In 2006, Electronic Arts (EA) nabbed Mythic Entertainment in an effort to diversify their product output beyond the usual console mix. In a traditional corporate environment, actions such as these are looked upon with scrutiny due to their financial implications. In an entertainment-oriented corporate environment, customer experience holds stock majority – so to speak. Do actions such as these benefit the consumer directly, or do they simply fuel advertisement funding and other business-related functions?

Continue past the cut and decide for yourself!

In 2007, EA swooped on Bioware Entertainment, hoping to dispel a bad reputation that stemmed from this very behavior: industry consolidation. While EA’s venture capitalist fund certainly helps to lay the tracks for struggling developers, many believe that they are effectively diluting the industry – homogenizing what was once a motley crew of “indie” developers, working with their bare hands to bring a shared passion to life. As with many other forms of entertainment, our precious MMORPG industry has been infiltrated by suits & ties – often with questionable results.

It is with a heavy heart and weary soul that we hear of EA and Funcom’s joint decision to co-publish The Secret World, a highly anticipated next-gen MMO set in real-world locations like New York and Seoul. Despite a track record of profit-fueled decisions, EA Games has collectively honed its skill as a determined group of programmers and businesspeople. We remain optimistic about this newly formed bond as long as there are no signs of creative tampering on EA’s part.

Fans of The Secret World are anticipating a departure from typical class-based systems à la Age of Conan and World of Warcraft; according to Funcom, players will be free to cherry-pick their favorite skills and create their own unique “class”. Funcom’s CEO, Trond Arne Aas, explains this decision, “The experience and the knowledge that Electronic Arts brings to the table will be instrumental in allowing us to realize the full potential of ‘The Secret World‘.”

If you are curious about Funcom’s upcoming MMO, The Secret World, check out this informational interview the Crunch conducted with TSW’s Creative Director, Ragnar Tørnquist.

Warlock Engineer

This week, BioWare Mythic has released Patch 1.4 for their PvP oriented MMO, Warhammer Online. At first glance, we can see that Open RvR has been overhauled to include a brand new capture mechanic in Tiers 2-4. BioWare Mythic reiterates that World PvP is where gameplay should ideally be focused, and where the lore of WAR is set to unfold.

With a new Skaven race, BioWare Mythic is reinvigorating Warhammer Online players with a reason to come back out and crush some skulls. The new race features four classes: the Warlack Engineer, the Pack Master, the Rat Ogre, and the Gutter Runner. To clarify, the Skaven are not a race that players can build from the ground up, leveling in and out of PvP. They are simply mercenaries that either faction hire for their cause. Players will be able to control one of these four classes to obtain a goal or objective in the RvR action. In addition, a new 65+ dungeon, Thanquol’s Incursion, has been implemented. Emboldened players can look forward to all-new gear and first access to the playable Skavens.

More information on the four Skaven classes can be found here.

With Patch 1.4, BioWare Mythic has included two purchaseable content packs: Progression and Personality. The former will focus on leveling capacity and rate, with 20 more ranks, new Renown Gear & Scenario Weapons, and accelerated XP rate. The latter will focus on personal vanity, with Barber Surgeon Tokens, Vanity Pets, Mounts, and Dyes. Once activated, the content packs will take effect on all characters on the player’s account. Individually, the packs are priced at $9.99, with a combo pack at $14.99.

Content packs can be obtained at the EA Store.

We’ve been hearing about it for a while, and no doubt it has some former players considering a glorious comeback. Warhammer Online’s Patch 1.3.6 dropped today around noon, and it’s selling point centers around RvR changes. Major player grievances have often stemmed from imbalanced and un-incentivized ORvR (Open Realm vs. Realm) battles, and Mythic hopes to address this with “Against All Odds”.

Against All Odds is a passive buff that is activated upon a faction that is outnumbered by more than 20%. All members of the outnumbered faction that are participating in an RvR Lake battle will receive an increase to Experience, Renown, and Influence proportional to the odds stacked against them. Needless to say, this should encourage more activity on the RvR front – the very essence of Mythic’s vision for PvP.

