.

Our goals for Warhammer Online are not easily met. The game includes many new and innovative ideas, a feature set that is going to blow players away, and, most importantly, the best RvR system in MMORPG gaming. These things take time to implement and test properly. During the last phase of beta testing, we received valuable feedback from our testers that will help make these features even better. When we looked at our options, two paths lay before us: 1) Ship the game on time with fewer features and less polish, or 2) Extend the development cycle and spend the needed time and money to make WAR great. We chose the latter path - to invest additional time and effort in implementation and polish to make WAR great. Fortunately, we have the resources and support of EA behind us to extend our development cycle; time that will be used to make sure the game is everything we want it to be. WAR is coming, and it will be glorious.

One of the “popular” topics of discussion regarding EA Mythic this past week has been the subject of layoffs within the studio. While we did let several people go from the Warhammer Online team, the number was *quite* small and their loss had no impact on our development schedule. These layoffs were part of our normal studio operations and a necessary step for EA Mythic to ensure that we have a focused and committed team working on WAR going forward.

On the Beta front, we will begin a new phase of testing in December, and we look forward to getting even more people involved in WAR by the end of the year. We are approaching a half a million registrants, and, to my knowledge, this could be the most ever signups for a Western MMORPG beta. I am very proud of this as it is a testament to the strength of the community, the popularity of the Warhammer license, and the outstanding work the team at EA Mythic is doing on the game. When we open the beta in Asia, we expect the numbers to continue to climb as we’d like to see one million players signed up to test the game. At that point, we will be well on our way to bringing about the second part of the double entendre of our motto as WAR really will be everywhere.

Over the next few months in Beta, our players will find all-new content to experience, careers to play and cities to siege. Our Capital City team continues to push the envelope by creating the next generation of living cities in MMORPGs and Altdorf is simply breathtaking. New Community systems will be in place and we look forward to getting many existing guilds into the beta to try them out.

In addition, we’ll be making changes to the RvR (open field RvR FTW!) and Server Rule Set Systems. These changes bring WAR a step closer to fulfilling the promise that “War is Everywhere” while ensuring a great play experience for those that do not choose to engage in RvR 24x7. This is another example of how EA Mythic talks to the community, listens to what they have to say, and takes action. We will continue this process over the next three quarters as we continue to develop, expand and improve WAR.

As I often quote from movies, one line particularly leaps to mind right now: “Creation is an act of sheer will,” said John Hammond in Jurassic Park. Unlike his creation in that film, however, what EA Mythic creates will be great and glorious, and nobody will get eaten by giant reptiles. That is, until we get bring Lustria to life and then all bets are off.

As always, we thank you for your patronage, support and interest.

Mark Jacobs
VP and General Manager, EA Mythic

The newsletter isn't doom and gloom, though; there's a lot of cool new information available in it. You can check it all out in the Warhammer Alliance October 2007 Newsletter thread.

September Newsletter

Kody — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 03:38:37 GMT

Our friends over at Warhammer Alliance have put together a recap of the September newsletter for Warhammer Online, for those of you that may not be receiving emails about it. There are also some links to videos put together by the folks from the guild Eva Vix, so be sure to check it out for some great Warhammer action!

You can reach the newsletter recap by hitting this thread on the WHA forums.

Thanks goes out to Garthilk for posting it!

March 2007 Newsletter

Garthilk — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 01:12:27 GMT

Well by now the first of the newsletters are being sent out and hopefully folks will receive theirs before the beginning of April. This month's newsletter contains quite a bit of clarifying information and a bunch of new information as well. Also included is the usual assortment of grab bag items, videos, developer diaries and blogs. Some stuff worth reading in this one. Anyway, here's the lineup.

Definately worth checking out.

Warhammer Online Newsletter - December Issue

Werik — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 02:35:35 GMT

I just received the latest issue of EA Mythic's Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Newsletter.

In this month's issue you can find:

An exclusive first look at the new Chaos Zealots and the former Dwarf Stronghold, Karak Eight Peaks,
Two new Empire careers, the Witch Hunter and the Knight of the Blazing Sun,
A concept art about the upcoming High Elves,
An overview of the Empire starting zone, Nordland,
Paul's new video blog and the next part of Sanya's Grab Bag,

and much more!