Da Newz – July 3

Story of the Week: Guild Beta Begins

• It was an announcement that was heard ’round the world… of guild communities. The very, very long-awaited guild beta was pronounced to start in July, with beta keys flying every which way to various guilds who applied. And yet… and yet Chrono Chaos was overlooked. WE SHALL NOT BE SLIGHTED!

Beta Ticker:

• 752,553 (+8,950 from last week)

Quotes of the Week:

• “I can’t say why but believe the hype for WAR. I’ve heard from plenty of trusted people that this game’s on a solid bee-line to success. Trusted by me anyway.” ~ JoBildo
• “In truth, MMOG developers really haven’t seen anything comparable to this situation since the genre really began hitting its stride in early 2000. Even the competition between EverQuest II and the original release of WoW isn’t comparable.” ~ TTH on the WAR vs. WoW launch

New Sites & Blogs:

• Scribbles of the Dark Lich – never tell a dark lich they need penmanship courses!
• Adventures in MMO Community Management – starring Elizabeth Shue!
• MMOverdose – by Chrono Chaos member James Taylor!
• Elvish Parsley – WAR dev Justin Webb’s blog

From EA Mythic:

• James gives us an update on the BOOM! beta code situation.
• NLaMartina clarifies a little misunderstanding about Tchar’zanek.
• Iain Compton thinks fame is a fickle mistress…
• Justin Webb drools over a Dark Elf costume IRL. Also, make sure to check out his Ode to WAAAGH video!
• Justin also talks about the difficulties of making proper MMO tutorials.
• Paul Barnett will be at the San Diego Comicon.
• Why didn’t Paul go to GDC? Read all about it at Rock Paper Shotgun.
• Ten Ton Hammer interviewed a couple of WAR devs: Ahmad Zabarah and Chris Behrens.
• Warhammer Online will ship to Russia in early 2009.

Articles & Essays:

• Rock, Paper, Shotgun has yet another wrapup of the Richard Bartle thingamajigger… can we stop talking about this already?
• (If not… here’s some more from Heartless Gamer)
• Hardcore Casual helps us to avoid MMO burnout with liberal doses of cream.
• Arbitrary wonders if we bloggers should — or will — identify ourselves in game or not. Just to be on the safe side: kill anyone named “Syp”. Name-stealers, all!
• The Greenskin has bad news of a possible delay… for the Brits!
• Wrenn boils down all women in MMOs as Legit, Predators or Sl*ts. Charming!
• War Noob finds that Amazon.com is a great place to recruit for guilds.
• Werit wears a worry. It’s a small worry.
• RadarX attempts to forsee what “Coming Attractions” WAR might bring.
• Keen does a bit of analyzing the June newsletter.
• A Wall of Text picks apart — and this is true — Jeff Hickman’s spasms.
• Brotik doesn’t let a little “hasn’t actually played the game yet or gotten solid reports” stop him — he knows who’s going to be nerfed come release!
• The July newsletter grab bag will cover the Magus career, so if you have questions you’d like answered regarding the Magus, drop them in this Warhammer Vault forum thread.
• CyberVic analyzes the video Paul shot concerning creature animation.
• War Noob asks, “When the poopie hits the fan, who do you want at your side?”
• He also likes the music featured in a recent WAR video.
• JoBildo muses on what class he’s going to play.
• Massively thinks that WAR is looking much nicer — graphics-wise, that is.
• /random doesn’t think level discrepancy will be as big of an issue in WAR due to the end game.
• Scribbles of the Dark Lich does a bit of June newsletter digesting of his own.
• WAR is worth waiting for, Scribbles thinks.
• “WAR – A PvPer’s Dream?” at Word of Shadow looks past the hype train to the rich, gooey center of WAR.
• “How Players Change Over Time” is a cold, hard look at genetic mutation at Book of Grudges.
• Can good sportsmanship even exist in online games today? Massively has a great article about this subject.
• The Order Strikes Back Again at the White Tower, this time slapping dem White Lions around.
• MMOverdose looks at the calm before the storm. This is calm?
• Garthilk at WHA gives us an in-depth look at the Shaman career, including skills!
• Werit’s imagined up a pretty detailed and believable expansion pack for WAR.
• Thallian remains unconvinced why he should care about WAR.
• The Greenskin compares and contrasts expansion policy between WoW and WAR.
• Brotik is giddy with anticipation!
• War Noob is concerned about class homogenization in WAR… will it happen?
• When you go visiting a new country — or MMO — do you want to be an ignorant tourist. Heck ya!
• Snafzg reminds us of an important cautionary tale via Mythic’s Trials of Atlantis expansion.
• War Noob wonders how fast people will hit level 40 or renown 80. I wonder if we’ll start referring to ourselves as a 38/20 Goblin Shaman.
• It’s gear vs. skill time at the White Tower: Part 1 and Part 2.
• Some jerk got interviewed over at Warhammer Alliance. Pah.
• Would you kindly vote on a WAR mousepad design for Mythic? (Bioshock fans, that’s for you!)
• WAR-JOL spends some time looking at zergs in PvP and the ramifications for WAR.
• “WAR: Behind The Career System Part 2” at MMORPG interviews Adam Gershowitz about career balancing.
• Follow that up with a swig from A Wall of Text, who loves the taunting feature.
• Massively’s found a WHA poll of potential players’ ages to be of particular fascination.
• Book of Grudges pulls for the underdog… classes, that is.
• War Noob frets about Warhammer Online’s Narrow Release Window, which is responded to by Bloghammer.
• Massively takes a look at Warhammer’s tabletop Order classes to see how they transitioned into WAR.
• Book of Grudges looks at WAR’s tactical PvP situation.
• TTH marks it as the fight of the year: WAR vs. WoW launch. Who will survive?
• The Greenskin presents another always-fascinating Forum Watch!
• The Cogworks wonders if Mythic will host a MythiCon, or something similar, after WAR releases.
• “Career Smackdown: Marauder vs. Shadow Warrior” at War Noob!
• Werit thinks the White Lion is just a weak little pussycat after all…
• The Greenskin brings you 50 Tidbits Straight From The Mouth of Josh Dresher.
• Keen wants his PvE, and he wants it NOW, or ELSE!
• GameSpot’s Pre-E3 feature mentons WAR as one of the most anticipated games of 2008.
• 1UP does a quick little hands-on preview.
• Apparently I have TEH POWAH to make a poor guy change his blog name. Sorry Vic!

