Out with the Old, In with the....Old?

With the onset of the Verminous Horde, there are sure to be more than a few new subscribers over the next few weeks.  Overall, the reviews from the PTS have been on the good side, and forums are giddy with anticipation for the new ORvR content.  Things really are looking on the up and up for the game, and I am very pleased with how things are turning out.

Over the past few months, we have really seen Mythic step up their efforts to lure back old players.  Free T1 play forever, Free 10 days with no cc info, Free transfers for people away for 3 months.  Not to mention all of the press they have been slowly releasing with the upcoming patch.  While I'm sure a there have been a few former subscribers to again pay to play, what about the literally hundreds of thousands that are still out there?  If you all remember, Warhammer Online started with something like 1,000,000 original game sells (please feel free to correct me, this is from memory).....in turn creating that number of accounts.  What is the population now though?  100,000 max?  Obviously EA does not release those numbers, but we are all more than aware of the current state of the realms.

Please don't get me wrong here, I am in no way trying to bash the game.  Tonight I was talking to my brother-in-law who previously played a Rune Priest on Phoenix Throne.  I always try to pressure him to come back, and of course I told him about the new stuff coming in.  Unfortunately though, the beginning of Warhammer really tainted the game for him.  Thus, I truly believe he will never again play.  He, like many others, really hated Warhammer originally.  Justifiably so, as there was not much to offer.  But there is so much more to the game now, and it has grown by leaps and bounds recently.  So much has been added over the past year, and I really feel terrible for those who did not stick through till now.  I know without a shadow of a doubt that my brother-in-law, and others, would surely love the new content.  The RvR is great, and getting better.  The renown abilities will be completely game changing.  Time-To-Kill is slower.  Scenario matchmaking.  More attainable gear.  More customizations.  Just so much more coming into the ever changing world of Warhammer.  How else can Mythic get back a larger part of those old subscribers?

I definitely foresee a jump in the numbers over the next few weeks and months.  Maybe as many as 10,000 even.  How though can Mythic go beyond that, to say 500,000?   What other ideas can they come up with to entice players back?  A free month?  A free rank 40/40?  A free "re-enlistment" weapon?  Maybe something that can be traded between characters on an account?  I know they are doing a lot, but I believe more can be done.  I'm not putting this out there to bash, but putting it out there to garner some positive feedback which is hopefully seen by someone in a position to change things.  So with all that said, all ideas are welcome.  Please leave a comment or send some tweets to @Andy_Mythic with ideas.  Let's get this game the attention it deserves.

More of the Same

Ugh, nothing but more of the same tonight on Iron Rock.  Little Destruction resistance against quadruple our numbers of high ranking Order.  Not much fun right now.  It doesn't help that scenarios don't pop because Order is wide eyed for their free bags.  Destro is pretty much left mailbox humping yet again. 

Other than play yet another alt, anyone have any ideas of just what to do?  I want to play my squiggy, yet can't due to the fact that it is just completely ineffective, and 0 fun against such overwhelming odds.  

Highway To The Skaven Zone and Hobgobblin!

Although I completely missed it, Tentonhammer had an exclusive interview with Carrie Gouskos this weekend and some pretty good information was released regarding the new Skaven Zone.  I recommend checking out Bootae as he has all the details.  It appears as if the new zone will be a 24 vs. 24 instance based dungeon.  Much like the current city siege, it will include some Skaven bosses which both sides must fight while dealing with the opposing faction.  Oh, by the way, you'll need to be renown rank 65 to access it.

Iron Rock Update and Account Transfers

So my post this morning left me feeling a bit blah.  Most other WAR bloggers out there are very excited about the release of information this past weekend, as they should be.  I just think I have a case of the Mondays.  The new changes will be good for sure....I'm just so nervous and the anticipation is killing me!  I'm sure the new changes will promote even better action than we have seen over the past few weeks on Iron Rock.  If that's the case be ready for a heavy subscriber increase, and even more RvR action!

Iron Rock And The Future

After reading Wasdstomps post about Badlands and what the future may entail, I figured I'd shoot out issues that may plague the smaller population servers (like Iron Rock).  Wasdstomp brings up some very valid questions about the future of Badlands, and ones that will definitely need answered.  They have already been taking steps to address population issues on Badlands, as seen by the ending of trial accounts and free character transfers to the server.  I would imagine that the free character transfers will extend to paid character transfers, once that service is implemented.  Although that certainly does depend on the current state of the game / server at that time.

Am I Cut Out for MMO's?

With Warhammers two year anniversary upon us, I decided to take a look back at the past few years of the game and reflect on what I've come to enjoy.  There has been good and no doubt some bad between 2008 and now, but all in all I think Warhammer is in a good place. 

