Besides the usual “I wish they’d done 40K”.
Some screenshots look too much like WoW.
Right, I should have added: I know, the graphics kinda suck.
It’s still in closed beta. We’re still locked up tight by the NDA.
They only news is that it likely won’t be out in Q2 as planned since they don’t seem nearly done.
I’d expect the game for October or November.
Why does it seem like this one has been dragging? I know it is not taking any longer than any of the other big name MMORPGs, but it sure seems like there was a buzz last year that should have paid off by now somehow. Maybe the development and Beta process has just been to quiet.
I don’t think that makes sense, now that I re-read it, but someone out there knows what I mean.
That buzz was before the latest delay. When we come up on the newest release date if it’s not delayed again the buzz will start anew.
I don’t think it breaks NDA to say that I would reasonably expect a Q4 release as well.
Actually both. There was interest because people expected it to be released before the end of 2007. And then because Mythic hasn’t released any real infos for months beside screenshots here and there or some vague class infos.
People discuss a game either when it’s to be released or when there’s something concrete to discuss. The only “perk” of Warhammer is the PvP, and they stopped releasing details about it a year ago.
I’ve been signed up for the beta for ages and nary a peep from them except the occasional web newsletter thingy. My main interest is the PvP but there’s even less info about the nuts and bolts of that than there is about the rest of the game. I really couldn’t give a skaven’s ass about the PvE stuff–I assume it’ll be better than DAOC and not as good as EQII or WoW–because I know that the “hook” that’ll get me to play and stay is PvP if it’s decent.
There seems to be a pattern with multiplayer PC games wherein the more you hear about how people can’t tell you about the beta they are playing due to NDA, the more the game sucks donkey nuts when it is actually released. Compare the norm with Blizzard, who doesn’t even bother with NDAs when they get to the closed beta phase.
Blizzard is the only company that held such an open closed beta. I wouldn’t read that much into it yet.
Mark Jacobs disagrees:
As to NDAs, the rule I’ve always gone by is my “time before release rule” in order to judge the confidence the publishers have in their new game (doesn’t apply to ports or games that are already out in other places). I add a +1 for every week prior to release that the game’s NDA has been lifted and come up with a score. If <4, there’s a lack of confidence in the product, if you are >8, they really believe in the game. WoW had a great score (the highest I believe) and some of the MMOs that failed, had, as expected, low scores. A score of 4 is just about the minimum you should expect from a MMO publisher.
WoW had a score of 40.
Current releasedate is Q2, they have plenty of time for a month or two long open beta.
I seriously doubt they’ll have a real open beta. That they’ll release NDA two months before, sure. But I wouldn’t bet on open beta for all.
And of those MMOs who released NDA less than a month before release I remember only SWG. Don’t worry, it will never happen that Mark Jacobs says something meaningful of daring. He plays as safe as possible.
I read that quote as: the longest the gap, the best the game.
Sorry, I meant an “open” closed beta. They’ll have an open beta for stress testing too, it’s basically mandatory.
The buzz I was hearing about Warhammer right before they announced they were going to extend development time is that it just wasn’t as entertaining as they felt it needed to be. I haven’t played it other than briefly at Gen Con, and playing a level 1 character is a poor way to get a feel for an MMO. I had a caster so all I could do was button mash the same spell over and over. I wasn’t knocked out by the art, but it was good – just didn’t grab me. Blizzard still manages to have the best art direction.
I’m really interested in Warhammer. It’s likely the only MMO I’ll buy besides Lich King in '08. Maybe Conan too, but I’m in more of a wait and see mode about that one.
Personally, I’m dubious that it will even be as successful as EQ2, but I’ll be happy to be proved wrong.
I dunno, EA took a lesson from both the market leader and other post-WOW titles (LOTRO in particular) in giving mythic the freedom to rebuild major systems from the ground up. I betcha EA allows them to delay it as long as it takes to polish, within reason, barring mismanagement, etc. They want a winner.
Without skirting the NDA too much I will say that WAR is a very differently managed beta than any others I’ve participated in, and I was in pretty much every MMO beta since UO, including their previous effort DAOC. Jacobs and co. have strong convictions. Whether these fundamental changes are productive or not is yet to be seen.
Odd that this thread would show up today. Expect some new previews Tuesday night.
Brad McQuaid had them too.
We’ll see.