Videos & Podcasts:

• ChaosCast Episode 3 – with Warhammer Alliance’s Garthlik
• Massively Speaking #11 covers a bit of the Richard Bartle blurb.
• Dreamy Gamer posted a couple videos of Paul Barnett talking about how to get into the games industry.
• IGN hosted a 5+ minute interview with Jeff and Paul. Groovy!
• Podcast of Reckoning #4 – with Josh Drescher

Fun & Games:

• Book review! I remember these! Book of Grudges reviews a completely different book: Gotrek and Felix – the First Omnibus.
• Yellow squigs at CyberVics! You bring the dip, I’ll bring the dental floss.
• Snafzg posts a new comic at The Greenskin: Orc 1 and Orc 2!
• And then he gets one-upped by a fan comic in the same vein!
• “The Inquisition Part 3” at Secret Life of Mobs continues this compelling storyline.
• The Order of Destruction has some pretty good “out of office” replies for the week of WAR’s launch.
• Catch your July WAR desktop calendar at Warhammer Vault!
• Bloghammer has a funny little video his friend made as an attempt to get into beta.
• Snafzg has whipped up his own squig in the Spore Creature Creator.

Da Newz – June 19

Story of the Week: Baltimore Games Day 2008

• A little bit of the old, a little bit of the new: this was the mantra of the devs who came to the Games Day convention, parceling out a few new snippets of info (10 character slots! population caps! expansion in the works!) and regurgitating a lot of older stuff. Many visitors noted that 8 of the classes were unavailable to play on the show floor, including the elusive Black Guard.

Beta Ticker:

• 736,315
• +7,469 from last week

Quote of the Week:

• “Paul runs on love, kindness, and the blood of many elves!” ~ Mythic rep

New WAR Sites & Blogs:

• Like Facebook? Like WAR? Then here you go: The Warhammer Online Facebook page.
• /random might not be new, but it’s a great catch-all WAR blog.
• The Captain’s Blog covers WAR, Warhammer 40K and Warhammer tabletop.
• The White Tower of Hoeth may be just a blog baby, but it’s a hefty baby boy!
• Warhammer Online Gaming Scene told me they were going away, but I guess they’re back!

From EA Mythic:

• EA Mythic’s Event Calendar — find out where WAR will be showcased next!
• James Nichols explains who’s handling the customer service for WAR in different regions.
• WAR Europe confirms that the Play.com’s codes are sent.
• Josh Drescher clarifies what can go on at the Games Day event.
• James Nichols gives us a taste of Warhammer’s “fluff” — one of my favorite MMO features.
• Get the straight scoop on server/realm population caps from James Nichols (with a short follow-up here).
• Jeff confirms that only 16 of the 24 classes were available for play at Games Day.
• Various rule set servers are in the works but nothing definitive, James says.
• EA CEO: WAR won’t rival WoW

Misc. News:

• Warhammer Online will be showcased at this year’s diminished E3 in July.
• Play.com is still having problems with the whole pre-order situation.

Podcasts:

• ChaosCast Episode 2: Technical Difficulties, Please Stand By
• Podcast of Reckoning Episode 3: What does the newsletter entail?

Articles & Commentary:

• Hardcore Casual deduces: we need WAR already!
• Keen’s Korner: Which class looks the most appealing? It’s a classy piece.
• Wrenn’s take on Warhammer’s graphics, over at Warhammer Peaceniks.
• War Noob asks, “…but what if WAR gets terrible reviews?” Will you still play?
• TTH has organized all their zone overviews on one handy page!
• “By the Gods!” at Warhammer Gaming Scene covers the major deities of WAR.
• “WAR for the Win” at Game Zig replies to my “How WAR Can Win” article — does he agree?
• Book of Grudges digs around in the whole “no official WAR forums” pile. Stinky!
• “MMORPG Burnout and… Anti-Burnout?” at The Greenskin gives us a lovely new gamer definition to memorize.
• Snafzg penned a follow-up, second draft analysis of the recent WHA what-class-will-you-play poll. Great reading, check it out.
• Champions of Stuff throws their hat into the ring as to release and beta speculation.
• Werit (heaven help you if you mispronounce that as “Wart”) looks at WAR’s ability for a character to level up via PvPing.
• How can you sex up the Hammerer? Book of Grudges has some kinky ideas.
• Order of Destruction wants Mythic to get a commercial out on TV, ASAP!
• Svoald comes up with a few WAR conspiracy theories. I think WAR shot JFK, after reading this.
• /random looks at how we can build a Warhammer server community.
• Dreaming a fantastic dream, The Cogworks thunks up fun ways for WAR to make alt leveling more enjoyable.
• Book of Grudges has some nice Baltimore GamesDay review quotes and info tidbits.
• Read a lengthy GamesDay review at Alpha Guild.
• More Games Day wrap-up at Only-WAR.
• “Some Pretty Good Reasons Why Warhammer Looks Like It Might Be Awesome.”
• Book of Grudges debate whether a guy’s manhood is threatened by playing a Witch Elf.
• Ten Ton Hammer’s started an Orc screenshot gallery — see how they’ve changed over time!
• Khaos chooses an army (part 3). Part 3 of what? I feel like I’m loading a computer game with 15 old 5 1/4″ floppy disks.
• War Noob asks, “Should all classes move at the same speed?” Personally, I’m hoping to crawl everywhere. Maybe skip.
• Keen examines the server queues hubbub.
• “How to take criticism (from a pro)” reexamines the whole PC Gamer UK article in a new light, responding to this blog post by the author.
• Here I thought I was in Detroit that weekend…
• Werit looks at DAoC to speculate as to what incentives WAR might feature in getting people to play the underdog faction.
• The White Tower examines Destruction’s apparent domination in the gamer mindset.
• “Early Access? Bring it on!” Book of Grudges declares.
• Only-WAR goes to Games Day 2008 and brings back a personal tale of love and laughter.
• Bo from The Greenskin looks at the graphical style of different MMOs — and why some connect.
• Wrenn looks at AoC and speculates how it might affect WAR.
• War Noob looks at the three most popular WAR forums, and explains why you should care.
• How incredible, exactly, will WAR’s end game RvR be? WAR Gaming Scene reports.
• War Noob doesn’t want WAR to be as popular as WoW, and he has good reasons for it.
• “Can Warhammer Online kill the powerleveler?” Honestly? I don’t think so.
• WAR City Sieges FAQ at TTH
• Tobold looks at the server population issue and decides nobody can play.
• Hardcore Casual says “RELAX!” about server population queues
• TTH’s Top Ten Insights from Games Day 2008.
• Another convert — Gordo is joining the WAR side of the force!
• CyberVic analyzes the Zealot gameplay video from Games Day 2008.
• Book of Grudges asks, “Do we really need different server rulesets?” I, for one, would like to see a banana ruleset.
• Gear v. Skill. Who will win? Who will get the girl, and who will cry themselves to sleep at night on their huge pilla?
• JeuxOnline looks at how WAR might distinguish itself from the rest of the MMO pack.
• Order Strikes Back: Swordmasters of Hoeth. About darn tootin’ time!
• One word: ZERGHAMMER!
• TTH looks at how the human race has evolved in the past year (in WAR, of course).

Databases & Forums:

• Warhammer Vault has upped their guild database to an impressive 520+.
• Another week, another awesome Forum Watch at The Greenskin!

Videos:

• The Cogworks has a cute chicken gameplay video to watch.
• Games Day 2008 Q&A Part 1
• Marauder gameplay
• Engineer gameplay
  
• Guild Vendetta interview: Part 1 and Part 2
• WAAAGH!
• Paul Barnett at Dreamhack
• Dark Elf Sorceress @ The Captain’s Blog

Fun & Games:

• Play the WAR slot machine!
• The Secret Life of Mobs new comic — “The Inquisition”!
• Interview with a Witch Elf at Order of Destruction.
• There’s a great new goblin fan art over at Warhammer Vault.
• In “Werit captures a Greenskin!”, a dwarf and a greenie face off in a hilarious battle royale.
• Gene Simmons in WAR?
• Keen shows off a reader-submitted Spore Squig!

Da Newz – June 5

Beta Ticker: 720,380 (up +20,125 from last week)

Quote of the Week: “We’re sort of winking at you, you know? We’re saying ‘oh, we know what you’re going to do.'” ~ Carrie Gouskos on the Tome of Knowledge

Story of the Week: Massively visits Mythic. Michael Zenke just became the most envied person in the Warhammer world, as he was invited into EA Mythic to conduct numerous interviews, play testing and investigations into WAR. A week later, and we have 15 (!) articles for his work. Here they are:

• “Massively Goes To WAR: Your Questions”
• “Massively Goes To WAR: Jeff Hickman’s View of Warhammer Online”
• “Massively Goes To WAR: Emotions behind the Tome of Knowledge”
• “Massively Goes To WAR: Interview with Senior Designer Dan Enright”
• “Massively Goes To WAR: Insights into Warhammer’s crafting system”
• “Massively Goes To WAR: How to Conquer a Capital City”
• “Massively Goes To WAR: Exploring Warhammer’s Capital Cities”
• “Massively Goes To WAR: Everything You Need To Know About Guilds”
• “From Tabletop to Desktop: WAR’s Destruction Careers”
• “Massively Goes To WAR: The Early Days of Mythic Entertainment”
• “Massively Goes To WAR: Spotlight on the Goblin Shaman”
• “Massively Goes To WAR: Spotlight on the Dwarf Engineer”
• “Massively Goes To WAR: Spotlight on the Chaos Marauder”
• “Massively Goes To WAR: Every Warhammer Class Explained”
• “Massively Goes To WAR: How you get your public quest loot”
  
• Finally, you can look over all the screenshots used in the Massively Goes to WAR gallery.

