<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd">
<channel>
<title>Massively</title>
<link>http://massively.joystiq.com</link>
<description>Massively</description>
<image>
<url>http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif</url>
<title>Massively</title>
<link>http://massively.joystiq.com</link>
</image>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright>Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.</copyright>
<generator>Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Ring in the new year with Warhammer Online's Keg End]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/13/ring-in-the-new-year-with-warhammer-onlines-keg-end/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/13/ring-in-the-new-year-with-warhammer-onlines-keg-end/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/13/ring-in-the-new-year-with-warhammer-onlines-keg-end/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-in-game/" rel="tag">Events, in-game</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;">
	<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/13/ring-in-the-new-year-with-warhammer-onlines-keg-end/"><img alt="Tomorrow is a long way away, and it gets further away with each successive drink." src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2011/12/war-kegend-epl-1213-1323816734.jpg" /></a></div>
Amidst <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/09/waaaghon-ho-warhammer-online-merging-servers-following-free-tr/">the news of server merges</a>, <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em> fans could probably use something to celebrate, something to lift the spirits a bit. So it's fortunate that <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1681">the annual Keg End celebration is just around the corner</a>, giving everyone a chance to get drunk and rowdy even by the already aggressive status of the world's inhabitants. Running from December 14th until January 4th, Keg End is a chance to celebrate in style in the Dwarven tradition.<br />
<br />
The rewards for the event haven't changed much this year, with the usual assortment of Party Kegs, Keg Taps, and Battlebrew Backpacks. There are giants roaming the field looking for their own ale and a handful of sporting battles, and there are plenty of special drinks to be sampled just for the event. So get yourself ready to log in tomorrow and take a nice roll through fields filled with blood, beer, and battle. <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1681">Especially beer</a>.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/13/ring-in-the-new-year-with-warhammer-onlines-keg-end/">Ring in the new year with Warhammer Online's Keg End</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/13/ring-in-the-new-year-with-warhammer-onlines-keg-end/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/20127412/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/13/ring-in-the-new-year-with-warhammer-onlines-keg-end/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>ale</category><category>annual-events</category><category>beer</category><category>bioware-mythic</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>holiday-events</category><category>in-game-events</category><category>intoxicants</category><category>keg-end</category><category>liquor</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>special-events</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Choose My Adventure: Dat's it, boss, I'm outta here]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/03/choose-my-adventure-dats-it-boss-im-outta-here/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/03/choose-my-adventure-dats-it-boss-im-outta-here/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/03/choose-my-adventure-dats-it-boss-im-outta-here/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/opinion/" rel="tag">Opinion</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/choose-my-adventure/" rel="tag">Choose My Adventure</a></p><div style="text-align: center;">
	<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/03/choose-my-adventure-dats-it-boss-im-outta-here/"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2011/08/cma-war-conclusion-epl-801.jpg" /></a></div>
As of today, I'm finished with <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a>.</em> Today is my final installment of <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Choose-My-Adventure/">Choose My Adventure</a>, with the torch passing along next week to <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/editor/larry-everett">Larry Everett</a>. Before anyone asks, yes, I'm definitely going to miss the feature... but that's not really what you're here for at the moment, is it? You're here for the fanfare, and it's all over but the depressing part.<br />
<br />
Last week's vote was overwhelmingly meta -- rather than a recounting of events, the audience clearly wants to hear my thoughts on the future of <em>Warhammer Online</em>, what worked and what didn't, and why the game followed the trajectory it did. (Also, an awful lot of people want to know about the Choppa Song.) I'm admittedly coming into the game late and with somewhat less passionate eyes than many of the game's fans, but looking at my experience, I think I found a lot of the game in microcosm. I see all of the things it did right... and in hindsight, where certain choices went wrong.<p><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/03/choose-my-adventure-dats-it-boss-im-outta-here/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>Choose My Adventure: Dat's it, boss, I'm outta here</em></a></p><p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/03/choose-my-adventure-dats-it-boss-im-outta-here/">Choose My Adventure: Dat's it, boss, I'm outta here</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/03/choose-my-adventure-dats-it-boss-im-outta-here/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/20005655/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/03/choose-my-adventure-dats-it-boss-im-outta-here/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>bioware-mythic</category><category>choose-my-adventure</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>failure</category><category>featured</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>opinion</category><category>success</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Choose My Adventure: Da udder half lives]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/27/choose-my-adventure-da-udder-half-lives/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/27/choose-my-adventure-da-udder-half-lives/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/27/choose-my-adventure-da-udder-half-lives/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pve/" rel="tag">PvE</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/opinion/" rel="tag">Opinion</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/choose-my-adventure/" rel="tag">Choose My Adventure</a></p><div style="text-align: center;">
	<img border="1" hspace="4" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2011/07/cma-war-week5-epl-725.jpg" vspace="4" /></div>
I remember thinking quite distinctly that I was ready to be done with the Tier 1 scenarios, oh, forever ago. It's not that Nordenwatch is inherently a bad scenario; it's just that when you see it often enough, you start to get sick of it. So I was very happy when the voting closed on last week's poll and I saw that I had a very different list of scenarios available to me in <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em>. That had probably happened several levels ago, sure, but I hadn't been queueing.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, I found out that Oscar Wilde's old chestnut about the gods granting our wishes when they want to punish us proved entirely accurate. Jump on past the break for this week in Klurgind's somewhat less than epic adventure, with the caveat that it's going to be just a wee bit depressing in places. But hey, I never promised this story had a happy ending.<p><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/27/choose-my-adventure-da-udder-half-lives/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>Choose My Adventure: Da udder half lives</em></a></p><p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/27/choose-my-adventure-da-udder-half-lives/">Choose My Adventure: Da udder half lives</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/27/choose-my-adventure-da-udder-half-lives/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/20000253/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/27/choose-my-adventure-da-udder-half-lives/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>bioware-mythic</category><category>choose-my-adventure</category><category>column</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>featured</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>opinion</category><category>questing</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Choose My Adventure: Ork in da wild]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/13/choose-my-adventure-ork-in-da-wild/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/13/choose-my-adventure-ork-in-da-wild/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/13/choose-my-adventure-ork-in-da-wild/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/classes/" rel="tag">Classes</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/opinion/" rel="tag">Opinion</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/choose-my-adventure/" rel="tag">Choose My Adventure</a></p><div style="text-align: center;">
	<a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2011/07/cma-war-week3-epl-709.jpg" /></a></div>
Not to put too fine a point on it, but this past week was the sort of event that turns one's entire life upside-down. The stuff that happened was also pretty unambiguously good, yeah, but between that and my computer randomly screwing up, this has not been the best of weeks for <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> and myself. Which is odd, seeing as how there's been big (albeit secretive) news for the community, and I've still managed to sit down and get some solid time clocked in with Klurgind despite that.<br />
<br />
Last week's polls both indicated that I should follow the WAR Report around the map, and they also indicated that people would really like to roll up with some Massively warband action. So we're going to make an event out of it, based on the best details and planning I can provide. Click on past the break for a recount of Klurgind's most recent adventures in <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em>, plans for the meetup on the weekend, and the new set of polls.<p><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/13/choose-my-adventure-ork-in-da-wild/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>Choose My Adventure: Ork in da wild</em></a></p><p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/13/choose-my-adventure-ork-in-da-wild/">Choose My Adventure: Ork in da wild</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/13/choose-my-adventure-ork-in-da-wild/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19987303/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/13/choose-my-adventure-ork-in-da-wild/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>choose-my-adventure</category><category>columns</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>featured</category><category>greenskin</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>open-pvp</category><category>opinion</category><category>pvp</category><category>rvr</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online bringing 1.4.1 out for testing]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/15/warhammer-online-bringing-1-4-1-out-for-testing/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/15/warhammer-online-bringing-1-4-1-out-for-testing/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/15/warhammer-online-bringing-1-4-1-out-for-testing/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2011/02/war-141-epl-215.jpg" /></a></div>
Scenarios have formed one of the PvP cornerstones for <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>, leading to a large-scale overhaul of Scenarios several months ago. Certain Scenarios were placed on a weekend rotation, while others were permanently available at different level bands for players to enjoy. <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.4.1">Patch 1.4.1</a>, which is <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1506">due to hit the public test server, Warpstone, tomorrow</a>, is making some alterations to which Scenarios may be played at all times, with some cycling into a permanent slot and others entering retirement for a time.<br />
<br />
While the shifting lineup is certainly one of the big elements of the patch, it's not the only one. Balance changes have been made for several Skaven abilities, including several overhauls for the Packmaster class. A number of item sets have had their Renown Rank requirements lowered, as well, to give players easier access to the items; there has been a new set added to fill the newly created gap between the Warlord and Sovereign sets. <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em> players can examine <a href="http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/249/index/6060015">the current patch notes</a> and take part in the testing <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1506">starting tomorrow</a>.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/15/warhammer-online-bringing-1-4-1-out-for-testing/">Warhammer Online bringing 1.4.1 out for testing</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/15/warhammer-online-bringing-1-4-1-out-for-testing/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19845616/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/15/warhammer-online-bringing-1-4-1-out-for-testing/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>balance</category><category>balance-changes</category><category>bioware-mythic</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>patch</category><category>patches</category><category>rvr</category><category>scenarios</category><category>skaven</category><category>updates</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.4.1</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Night of Murder brings holiday butchering to Warhammer Online]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/08/night-of-murder-brings-holiday-butchering-to-warhammer-online/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/08/night-of-murder-brings-holiday-butchering-to-warhammer-online/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/08/night-of-murder-brings-holiday-butchering-to-warhammer-online/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-in-game/" rel="tag">Events, in-game</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com/"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2011/02/war-murder-epl-208-1297206382.jpg" /></a></div>
It's hard to deny that <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> takes place in the most metal universe anywhere. That becomes especially clear during the Valentine's Day event in the game, which features absolutely no affection between characters but a great deal of rampaging bloodlust. <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/liveevents/2011NightofMurder.php">The Night of Murder event is upon players once again</a>, giving everyone an in-game opportunity to completely bypass the usual plethora of chocolates and cards in favor of battleaxes and bloody vengeance.<br />
<br />