Over the past few years I have played more characters than I can honestly even remember.  It started out with a Witch Hunter, Vizo, on Phoenix Throne and slowly progressed to roughly two dozen total characters (all 40) across the realms and servers.  Here is a list below, at least of the characters I can remember:

Warhammer, Two Years and Counting

What a weekend for Warhammer.  With it's two year anniversary this past weekend, the double xp / renown bonus was in affect and it made for some great and crazy battles on Iron Rock.  I received as much as 16,000 renown for a solo kill this weekend.  It was at a BO in Dragonwake, and I was on my rank 50 DoK.  Some scrub of a Witch Hunter could not finish me off, I honestly felt bad for him.  Overall I only gained about three full ranks this weekend on my DoK, Luvsiq.  Wait a minute, did I say only?  Thanks to what could possibly the biggest and most overlooked change to the game since day one, people are ranking up faster than ever. 

The Week That Was

Not a whole lot of news taking place right now on the Warhammer front.  With the RvR packs and 1.4 coming out soon, people are growing giddy with anticipation.  There has been a lot of speculation as what exactly will take place and rightfully so.  One site in particular that I have come across, Hypothetical WAR, has been doing a lot of talking about what possibilities there are with it.  Check it out.  A lot of Skaven information there, and it really gets you thinking.

• Rank-N-Vile and his wife decided to stick it out.  While his wife isn't a fan of the RvR aspect of WAR, I think they are making the right choice with so much we have to look forward to. 
• League of Legends sounds interesting from Wasdstomps opinion.  I may have to check it out. 
• You're always dressed to kill and you feel like you owe it to the world, but you owe it to yourself to check out Werits blog and the winners of his contest.  By the way, I miss NFG. 
• Solid idea from Bootae about scenario leeching.  I couldn't agree with him more by the way.  The amount of renown a solo healer can earn is absurd.  Not to mention it really hurts the rest of the scenarios groups.
• Who's your daddy now?  Grimnir lets us know.  

I also want to again point out Werit's Arsenal of War.  Such a useful tool that should not be overlooked.  I find myself using it a bunch.  Not much going on by me on Iron Rock at the moment.  Just been out in the lakes on one of my numerous Witch Elves.  I also realised I can't even remember the names of all the rank 40 characters I have in my possession.  Clearly that's an issue, and one for another post. 

Keeping it Fresh

During my usual trolling of blogs and forums this morning, I came across Wasdstomp's, in regards to the mass exodus that certainly does appear to be happening to Badlands.  I can certainly relate to what he is saying.  I originally started playing Order on Phoenix Throne which slowly went to the wayside.  Then deciding to roll Destruction on Dark Crag, which again, slowly came to an end.  Now I find myself on Iron Rock as Destruction, and again it has the feeling as if it is slowly progressing to the abyss known as deletion.  Although Destro does its best to combat the massive outnumbering they have against them, there is not much we can do.  This really leads to a loss of moral within the losing realm, and slowly creates the "grass might be greener" feeling.  Something a third realm certainly would help with, but that's for another post.

Time to Kill

Late last week Rancid had posted his Q&A with developer Nate Levy.  The very first question was that of Time to Kill, which is exactly what it sounds like.  I was happy to see that TTK was a bit to quick in their eyes, as it is in mine as well. 

Give an Inch, and They Take a Mile

As I was running in an ORvR group the other night on IR, a funny thing started to happen.  People were complaining about the amount of Renown they were getting, and the state of the Against All Odds mechanic. 

As destruction on Iron Rock, we are constantly outnumbered.  The numbers game is never in our odds, and I would venture to say that it seems to be at a near 2:1 ratio.  With the implement of AAO last week though, the Destruction players hadn't really complained much, till now.  After slowly losing the arduous battles in Chaos Waste and Caledor, the complaints started to roll in:

Here's to Hoping

So the day is upon us with what everyone believes to be patch 1.3.6. I know I for one am really hoping that a lot of these changes being put in go a long way toward the future of this game.

There are several nice changes in this patch, along with the standard slew of bug fixes. I'm hoping the graphical bug that takes place when you change tactics while mounted is finally gona, as it really annoys me.

In addition we will be seeing some Zealot / Runepriest changes, the appearence system, auction house changes, LoTD tweaks, and the Against All Odds system for RvR.

While most of the above seems very nice, I am most interested in the Against All Odds system. What it does is increase the amount of experience, renown, and influence you receive when you are outnumbered in an RvR zone. These increases can be as much as 400%! I am really hoping that this helps promote some smaller scale PvP. I truely believe this game needs more 6 and 12 man RvR content to become more successful. Whether people know it or not, I think everyone benefits from it.


When you have good small man groups roaming the RvR zones, players recognize that. They want to go up against them. They want that sense of "OMG here comes xxx guild". It brings them out to the lakes more than any keep taking or BO humping could. With that it also brings more of a community feeling to a realm, instilling a common goal of defeating those groups, and not just defending an NPC Lord. It also helps promote individual players for their accomplishments, and recognizable faces to everyone. Right now on Iron Rock, sure I know some opposing Order, but not for the right reasons. There isn't a single person or group who I would feel nervous or anxious about fighting. That is a feeling I think most crave for though, in order to prove to our allies, foes, and ourselves that we are more than just another player lost amongst the zerg.