The fun doesn’t stop there, though. Sovereign armor sets are receiving an overhaul in the form of Split armor sets. This will provide each career with multiple incarnations of the same armor set, which can be chosen based on personal play style. Versatility and uniqueness have been an issue with Warhammer Online in the past, and this expanded selection should do wonders for diversifying character builds, among other things.

If you crave even more customization (I know I do), Mythic has included an “Alternate Item Appearance System” with the new patch. Players will now be able to choose from several item appearance options, while maintaining the same statistics that came with the original item. This should definitely mix up the general population in terms of appearance and fashion. Also, you can be sure that no one will recognize exactly what type of armor you are wearing. This could come in handy…

There are several more changes (like Auction House UI improvements) that have been made with Patch 1.3.6. They can be viewed here.

The new DAoC patch has gone live, and Bioware Mythic has plenty to show you.  For starters the new UI (user interface) will allow you to upgrade your skill lines without using any mouse clicks.  A new slider bar has been added that will show you what skills are being upgraded, and how many points you will be spending.  Not only that, but styles and spells will now be immediately displayed to the player so that you can make informed decisions in order to build your character to the best of your abilities.  Stuart Zissu; the producer behind Dark Age of Camelot, goes into more detail regarding the new training UI here.

Here are some other major updates to come with the patches release:

·         Bainshee class balance

·         Increased number of displayed buffs

·         Continued dungeon itemization updates

·         Epic Armor upgrades

For more information about the new DAoC patch, click here.  For all other MMO news and info, remember to follow us at mmocrunch.com

With BioWare Mythic offering Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss at the low price of $29.99 USD (including 30 days gametime), efforts are at an all-time high to revitalize this classic game. UO’s “Call to Arms” will feature such festivities as lore-based Live Events, which are slated to bring back several memorable characters from both Ultima and Ultima Online. Players will help drive the story arc as they work together to return the town of Magincia to it’s former glory. Also, new to the UO universe is an exciting PvP Arena feature that will allow players to face-off in 1v1 combat at either of two new arenas.

To encourage veterans to participate in these new additions, as well as to lend a hand to a newbie or two, BioWare Mythic has revamped the template for Advanced Character tokens. Further, long-time “UOphiles” will enjoy increased skill advancement when journeying with new players.

For prospective players looking to jump into the Ultima Online universe, new (non-trial) accounts will instantly receive a “New Player Token”. This token will provide access to 20,000 gold and premium gear, as well as accelerated skill gain for all party members. This much is clear: with Ultima Online’s Call to Arms event, now is a better time than ever to discover the game that started it all.

Interested? Read up on Stygian Abyss here.

Heroes of the lands of Albion, Hibernia, and Midgard should keep their eyes peeled for merchants offering the spoils of war. In particular, the spoils of the Infernal Awakenings event that occurred last month. The Infernal Auction has been announced by Mythic as the next in a long line of planned Live Events. Resourceful salesmen can be seen in areas around each realm, peddling rare goods and soliciting each passerby.

Those who are fortunate enough to have obtained the title of Destroyer, Conqueror, or Vanquisher should report to Jonda Dawn to be rewarded for their deeds. It is said that Jonda will be traveling with these merchants for the time being. As the booze flows and the fireworks paint the night sky, tongues loosen and there are whispers of a special auction on the wind. It is said that this “Developer Lead” auction will occur on August 19th, 2010. Dark Age of Camelot will continue to play host to more live events in the future, as the player response has been tremendous, according to the developer team.

As of today, the merchants have arrived at their respective posts, bringing with them a limited supply of items and materials. Be sure to check out the Camelot Herald for specific merchant locations in each realm.

July has been a busy month at BioWare Mythic. Stuart Zissu (Producer, DAoC), Andy Belford (Community Coordinator, Mythic), and WAR’s very own Producer, Carrie Gouskos will be making their way across the Atlantic to attend GamesCom: Cologne. The team plans to talk about the future of WAR and DAoC at the event, as well as player suggestions and input. Carrie invites fans to keep track of the group’s activities via Twitter as they visit Germany and meet up with players. This will all take place between August 18th and August 22nd. Mythic hasn’t forgotten the States either, as they plan to make an appearance at Games Day in Baltimore. The Warhammer Online development team will be holding a Q&A session at the event, which will be held on August 21st.

