Herals - Mythic and BioWare Form New RPG/MMO Group

I as wondering what was going on with mark jacobs, He sorta disappeared there. This move kinda worries me, like Mythic is already thinking about the next one giving up on the one they got.

On the Warhammer Alliance Forums -link- the reaction seems a bit positive. Though there are a few that are a bit tentative thinking this is the beginning of the end a'la EA/Westwood's Earth & Beyond. I can only hope that is false. Here is to hoping with the Bioware Influence, great storylines and changes are on the horizon. Three Capital Cities anyone?

Guys, first, this is not mythic's call. EA controls em so don't associate this with mythic givimg up on war. 2nd. I love bioware and this can be a great influence.

I hope the new company does a better job.

It's not Mythic giving up on WAR I am worried about, its EA giving up as WAR is not turning out to be enough of a cash cow for them that I AM worried about. But all of this is conjecture and I can only hope that this is just a step up in the life of WAR rather than the start of a fall down the stairs for WAR. Good Thoughts, now is the time to think them.

Posted by Azhul: The community needs a letter from Mr. Denton re: WAR's future ASAP. Posted by Andy_Mythic: The Community should get this tomorrow in the Form of the Executive Producer's letter from Jeff Hickman.

I'm kind of indifferent about this move. Mostly because of EA and not because of the developers (I love both, especially BioWare). If all goes well, maybe we'd see a much more story-based WAR in the future and a Star Wars: The Old Repbulic with a Sith vs. Jedi system similar to WAR's RvR. Either that, or EA will just juggle the resources of both developers and f***ing everything up.

This just occurred to me. BioWare is a triple A game developer with a fanbase (mostly RPGamers) almost as big as Blizzard's. If they get their hands dirty with WAR there's a huge possibility that their fanbase, who are waiting for SW:TOR's release, might just get into WAR. That means population explosion for our game. The question is, however, if the boom in numbers will go to us or Destro.

I think that it is probably a good pairing. Bioware has always done a good job with rpg's so I think there input will be a good thing.

"The question is, however, if the boom in numbers will go to us or Destro." ---Arcatus. Bring on more Destro!

Either way this goes be ready for a storm. My guess is EA isnt liking the profit stream and is considering pulling a Tabula Rasa on us or considering selling Warhammer Online. The way they worded Marc Jacob's departure from a PR perspective sounds like their "creatively reinventing mark" or putting a positive PR to him bailing on EA. Regardless of what Happens I will continue to run the family on Warhammer online at least into the next year or the family decides that they have more interest somewhere else. Just please don't make me be a stormtrooper :P. Celt Stormtroopers just dont work :P. I imagine over the next few months we may see a fluctuation in numbers, please do not fear the family isnt going anywhere. Hopefully EA decides to invest a bit more to turn this product into a cash cow. Either way I am here as long as you are here. Ben

My thoughts: Putting Mythic and Bioware makes sense for both companies. Bioware has made tons of great RPG's (Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, KoTOR, etc) but was entering new territory with the Old Republic MMO. At the same time, Mythic knows MMOs structurally, but seems to have lost some of its RPG roots with WAR. Putting the two together may help ground Mythic back into its roleplaying style while at the same time giving Bioware the experience necessary to make Old Republic successful. Also, having the two together gives them a bigger total budget (which, although they have to share, can be a good thing if managed properly). I am kind of curious about whether Mark Jacobs is simply retiring, or whether he's going to start up a new studio... especially since I've always said that when my own MMO gets to the point that I feel I can show it to a publisher, I'd show it to him first.

Also, I doubt The Old Republic will be hitting shelves for at least two, if not three years still... it's a ways out, which gives us plenty of time for WAR.