Running from February 8th until the 22nd, the event is a celebration of Khaine, during which even the forces of Order wind up drifting close to the chaotic side. Players taking part can net a variety of rewards, including the quite desirable Butcher's Blessing buff, which increases both Experience and Renown gains by 10% for three in-game days. Hop in now to enjoy <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>'s senseless slaughter, which includes nearly as many hearts as the usual take on the celebration (except that the usual holiday involves <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/liveevents/2011NightofMurder.php">those hearts remaining within the ribcage</a>).<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/08/night-of-murder-brings-holiday-butchering-to-warhammer-online/">Night of Murder brings holiday butchering to Warhammer Online</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Tue, 08 Feb 2011 21:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/08/night-of-murder-brings-holiday-butchering-to-warhammer-online/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19834914/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/08/night-of-murder-brings-holiday-butchering-to-warhammer-online/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>in-game-event</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>news</category><category>night-of-murder</category><category>valentines</category><category>valentines-day-events</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 21:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online offering free server transfers as prelude to two server shutdowns]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/07/warhammer-online-offering-free-server-transfers-as-prelude-to-tw/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/07/warhammer-online-offering-free-server-transfers-as-prelude-to-tw/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/07/warhammer-online-offering-free-server-transfers-as-prelude-to-tw/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-real-world/" rel="tag">Events, real-world</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.massively.com/category/warhammer-online"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2011/02/war-merge-epl-207.jpg" /></a></div>
If you're playing on the Iron Rock or Volkmar servers for <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>, it's time to get ready to say goodbye. The development team for the game has just announced that <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1490">free server transfers are being unlocked for both servers</a>, allowing players to transfer to Gorfang to help bolster the population. That in and of itself wouldn't be all that unusual, except that when the transfer starts, both Iron Rock and Volkmar are being flagged as Legacy servers to prevent any new characters from being created.<br />
<br />
Starting on February 9th, transfers will be enabled and the Legacy flag will go into place. After three weeks of open transfers, both Iron Rock and Volkmar will be flagged as "Retired," meaning that any characters not transferred off the server will have to be transferred to Gorfang (or Badlands via a paid transfer). That means that two of the game's remaining four American servers will be removed in the near future, and while the population boost will no doubt help <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em>'s RvR battles, it's still <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1490">a shutdown for two servers</a>.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/07/warhammer-online-offering-free-server-transfers-as-prelude-to-tw/">Warhammer Online offering free server transfers as prelude to two server shutdowns</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 22:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/07/warhammer-online-offering-free-server-transfers-as-prelude-to-tw/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19833757/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/07/warhammer-online-offering-free-server-transfers-as-prelude-to-tw/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>rvr</category><category>server</category><category>server-merge</category><category>server-shutdown</category><category>servers</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 07 Feb 2011 22:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Ring in the end of the year with Warhammer Online's Keg End]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/14/ring-in-the-end-of-the-year-with-warhammer-onlines-keg-end/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/14/ring-in-the-end-of-the-year-with-warhammer-onlines-keg-end/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/14/ring-in-the-end-of-the-year-with-warhammer-onlines-keg-end/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-in-game/" rel="tag">Events, in-game</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com/"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/12/war-kegend-epl-1214.jpg" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com/"><em> Warhammer Online</em></a> players have things to be thankful for this year, not the least of which being the <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/20/waging-war-inside-patch-1-4/">1.4 patch</a>. And as the end of the year approaches, it's the traditional time for players to celebrate the passing of the old year in the game via copious amounts of liquor and the usual helping of ultraviolence. That's right, it's time for <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1441">another round of Keg End</a>, with Order and Destruction alike taking part in the festivities and competing for chances at the coveted Golden Stein.<br />
<br />
Aside from the boastworthy exploits of the festival, players will also have giants to face off against, with special rewards for those capable of felling these enemies. There are also rare world drop items for players to look for, including your own personal keg handler or a battlebrew backpack. <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> players are encouraged to take a look at the official preview of the holiday event, which runs until January 4th to ensure that everyone has plenty of time to ring in the new year with a proper toast. Or <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1441">a proper inebriated violent rampage</a>, one or the other.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/14/ring-in-the-end-of-the-year-with-warhammer-onlines-keg-end/">Ring in the end of the year with Warhammer Online's Keg End</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/14/ring-in-the-end-of-the-year-with-warhammer-onlines-keg-end/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19760913/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/14/ring-in-the-end-of-the-year-with-warhammer-onlines-keg-end/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>bioware-mythic</category><category>drinking</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>end-of-the-year-2010</category><category>holiday-event</category><category>in-game-event</category><category>inebriation</category><category>keg-end</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.4</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-age-of-reckoning</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><category>winter-holiday-2010</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online reveals the classes of the Skaven]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/02/warhammer-online-reveals-the-classes-of-the-skaven/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/02/warhammer-online-reveals-the-classes-of-the-skaven/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/02/warhammer-online-reveals-the-classes-of-the-skaven/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/classes/" rel="tag">Classes</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/previews/" rel="tag">Previews</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1372"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/11/war-skaven-epl-1102.jpg" /></a></div>
While last year was technically the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_of_the_rat">Year of the Rat</a>, the rodents seem to have taken over this year as well in the form of the Skaven. Players were excited when it was first announced that <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> would <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/18/warhammer-onlines-rvr-pack-announced/">at last feature playable Skaven</a>, even though it was stated that there would be certain limitations. <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1372">A new document about the creatures</a> has just gone up, with both fiction to explain the presence of the creatures on each side and a breakdown of the abilities they will bring to the battlefield.<br />
<br />
Like other races, the Skaven have four classes unique to them. Warlock Engineers deploy support equipment while fielding powerful effects borne of Warp-Energy, Gutter Runners stay in the shadows and sabotage enemy fortifications, Rat Ogres sow confusion and panic with their powerful frames, and Pack Masters support the nearby Rat Ogres and spur their allies forward. Take a look at <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1372">the full document</a> for more details on these long-awaited additions to <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em> -- and don't mind the scurrying sound from the walls.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/02/warhammer-online-reveals-the-classes-of-the-skaven/">Warhammer Online reveals the classes of the Skaven</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1372>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/02/warhammer-online-reveals-the-classes-of-the-skaven/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19700179/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/02/warhammer-online-reveals-the-classes-of-the-skaven/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>bioware-mythic</category><category>classes</category><category>design-preview</category><category>development</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>previews</category><category>rvr</category><category>skaven</category><category>skaven-units</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online brings open RvR modifications to test server]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/10/04/warhammer-online-brings-open-rvr-modifications-to-test-server/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/10/04/warhammer-online-brings-open-rvr-modifications-to-test-server/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/10/04/warhammer-online-brings-open-rvr-modifications-to-test-server/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-in-game/" rel="tag">Events, in-game</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/previews/" rel="tag">Previews</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/10/war-orvr-epl-1004.jpg" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> recently turned two years old, and while it's been an occasionally rocky two years, the development team has been focusing in on making the core of the game the best it can be. That's been the motivation behind the plethora of RvR updates that have been pushed live over the past year, culminating in recent news regarding the much-anticipated RvR pack. There's a lot more to come, however, and the team is giving players a chance to try out some of the coming changes early, with the <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/10/01/warhammer-producers-letter-talks-orvr-changes/">updates to open RvR</a> <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1327">scheduled for public testing</a>.<br />
<br />
The first massed public test of the new mechanics will be taking place on Wednesday, October 6th, at 8:00 p.m. EDT on the Warpstone test server. Tier 3 combat is on the menu, with templates provided for players who don't happen to have a character that fits the criteria. No word on whether or not participants will be eligible for prizes, but considering past test realm events, rewards for players seem like a distinct possibility. <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> players are encouraged to set some time aside for <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1327">the Wednesday event</a> and should <a href="http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/249/index/3358915">prepare themselves for Warpstone access</a> ahead of time.<br />
<br />
<strong>[Editor's note: We've corrected the error in the original post. Thanks to those readers who alerted us to the mistake!]</strong><br type="_moz" /><p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/10/04/warhammer-online-brings-open-rvr-modifications-to-test-server/">Warhammer Online brings open RvR modifications to test server</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1327>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/10/04/warhammer-online-brings-open-rvr-modifications-to-test-server/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19660430/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/10/04/warhammer-online-brings-open-rvr-modifications-to-test-server/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>lakes</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>open-rvr</category><category>orvr</category><category>patches</category><category>pvp</category><category>rvr</category><category>rvr-lakes</category><category>rvr-pack</category><category>rvr-updates</category><category>test</category><category>test-server</category><category>test-server-access</category><category>updates</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><category>warpstone</category><category>warpstone-server</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online details plans for buffing turrets and daemons]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/14/warhammer-online-details-plans-for-buffing-turrets-and-daemons/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/14/warhammer-online-details-plans-for-buffing-turrets-and-daemons/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/14/warhammer-online-details-plans-for-buffing-turrets-and-daemons/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/classes/" rel="tag">Classes</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/previews/" rel="tag">Previews</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/09/war-turrets-epl-913.jpg" /></a></div>
Pets of any kind can pose some issues in games. On the one hand, you want both temporary and permanent pets to provide a utility; on the other hand, you don't want someone crippled without the pet. <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> has a number of classes that use both permanent and temporary companions, and as part of the next update for the game, the team is working on making the engineer's turrets and the magus's daemons <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1276">more useful for players in combat</a>.<br />
<br />
Both daemons and turrets will now scale with the owner's stats, allowing their growth to keep better pace with more powerful characters. Equally important, however, is the new stacking buff that both types will receive when the engineer or magus remains near their pet. The buff will increase damage gradually while the player remains nearby, up to a 20% buff to damage output. Take a look at the full details from the development team in <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1276">this small preview</a>, a welcome promised bone for <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em> players.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/14/warhammer-online-details-plans-for-buffing-turrets-and-daemons/">Warhammer Online details plans for buffing turrets and daemons</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 09:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1276>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/14/warhammer-online-details-plans-for-buffing-turrets-and-daemons/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19631697/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/14/warhammer-online-details-plans-for-buffing-turrets-and-daemons/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>buffs</category><category>daemons</category><category>damage</category><category>damage-scaling</category><category>development</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>engineer</category><category>future-updates</category><category>gear-scaling</category><category>magus</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>pet-scaling</category><category>pets</category><category>previews</category><category>turrets</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 14 Sep 2010 09:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[More RvR pack details in the newest Warhammer Online producer's letter]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/01/more-rvr-pack-details-in-the-newest-warhammer-online-producers/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/01/more-rvr-pack-details-in-the-newest-warhammer-online-producers/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/01/more-rvr-pack-details-in-the-newest-warhammer-online-producers/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/expansions/" rel="tag">Expansions</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/races/" rel="tag">Races</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/09/war-producerletter-epl-901.jpg" /></a></div>