As you’ve most likely heard, the European Warhammer community has been making a steady transition over to Bioware Mythic over the last month. Double XP and Renown events have pushed the server populations to “unprecedented” levels during the last 30 days. The developers have been keeping a close eye on server performance under heavy loads, making (and planning) adjustments to optimize server-client response times. Friends and like-minded players are coming to together these days, as the Warhammer Online forum community has been integrated with the BioWare Social Network. This means that WAR forum regulars can now enjoy the benefits of the well-established BioWare Social Network without losing any of their current privileges.

Moving on, Public Testing for patch 1.3.6 has begun over at the Warpstone PTS. If you haven’t done so, you can log-in using the “testpatch.exe” file in your WAR root folder. Voicing your thoughts on upcoming features is the best way to help your game grow in the right direction. Here are the full patch notes for 1.3.6. Following the launch of the new patch, the famed Wild Hunt Event will commence, allowing players to once again partake in the search for the elusive Fleet Stag Cloak. If that’s not enough, Live Events are making a big comeback with some substantial changes in the works. The Weekend Warfront has proven to be a popular event, and the community has made their voices heard in the call for more 6v6 scenarios. The Ironclad is still undergoing adjustments, but in it’s stead is an entirely new 6v6 scenario set in the Eternal Citadel. Carrie promises “pure, unadulterated Death match goodness…with a twist.”

I saved the best for last, and here it is. Mythic has seen fit to incentivize more ORvR participation. After all, that is what Warhammer is all about, right? The devs at Mythic understand the relatively underwhelming nature of the middle Tiers, and have sought to bring more players together around the RvR lakes in Tiers 2 and 3. How are they going to do this? By taking a page from the great Dark Age of Camelot and adding high XP value to NPCs located in and around these RvR areas. Hopefully this will create more centralized conflict for more players to participate in, and thus propel them through the game more smoothly.

Bioware Mythic has just revealed the new payment options coming to all European Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot players.  Players are told that they will still have the option to purchase game time codes from the EA online store, as well as some new payment methods that may be preferred.  The game time codes will still be sold in 30, 90, and 180 day packages for both Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot.  European players now have the option to set up an automatic billing plan by using a valid Visa, Mastercard, Discovery or American Express card.  Mythic is currently working on a wider selection of European billing options, but in the mean time Mythic will be providing introductory pricing.  This will only stick until they have released their full line-up of billing options.  The current prices have been posted by Mythic and are all in USD with the additional “Added Value Tax”.

The current prices are as followed.

GBP:

• 1 Month – $ 13.99 USD
• 3 Months – $ 37.99 USD
• 6 Months – $ 69.99 USD

Euro:

• 1 Month – $ 15.99 USD
• 3 Months – $ 43.99 USD
• 6 Months – $ 79.99 USD

Mythic would like to remind its players to access their master accounts on the Bioware Mythic account center so that they may utilize these new payment plans.  For more info on Mythic’s new European payment plans, head over to warhammeronline.com to keep up to date on all Warhammer news along with official mythic updates.

BioWare Mythic has just announced that the transition for all Warhammer Online character and guild data from GOA servers in Europe to their new home servers at Mythic (US) has been completed.

The new servers are exact copies of the previous GOA servers from June 29, 2010.

European players of Warhammer Online will access their account centers now through the main Mythic Accounts website using a “_EUR” suffix, and will also be catered to by a boost in French and German foreign language customer server representatives.

Josh Drescher, a producer at Mythic Entertainment (also known as EA Mythic and BioWare Mythic) who worked on Warhammer Online, was laid off today. This has sparked rumours of it being an indication of Warhammer Online suffering difficulties, or that there is trouble in Mythic’s future. This is coming despite Josh himself remarking that “WAR isn’t dying. The game is better now than ever before and more goodness is on the way.” It may be a simple reaction to the fact that layoffs are generally a sign of economic downsizing, but there are no solid details on how many other Mythic staff were let go, if any.

The full story, such as it is, can be found on Drescher’s Twitter page.