Email from Mythic

[Anaeran]

Call to Arms








Anaeran of Order


You are ordered by Karl Franz himself to return to the front lines!
As one of Orders mightiest heroes, your strength is needed once again!
There is no time for rest, even at rank 40.
Conquer keeps and battlefield objectives to take advantage of improved zone control
mechanics.
Your friends Barstol, Immortalthug and Stypin are still in the battle!
Rise now, and bear the standard of Blades of Wrath to the very heart of The
Inevitable City! To arms, and to glory!






Benefit from major improvements to overall performance and server stability!
Enjoy the fruits of our labor: over 1000 bugs squashed!
Enjoy improvements to Fortress and Keep stability and performance


Wrest control of Tier 4 zones via our new Domination system


Gain rewards from influence earned in Open RvR



Call to Arms, our first live expansion, will introduce an incredible array of new
content to the game, including two highly anticipated new careers - the head bashin'
Orc Choppa and the oath-sworn Dwarf Slayer - and a new dungeon zone called Land of
the Dead, set in the desert realm of the Tomb Kings.

The Call to Arms live expansion, set to roll out for free over the next few months,
will also include three in-game live events, a new RvR Scenario, added functionality
to the Realm Wars section of the WAR website, the opening of the official WAR
Forums, and a new free trial version of the game.



Besides getting 10 free days starting when you reactivate your account, you'll also
get all the rested experience for the time you've been gone, and a unique quest
chain with a bonus reward item!

Lol. You have to give these guys credit, even with a bland game, they really know how to market themselves. This is just further proof that subs are down and they are trying to lure people back in. It was this kind of excitement and appeal for their game that initially drew me to Warhammer despite the fact that the game didn't deliver.

Gotta admit, it's pretty clever of Mythic to not only include random people from my friendlist whom I just may be missing after all this time away, but also to highlight my guild's honor as a reason for me to return and fight for Order. Well played...

...but no thanks.

 

[Warseth]

Well those that were on the fence or waiting for things to change may find this as good news to. I think that was well done on there part to encourage players to come and see how things are now.

Its not proof subs are down.. its only proof they want to bolster the sub count more. Can't take anymore than that away from it. Try not to give the perception that it's a bleeding cow that needs a bandaid =). It's not in that state.

Now I am pretty honest about how I see things and though I like warhammer I will be first to agree on negative points made if they hold true and have substance.

The game not delivering is pretty much based on who you are talking to. It delivered to many (who are subed) and to many others not enough who left or havn't given it a second thought. Another misleading perception that this game didnt deliver at all.
Maybe not for you but its not clear in your statement. Pretty much calling it a game thats bleeding out in desperate situation. That is the picture you are painting when I read your comment.

I know you don't want to come back. I wont try to convince you. I will though offer you a spot in my guild and alliance that is organized and has a lot of alliance based events through the week..not just guild events. The offer stands so that if for some reason you just say heck why not... You can at the least get more out of your return being in a guild that does things and an alliance that actually works like an alliance. So if you do quit ..at the least you were given a good starting point to judge on.

Otherwise I do agree about the clever part of mythic. And sorry if I seem to nit pick your words .. I just think the perception you bring about War is a bit off. Not false...just a bit off.

PS> How is Vanguard doing now? Just curious ..havn't looked back after quiting.

 

[Anaeran]

Well those that were on the fence or waiting for things to change may find this as good news to. I think that was well done on there part to encourage players to come and see how things are now.

Its not proof subs are down.. its only proof they want to bolster the sub count more. Can't take anymore than that away from it. Try not to give the perception that it's a bleeding cow that needs a bandaid =). It's not in that state.

Now I am pretty honest about how I see things and though I like warhammer I will be first to agree on negative points made if they hold true and have substance.

The game not delivering is pretty much based on who you are talking to. It delivered to many (who are subed) and to many others not enough who left or havn't given it a second thought. Another misleading perception that this game didnt deliver at all.
Maybe not for you but its not clear in your statement. Pretty much calling it a game thats bleeding out in desperate situation. That is the picture you are painting when I read your comment.