In Other News:

• /random is frustrated by the bounds of the Warhammer NDA, but I think you can read around the lines to know he’s excited about the game.
• Another week, another great Forum Watch, brought to you by The Greenskin!
• Australia now has 6,000 copies of the WAR Collector’s Edition on sale.
• A Q&A with Mark Jacobs at Venture Beat – it’s a really insightful interview that doesn’t just rehash over the same-old, same-old.
• New dwarf art is available for your discerning tastes at Warhammer Vault.
• Keen’s Korner – “Crafting a new way of Crafting”. See what he did there? I did!
• Book of Grudges asks the question we’ve all wondered: “Is PvP really just for the hardcore?”
• WAR Europe has a neat section on the website entitled “Fan Tales” for beta players to post stories.
• Josh Drescher is a nerd.
• WAR-RvR.net is taking questions about the White Lion career for next month’s grab bag — so go dump your mind there.
• Warhammer Geek’s latest parody is a subject near and dear to many a heart: “CyberSex Mistell”.
• Warhammer Vault continues to impress us with two new wallpapers: a Greenskins and White Lion throw rug!
• The Tome of WAR — a Warhammer Online mod/addon site — is in the making, and the creators want to share their vision and get feedback on this WHA thread.
• Josh Drescher gets personal. Oh yeah baby. Oh yeahhhh.
• There’s a new Warhammer novel that’s being released online, and you can read it as its published, chapter by chapter!
• Art director Greg Grimsby popped by the WHA forums to explain how the dwarfs ended up with the gyro-harness mount.
• RadarX over at TTH evaluates whether or not the $80 Collector’s Edition is worth it.
• There’s a really cool — freezer burn cool — review of WAR from the NY Comic Con. Methinks the guy liked it!
• This doesn’t have so much to do with WAR as it does MMO development as a whole, but I love this article over at Eating Bees like I love my non-existent children.
• Mania’s Arcania, a WoW Hunter Pet blog, has written up a piece on WAR’s White Lion class. Cheeky!
• Book of Grudges reports that Play.com has apparently sold out of the WAR CE.
• Warhammer Conflict’s announced a pair of new features: Richest Members and Sudoku!
• And then they had to go and add Conflict Pets just to mess my little duo news tidbit up.
• Should you update your Dxdiag file if you change your system and want to get into closed beta? A WAR dev answers the question here.
• Stop your grinnin’ and drop your linen — the newest Greenskin Forum Watch is here!
• Mugs up, ale down! A new dwarf blog is on the scene: The Cogworks!
• Three new crafting screenshots are now available at TTH, which come from the new crafting interview with Mark Jacobs. I’m lovin’ it!
• Book of Grudges chews on the new Engineer info.
• Jeff Hickman popped onto the WHA forums to calm some minds over large-scale RvR.
• The Cogworks has the latest Engineer News for you to digest.
• Hardcore Casual mulls over whether WAR will be a serious threat to WoW or… not.
• TTH has a recap of all the crafting info we’ve been handed.
• “That’s WAR!”, a new Warhammer podcast is available — if you can understand German, that is.
• “Warhammer Online: End Game” over at GameZig discusses the much-anticipated massive PvP bouts.
• Another one hooked: “Warhammer Online: My interest unlocked”
• Warhammer Conflict has another Guild Chat Event this weekend — get wooed by WAR guilds!
• James Nichols clarified how you use your Amazon pre-order codes.
• New Secret Life of Mobs comic: “Skaven Army”
• Over at Video Game Theory, they muse about how WAR’s guilds will outlast other MMO guilds by a long shot.

Da Newz – May 22

Beta Ticker: 700,255 (+7,549 from last week)

Quote of the Week: “We’re not nervous about its quality, we’re nervous about sending it out on the world. It’s like sending your kid to school for the first time.” ~ Josh Drescher

Story of the Week: Oceanic Servers. The Warhammer Herald put up an Oceanic Server News and FAQ for those of you in that region, and EA confirms that Australia, New Zealand and Oceanic copies will be shipped and go live the same time as everyone else (fall 2008). Wash that down with a swig of a GameSpot AU or IGN follow-up interview!

In other news:

• Hardcore Casual has a rant against Age of Conan’s launch and a cautionary (if positive) tale for WAR’s upcoming release.
• Keen’s (shudder) Korner asks, “Will WAR make quests feel like quests again?” Good question. If you solve it, I’ll give you 45 xp and this donut.
• The Greenskin is compiling questions on dwarfs and greenskins for a future interview, so pop on over there and give him a piece of your mind.
• Massively Speaking Podcast 5 discusses Blizzard’s recent media bomb and how its designed to fight against fans’ WAR anticipation.
• Orlock over at Warhammer Geek asks, “Can a game be TOO big?” (in terms of subscribers, not world size)
• As WoW looks to expand, The Greenskin queries “Will WAR follow the WoW expansion model?” I think it’s a question a lot of us have on our minds.
• “Paul Barnett is actually six, identical robots that we stole from the British Air Force.”
• A visitor to the NY Comic Con invested a chunk of time into the WAR beta, and here’s his neat writeup at Sturmgrenadier.
• WAR will be making the printed rounds, with articles in the June editions of both PC Gamer and Game Informer. You can read the (short) Game Informer article on this thread.
• Check out 22 gorgeous new screenshots over at the official site!
• Congrats to Warhammer Conflict and their one year anniversary! Huzzah!
• The Greenskin spotted a few posts by Mark Jacobs on the forums, and he shares the love with you.
• If you have the shakes and need you some videos, Greenskin directs you to WarHammerOnline.tv — it’s new, so we can’t vouch for quality or content. Also, check out WHMovies.com for more movie madness.
• Warhammer Conflict has announced their wiki is sporting over 300 entries now — and they need your help to grow them ever more!
• WHA has set up a nifty RSS feed that you can subscribe to let you know when a dev posts on their forums.
• Next Generation has a WAR preview article up — standard stuff, but nice nonetheless.
• The Secret Life of Mobs’ “The End” wraps up their current short storyline (yet it is not the end for reals).
• The German issue of Frontline (a Warhammer Online rag) was kindly translated into English and can be read here.
• Warhammer Geek’s uploaded their second Podcast of Reckoning, which includes an interview with Mr. Greenskin himself. Give it a listen!
• We found a new WAR blog for you to digest: Book of Grudges. Welcome to the WAR community!
• Although this will probably be “old news” by the time you read this, a huge new wave of beta invites went out to both the US and EU communities.
• Allakhazam has a great interview with Josh Dresher that covers, among other aspects, character creation.
• Meet Magnus, a brand new GOA community manager, over on this WHA forum thread!
• West Karana admits she was wrong about Age of Conan — and speculates that she might be mistaken about WAR’s upcoming presence as well.
• Ten Ton Hammer has a wee lass of a Sorceress analysis/rehash up for you to court.
• Two quick notices from EA Mythic: a Condemned By Fire comic beta key FAQ, and an Canadian EB CE Pre-Order Cards Update.
• A blog/site aggregator, Da Big WAAAGH (hey, that’s our name! sort of!) is now open for quick perusal.
• “There’s Beta and Then There’s BETA!” over at Book of Grudges clarifies what’s going on with WAR’s varying beta levels.
• Paul Barnett bemoans a quote taken out of context.
• Game Arena asks, “Warhammer: Can EA Pull It Off?” Let’s see… um, YES.