The beginning of a new month is upon us, and that means we're due for <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1260">another producer's letter</a> for <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>. This letter is coming on the heels of <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/18/warhammer-onlines-rvr-pack-announced/">the major announcement of the RvR pack</a>, so it was inevitable that the letter would have a veritable buffet of information for players, and it doesn't disappoint. As the letter explains, the addition of the <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/RvR/">RvR</a> packs is the capstone on the design work that's been done over the past several months, focusing on the battles of RvR and trimming away the extraneous elements. <br />
<br />
Naturally, there's more information on the role of the <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Skaven/">Skaven</a>, who will be playable by either realm rather than simply being an NPC faction. There's also more talk about the increase in the RR cap, with the goal being a closer approximation of <a href="http://www.darkageofcamelot.com/"><em>Dark Age of Camelot</em></a>'s similar system. <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Carrie-Gouskos/">Carrie Gouskos</a> also re-emphasizes that the game isn't going free-to-play at the moment and the team has no plans to change that. <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> fans should be very happy about <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1260">the newest letter</a> -- it promises many good things for the game in the near future.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/01/more-rvr-pack-details-in-the-newest-warhammer-online-producers/">More RvR pack details in the newest Warhammer Online producer's letter</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1260>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/01/more-rvr-pack-details-in-the-newest-warhammer-online-producers/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19617278/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/01/more-rvr-pack-details-in-the-newest-warhammer-online-producers/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>bioware-mythic</category><category>carrie-gouskos</category><category>daoc</category><category>dark-age-of-camelot</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>expansion</category><category>expansions</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>producer-letter</category><category>rvr</category><category>rvr-pack</category><category>skaven</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online's RvR pack announced]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/18/warhammer-onlines-rvr-pack-announced/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/18/warhammer-onlines-rvr-pack-announced/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/18/warhammer-onlines-rvr-pack-announced/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/expansions/" rel="tag">Expansions</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/races/" rel="tag">Races</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com/"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/08/war-rvrpack-epl-818.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
Mention "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skaven">Skaven</a>" to your average <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> player, and you'll be treated to an almost instant recitation of all the reasons why the race ought to be playable. It appears that players might be due to get that wish -- as well as a few more wishes -- with the <a href="http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/Warhammer-Online/news/Warhammer-Online-Announces-the-RvR-Pack">announcement of the RvR pack for the game</a>. Although we only have the broadest strokes of an outline for the pack, it promises to expand the game's core focus of PvP with an increase in the renown ranks to 100.<br />
<br />
Executive Producer <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Carrie-Gouskos/">Carrie Gouskos</a> has confirmed the involvement of the Skaven, although she's stated that they'll not be playable directly from level 1. How the integration will take place is unclear, as are most of the fine details, although the pack will clearly be a big change for the game's overall structure. The pack is also meant to move away from the "huge expansion" model that's common in the MMO genre, with the company presumably moving to several smaller expansions on a quicker timetable. It's good news for <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em> players to <a href="http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/Warhammer-Online/news/Warhammer-Online-Announces-the-RvR-Pack">see what's coming around the bend</a>, especially if players can run about sowing chaos as ravenous rat-men.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/18/warhammer-onlines-rvr-pack-announced/">Warhammer Online's RvR pack announced</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/Warhammer-Online/news/Warhammer-Online-Announces-the-RvR-Pack>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/18/warhammer-onlines-rvr-pack-announced/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19599366/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/18/warhammer-onlines-rvr-pack-announced/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>bioware-mythic</category><category>breaking</category><category>carrie-gouskos</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>expansion</category><category>expansion-model</category><category>game-mechanics</category><category>gamescom</category><category>gamescom-2010</category><category>level-cap</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>renown-cap</category><category>rvr-pack</category><category>skaven</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online drops 1.3.6 today]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/17/warhammer-online-drops-1-3-6-today/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/17/warhammer-online-drops-1-3-6-today/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/17/warhammer-online-drops-1-3-6-today/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/08/war-136launch-epl-816.jpg" /></a></div>
The odds weren't in favor of us seeing the newest patch for <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> so soon... but that works just fine, since <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1225">the patch itself is Against All Odds</a>. Even if you're not using it to set up a lame joke, however, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.6/">patch 1.3.6</a> is going live today after slightly extended server maintenance, bringing with it several updates and improvements to the game. The eponymous Against All Odds mechanic is one of the central changes, giving a side without sufficient numbers in an <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/RvR/">RvR</a> lake bonus rewards for persistence.<br />
<br />
1.3.6 also brings two major changes to items in the game. The first is the addition of an appearance system, allowing players to make their armor look like whatever set they want without losing the benefits of high-end rewards. The second is equally significant, splitting the high-end Sovereign armor into two sets to celebrate alternate playstyles for each class. As always, there are a number of adjustments and bug fixes listed in <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/patchnotes/index.php?id=2010_1-3-6">the full patch notes</a>, but <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em> players should be happy enough knowing that <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1225">the game's latest patch</a> is live and ready to enjoy.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/17/warhammer-online-drops-1-3-6-today/">Warhammer Online drops 1.3.6 today</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1225>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/17/warhammer-online-drops-1-3-6-today/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19596115/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/17/warhammer-online-drops-1-3-6-today/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>against-all-odds</category><category>appearance</category><category>armor</category><category>armor-sets</category><category>balance-mechanics</category><category>bioware-mythic</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>item-appearance</category><category>items</category><category>live-servers</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>patch-day</category><category>patch-drop</category><category>rvr</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.6</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[The details on playing dress-up in Warhammer Online's upcoming patch]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/14/the-details-on-playing-dress-up-in-warhammer-onlines-upcoming-p/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/14/the-details-on-playing-dress-up-in-warhammer-onlines-upcoming-p/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/14/the-details-on-playing-dress-up-in-warhammer-onlines-upcoming-p/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/previews/" rel="tag">Previews</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.come"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/08/war-appearance-epl-813.jpg"  alt="" /></a></div>
If there's one overriding impulse that goes into nearly every MMO, it's the urge to look good.  You spend so much time staring at your character that you want to look appropriate -- ominous, or dignified, or just plain <em>cool</em>.  That's the motive behind <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.come"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>'s new appearance system in <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.6/">patch 1.3.6</a>, and it's a significant upgrade to the game's setup.  Designer <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Sean-Bosshardt/">Sean Bosshardt</a> has <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1218">penned a developer diary</a> explaining how the new appearance system works in practice, which essentially gives your equipment its own set of equipment.<br />
<br />
The short version is that when looking at your character's equipment, you can flip over to their appearance slots, and then each eligible item can have another item placed within the appearance slot.  However, the new appearance doesn't consume or use the item which granted the new look, and it stays with that piece of armor -- so you can change the look of a pair of shoulders, and that look stays with them until you change it again.  It's an interesting system with several nuances, so <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em> players are encouraged to <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1218">read the full diary</a> to see just how nice they'll be looking when the new patch hits.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/14/the-details-on-playing-dress-up-in-warhammer-onlines-upcoming-p/">The details on playing dress-up in Warhammer Online's upcoming patch</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1218>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/14/the-details-on-playing-dress-up-in-warhammer-onlines-upcoming-p/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19593103/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/14/the-details-on-playing-dress-up-in-warhammer-onlines-upcoming-p/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>apperance</category><category>armor</category><category>bioware-mythic</category><category>developer-diary</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>looks</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>patch-1.3.6</category><category>sean-bosshardt</category><category>visuals</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.6</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 14 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[July letter available from Warhammer Online's executive producer]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/30/july-letter-available-from-warhammer-onlines-executive-producer/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/30/july-letter-available-from-warhammer-onlines-executive-producer/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/30/july-letter-available-from-warhammer-onlines-executive-producer/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-in-game/" rel="tag">Events, in-game</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/previews/" rel="tag">Previews</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/07/war-producerletter-epl-730.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
Back when she was <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/24/warhammer-online-gets-a-new-producers-letter/">first placed in the position of Executive Producer</a> for <em><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com">Warhammer Online</a>, </em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Carrie-Gouskos/">Carrie Gouskos</a> promised to try for a letter every month. She's stayed true to that promise, and as the end of July approaches at breakneck speeds, there's <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1206">a new letter for the fans</a>. After a quick recap of the known news about the game (the testing of <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.6/">patch 1.3.6</a> and the European migration), there are several other updates, starting with the return of the <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Wild-Hunt/">Wild Hunt</a> to the game with the coming patch.<br />
<br />