I know you don't want to come back. I wont try to convince you. I will though offer you a spot in my guild and alliance that is organized and has a lot of alliance based events through the week..not just guild events. The offer stands so that if for some reason you just say heck why not... You can at the least get more out of your return being in a guild that does things and an alliance that actually works like an alliance. So if you do quit ..at the least you were given a good starting point to judge on.

Otherwise I do agree about the clever part of mythic. And sorry if I seem to nit pick your words .. I just think the perception you bring about War is a bit off. Not false...just a bit off.

PS> How is Vanguard doing now? Just curious ..havn't looked back after quiting.

What part of my words are you having trouble understanding? Did you play Warhammer at release? I don't need your guild's experience (lol) to have perspective on WAR's gameplay. I got that with my guild, probably even more so than you are currently with yours.

This might help put things in perspective for you. Here are 2 sources (and there are more out there) supporting what I am talking about:

http://www.vg247.com/2009/02/04/warhammer-online-subs-drop-to-300000/

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/89183-Warhammer-Online-Population-Drops-to-300-000


Those articles are over a month old, and numbers have dropped even more since. 800,000 to 300,000 subscriptions. That is more than a 50% drop in population. To suggest to me that my description is a matter of "perspective" is both foolish and naiive.

I know you want your game to succeeed- and I hope it does. I'm not saying it is a guaranteed failure. The fact remains (and my point is), however, that Warhammer is a mere shell of the game it was supposed to be and in my best estimate, will continue to hemorhage subscriptions throughout it's meaningless existance. If I'm wrong-- hey great-- but this is where I see that game going as it stands right now.

They do a good job with their advertising/hype though. Hence my post praising Mythic for the email I received. I am not coming back, but I bet a few people will go check it out. More games should do this on a regular basis regardless of where they stand in the market.

 

[Anaeran]

PS> How is Vanguard doing now? Just curious ..havn't looked back after quiting.

Vanguard is probably in even worse shape then WAR. I am not going to take offense to that fact as you seem to be with your game. I enjoy VG so I play it, just as you enjoy WAR. As I've stated numerous times I am not knocking you for your enjoyment of the game, but merely stating the direction the game is headed in.

VG's population has actually been on the rise btw. Lots of people coming back and the devs have made significant fixes to the game. In fact, this article - http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ten-level-test-everquest-ii-vs-vanguard-article - is a pretty solid review of the "feel" of the first 10 Vanguard levels. It even beat out EQ2 for more desirable experience in the first round and raised eyebrows.

The VG devs are in the process of making some fucking retarded moves though that if they go live may drive some of those new subs right back out the door. Hopefully they scratch this shit before it hits the game, but some of the people over there are absolutely braindead so it wouldn't surprise me if these bad decisions reigned supreme.

I would agree with you that VG is another of those games that is probably a deadend. With some better marketing (a la mythic) the game might have a shot, but I don't know if that will ever happen. VG's gameplay still has more depth and challenge than Warhammer's though, which makes it a better game in my eyes.

 

[Warseth]

Vanguard is probably in even worse shape then WAR. I am not going to take offense to that fact as you seem to be with your game. I enjoy VG so I play it, just as you enjoy WAR. As I've stated numerous times I am not knocking you for your enjoyment of the game, but merely stating the direction the game is headed in.

VG's population has actually been on the rise btw. Lots of people coming back and the devs have made significant fixes to the game. In fact, this article - http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ten-level-test-everquest-ii-vs-vanguard-article - is a pretty solid review of the "feel" of the first 10 Vanguard levels. It even beat out EQ2 for more desirable experience in the first round and raised eyebrows.

The VG devs are in the process of making some fucking retarded moves though that if they go live may drive some of those new subs right back out the door. Hopefully they scratch this shit before it hits the game, but some of the people over there are absolutely braindead so it wouldn't surprise me if these bad decisions reigned supreme.

I would agree with you that VG is another of those games that is probably a deadend. With some better marketing (a la mythic) the game might have a shot, but I don't know if that will ever happen. VG's gameplay still has more depth and challenge than Warhammer's though, which makes it a better game in my eyes.

Man I was in VG beta and we were screaming at the gm's daily its not ready. No joke.... We were "parlaying" them as much as we could :spiteful:

The games got a very large world and I think that it had so much to offer but thanks to the tards who ran it before Sony bought it out.. the game didn't launch well. And in the MMO world a bad launch = not a large recovery if there is one. Rare cases do they recover and I can only think of one game funcom fixed.