Warhammer: Condemned By Fire and Other Happy Thoughts

Today, on an extreme whim, I swooped by the only comic store in the area and picked up a copy of Warhammer: Condemned By Fire #1. I’m not a huge comic book reader — not that I don’t like them, it’s just that I don’t want to drop $4 on something I’ll be done with ten minutes later — but this copy is significant for two reasons.

One, it’s a good quick primer to the tone and atmosphere to the Warhammer universe, which I deem a good asset to my Warhammer education.  The story itself concerns a Witch Hunter, who I imagine speaks with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine voice, and his merry trip into the village of the damned.  The story is quite short, but nicely drawn.  My only complaint is that some of the action looks a little too “cartoony” for my tastes.

Two, each of these issues has a special scratch-off code which you can use to apply to enter the Warhammer Online beta.  Closed or open beta, I’m not sure; the only clear answer I got from brief scouting is that the deadline to use this code is May 31.  The code only gives you a 20% (one in five) chance of winning a coveted beta slot, however.

So now my beta account is all but screaming for acceptance.  Applied for the beta?  Check.  Amazon.com CE pre-order open beta code that, for some reason, is still in there even though I canceled my order?  Check.  GameStop pre-order code?  Check.  Comic code?  Check.

I think this might be an excellent substitute for actually playing WAR: trying to see how many ways I can apply for or attempt to win a beta spot.

Da Newz – May 15

Beta Ticker: 692,706 (+7,821 from last week)

Quote of the Week: “The best way to look at it is that Warhammer is Batman.” ~ Josh Drescher

Story of the Week: Oddly enough, the biggest story about WAR this week wasn’t about WAR at all — but instead, the blitz of World of Warcraft expansion info that was suddenly thrown all over the place. Many Warhammer fans are nervously chewing their nails at the shift in spotlight (and unrestrained speculation about the supposed fall head-to-head battle of the two titles), but Massively actually thinks WoW is a positive factor in the future success of WAR. In any case, a clash between these two titles looks to happen this fall, as Vivendi confirmed that Wrath is “anticipated to be released in the second half of 2008.”

In other news:

• Warhammer Geek reports that a new German online magazine, Frontline, looks to be fans of Warhammer Online — check it out if you speak Germaneze.
• In the mood for a few good men… er, videos? Warhammer Vault points us toward Warhammer-Portal for some Warhammer-Videos.
• The Greenskin reports that EA bought out Rupture. What does that mean for WAR? Snafzg speculates that the technology might be used to help extend the game experience beyond the game itself — as in social networking.
• GamesIndustry.biz gives us a sneak peak at an interview with Josh Drescher, including the revelation that the Mythic team has at least five years of content and leveling mapped out.
• Speaking of interviews with Josh, bit-tech.net has a pretty cool chat with the man about taking on World of Warcraft and how WAR is like Batman (among other topics).
• Action Trip’s second WAR Progress Report has a great overview of what WAR’s been up to, and what it’ll offer the average player.
• With all the hubbub over EA using DRM in its upcoming games, Mark Jacobs popped onto the VN boards to assure us that WAR will not use DRM (which isn’t really needed in MMOs anyway). Wow, that’s a lot of acronyms.
• Need a little Capital Cities RvR in your diet? Warhammer Vault’s got you covered.
• TTH muses on the promise by WAR’s devs to make the game viable for solo players as well as groupers.
• Mythos has announced at least five years of… something… more planned, and Keen’s all over the analysis.
• Or you could just take the word from the horse’s (the horse here being Josh Drescher) mouth.
• That Videogame Blog has a massive hands-on preview of Warhammer Online — cool info in here about gear and mounts, if you’ve been searching for tibits on those.
• JeuxOnline does us proud by translating an older French article of theirs mulling over the upcoming WAR beta/release/NDA dates. There’s a really handy chart in here too — check it out!
• Warhammer Conflict Wiki would like you to sample their wares by reading up on a dude named Malekith. We think he’s a baker.
• Another week, another awesome wallpaper from Wallhammer Vault (wait… Wallhammer?): The Marauder!
• Warhammer Conflict would like to invite you to peruse and participate in one of its famed Focus Discussions!
• The Greenskin brings a drink of water to the parched soul with his seventh webcomic, “There’s Nothing To Fear”
• Tobold wonders “Will Order or Chaos Prevail in WAR?”
• Warhammer Geek parodies Pinball Wizard with their WAR-themed tune “Witch Elf Woman”
• Want to give your cellphone or MP3 player a bit of Warhammer love? The Greenskin reports that WAR wallpaper for these devices are now available!
• With all the new Lich King info, doom ‘n gloom pronouncement for WAR’s future have been stirred anew. West Karana declares that she will “sit this one out” when it comes to this year’s major MMOs.
• QJ.net takes a brief, insightful look at the Zealot career.
• This is a little old, but this YouTube clip of Dwarf WAR music is… awesome. Pure awesome.
• JeuxOnline has a funny little article wondering about how you can cement your reputation as a “legend” in the upcoming WAR.
• How much will WAR’s graphics affect (good or bad) its upcoming release? Keen compares and contrasts with other MMOs.
• Making me think of the old SAT questions, Tobold posits “AoC is to WAR as EQ2 is to WoW”
• On the WHA forums, Iain Compton straightened out a few facts about the timing of the guild beta, open beta and NDA liftage.
• Keen reports that WAR’s graphics are definitely showing some polish, which I suppose is a “good thing”
• EA Mythic has announced Warhammer Online: The Official Drink. Cheers!
• MTV tries to be convinced by Mythic to make WAR their first MMO — yeah, we SO want those guys playing with us. Because they keep it real.
• Thought we’d go another week without mentioning Greenskin’s Forum Watch? Think again!
• IGN gives Warhammer Online a progress report, and its good enough to avoid a spanking by the parents.
• 1Up’s done their own hands-on WAR play, and have the stones to share it with you personally.
• You know you want to drool right now, so check out these brand new screenies here at VE3D!
• During the Spring Press Event, GameSpot got their grubby little mitts on WAR and molested it until it gave up the literary goodies. I’m kinda creeped out by the previous sentence, even though I wrote it.
• The Warhammer comic is finally on newstands, according to this unnamed source.
• Warhammer Geek’s started to offer exclusive wallpapers, and you can snag the first two here.
• GameSpy has a brand new article looking into WAR’s newbie zones, and it’s a fun read! After you’re done with that, Keen’s got a bit of follow-up commentary on the piece.
• Josh Dresher gave us a brief summary of the EA Games Spring Break, whetting our appetite for more info in the near future.
• Josh Drescher did another interview (the man is a MACHINE), this time with GamesIndustry.biz entitled, simply, “Warhammer Time!”
• Wikis are all the rage these days, it seems, and Warhammer Geek’s launched the fourth (I think) WAR-related wiki. Which one will become the standard? Anyway, you can read there announcement here, and check out (and contribute to) the new Warhammer Geek Wiki here.
• Warhammer Geek’s posted four motivation-style wallpapers (I particularly enjoy the squig one).
• Do you want to write about WAR but don’t want to have to hassle with your own blog/site? Warhammer Gamers is hiring (“hiring” being a loose term — don’t think there’s pay involved) new writers to the staff. Go apply today!
• Finally, The Secret Life of Mobs has a new WAR comic this week — “No More Beercraft!”

Whatchu Lookin’ For, Willis?

As we careen into the salad days of summer 2008 and enjoy the last few months of freedom before Warhammer Online sinks its addictive claws into our brains, your craving for WAR info is undeniable. In the absence of a game to play, you start scouring the net for your next “fix”. So, in this scenario, I guess I’m a drug dealer. I can’t wait until Google adds those two words to their search engine in relation to this blog.

You should be happy to see how much the WAR community has exploded over the past few months, going from a handful of blogs and sites to an ever-increasing empire of content. Although we here at WAAAGH! do mention these other sites — in Da Newz and on our blogroll, mainly — I’d like to give a little promotion to them in the hopes that you might discover something useful and relevant that you previously overlooked.

WAR NEWS & COMMENTARY

When there’s breaking news, and you just gotta have it that moment, you should first read up on Massively’s Warhammer coverage.  Ten Ton Hammer’s been doing an excellent job at getting exclusives, so they should be your next stop.  Then pop over to Chaos War Host, Warhammer Alliance, WAR-RvR.net, Warhammer Vault, and Warhammer Geek, where they have you covered. Only-WAR.com doesn’t go all out on new news, but every so often they boast an exclusive piece that is worth your read. Of course, you should always be checking on the Warhammer Herald, but that’s just common sense.

Skewing more to commenting on the news and other issues (like yours truly), Keen & Graev’s Gaming Blog is certainly wordy when it comes to whatever might be floating through their minds. Likewise, The Greenskin has fun poking around in the WAR universe, and Warhammer Gamers is not shy about sharing an opinion.

I know I’m deliberately neglecting several foreign language sites, and I’m not doing that out of cultural ignorance or spite — just the thought that if I, personally, can’t read them, then I can’t vouch for them either. But I’m sure they’re heaven with a bit of sugar on top.

FROM THE DEVS’ MOUTHS

Although their duties (hehe… duties) keep them largely occupied, both Josh Drescher and Paul Barnett occasionally jot an entry into their personal blogs.

WAR COMICS

Although it appears to have been defunct since January, A Touch of Tentacle boasts 24 comic strips to check out. Keen & Graev gave us a brief taste of their WAR comic Goblannoyed, but we’re still in a holding pattern there. The Greenskin is all about the Orcs and Goblins in his comic, which is definitely worth a read. Finally, I’ve been very impressed with The Secret Life of Mobs, which comes out every couple weeks or so.