The letter also contains the promise of a new 6v6 scenario for the Weekend Warfront rotation, citing the matchup as a popular format that needs more representation. We also get a hint of future plans to help encourage RvR whilst leveling, said plans involving new enemies with high XP values being added to the RvR lakes. There's also a promise of a rework to the mechanics of some of the ranged classes, a coda to <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1206">the most recent letter</a> which should have several points of interest for dedicated <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em> fans.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/30/july-letter-available-from-warhammer-onlines-executive-producer/">July letter available from Warhammer Online's executive producer</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1206>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/30/july-letter-available-from-warhammer-onlines-executive-producer/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19575536/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/30/july-letter-available-from-warhammer-onlines-executive-producer/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>6v6</category><category>carrie-gouskos</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>executive-producer</category><category>match-format</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>open-rvr</category><category>prodcuers-letter</category><category>pvp</category><category>pvp-mechanics</category><category>rotation</category><category>rvr</category><category>rvr-lakes</category><category>scenario-format</category><category>scenarios</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.6</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><category>weekend-warfront</category><category>wild-hunt</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Patch 1.3.6 available on Warhammer Online's Warpstone server]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/24/patch-1-3-6-available-on-warhammer-onlines-warpstone-server/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/24/patch-1-3-6-available-on-warhammer-onlines-warpstone-server/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/24/patch-1-3-6-available-on-warhammer-onlines-warpstone-server/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/previews/" rel="tag">Previews</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/07/war-136test-epl-723.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
It's been a quiet month for <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> players, unless you've been part of the transition of management over in Europe, but change appears to be on the horizon. <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-Patch-1.3.6/">Patch 1.3.6</a> has been in development for a little while now, and the players are getting to take it for a spin this weekend, as <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1193">it's just been launched onto the Warpstone public test server</a>. As usual, the development team is hosting a Q&amp;A session as well as a stress test during the test phase, and while the official announcement doesn't mention any giveaways, history would seem to imply they'll be there.<br />
<br />
Of course, all of the testing is well and good, but what does the patch actually contain? Fear not, as <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/patchnotes/index.php?id=2010_1-3-6">the full patch notes</a> are available to read, with the major highlights covering item sets and <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/RvR/">RvR</a> balance -- the latter addressed via the new "Against All Odds" system that gives a bonus to the underdog in RvR lakes. Items will now be customizable via appearance slots, and the Sovereign armor sets have been split into two potential sets for different playstyles. Take a look at <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/patchnotes/index.php?id=2010_1-3-6">the patch notes</a>, and be sure to <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1193">head on to Warpstone</a> for a preview of the latest and greatest addition to <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em>.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/24/patch-1-3-6-available-on-warhammer-onlines-warpstone-server/">Patch 1.3.6 available on Warhammer Online's Warpstone server</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/24/patch-1-3-6-available-on-warhammer-onlines-warpstone-server/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19566556/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/24/patch-1-3-6-available-on-warhammer-onlines-warpstone-server/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>balance</category><category>bioware-mythic</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>item-appearance</category><category>item-sets</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>patches</category><category>rvr</category><category>test</category><category>test-server</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.6</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 24 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Update on the Warhammer Online transition for European players]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/06/update-on-the-warhammer-online-transition-for-european-players/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/06/update-on-the-warhammer-online-transition-for-european-players/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/06/update-on-the-warhammer-online-transition-for-european-players/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-real-world/" rel="tag">Events, real-world</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/mmo-industry/" rel="tag">MMO industry</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/07/war-transition-epl-705.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
If you've been enjoying <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> over in Europe, it's been impossible to miss all of the information about <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Mythic-Entertainment/">Mythic Entertainment</a> <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/25/goa-hands-over-war-eu-to-mythic/">taking over the game's operation</a>. Much as it did with the <a href="http://www.darkageofcamelot.com/index.php"><em>Dark Age of Camelot</em></a> transition <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/13/electronic-arts-takes-over-dark-age-of-camelot-in-europe/">earlier this year</a>, Mythic is replacing <a href="http://www.goa.com">GOA</a> as the direct operator. The team behind the game has been trying to keep <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/28/passing-the-torch-wars-goa-to-mythic-transfer-explained/">the process of transition</a> as transparent as possible, and the result has been that it appears to be clear sailing for the switched operators, <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1159">according to the most recent announcement</a>.<br />
<br />
Although the original timeline called for the transition to run until July 7th, it appears that the change has been completed, with all existing accounts transferred over with the suffix "_EUR." (So "Facemasher" would be "Facemasher_EUR" to log in.) While the team doesn't anticipate any problems, it's continuing to improve French and German customer service bases. As such, the team is asking for players to submit English requests when possible during the transition period. <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> players should be pleased at <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1159">the smoothness of the transition</a>, but are still advised to keep their eyes open on the off chance something went strange.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/06/update-on-the-warhammer-online-transition-for-european-players/">Update on the Warhammer Online transition for European players</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1159>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/06/update-on-the-warhammer-online-transition-for-european-players/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19542236/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/06/update-on-the-warhammer-online-transition-for-european-players/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>change-in-management</category><category>daoc</category><category>dark-age-of-camelot</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>europe</category><category>european-transition</category><category>goa</category><category>management-change</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>transition</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-europe</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><category>warhammer-online-europe</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Waging WAR: An in-depth look at the Producer's Letter]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/05/waging-war-an-in-depth-look-at-the-producers-letter/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/05/waging-war-an-in-depth-look-at-the-producers-letter/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/05/waging-war-an-in-depth-look-at-the-producers-letter/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-real-world/" rel="tag">Events, real-world</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/previews/" rel="tag">Previews</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/opinion/" rel="tag">Opinion</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/rumors/" rel="tag">Rumors</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/waging-war/" rel="tag">Waging WAR</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/06/05-10-producers-letter.jpg" /></a></div>
<em>This week, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/waging-war">Waging WAR</a> is going to take a deeper look at the <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1109">Producer's Letter</a> for this month of </em><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com">Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning</a><em>. There are lots of new promises coming down the pipeline, and plenty of speculation to follow. Let's sift through some of the hubbub and get into the nitty-gritty of it all.</em><br />
<br />
First of all, there's a serious cliffhanger in the notes suggesting that we'll be given a reason to wear all the sovereign gear that's being won in the new city sieges. Currently, there is good reason to wear (or at least acquire) warlord gear if for nothing other than the <a href="http://warhammeronline.wikia.com/wiki/Ward">wards</a> they provide -- and thus the significant advantage they give in the new city sieges. However, there is nothing in the game that requires the wards that the sovereign gear provides. If we insert tab-A into slot-B, the only real conclusion we can come to, speculatively, is that a new expansion is just beyond the horizon, and close to being revealed. Such an expansion could very well add a new tier (and new wards and warded content), in addition to buckets of other new content, such as a new pairing (as has been speculated many times in the past -- <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/13/wars-must-have-expansion-races-skaven/">Skaven</a> vs. <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/20/wars-must-have-expansion-races-lizardmen/">Lizardmen</a>, anyone?) On this point, I suppose we'll have to apply the "wait-and-see" motif, and just wait and see. Also, <a href="http://www.e3expo.com">E3</a> is also coming up very soon (June 14-17). Could the <a href="http://www.eamythic.com/">EA/Mythic</a> booth have some big news secretly tucked up their collective sleeves? <em>As a disclaimer, this is only wild speculation by this particular columnist and nothing above should be taken as official suggestion of anything mentioned at all. But we can hope, can't we?</em><p><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/05/waging-war-an-in-depth-look-at-the-producers-letter/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>Waging WAR: An in-depth look at the Producer's Letter</em></a></p><p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/05/waging-war-an-in-depth-look-at-the-producers-letter/">Waging WAR: An in-depth look at the Producer's Letter</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Sat, 05 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/05/waging-war-an-in-depth-look-at-the-producers-letter/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19503765/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/05/waging-war-an-in-depth-look-at-the-producers-letter/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>aion</category><category>carrie-gouskos</category><category>chronicles-of-spellborn</category><category>city-siege</category><category>city-sieges</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>expansion</category><category>feature-article</category><category>feature-column</category><category>featured</category><category>gear-sets</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>patch</category><category>patch-1.3.5</category><category>patch-1.3.6</category><category>patches</category><category>producers-letter</category><category>speculation</category><category>waging-war</category><category>war</category><category>WAR-blogger</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Greg Waller]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 05 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Cosmetic armor and more promised in Warhammer Online's May producer letter]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/02/cosmetic-armor-and-more-promised-in-warhammer-onlines-may-produ/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/02/cosmetic-armor-and-more-promised-in-warhammer-onlines-may-produ/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/02/cosmetic-armor-and-more-promised-in-warhammer-onlines-may-produ/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/classes/" rel="tag">Classes</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/previews/" rel="tag">Previews</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/06/war-mayproducer-epl-601.jpg" /></a></div>
The recent release of <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.5/">patch 1.3.5</a> has brought with it the complete death of <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>, if you equate a more active city siege environment with "complete death." Even though it came late in the month, it's certainly a major point of discussion for executive producer <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Carrie-Gouskos/">Carrie Gouskos</a>, and it's addressed in the <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1109">most recent producer letter for May</a>. But that's the least of what needs to be discussed, and the talk starts with a reversal of the prior announcement that <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.6/">1.3.6</a> would allow players to create characters of both realms on the same server. Fan reaction was negative enough to change the decision.<br />
<br />
Moving along, the producer letter promises the introduction of armor appearance separate from armor stats, similar to how <a href="http://www.lotro.com"><em>Lord of the Rings Online</em></a> allows players to wear a purely cosmetic set. There's also the promise of major updates to the Runepriest and Zealot careers, to make both of them more active and engaging to play in either healing or damage. Fans of <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em> should take a look at <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1109">the full producer's letter</a> to see more discussion about what's coming around the bend for the game.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/02/cosmetic-armor-and-more-promised-in-warhammer-onlines-may-produ/">Cosmetic armor and more promised in Warhammer Online's May producer letter</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1109>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/02/cosmetic-armor-and-more-promised-in-warhammer-onlines-may-produ/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19499501/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/06/02/cosmetic-armor-and-more-promised-in-warhammer-onlines-may-produ/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>carrie-gouskos</category><category>class-balance</category><category>classes</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>future-updates</category><category>letter</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>patches</category><category>producer-letter</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.5</category><category>war-patch-1.3.6</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[The siege begins with Warhammer Online's patch 1.3.5]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/19/the-siege-begins-with-warhammer-onlines-patch-1-3-5/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/19/the-siege-begins-with-warhammer-onlines-patch-1-3-5/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/19/the-siege-begins-with-warhammer-onlines-patch-1-3-5/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/05/war-135launch-epl-519.jpg" /></a></div>
