Mythic – Page 4 – MMO Fallout

WAR’s Auction House Becoming WAR Flea Market

File this one under “how is this in improvement?” I don’t normally talk about game’s individual updates, but the upcoming patch to Warhammer Online, 1.3.6, is revamping the UI of the auction house to better fit the searching needs of the game’s players. As a result of this upgrade, all auctions are standardized to 48 hours, and Mythic has decided to remove the option of bidding on items, opting for a buyout only approach.

According to the WAR Herald, the options being removed are due to lack of popularity, so I won’t question that aspect. I do have to question how removing the aspects altogether, rather than allowing the few who do utilize them, can be an improvement. It is possible, of course, that the new infrastructure of the auction house required some of the options to be removed, but aside from a technical limitation point of view, I don’t believe there is much Mythic can say to convince me “no, this is for your own good.” I feel like I’m talking to the Apple of MMOs.

Personally in the grand majority of MMOs that I have played where an auction house exists, I’ve found myself setting up a tried and true method of selling my wares: start low, set a high buyout amount, and start gathering data on how well the items sell for. On World of Warcraft, this method has become a godsend in selling stacks of cloth and has allowed me to make a substantial amount of gold doing what is essentially a side-job.

Runescape is one of the few MMOs I can think of that only features a buyout option, although the Grand Exchange isn’t billed as an Auction House, and the system of buying and selling is 100% anonymous.

I have a feeling Mythic might offer their players some clarification, and hopefully if enough people ask for it bidding might be returned to the game.

Warhammer Online Is Still Profitable, Says Mythic

When Warhammer Online launched in 2008, the game peaked at about eight hundred thousand subscribers, before plummeting over the course of the next two months to little over three hundred thousand. Over the course of the first year, WAR lost over three quarters of its population, as well as a grand majority of its over-one-hundred servers. So given MMODATA.com’s latest graph showing WAR heading under one hundred thousand subscribers, questioning the game’s health is not exactly out of line.

Luckily, those of you playing WAR can rest easy, at least for the moment. In an interview with Eurogamer, Bioware Mythic announced that WAR is still profitable as it comes to its second birthday this September, and that the game is still chugging forward despite the naysayers. The endless trial has had its desired effect, and “tens of thousands of players” are experiencing the game each month for the first time, according to EA.

Even if you go by mmodata.net’s figures and give WAR a mean 90,000 subscribers, Mythic is still looking at $1.3 million in income a month.

Here’s hoping the Endless Trial goes even better than expected, and Mythic has plenty in the coffers to keep the game going. More on Warhammer Online as it appears.

EA: Microtransactions Through Live Gamer

starwars — I knew we couldn't trust the jedi!

Those of you who are acquainted with Sony Online Entertainment are likely aware of Live Gamer, the “legit” real money trading website where players can buy and sell characters, gold, and more between each other without fear of getting scammed by some guy sitting in China watching ten WoW bots do their work. Currently, the Live Gamer Exchange only covers Everquest II, Vanguard (Vanguard had 54 characters up for sale, with only one bid between them), and Free Realms.

No matter how you feel about Live Gamer, the company has announced a partnership with Electronic Arts to cooperate on their MMOs. There is no word as of yet as to which of EA’s MMOs this will include (The Old Republic, Warhammer Online, Dark Age of Camelot, and Ultima Online), or exactly what services Live Gamer will bring to these titles, but speculation is abound. Considering Live Gamer currently allows players to trade currency, characters, and items for cash (and vice versa) in the MMOs it does support, it isn’t too far of a reach to assume that whatever MMO EA decides to lend will offer similar features.

Mythic Is Taking Back WAR EU

Mythic wants its babies back, especially in Europe where hosting has been handled by GOA. Earlier this year, the MMO developer took back Dark Age of Camelot, that GOA had been hosting for the game’s European life-span. Now, in a move that I’m sure will surprise anyone playing WAR Europe Edition, Mythic is taking back Warhammer Online…in Europe!

Servers will transition over the next few weeks, and Mythic has promised that all of your information will transfer over to the new servers. More information is coming soon.

Dark Age of Camelot: Still Thinking About You

Nine years is a long time for any project. By the time an MMO’s ninth birthday comes around, their community has been long-ago set on what they want out of the game, the developers have found their strong points, and although the game likely stopped growing years ago, those who have stuck with it often form quite a tight community.

Dark Age of Camelot launched in 2001, and since then the earlier areas of the game have been feeling quite neglected. With the upcoming 1.104 patch, Mythic hopes to revisit the old dungeons and revitalize drops with new bonuses and higher quality items that past expansions have introduced into the game. Albion, Midgard, and Hibernian gear will be updated as well with various bonuses.

Mythic isn’t the only developer going back and revisiting old areas to give them a touch of shine and polish. More on Dark Age of Camelot as it appears.