The window of opportunity for VG to stand up there with FFXI,Eq2,Wow,warhammer,eq1, and daoc went down the drain with those horrid bugs. Some of them were severe even after launch 3 months in. I wont list them all I know you already know what I am talking about.

VG I did like. Just they did a very good job of pissing me off to the point of tossing my collectors box in the recycle bin. I was pretty angry. The exploits..the bugs gone wild. I couldn't take it after 3 months.

really horrible launch and patching ...it stands side by side with Age of Conan with bad management of a game launch.

 

[Anaeran]

Man I was in VG beta and we were screaming at the gm's daily its not ready. No joke.... We were "parlaying" them as much as we could :spiteful:

The games got a very large world and I think that it had so much to offer but thanks to the tards who ran it before Sony bought it out.. the game didn't launch well. And in the MMO world a bad launch = not a large recovery if there is one. Rare cases do they recover and I can only think of one game funcom fixed.

The window of opportunity for VG to stand up there with FFXI,Eq2,Wow,warhammer,eq1, and daoc went down the drain with those horrid bugs. Some of them were severe even after launch 3 months in. I wont list them all I know you already know what I am talking about.

VG I did like. Just they did a very good job of pissing me off to the point of tossing my collectors box in the recycle bin. I was pretty angry. The exploits..the bugs gone wild. I couldn't take it after 3 months.

really horrible launch and patching ...it stands side by side with Age of Conan with bad management of a game launch.

Pretty much hit the nail on the head with that post. Fucking retarded management of resources. The bugs were there much longer than 3 months into the game, and some minor ones still exist today.

I tested APW with Tiraslee and Avair (Developers) back when they were designing APW and let me tell you- the sheer grind on our guild from testing and reporting on the broken shit they kept throwing at us wore a lot of my guildmates down. We lost a ton of world class talent in the game just from testing. People said "fuck this, I pay to play not design" and left. Can't really blame em.

But we made it through and APW was actually a hit. The game now has come a long, long ways. It is unfortunately probably too late to save it though...or at least build it back up to a respectable level.

I would go so far as to say it was worse than AoC's management simply because Vanguard was a far superior game in and of itself. There is no excuse for fucking up the launch of such a brilliant design, especially for a company with the resources that Sony has. I suspect it will continue as a diamond in the rough and very few people will ever get to experience what Vanguard really was supposed to be.

I would still offer that it is a better game as is than just about any MMO out there with the exception of the mega giant that is WoW though.

 

[Warseth]

On a personal note Anaeron you assume I am taking offense. I disagree with you with the description of the state of the game. Why would you think I am taking some offense with anything just because I think you are being a bit harsh? I have a different opinion not based on an article that I can't verify credibility of. I base it on first hand in game experience of the state its in and conversations I have with our alliance mates on boards.

Warhammer shape is about the same as EQ2's launch ..had very high numbers then after 2 months that droped down...but look at it now. Its still going. it has a large community. many expansions. The games evolved and is better than it was at launch. But unlike other games there launch outcome was because WoW the new kid on the block showed up and flexed its muscles.

Success of a game isn't just measured by subs alone on the start of a game. Its still a very young game. I can't predict the future. I can say having participated in many other games that did last or died. War is not showing those signs as of yet of being another game on the path of killing itself at the same time its not showing its growing fast either.
Its holding steady..not sinking or thriving ...just stable for now.

We will see when the Tomb Expansion comes what happens. Its going to be the games crossroad of either doing very good...or losing people and becoming more of a niche game. I doubt it will die. its good enough to hold a niche community...but I hope it doesnt do that..I hope it draws in more subs and grows.

I can say I would agree with some of your viewpoint that things are not looking all good entirely but its also not looking horribly bad. It's not so black and white like that. My best description is its just holding steady at the moment. It can go either direction here in the next 3 months...good or bad..

you present a picture of it doing horrible...and I do not believe it is. The only thing we agree on is it could do better and currently it's in the air when it comes to that.

PS. I'm no troll by the way. You seem defensive .. .. Discussion would be very dull for you if I agreed on everything anyway =). I think have a good civil discussion going. So please do not think of me being a troll in any way shape or form. We just disagree some.