WAR FORUMS

Chatting ’bout WAR is a great way to pass the hours and build up some serious blood pressure as you plow through a troll blockade to achieve Thoughtful Post Nirvana. Since Mythic has (wisely) declined to host original forums, several sites have rushed in to fill the gap. Two of the biggest and best-known WAR forums are Warhammer Vault’s forums and the Warhammer Alliance forums. Other sites boasting friendly and frisky forums include Chaos War Host, Warhammer Conflict (which go beyond just the salt-and-pepper forum setup), WAR-RvR.net, Warhammer Geek, and Warhammer Gamers.

WAR PODCASTS

It’s hard to host a podcast about a game not out yet, but two sites have taken stabs at it so far: the excellent Warhamma podcast (which is sadly on haitus, but is still worth listening to the archives), and the new Podcast of Reckoning.

WAR WIKIS

Truly we are living in an age of the wiki. For those uninformed, a wiki is an online encyclopedia — usually devoted to a specific subject — that any registered user can edit. Right now we’re seeing three Warhammer Online Wikis stepping up to the plate in an effort to create a massive, comprehensive database of everything Warhammer and WAR: Hammer Wiki, MMO Wiki’s Warhammer, and Conflict Wiki. Check them out, and if you like what you see, then log in and help them create a great wiki!

So hopefully, that should give you a good launch point for your daily WAR obsession. While I know we probably left out a couple sites or blogs, it wasn’t done intentionally or to promote any one site over another — please let WAAAGH! know if you have a WAR site that needs to be fawned over!

Da Newz – May 8

Beta Ticker: 684,885 (+17,567 from last week)

Quote of the Week: “Death! Kill! Custard!” ~ The slogan on the 8-Bit Paul Barnett t-shirt

Story of the Week: The dev team did a huge conference call with 23 WAR and game review sites last week, prompting a plethora of articles more or less saying the exact same thing. We here at WAAAGH! were not invited, and thus are drowning in a vat of bitter tears and tabasco sauce.

• The full April Newsletter is available on the main site (for some reason, my e-mail copy comes late every month) — check it out here!
• Start your day off right with a cup of coffee and a read of Massively’s “Catching Up With WAR”, an update on the closed beta. Good news: Jeff’s wife loves the crafting system. Murder Ball sounds fun!
• Keen’s Corner looks at “Moving Away From A Gear-Centric System” — so break out those sprockets, springs and hinges!
• Josh Drescher mentions the conference call Mythic had to about a bajillion WAR and news sites. I most enjoyed Warhammer Vault’s summary, if you only have to read one.
• Speaking of which, here’s TTH’s take, as well as GameZone and GamePlasma.com’s writeup of the call.
• Finally, Keen shares his thoughts on the highlights of the conference call.
• What we like to see in a WAR site: “Five Things To Worry About” Because worry and speculation is all we have right now, folks! (well, that and rocky road from the ice cream truck down the street)
• It’s been a couple weeks, but The Greenskin is back with another Forum Watch of interesting posts and comments culled from the boards!
• Have questions about the Tome of Knowledge that even I, Tome King, was not able to answer? Check out Ten Ton Hammer’s Tome FAQ!
• The Wizard of Duke Street brings us a few thoughts on crafting in WAR. Are your tastes whetted?
• Warhammer Vault whipped out another awesome wallpaper, this time of a naugh-tie Dark Elf.
• Canadians have another option to pre-order the CE — this time at The Source.
• If you’re having a hard time keeping track of dates in May, Warhammer Vault has an excellent calendar for you.
• WAR-JOL has an excellent writeup on WAR’s living guild system, complete with screenies!
• Warhammer Conflict is now offering Conflict Wiki as a wikish service — head on over and help them fill it up with info!
• Get your official 8-Bit Paul Barnett t-shirt (death! kill! custard!) at the Mythic store.
• Is WAR trying too hard to imitate WoW? Tobold seems to think so, but he’s a cranky monkey anyway. Hardcore Casual has a rebuttal.
• TTH elaborates on some of the NPC’s featured in the April newsletter. We think Gortek is quite the dreamy hunk.
• Get your weekly dose of gameplay footage here — check out the weather and lighting effects!
• MMORPG gives us a decent overview of the High Elf Swordmaster class: it slices, it dices, it rinses thoroughly after each use.
• A couple of other RvR videos have surfaced on Jeux Online — watch them here.
• Warhammer Geek’s first “Podcast of Reckoning” is now available for your audio enjoyment.
• GameSpot did a nice video interview with WAR’s Josh Drescher, giving us another basic overview of WAR.
• Be sure to watch Justin Goes to Comicon for all sorts of Warhammery goodness: Part 1, Part 2, and (my favorite) Part 3.
• Jack Black isn’t going to be a voice actor in WAR. How are you dealing with this tragedy? Let me know, I need help!
• Warhammer Conflict defines what “WAAAGH!” is, exactly. And no, it’s not just the name of the most awesomest blog on the planet.
• TTH delves into the Dark Elf Sorceress career — this particular class looks to be a fan fave so far.
• Warhammer Vault has archived six must-see movies for your entertainment!
• Warhammer Gamers notes that the WAR CE is still in GameStop’s top 15 best sellers — #10 to be precise!
• This week’s WHA Waaagh discusses “Gamer and the Paul Hype Factory” — how much are we buying into the hype and how can we sort it out?
• Warhammer Vault points us to three new videos from the 2008 RPC.
• New Secret Life of Mobs comic: “Beercraft Fanboy”!
• Apparently I’m in a comic now. I think I look like a tumor. I don’t wanna be a tumor!