If there's been a recurring theme in recent news about <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>, it's been the promise that <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.5/">1.3.5</a> will be a glorious patch to behold. At the heart are the revamped RvR-focused City Siege events, letting players assault the center of the enemy's power. Last week was the <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/10/public-testing-for-warhammer-onlines-city-sieges/">public testing</a> of both redesigned cities, and it must have gone quite well, because the patch has hit the live servers. Now, instead of fighting against the city's ruler in a PvE format, players will fight alongside the heavy hitters in a 24 vs. 24 battle. <br />
<br />
The changes to the cities aren't the only improvements to the game, however. <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Mythic/">Mythic</a> has also added several quality-of-life improvements such as changes to inventory spaces and mini-map highlights to help point players to regions of interest. City sieges are the lynchpin, however, and as was discussed during <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/12/our-talk-with-warhammer-onlines-carrie-gouskos/">our recent chat with executive producer Carrie Gouskos</a> they're part of the game's major push to celebrate RvR in all its forms. <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> players can take a look at the <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/patchnotes/index.php?id=2010_1-3-5">full patch notes here</a> -- or just get in the game and into the action as fast as possible.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/19/the-siege-begins-with-warhammer-onlines-patch-1-3-5/">The siege begins with Warhammer Online's patch 1.3.5</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Wed, 19 May 2010 18:30:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/patchnotes/index.php?id=2010_1-3-5>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/19/the-siege-begins-with-warhammer-onlines-patch-1-3-5/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19483412/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/19/the-siege-begins-with-warhammer-onlines-patch-1-3-5/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>carrie-gouskos</category><category>city-sieges</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>launches</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>patches</category><category>rvr</category><category>updates</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.5</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 19 May 2010 18:30:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Our talk with Warhammer Online's Carrie Gouskos]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/12/our-talk-with-warhammer-onlines-carrie-gouskos/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/12/our-talk-with-warhammer-onlines-carrie-gouskos/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/12/our-talk-with-warhammer-onlines-carrie-gouskos/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/interviews/" rel="tag">Interviews</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a style="" href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/05/war-interview-epl-510.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
It's been a tumultuous time for <a style="" href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> of late, but the new executive producer <a style="" href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Carrie-Gouskos/">Carrie Gouskos</a> seems to be well-suited to weathering the storm. She's been overseeing the development of the game since February, and under her direction it's moved more and more steadily into an RvR focus. We recently were lucky enough to get a chance to talk with Ms. Gouskos about her involvement with the game, her opinion on the game's state, and what she could let us know about its future.<br />
<br />
<strong>Massively: In the simplest terms possible, what is <a style="" href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>'s development focus at the moment?</strong><br />
<br />
Carrie Gouskos: Now that we've gotten through the <a style="" href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.5">1.3.5 patch</a> -- and this is about to surface for the players, but obviously, for the developers, we're always kind of looking at least a little bit ahead, sometimes very far ahead -- our next big thing is sort of twofold. One, I kind of made a renewed commitment to some of the more major bugs that I really want to address. But really, our major one is open RvR, and addressing some of the issues that our players have brought up to us.<p><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/12/our-talk-with-warhammer-onlines-carrie-gouskos/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>Our talk with Warhammer Online's Carrie Gouskos</em></a></p><p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/12/our-talk-with-warhammer-onlines-carrie-gouskos/">Our talk with Warhammer Online's Carrie Gouskos</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Wed, 12 May 2010 15:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/12/our-talk-with-warhammer-onlines-carrie-gouskos/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19471999/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/12/our-talk-with-warhammer-onlines-carrie-gouskos/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>carrie-gouskos</category><category>development</category><category>development-focus</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>executive-producer</category><category>featured</category><category>interviews</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>previews</category><category>rvr</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.5</category><category>war-patch-1.3.6</category><category>war-patch-1.4</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 12 May 2010 15:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Public testing for Warhammer Online's city sieges]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/10/public-testing-for-warhammer-onlines-city-sieges/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/10/public-testing-for-warhammer-onlines-city-sieges/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/10/public-testing-for-warhammer-onlines-city-sieges/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-in-game/" rel="tag">Events, in-game</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/05/war-citytest-epl-509.jpg"  alt="" /></a></div>
The major gameplay push for <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> of late has been the imminent <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.5/">patch 1.3.5</a>, bringing with it the fully RvR-focused city sieges.  Developer diaries have <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/28/warhammer-online-talks-more-about-the-design-of-rvr-sieges/">explained its creation at length</a>, and it's been getting closed testing for some time, but now it's time for it to face up to the watchful eye of the public.  Starting on Tuesday, May 11th, both Altdorf and the Inevitable City will be <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1091">getting tested in their new incarnations</a>, and as always players are invited to take part in the mayhem.<br />
<br />
Altdorf will be the first up for assault on Tuesday at 8:00 PM EST (5 PM PST), with the Inevitable City beginning its siege on Thursday the 13th at the same hour.  After the testing has taken place, the development team will be available for an informal question and answer session on the official Mythic Ventrilo server, as if players needed an extra incentive.  <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1091">The official announcement</a> includes information about copying one's character to the test server, so all <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> players are encouraged to participate.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/10/public-testing-for-warhammer-onlines-city-sieges/">Public testing for Warhammer Online's city sieges</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Mon, 10 May 2010 11:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1091>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/10/public-testing-for-warhammer-onlines-city-sieges/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19470392/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/10/public-testing-for-warhammer-onlines-city-sieges/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>city-sieges</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>public-test</category><category>redesign</category><category>rvr</category><category>testing</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.5</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 10 May 2010 11:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot olive branches now available]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/05/warhammer-online-and-dark-age-of-camelot-olive-branches-now-avai/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/05/warhammer-online-and-dark-age-of-camelot-olive-branches-now-avai/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/05/warhammer-online-and-dark-age-of-camelot-olive-branches-now-avai/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/dark-age-of-camelot/" rel="tag">Dark Age of Camelot</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-real-world/" rel="tag">Events, real-world</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.darkageofcamelot.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/05/daoc-olivebranch-epl-505.jpg"  alt="" /></a></div>
The past couple of months have not been kind to <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Mythic-Entertainment/">Mythic Entertainment</a>, with an uncomfortable double-header of a <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/08/billing-issues-hitting-warhammer-online-and-dark-age-of-camelot/">huge billing fiasco</a> followed by <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/30/mythic-merchandising-store-closes/">the closure of the Mythic Store</a>. The billing especially produced a great deal of outrage from players, understandably concerned about their account security as well as the potential impact on their bank accounts. Even reversing the charges didn't leave everyone completely mollified -- but Mythic has put in the effort to try and not just apologize and reverse the error, but help regain the trust and goodwill of the players.<br />
<br />
Both <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> and <a href="http://www.darkageofcamelot.com/"><em>Dark Age of Camelot</em></a> players will receive two items of their choice on all current and future characters, with <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a> </em>mailing out tokens and <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Dark-Age-of-Camelot/">Dark Age of Camelot</a></em> simply allowing you to talk to a Royal Accountant.  The items include dyes, decorations, temporary disguises, and other fun toys for players to help recover from the aftershocks.  On the off chance that you didn't receive the items and were billed multiple times, the team at Mythic has a specific appeals process to ensure correct delivery.  As bad as the error was, it's good to see that players will be compensated nicely for as long as they keep playing.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/05/warhammer-online-and-dark-age-of-camelot-olive-branches-now-avai/">Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot olive branches now available</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Wed, 05 May 2010 20:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/05/warhammer-online-and-dark-age-of-camelot-olive-branches-now-avai/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19465755/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/05/warhammer-online-and-dark-age-of-camelot-olive-branches-now-avai/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>billing</category><category>billing-errors</category><category>daoc</category><category>dark-age-of-camelot</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>fixes</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>rewards</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 05 May 2010 20:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online talks more about the design of RvR Sieges]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/28/warhammer-online-talks-more-about-the-design-of-rvr-sieges/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/28/warhammer-online-talks-more-about-the-design-of-rvr-sieges/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/28/warhammer-online-talks-more-about-the-design-of-rvr-sieges/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/previews/" rel="tag">Previews</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a></p><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/04/war-rvrsiege-epl-427.jpg"  alt="" /><br />
If there's a part of <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>'s upcoming <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.5/">patch 1.3.5</a> that should excite veteran players -- and there is -- it's the shift of city sieges to an <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/RvR/">RvR</a>-designed focus.  One of the central selling points of the game has always been the strength of its PvP, and as the game works to shore up its weaknesses one of the major foci has been enhancing the PvP experience.  Content developer Keaven Freeman has <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1083">penned a developer diary</a> explaining the issues, pitfalls, and ultimate results of the design process and the shift in ethos.<br />
<br />
As Freeman puts it, the sieges haven't moved completely to PvP only, simply because it doesn't feel quite right to have the capture experience feel equally inviting in an enemy city or an allied one.  But the PvE elements exist, from the sound of it, simply to focus attacks on things other than players at times, rather than to give hordes of NPCs to fight.  In addition, the diary talks about the cascading control point system, which builds a network of control allowing players to spearhead an assault into the heart of the city.  For <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> players looking forward to answering the call of their respective faction, <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1083">the diary</a> should be both enlightening and interesting.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/28/warhammer-online-talks-more-about-the-design-of-rvr-sieges/">Warhammer Online talks more about the design of RvR Sieges</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 09:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1083>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/28/warhammer-online-talks-more-about-the-design-of-rvr-sieges/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19456431/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/28/warhammer-online-talks-more-about-the-design-of-rvr-sieges/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>city-sieges</category><category>design-ethos</category><category>developer-diary</category><category>development</category><category>diary</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>rvr</category><category>sieges</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.5</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 28 Apr 2010 09:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online brings 1.3.5 to be tested]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/22/warhammer-online-brings-1-3-5-to-be-tested/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/22/warhammer-online-brings-1-3-5-to-be-tested/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/22/warhammer-online-brings-1-3-5-to-be-tested/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-in-game/" rel="tag">Events, in-game</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/04/war-testing-epl-421.jpg" /></a></div>
