Warhammer Online Sees Massive Content Removal To Make Launch 397
Zonk is reporting that the Warhammer Online team has decided to keep their launch deadline firm. Unfortunately, in order to do so, they are pulling quite a few things from the game. Four of the six capital cities are being removed, as well as four of the character classes (two of which were considered the primary "tanking" classes for their race). The team emphatically claims that this has nothing to do with EA. Does this hurt their chances for success more than simply delaying the launch date?
INCOMING FAILGATE! (Score:2, Interesting)
New "expansion"? (Score:4, Interesting)
I hope they release the content after WAR goes online, but I have a sneaking suspician that these cities which are cut out will end up being put in the game as an "expansion".
I hope not.
Paid Beta (Score:4, Interesting)
Why Warhammer Fantasy... (Score:5, Interesting)
Who thought we need yet another fantasy MMORPG with swordswinging, arrowshooting, fireball casting humans, orcs, dark/notsodark elves, undead etc etc etc?
They had access to the Warhammer franchise and chose this... I couldnt care less about their deadline, or if they ever make it at all.
Its not a Warhammer MMORPG for me, unless you give me a bolter and a power-armour.
Jack Emmert said it best... (Score:3, Interesting)
Misleading Headline (Score:4, Interesting)
Everybody Panic!
You would think the slashdot crowd would be refreshed by a company doing a public disclosure of changes like this.
Seriously though, this is not a huge deal (unless you had your heart set on one of those classes at release). There are still 20 classes with a large amount of variety and a good mix of standard mmo and new-ish mechanics. That's a large number more than many MMO's. see: http://www.warhammeronline.com/armiesofWAR/index.php
As for the cities, yes it's a definite loss, but two strong cities will serve that facet of end-game content well to start. (Yes it's only one of many possible facets.)
Yes, I've been in beta since the beginning, and yes the game is much more polished than people are expecting. I really can't comment beyond that with the NDA, but feel free to browse the public info: http://www.warhammeronline.com/index.php
-ACupOfCoffee
Re:Pushed the pre-order a bit early (Score:3, Interesting)
The official Warhammer Online site has huge banner ads saying "Warhammer Collector's Edition: Pre-Order now!" and links to the EA web store. Sounds like they are on the bandwagon with the rest of them.
Article title completely misleading (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Warhammer Forever (Score:2, Interesting)
Firstly: A 'few features'? I think going from 6 major cities in an MMO to 2 major cities, and cutting major races out of a game is more than just a 'few features'. I see 'features' as maybe skills or side-quests or things of that sort, not entire cities.
Secondly: Blizzard doesn't announce games when they're good and ready, Blizzard announces their games when they are stable, and then works to polish and perfect without announced deadlines. SC2 was announced last year - I played it at Blizzcon (it's amazing), and the game wont be released untill 2009-ish. Diablo 3 was just announced, that probably wont see light of day until Q4 2009 or Q1 2010.
The difference between Blizzard and EA subsidiaries is that EA is the epitome of corporate bullshit. They want that yearly revenue to boost stocks, not to make quality games. That's why continually EA will purchase a company, set a deadline, and the devs will scramble to meet it by cutting corners - otherwise they're fucked.
This game had a lot of potential, but knowing EA has their grimy paws on it just makes me not want to play it. EA wants what Blizzard has, but they don't go about it the same way.
Blizzard makes quality games, they know the importance of keeping their 3 main titles the BEST 3 main titles on the market - WoW (MMO), SC2 (RTS), and D3 (RPG).
Sorry Warhammer, I'm just glad I didn't pre-order.
Re:This is why Blizzard is so seuccesful (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm a ex WoW player, thus very spoiled, got a bit bored from it and was really looking forward to Warhammer.
But if they are already cutting corners, taking out content just to meet their releasedate I'm willing to take bets that it will be just another 100 in a dozen mmo.
This simply tells me that they're just after the next big money machine behind WoW. And that they're not after the next big near perfect game (which will earn them even more money in the end I'm sure)
And *that* is a big mistake, the first studio that will do some serious damage to the WoW customer base will be the first studio that doesn't care about the release date. A MMO is something that's ment to be played for years, the players know that now, they know they need to look for solid end-game, solid designs and not hollow prommises like "it will be patched later"
My prediction, the first studio that will eat a large chunk out of the WoW customer base will be Blizzard itself.
No other studio has the balls to develop as long as they do. 1 or 2 more expansions for WoW, then Blizzard will announce their next MMO and people will buy that even if they have to pay for it with their souls.
Re:Rushed Releases have killed MMORPGs in the past (Score:2, Interesting)
Here I am, a customer, LOOKING for a MMO to give my money to. Yet none offer the quality that deserves it. Age of Conan fooled me for one month with thier half finished game. I won't let another MMO fool me again with half finished content.
Re:This is why Blizzard is so seuccesful (Score:3, Interesting)
Social interaction doesnt matter as much to me if I cannot kill and loot other players. Real pvp needs to have real risks and rewards.
Re:This is why Blizzard is so seuccesful (Score:3, Interesting)
This is, unfortunately, a fallacy we also hear about software companies: software development always takes longer than planned.
I used to think that was true myself. Until I once met a software company with real professional leading the teams and on management. Not talking about MBA crap. I'm talking "software development management" professionals. During the 3 years I had contact with them, they never missed a deadline (and released earlier either). They were right on the spot every single time. That proved to me that, even if it is rare to meet a professional that can do it, it is possible to estimate total time and cost of development. For me, this thing about "having to remove features to release on the schedule date" screams incompetence.
The project executed by the company I mentioned earlier were not small, by the way. We are talking about 15-30 people for each project, with hundreds of lines of code, usually spanning 8 months of more of development.
Has anyone noticed... (Score:1, Interesting)
Has anyone noticed when there's a news article about World of Warcraft or some other MMORPG, a much higher percentage of completely misspelled replies are posted and get modded up? Are all MMORPG players English stupid? There needs to be a study done on this.
Re:This is why Blizzard is so seuccesful (Score:2, Interesting)
Your arguement makes you sound like a movie critic. You say such and such movie is bad, the acting is bad, the story is bad, etc... and yet the movie makes 300 million at the box office.
You say the numbers don't mean anything, but they do. They show that it is a product the people want, they want to play that way, and a vocal minority (like movie critics) are all that gets written about, so they make their statements with their subscriptions.
I play EQ2 when I want a break from WoW (or CoH/V) and there are some things in EQ2 that are great, but there is a lot that is pure crap (including the UI... but EQ2Naos us awesome... the rest... not so much). As far as what constitutes 'more mature' the chat I have seen in EQ2 rivals Barrens chat.
So you gave WoW 9 months? So you quit shortly after BWL was patched in.. you missed the opening of Silithus, the Dragons of Nightmare, the race to open Gates of Ahn'Qiraj, the nightmare that was Naxxramas.
You say that once you grind to the level cap, then all there is to do is either get gear or PVP...
Obviously you either have no raid experience whatsoever, or you missed the point entirely. Raiding is not about getting gear. That is a nice byproduct. Raiding is about testing yourself and your guild against the best the game world can throw at you. Its about the rush you get the first time you down Onyxia. Its about the scorching heat of battle in Molten Core. Its about wave upon wave of orcs, bugs, trolls and demons. Its about struggling through the reaches of the Black Temple and throwing down those who would make themselves out to be a god.