Da Newz – May 1

Beta Ticker Update: 677,318 (+6,599 from last week)

Quote of the Week: “ So, if you’ve been reticent about PvP combat, or ignoring Warhammer Online because of it, it’s about time you stop doing so and start getting yourself ready – [WAR] is coming, and it’s going to change absolutely everything.” ~ CVG

Big Story of the Week: “The April Newsletter” Days before the official announcement, pages and contents from the official WAR site were mined, and you can go ahead and check out Paul’s Video Blogs, Scenarios 101 Part 4, Eataine Overview, the Beta Journal, the Grab Bag and the Guild Podcast. The highlight of the newsletter? Huge chunks of info on the “living guild” system!

• Warhammer Conflict uploaded a fun little flash game called “Orbs”, which is WAR-themed. Sorta. You kind of have to see it for yourself.
• Keen’s Korner: “When Scenarios Become Mini-Games” compares and contrasts Age of Conan’s PvP system to WAR’s.
• The Orlock Perspective debuts on Warhammer Geek with an essay entitled “Debuting With Alts In Guilds”. Darn it. I just used the word “debut” twice in a sentence, and therefore will be tried, convicted and hung by a jury of English major peers.
• The WHA Waaagh looks at the history and pros and cons of instanced vs. open world combat.
• Warhammer Geek added another parody song to their library: “The Power of Tzeentch”!
• There’s another convention hosting Warhammer Online — this time it’s in Germany.
• Warhammer Gamers repainted their site, and it’s looking quite the spiff.
• Varhammer Vault vosted a vallpaper ventitled “RETRIBUTION!” Awesome.
• It’s been about a month since we last saw the official WAR site post any new screencaps… how’s 25 or so sound to you?
• GameSpot’s got 12 screenies of their own as well… lush!
• There’s a great PvP hands-on impressions piece up at GameSpot. Interesting fact: you can “earn” cinematic quickies as a reward for a battle well-fought!
• The Greenskin wants you to zerg him, baby! Yeah, like that. A little lower now. Stop! Be good! And then he wants you to zerg him just a bit more.
• Warhammer Gamers comes up with 5 ways to wait for WAR. #6? Get out and enjoy the fresh summer weather, people! We can be antisocial in the fall, promise.
• TTH interviewed yours truly in an epic battle of Q&As.
• Is Age of Conan shooting itself in the foot when it comes to its approach to PvP compared to WAR? The Greenskin says yes. The Greenskin also says “hand over your wallet, car keys and dignity.”
• Bildo responds: “AoC and WAR: Can’t We All Get Along?” Silly bunny, barbarians are for kids.
• Massively covered a bit of the ongoing guild beta drama… where’s their coverage of my pain and suffering?
• Videogaming247 has two audio interviews up, one of Mythic’s presentation in London, and a one-on-one interview with Josh Drescher. In a follow-up news piece, they reveal that (duh) EA’s takeover of Mythic allowed the devs more time to work on the game before launch.
• Warhammer Gamers investigates that mysterious “Coming Soon” button on the WAR official site.
• Warhammer Stratics took at a look at the racial matchups in “Rivalries Part 1- Dwarf vs Greenskin”
• The Greenskin reviewed the “Warhammer: Condemned By Fire #1” comic book
• A French WAR site posted three gameplay videos of various classes in action. Sacre moo!
• Mark Jacobs popped onto the VN boards to clear a few things up about upcoming events. It boils down to this: they don’t know how big open beta will be, OB will be about a month before launch, NDA will be lifted before OB, and not all servers will be up for OB and the head start.
• CVG (that’s “Computers & Video Games” to you) posted a glowing article about WAR.
• Jeux Online’s “Dungeons for Dummies” explores the facets of the dungeons we’ll be experiencing in WAR.
• German site WAR-Welten gives you a badly-translated report on their hands-on experience playing WAR at a convention.
• Stratics posted their second part of a series featuring Warhammer’s race rivalries, this time looking at Empire vs. Chaos. (Why read it? BECAUSE IT’S CHAOS!)
• Grab your June issue of PC Gamer, ’cause it’s WAR crazy!
• The official Warhammer site provides a convenient wrapup of the NY Comic Con coverage, and another mention of all the media surplus on the Herald (courtesy of James Nichols).
• “A Grim Review of Warhammer: Condemned by Fire #1”… in a comic strip!
• Secret Life of Mobs has a new comic: “World of Beercraft”
• There’s been some minor changes to the official WAR site (mostly in moving buttons and links)
• A French, or possibly Australian (we’re not good at foreign languages), WAR site has posted three videos: Marauder, Zealot and Sorceress in action.
• “The Suggestion Box” makes an interesting connection between WAR and… Starbucks?
• PC Authority calls Warhammer Online a possible “Sleeper Hit Of The Year”
• The Greenskin ponders “Character Progression vs. Character Development” in a knock-down, bloody knife fight to the DEATH.
• Submit your questions for May’s Grab Bag over at Warhammer Conflict!
• Keen checks back into the WAR scene (forget AoC, man!) with his thoughts on the April Newsletter.
  
• “The Waaagh blog, despite technically being about some other dirty little game, keeps churning out some pretty good posts.” ~ WoW Insider (just liked that quote, thought I’d share!)
• Speaking of Keen, he gives us a simple explanation of “Why WAR (and… AoC… y’know) Is Awesome”. One of the best WoW forum posts in a LONG time!
• Warhammer Geek is proud to announce the new name of their podcast: The Podcast of Reckoning. Look for the first installment May 5.
• Only-WAR has a writeup of their EA Mythic Press Conference Call. Pants were not allowed, but pig hats were.

Plug of the Week: Two up-and-coming WAR wikis need your help to fill in content, so get ye over to HammerWiki and MMO Wikis Warhammer to do your duty!