Josh Drescher: Laid Off, Still Loves Warhammer Online

Perhaps he will go to work at Bioware? Between Mythic’s billing server exploding, the shut down of their merchandise store, and last November’s announcement of server mergers and massive layoffs (40%), you would think that the news couldn’t get any worse. Well, it did. Josh Drescher, producer of Warhammer Online, posted on his twitter account that he has been laid off, and cannot give any more details. His twitter post reads:

FYI: I can’t get into details (and, in fact, don’t HAVE many more details), but it was a layoff. I wasn’t fired and I still love Mythic.

Many of you may remember Drescher from the video podcasts for Warhammer Online created before and after release. But Josh does have a word for all of you who take this as a sign Warhammer Online is dying:

Quick note, then I’m going offline for a while: WAR isn’t dying. The game is better now than ever before and more goodness is on the way.

Even though it’s not my baby anymore, I’m proud of what it’s become and want the team’s hard work to be rewarded moving forward.

It’s good to see no (public) hard feelings between Drescher and Mythic. More on Warhammer Online as it gets laid off.

Games Workshop Doesn't Care About WAR People

One important point I need to get out of the way first:

-Games Workshop is the creator of the Warhammer world used in the Warhammer tabletop games, pen-and-paper games, and video games.
-EA/Mythic are the creators of Warhammer Online, the MMO.
-Curse/Warhammer Alliance is not a fansite. Mere fansites do not make 3 million in revenue in a year, have a board of directors, or have investors.

In a perfect world, Mythic would be going under scrutiny for their own actions, and the lawsuits brought forth by Games Workshop would not have much of an impact on them, if any at all. Sadly, we do not live in a perfect world, and the end result is Mythic is being barraged for a lawsuit brought by Games Workshop against Warhammer Alliance. Games Workshop is currently suing Curse over Warhammer Alliance’s alleged infringement of GW’s trademark on “Warhammer Alliance.” Alongside trademark infringement, Games Workshop is also suing for cybersquatting, dilution, and unfair competition.

I didn’t make this an “In Plain English” article, because this doesn’t, and shouldn’t, include Warhammer Online. More importantly, this lawsuit does not involve Warhammer Online or Mythic Entertainment. Currently there are far too many reactionary posts by people blaming Mythic for this lawsuit, calling it an act of desperation among other things.

“Failing game seeks money anyway it can get it. Anyone can sue anyone for anything nowadays. It’s really sad.”
Projectkmo @ Massively

“I actually subscribe occasionally to Warhammer Online just to show my support. This will end that…”
Duulin @ Massively

So just to get this straightened out once and for all: Mythic has NOTHING to do with the lawsuit.

Games Workshop Doesn’t Care About WAR People

One important point I need to get out of the way first:

“Failing game seeks money anyway it can get it. Anyone can sue anyone for anything nowadays. It’s really sad.”
Projectkmo @ Massively

“I actually subscribe occasionally to Warhammer Online just to show my support. This will end that…”
Duulin @ Massively

So just to get this straightened out once and for all: Mythic has NOTHING to do with the lawsuit.

Put Your Money Episode #1: ________ Station Pass

Back in January I asked a pretty simple question: Since Sony has had so much success with the Station Pass, an offer where players can pay the fee of two MMOs to gain access to eight (previously nine) MMOs, why don’t we see more packages where developers or publishers bundle together MMOs to increase subscriber numbers and population?

Put Your Money is my response to people who have been asking me just that: Put my money where my mouth is. If I’m soooo smart, then maybe I should come up with some deals. And deals I have come up with. I give to you, my ideal picks for what individual Turbine, Mythic, Cryptic (above), NCsoft, and Funcom. My goal was to hit a price with reasonable savings, while at the same time reasonable cost, with regards to number of games and their individual subscription price (as not all games have the same price). I did not include any upcoming games.

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Mythic Shuts Down Merchandise Site

Mythic-Store-is-Closed — Batton down the beer steins!

MMOs, as is the case with most forms of entertainment, regularly don’t see anywhere near as much success outside of their main product and, in many cases, online stores are kept to a minimum, if they are kept at all.

Players who attempted to purchase anything from the Mythic Store today were met with the above notice. The official reason is “business.”

It was a business decision, if you have anything specific you were looking for send Andy a PM on the boards and he will look into helping you out.
-Mythic, on the Mythic Store Closing

No doubt a disappointment, as the Mythic store held quite merchandise for Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, and Dark Age of Camelot. The closing of the Mythic Store has raised the usual bout of questions, and of course the regular course of trolls coming out of the woodwork to proclaim the death of Warhammer Online.

Warhammer Online has been having its ups and downs over the past few months, and the recently unveiled ability to have characters on both factions on the same server has stewed fears of even more server merges, a fear that would be in Mythic’s best interest to address, on a wide scale (whether it be true or not). As I’ve said before on MMO Fallout: If you (the company) do not fill the holes, someone else will fill them for you, and you will not like what they fill it with.

So this may be just another victim of Mythic’s cost cutting venture. Should any other news arise, you will hear it here.

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