With all of the billing nightmares apparently resolved, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/21/war-executive-producer-pens-apology-for-account-errors/">complete with the peacemaking gifts</a>, <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> is ready to move back to its core focus. The development team <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/14/warhammer-onlines-100-rvr-city-siege-outlined-in-development-n/">has been talking about</a> the improvements set to come with patch 1.3.5, continuing the game's process of strengthening the Realm vs. Realm gameplay by adding fully PvP-focused city sieges. On top of the improvements to Scenarios and the addition of PvP-bought weaponry, the game is playing to its greatest assets. How successful it's been will soon be in the hands of the players, as <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1079">1.3.5 is going to the public test server</a>.<br />
<br />
The obvious large-scale changes can take some of the flash away from smaller changes, such as allowing Marauders the option to properly dual-wield and improved AFK flagging in scenarios. Numerous bugfixes, changes to NPC locations, and revisions to the Open RvR currency are also present in the patch. And that's not even talking about inventory space... all in all, it promises <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/patchnotes/index.php">much for players to be happy about</a>, and little to be disappointed with. <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em>'s players can <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1079">take a hop to the test server Warpstone</a> to take a look at all the changes, and those who'd prefer to abstain can take heart that the changes will likely be going live soon.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/22/warhammer-online-brings-1-3-5-to-be-tested/">Warhammer Online brings 1.3.5 to be tested</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1079>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/22/warhammer-online-brings-1-3-5-to-be-tested/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19449323/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/22/warhammer-online-brings-1-3-5-to-be-tested/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>bugfixes</category><category>city-sieges</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>npcs</category><category>patches</category><category>pvp</category><category>removal</category><category>rvr</category><category>test-server</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.5</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Daily Grind: Warhammer Online's billing woes]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/13/the-daily-grind-warhammer-onlines-billing-woes/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/13/the-daily-grind-warhammer-onlines-billing-woes/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/13/the-daily-grind-warhammer-onlines-billing-woes/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-real-world/" rel="tag">Events, real-world</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/opinion/" rel="tag">Opinion</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/the-daily-grind/" rel="tag">The Daily Grind</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/04/war-billingop-epl-412.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
It started as innocently as any tale of this sort could possibly start, but <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>'s <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/08/billing-issues-hitting-warhammer-online-and-dark-age-of-camelot/">latest problem</a> has <a href="http://forums.warhammeronline.com/warhammer/board/message?board.id=p2psupport&amp;view=by_date_ascending&amp;message.id=16396#M16396">people up in arms</a>, from veterans to those who've only played a few hours. And understandably so, since dozens of charges that overdraw your bank account are fairly universally seen as a bad thing. The MMO blogosphere <a href="http://highlatencylife.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/eamythics-huge-error/">has</a> <a href="http://biobreak.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/war-game-over-man-game-over/">erupted</a> <a href="http://noprisonersnomercy.com/2010/04/trust-me-really/">with</a> <a href="http://grimnir.mmofansites.com/posts/1749-look-guys-if-you-need-money-at-least-ask-first">posts</a> <a href="http://massmultiverse.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/it-was-the-new-guy-in-the-billing-room-with-the-wrench/">on</a> <a href="http://www.wasdstomp.com/2010/04/warhammer-online-charges-me-16-times.html">the</a> <a href="http://brokentoys.org/2010/04/09/mythic-decides-billing-people-is-fun-cant-stop-doing-it/">incident</a>, and even <a href="http://www.mythicentertainment.com/">Mythic Entertainment</a>'s <a href="http://www.warherald.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1073">attempts to calm the waters</a> have left several people feeling unhappy (to put it mildly). <br />
<br />
Billing issues happen with online purchases, but rarely of this magnitude, and rarely on the heels of a push to involve the community. It hasn't been an easy ride for <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> thus far, so we're curious to know what our readers think. Is this a death knell for the game, or just a really big mistake? Does it make you feel more nervous about giving away your payment information? Whether you play or not, what do you think would be fair compensation for those affected? Do you see this as a major lesson for the industry? On an issue like this, nearly everyone has an opinion, so we want to hear yours.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/13/the-daily-grind-warhammer-onlines-billing-woes/">The Daily Grind: Warhammer Online's billing woes</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 08:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/13/the-daily-grind-warhammer-onlines-billing-woes/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19436118/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/13/the-daily-grind-warhammer-onlines-billing-woes/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>billing</category><category>billing-issues</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>opinion</category><category>tdg</category><category>the-daily-grind</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 13 Apr 2010 08:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Billing issues hitting Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/08/billing-issues-hitting-warhammer-online-and-dark-age-of-camelot/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/08/billing-issues-hitting-warhammer-online-and-dark-age-of-camelot/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/08/billing-issues-hitting-warhammer-online-and-dark-age-of-camelot/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/dark-age-of-camelot/" rel="tag">Dark Age of Camelot</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/04/war-billing-epl-408.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
Even when everything's going just fine, monthly billing in an MMO brings up the problems of players feeling entitled to quite a bit of free content and getting rather annoyed if it's not forthcoming. It also raises questions of how badly you really want to play the game in question. Luckily for most games, the rebilling cycle for subscriptions is automatic and requires no conscious attention from fans... at least, unless something goes wrong. And unfortunately for <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> and <a href="http://www.darkageofcamelot.com"><em>Dark Age of Camelot</em></a> subscribers, something did indeed go wrong. Players are <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1071">being billed more than once</a> for their subscriptions. <br />
<br />
The customer service team at <a href="http://www.mythicentertainment.com/">Mythic Entertainment</a> was quick to explain that they were aware of the issue and working with their vendor to resolve it. Unfortunately, <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1072">the official solution</a> requires a call and a fair bit of time spent confirming and reversing the charges, rather than being a straight refund behind the scenes. As the game's studio is hosting several of <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>'s <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/05/warhammer-online-courts-their-notable-bloggers/">blogging pundits</a>, it could hardly have come at a worse time. <em>Warhammer Online</em> and <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Dark-Age-of-Camelot/"><em>Dark Age of Camelot</em></a> players are advised to read the official statement and check the charges on your account very carefully.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/08/billing-issues-hitting-warhammer-online-and-dark-age-of-camelot/">Billing issues hitting Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/08/billing-issues-hitting-warhammer-online-and-dark-age-of-camelot/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19431926/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/08/billing-issues-hitting-warhammer-online-and-dark-age-of-camelot/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>billing</category><category>billing-issues</category><category>customer-service</category><category>daoc</category><category>dark-age-of-camelot</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>support</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online courts their notable bloggers]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/05/warhammer-online-courts-their-notable-bloggers/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/05/warhammer-online-courts-their-notable-bloggers/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/05/warhammer-online-courts-their-notable-bloggers/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-real-world/" rel="tag">Events, real-world</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/interviews/" rel="tag">Interviews</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/opinion/" rel="tag">Opinion</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/04/war-blaaaagh-epl-405.jpg"  alt="" /></a></div>
If there was any doubt in the <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> community that producer <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Carrie-Gouskos/">Carrie Gouskos</a> was serious when she said she wanted increased community involvement, it doesn't have much of a leg left to stand on.  The amount of information that's been coming out of the team has been exceptional, and the <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/31/warhammer-online-producers-letter-teases-1-3-5-improvements/">regular producer letter</a> has certainly helped the feel of the team being invested.  But they're taking it a step further: they're bringing four of the biggest bloggers about their game <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1068">straight to the office</a>, and they're giving them -- and other players -- a great opportunity to connect with the team.<br />
<br />
Not only will the invited bloggers have a chance to ask the developers any questions they can think of, with an emphasis on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/patch-1.3.5/">patch 1.3.5</a>, the team is inviting players to send the bloggers questions via <a href="http://www.twitter.com">Twitter</a>.  The event will be taking place on Thursday, April 8th, with the tweeting of questions set to begin sometime after 2 PM EDT.  The <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1068">trip itself</a> lasts both Thursday and Friday, and should provide some of the most vocal <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em> fans with some interesting news about their favorite game.  Win-win for the fan community, yes?<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/05/warhammer-online-courts-their-notable-bloggers/">Warhammer Online courts their notable bloggers</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Mon, 05 Apr 2010 21:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1068>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/05/warhammer-online-courts-their-notable-bloggers/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19427252/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/04/05/warhammer-online-courts-their-notable-bloggers/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>bloggers</category><category>carrie-gouskos</category><category>community</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>real-world-event</category><category>twitter</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 05 Apr 2010 21:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online streamlines trial transition]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/26/warhammer-online-streamlines-trial-transition/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/26/warhammer-online-streamlines-trial-transition/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/26/warhammer-online-streamlines-trial-transition/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/03/war-trialupgrade-epl-325-1269554954.jpg"  alt="" /></a></div>
It's been a while since <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> moved to <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/11/06/warhammer-onlines-endless-trial-now-available/">an unlimited free trial</a>, allowing players to experience the Tier 1 game without any time restrictions. It seems to have been a pretty good move for the game, and they're obviously happy enough with how it's been going to <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com/trial/upgrade.php">sweeten the deal for trial players</a>. Previously, players would have to purchase a full copy of the game to continue with their adventures; now, they just need to start up a monthly subscription. The first month will be billed and the player's account will immediately be unlocked for the entire game.<br />
<br />
Of course, it's not quite the same as buying an official copy -- you don't get the extra free month of gameplay, nor any of the actual peripherals in the box. But it's a good step to making <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> more accessible for players who enjoy the trial and want to jump right in. Considering that there's been <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/19/bioware-talks-warhammer-onlines-forthcoming-expansions/">recent positive talk</a> about both the reaction to the unlimited trial and the possibilities of an expansion, here's hoping that <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com/trial/upgrade.php">the easier barrier to entry</a> is a step toward revitalizing the game.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/26/warhammer-online-streamlines-trial-transition/">Warhammer Online streamlines trial transition</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.warhammeronline.com/trial/upgrade.php>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/26/warhammer-online-streamlines-trial-transition/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19414657/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/26/warhammer-online-streamlines-trial-transition/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>account-upgrade</category><category>billing</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>free-trial</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>trial-upgrade</category><category>upgrade</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[BioWare talks Warhammer Online's forthcoming expansions]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/19/bioware-talks-warhammer-onlines-forthcoming-expansions/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/19/bioware-talks-warhammer-onlines-forthcoming-expansions/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/19/bioware-talks-warhammer-onlines-forthcoming-expansions/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/expansions/" rel="tag">Expansions</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><img hspace="4" vspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/03/345yt457465.jpg"  alt="" /></a></div>