As a former employee of Mythic I can say that probably everything you like about WAR was implemented in spite of, rather than because of, Mark Jacobs. There are some amazing, creative people at that studio, but they constantly battled against crazy ideas and directives from MJ. The fate of WAR is a mystery. I know that it was Mythic's policy to slowly bleed personnel away from UO and DAoC in order to prop up WAR. I don't know if Bioware will follow the same plan, but EA makes it pretty easy to move around between their studios. Don't be surprised if you start seeing news about person X leaving Mythic for Bioware in the coming months. I highly doubt you'll see anyone going from Bioware to Mythic.

Remember this is Bioware Austin that is doing the MMO work, not Bioware Edmonton. There are already team members from a number of MMOs, to include UO, in the Austin team. Wikis: Mythic and Bioware and a presser on Austin.

Mark Jacobs leaving was quite a surprise for me... But sometimes there are mamangement changes when the $$$ start falling off. War sold 1.2 Million boxes with 800k subs at launch. The most recent official report from EA stated there was around 300k subs as of May 09 (less than a year). There are some estimates now saying that after LOTD there are around 160k subs remaining (which is about the break-even point for WAR - meaning anything less starts to become a loss). Even that did not shock me too much as I have seen many a game (and hours upon hour of my time) close up... No, what really shocked me was that GW has recalled Paul Barnett the Creative Director of WAR (sent to work for EA) back to the UK to work on other GW electronic licenses. GW is pulling their man out. Lets hope they send a replacement. =)

Fo once I have actually read a lot about this fromother gaming sites and MJ has a blog up...in his words "don't expect me to bash Mythic....it wasn't like that" whaich gives me the indication a) he had a golden parachute which doesn't let him say anything or he'll lose his severance package or b) he bailed on them - either way it is a little ominous to me. As pointed out....it is a known fact numbers are down - and there has been a sudden drastic decline for which I can't blame the economy as the reports have people going back to the games they left to come here. Once Fallen Earth is launched there will be another decline in gaming populations in several games for at least a little while while people check it out - that should happen around the end of the year. War needs to be back on solid ground by then or I fear "free to play" might happen. DDO is going this route to try and boost the population - to me it just fills the game with more kids - which then eventually dumbs down the game just to keep then in. LOTD did nothing to help the game and I have found no word on an actual expansion (LOTD isn't an expansion - it was some added content) or even an inkling that they are considering one - has anyone else? Ben, I won't make you play a Jedi of anything else in The Old Republic - but saying that there is no place for Celts in that univers is absurd - I think the Zabraks were descended from Celtic Space Pirates! and yes - regardless if I am still playing WAR or not - Morigana will be donning Smuggler attire.

Reading Keen's blog article about WAR vs AION made interested in that game for the first time. I don't like the korean art style, but I can't deny those 2 sentences makes me wanna play ASAP: "Just like in DAOC, when a group that knows how to maximize their CC comes against a group that doesn’t, the better CC’ers can take twice their numbers. This is what led to the success of the 8 man teams after players decided that zerging wasn’t fun." "Aion might have the edge here with rifts which open in one side’s area and lead to the other side. Players can jump through these rifts and enter the enemy’s PvE area and fight them in their own land. They are open for a certain period of time and their appearance is random (although I’ve hard players figured out a system to predict them?). This could lead to great world pvp where you’re never truly 100% safe." Full article: http://www.keenandgraev.com/?p=2673

Pulitzer posted: ""Just like in DAOC, when a group that knows how to maximize their CC comes against a group that doesn’t, the better CC’ers can take twice their numbers. This is what led to the success of the 8 man teams after players decided that zerging wasn’t fun."" What that tells me is that CC will be nerfed after the game launches to make it more "fair" for the less skilled. If 8 can take 16 then you will have 8 happy customers to every 16 angry ones who will cry "OP" and "Nerf it!" Also, WAR has the Open RvR rule set. There are no RvR lakes and no bolstering. You are only safe in your chapter 1 start and in capital city. That is true RvR... Just like what Aion proposes. That may interest some, but not me. If I decide to relax and PvE I want to PvE.. I do not enjoy having to look over my shoulder every second for a gank group while I try to kill my 7th bear out of 10 in some backwoods hole.