In a recent <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/GDC2010/">GDC 2010</a> <a href="http://www.ugo.com/games/bioware-talks-collaboration-among-mmos-warhammer-expansions">interview with UGO</a>, BioWare's Dr. Ray Muzyka said of <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>, <em>"Right now it's [a] really profitable business unit within my group."</em> Muzyka went on to say they've actually seen more people come into the game since enacting the free-to-play model on the game's earlier levels, and that he personally felt they were working. <br />
<br />
In fact, by the sounds of it, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> is due for some interesting announcements in the future. Another of Muzyka's comments on the title was, <em>"We have new content planned and all kinds of cool expansions for it."</em> We don't know how much more clear cut a message can be than that. And hey, it's good news! We're looking forward to <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/13/wars-must-have-expansion-races-skaven/">our playable Skaven</a> <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/20/wars-must-have-expansion-races-lizardmen/">and Lizardmen</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Mythic/">Mythic</a> and <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/BioWare/">BioWare</a>.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/19/bioware-talks-warhammer-onlines-forthcoming-expansions/">BioWare talks Warhammer Online's forthcoming expansions</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.ugo.com/games/bioware-talks-collaboration-among-mmos-warhammer-expansions>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/19/bioware-talks-warhammer-onlines-forthcoming-expansions/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19405703/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/19/bioware-talks-warhammer-onlines-forthcoming-expansions/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>bioware</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>gdc</category><category>gdc-2010</category><category>gdc10</category><category>greg-zeschuk</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>ray-muzyka</category><category>tracey-john</category><category>ugo</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Kyle Horner]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[More woes with Warhammer Online's new weapons]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/05/more-woes-with-warhammer-onlines-new-weapons/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/05/more-woes-with-warhammer-onlines-new-weapons/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/05/more-woes-with-warhammer-onlines-new-weapons/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/bugs/" rel="tag">Bugs</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/03/war-weapons-epl-304.jpg" alt="" /></a><br />
It's a highly-anticipated feature, but it's been causing more than a few headaches for <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>'s developers. We're speaking, of course, about the RvR weapons that were one of the large features of <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.4">patch 1.3.4</a> and have been proving rather awkward in implementation.  The short version is that when <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/03/warhammer-online-tweaking-their-weapon-prices/">prices were lowered</a> in a recent live change, there was a bit of an <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1043">unintended rush of progression</a>, which the developers <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1044">stepped in as quickly as possible to fix</a>.  The problem arose with the people who had been progressing <em>legitimately</em> and <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1045">wound up finding themselves denied their weapons and the corresponding achievements</a>.<br />
<br />
The development team has <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1047">posted a new item</a> asking for players to petition the GMs in a specific fashion to resolve the issue, as well as giving some insight into what went wrong with the whole fix.  In short, when they asked players to petition, they didn't ask for enough information the first time around.  The statement includes an apology and an assurance that the matter will be quickly escalated for resolution.  While it's been an unfortunate period of back and forth for <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>, hopefully the issue is finally resolved and players can begin enjoying their new battle-earned weaponry once again.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/05/more-woes-with-warhammer-onlines-new-weapons/">More woes with Warhammer Online's new weapons</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1047>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/05/more-woes-with-warhammer-onlines-new-weapons/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19384163/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/05/more-woes-with-warhammer-onlines-new-weapons/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>bugs</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>glitches</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>rvr</category><category>rvr-weapons</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.4</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online tweaking their weapon prices]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/03/warhammer-online-tweaking-their-weapon-prices/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/03/warhammer-online-tweaking-their-weapon-prices/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/03/warhammer-online-tweaking-their-weapon-prices/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/03/war-pricing-epl-302.jpg"  alt="" /></a></div>
The problem with testing things in any MMO is that so much is contingent upon who decides to log in to the test servers and how much they're willing to play.  Ultimately, for all we hate untested dungeons or mechanics or whatever, the only real test for them is to have them go live.  <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> hasn't had too many problems with their <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.4">most recent patch</a>, but the exact pricing of the newly-introduced RvR weapons has been a bit of a sticky widget.  So they've done the most responsible thing possible: they've <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1042">gone ahead and tweaked the pricing right away</a>.<br />
<br />
Low-Renown weapons are the most affected by the price cut, but every weapon has been given a nice drop in cost to make the more accessible.  The <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1042">full announcement</a> goes into some detail about the philosophy behind it, no doubt part of the <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/24/warhammer-online-gets-a-new-producers-letter/">effort at increased transparency</a> from the development team.  Best of all, there's no delay in the changes -- they've already gone live and can be enjoyed by all players.  So if you feared the long march in <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> for a decent weapon from RvR and for RvR, you've had a lucky day indeed.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/03/warhammer-online-tweaking-their-weapon-prices/">Warhammer Online tweaking their weapon prices</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1042>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/03/warhammer-online-tweaking-their-weapon-prices/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19380437/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/03/warhammer-online-tweaking-their-weapon-prices/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>price-drop</category><category>pricing</category><category>reduction</category><category>rvr</category><category>rvr-weapons</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.4</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online gets a new producer's letter]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/24/warhammer-online-gets-a-new-producers-letter/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/24/warhammer-online-gets-a-new-producers-letter/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/24/warhammer-online-gets-a-new-producers-letter/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-in-game/" rel="tag">Events, in-game</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a></p><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/02/war-producerletter-epl-224.jpg" /></a><br />
Hot on the heels of the <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.4">1.3.4 patch</a>, we've received another letter from <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>'s producer discussing <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1035">the state of the game and its immediate future</a>. <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Carrie-Gouskos/">Carrie Gouskos</a>, who has apparently inherited the position formerly held by <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Bruce-Maclean/">Bruce MacLean</a> and <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Jeff-Skalski/">Jeff Skalski</a>, has taken the opportunity to share information of the coming updates to the game. It's also a chance for a new outline of how the team wishes to improve upon community relations, with the promise of more frequent news and updates along with early player involvement in the testing process.<br />
<br />
In addition for soliciting players for loading screen tips, the letter talks about what can be expected with the next two small patches for the game, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.5/">1.3.5</a> and <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.6/">1.3.6</a>. The former is slated to shift the core experience of cities and city sieges to an RvR experience, emphasizing PvP combat and with encounters balanced to shift based on population sizes. On the other hand, the latter is going to examine armor sets closely and try to provide a redesign for maximum player benefit. <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> fans can look forward to more about these features in the coming months, with any luck.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/24/warhammer-online-gets-a-new-producers-letter/">Warhammer Online gets a new producer's letter</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1035>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/24/warhammer-online-gets-a-new-producers-letter/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19371875/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/24/warhammer-online-gets-a-new-producers-letter/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>bruce-maclean</category><category>carrie-gouskos</category><category>city-siege</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>jeff-skalski</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>pvp</category><category>rvr</category><category>set-redesign</category><category>state-of-the-game</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.4</category><category>war-patch-1.3.5</category><category>war-patch-1.3.6</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[[Updated] WAR 1.3.4 patch coming soon, brings Scenario and City Siege enhancements plus more]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/23/war-1-3-4-patch-live-brings-scenario-and-city-siege-enhancement/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/23/war-1-3-4-patch-live-brings-scenario-and-city-siege-enhancement/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/23/war-1-3-4-patch-live-brings-scenario-and-city-siege-enhancement/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/"><img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/02/wat43t5rfg345.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online's</em></a> <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.4">1.3.4 patch</a> <strike>has gone live as of today</strike> is coming soon. The update includes a torrent of changes with a primary focus on streamlining Scenarios -- the game's beloved-yet-flawed <strike>open-ended PvE encounters</strike> easy-to-access PvP instances -- and City Sieges. These changes are aimed at pleasing the game's community, who've been giving plenty of feedback to <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/mythic-entertainment">Mythic</a>.<br />
<br />
The original problem with Scenarios were a matter of player population. If you didn't have enough people to <strike>complete a 5 or 10-person</strike> start a Scenario, well, you were waiting in queue forever. Hopefully, the issue of achieving "critical mass" should all be in the past with the 1.3.4 patch. While new weapon rewards are being added to Scenarios, not everything is making the cut. Less popular Scenarios have been removed, although Mythic is promising that some will return in special weekend events.<br />
<br />
For an in-depth explanation of the Scenario changes, <a href="http://forums.warhammeronline.com/warhammer/board/message?board.id=dev_discussions&amp;message.id=6076#M">look no further than this awesome developer post</a>. You can also find a shortlist of the various updates and improvements after the break. Or, if you prefer, you can find the full breakdown of patch 1.3.4 on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online"><em>Warhammer Online's</em></a> <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/patchnotes/index.php?id=2010_1-3-4#patch:-1_section:0">official patch notes section</a>.<br />
<br />
<strong>Update: Due to the 1.3.4 patch not going live as scheduled, we've updated the post to reflect as much. Additionally, we've corrected factual errors as well. Our apologies to anyone confused by the original post. </strong><p><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/23/war-1-3-4-patch-live-brings-scenario-and-city-siege-enhancement/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>[Updated] WAR 1.3.4 patch coming soon, brings Scenario and City Siege enhancements plus more</em></a></p><p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/23/war-1-3-4-patch-live-brings-scenario-and-city-siege-enhancement/">[Updated] WAR 1.3.4 patch coming soon, brings Scenario and City Siege enhancements plus more</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/23/war-1-3-4-patch-live-brings-scenario-and-city-siege-enhancement/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19369895/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/23/war-1-3-4-patch-live-brings-scenario-and-city-siege-enhancement/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.4</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Kyle Horner]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Development diary explains the Warhammer Online changes]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/22/development-diary-explains-the-warhammer-online-changes/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/22/development-diary-explains-the-warhammer-online-changes/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/22/development-diary-explains-the-warhammer-online-changes/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/game-mechanics/" rel="tag">Game mechanics</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1033"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/02/war-scenarios-epl-222.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
The rebalancing of <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>'s <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Scenarios/">Scenarios</a> has been an arduous process for both the players afraid of losing well-loved content and developers trying to narrow down the field to help everything achieve critical mass. After a fair dose of testing and evaluation, they've reached a point where they're comfortable letting development manager <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Mike-Wyatt/">Mike Wyatt</a> write up a <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1033">development diary</a> giving a clearer picture of what informed the rather sweeping changes to the game's structure.<br />
<br />
As Wyatt puts it, first of all, trimming the number of Scenarios consolidates the best-liked encounters and weeds out the less-popular versions. Second, a smaller number of Scenarios allows better balancing and tweaking of each, helping improve the overall experience. Lastly, the smaller number can have <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/17/warhammer-online-explains-upcoming-rvr-weapons/">their rewards</a> more easily brought in line, to avoid making one Scenario much more profitable than others. <br />
<br />
What follows is <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1033">a listing of the Scenarios</a> that will rotate in and out versus those that are constantly available, which seems a bit smaller than <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/15/warhammer-online-reveals-new-scenario-structure/">the last one we received</a>. The diary makes no mention of population concerns, content loss, or the general <a href="http://forums.warhammeronline.com/warhammer/board/message?board.id=dev_discussions&amp;thread.id=6238">community</a> <a href="http://www.weritsblog.com/2010/02/dont-know-what-you-got-till-its-gone.html">reaction</a> (ranging from "meh" to "no"). Still, with an ambitious change we can only hope that <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>'s revisions prove to be a good thing for the game as a whole.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/22/development-diary-explains-the-warhammer-online-changes/">Development diary explains the Warhammer Online changes</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1033>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/22/development-diary-explains-the-warhammer-online-changes/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19368227/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/22/development-diary-explains-the-warhammer-online-changes/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>developer-diary</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>mike-wyatt</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>rebalancing</category><category>scenarios</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.4</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online giving everyone a butcher's blessing]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/20/warhammer-online-giving-everyone-a-butchers-blessing/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/20/warhammer-online-giving-everyone-a-butchers-blessing/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/20/warhammer-online-giving-everyone-a-butchers-blessing/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/bugs/" rel="tag">Bugs</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-in-game/" rel="tag">Events, in-game</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/leveling/" rel="tag">Leveling</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/02/war-butcherblessing-epl-220.jpg" /></a></div>
While the <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/09/no-candy-hearts-in-warhammer-online/">Night of Murder event</a> has been pretty well received by the <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> crowd, there have been certain persistent issues with the event's mechanics. The staff <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1027">extended the event slightly</a> in order to try and ameliorate the problem, but it kept sticking around for some reason; one of those relentless bugs that avoids squishing no matter how resolutely you aim for it.<br />
<br />
The major sticking point? Butcher's Blessing, a substantial buff to both experience and renown accumulated. While not a game-breaking issue if unresolved, it was certainly obnoxious for anyone looking forward to the improved growth rates. As a result, the staff has apparently been all but swimming in tickets about the buff not applying or functioning correctly. So the development staff decided to go with <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1032">the straightforward solution</a>.<br />
<br />
For today and tomorrow, there will be a 30% buff to experience and renown gained for all characters, regardless of the blessing functioning or not functioning. That's a pretty substantial leap in gains, and it's high incentive for <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> players to hit the ground running. So go ahead, log in, and start enjoying the blessing of butchery on all of your characters.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/20/warhammer-online-giving-everyone-a-butchers-blessing/">Warhammer Online giving everyone a butcher's blessing</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1032>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/20/warhammer-online-giving-everyone-a-butchers-blessing/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19366533/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/20/warhammer-online-giving-everyone-a-butchers-blessing/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>breaking-news</category><category>butchers-blessing</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>event-extension</category><category>experience-boost</category><category>leveling-boost</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>night-of-murder</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online explains upcoming RvR weapons]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/17/warhammer-online-explains-upcoming-rvr-weapons/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/17/warhammer-online-explains-upcoming-rvr-weapons/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/17/warhammer-online-explains-upcoming-rvr-weapons/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/previews/" rel="tag">Previews</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/endgame/" rel="tag">Endgame</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="top" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/02/war-devweapons-epl-217.jpg" /></a></div>
It's always been a bit hard on <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> that up until now, RvR never netted you a viable weapon as a reward. There were reasons given, of course, but in order to get a decent weapon you had to take part in different activities. For a game where on of the major draws is PvP, it seems like a rather egregious oversight. Clearly, the developers ultimately agreed, hence the new Scenario rewards <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/01/25/warhammer-online-reveals-tidbits-about-1-3-4/">including RvR weapons</a> in the <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/war-patch-1.3.4/">upcoming patch 1.3.4</a>. Item developer <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Sean-Bosshardt/">Sean Bosshardt</a> put together a <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1030">new developer diary</a> to help explain the purchasing system, the philosophies in operation, and how the team dealt with balance concerns.<br />
<br />
The currency is balanced between Emblems and Insignias. Emblems are awarded for taking part in a scenario all along the leveling road; Insignias, on the other hand, are for the endgame and are restricted to players who have reached rank 40. They are also acquired from scenarios, as well as taking or defending a keep and the initial city public quest after attacking. The system will also apparently "unlock" higher levels of weaponry as the player purchases lower ranks, thus keeping a steady flow without skipping ahead. <em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em> players would do well to take a look at <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1030">the full diary</a> for more details, and get ready to start getting your due rewards for crushing skulls.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/17/warhammer-online-explains-upcoming-rvr-weapons/">Warhammer Online explains upcoming RvR weapons</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1030>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/17/warhammer-online-explains-upcoming-rvr-weapons/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19362389/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/17/warhammer-online-explains-upcoming-rvr-weapons/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>developer-diary</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>rvr</category><category>sean-bosshardt</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.4</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><category>warhammer-online-patch-1.3.4</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Warhammer Online reveals new Scenario structure]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/15/warhammer-online-reveals-new-scenario-structure/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/15/warhammer-online-reveals-new-scenario-structure/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/15/warhammer-online-reveals-new-scenario-structure/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-in-game/" rel="tag">Events, in-game</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/patches/" rel="tag">Patches</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/pvp/" rel="tag">PvP</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a></p><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/02/war-scenarios-epl-214.jpg"  alt="" /><br />
People <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/06/back-to-the-drawing-board-for-warhammer-onlines-scenarios/">were not happy</a> with the first version of <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>'s plan to streamline the game's Scenarios to create a better structure.  They were so not happy, in fact, that <a href="http://www.mythicentertainment.com/">Mythic Entertainment</a> decided it was better form to pull their original plans, wipe the slate clean, and start over with a clearer picture.  And it seems to have worked, as <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Andy-Belford/">Andy Belford</a> has announced <a href="http://forums.warhammeronline.com/warhammer/board/message?board.id=dev_discussions&amp;message.id=6076#M">the revised plan</a> for the scenarios as a whole.  The result is a slightly larger list, but one with a bit more variety between tiers and a clearer picture of what the development team wanted to accomplish.<br />
<br />
As the post explains, the biggest concerns for the scenarios was that they feel different from tier to tier, that each one be unique and interesting in its own right, and that each one can achieve critical mass easily enough that neither faction feels completely helpless.  Response to the announcement <a href="http://forums.warhammeronline.com/warhammer/board/message?board.id=dev_discussions&amp;message.id=6076#M">in the thread</a> seems largely positive, with a wider range available at endgame and a careful re-distribution of what scenarios show up when.  <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a> players still have the opportunity to test this new environment on the test servers, and in all likelihood it will be going live soon enough, which represents a definite effort at compromise from the developers.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/15/warhammer-online-reveals-new-scenario-structure/">Warhammer Online reveals new Scenario structure</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://forums.warhammeronline.com/warhammer/board/message?board.id=dev_discussions&amp;message.id=6076#M>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/15/warhammer-online-reveals-new-scenario-structure/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19357975/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/15/warhammer-online-reveals-new-scenario-structure/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>andy-belford</category><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>scenarios</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>war-patch-1.3.4</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><category>warhammer-online-patch-1.3.4</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[No candy hearts in Warhammer Online]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/09/no-candy-hearts-in-warhammer-online/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/09/no-candy-hearts-in-warhammer-online/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/09/no-candy-hearts-in-warhammer-online/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/fantasy/" rel="tag">Fantasy</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/events-in-game/" rel="tag">Events, in-game</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/lore/" rel="tag">Lore</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/warhammer-online/" rel="tag">Warhammer Online</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/news-items/" rel="tag">News items</a></p><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/02/war-murder-epl-208.jpg"  alt="" /><br />
There will be no <a href="http://biobreak.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/swg-creepiest-holiday-ever/">Ewok Love Festival</a> in <a href="http://www.warhammeronline.com"><em>Warhammer Online</em></a>, and not simply due to the lack of Ewoks.  If you're feeling a little fed up with everyone taking this time of year to put down whatever sharp implements they're holding in the spirit of giving out gift baskets and looking bashful?  That's what the Night of Murder is all about.<br />
<br />
From February 9th to the 16th, the <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/liveevents/2010NightofMurder.php">Night of Murder event</a> will be taking place, wrapping the world in a haze of bloodlust and death, with the will of the elven god Kaela Mensha Khaine spurring on the fierce rage and love of battle on both sides of the conflict.  Order and Chaos alike will be rewarded with the chance to mount the heads of their enemies on pikes, and certain players on both sides will periodically be marked for death as a part of the "festivities."<br />
<br />
<em><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/Warhammer-Online/">Warhammer Online</a></em> has never shied away from the darker aspects of its setting, and this event seems to still walk in that direction.  Whatever your opinion on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/06/back-to-the-drawing-board-for-warhammer-onlines-scenarios/">recent news and developments</a> regarding the game, this version of the holiday is certainly a nice change from <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/01/27/love-is-in-the-air-in-final-fantasy-xi/">futzing about to get a heart-shaped wand</a>.<p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/09/no-candy-hearts-in-warhammer-online/">No candy hearts in Warhammer Online</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/09/no-candy-hearts-in-warhammer-online/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/19349883/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/09/no-candy-hearts-in-warhammer-online/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>ea-games</category><category>ea-mythic</category><category>ea-warhammer</category><category>ea-warhammer-online</category><category>electronic-arts</category><category>kaela-mensha-khaine</category><category>mythic</category><category>mythic-ea</category><category>mythic-entertainment</category><category>night-of-murder</category><category>war</category><category>war-ea</category><category>warhammer</category><category>warhammer-ea</category><category>warhammer-online</category><category>warhammer-online-ea</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Eliot Lefebvre]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST</pubDate></item></channel></rss>
