Warhammer Online strikes gold

EA and Mythic Entertainment's long-awaited Games Workshop-based MMOG has entered mass production in advance of September 18 launch on PCs.

Over the weekend, Mythic Entertainment held a large-scale preview play test for its upcoming Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, in which closed beta participants and a select number of preorderers were given an advance look at the fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The player reception was apparently strong, as Mythic today has stamped shippable code gold in advance of the PC game's September 18 launch date.

Warhammer Online will be available at retail for $50, with a $15 subscription fee being assessed following the first 30 days of play. An $80 collector's edition--which featured a pewter miniature, a graphical novel, an art book, and a number of in-game extras--was also briefly available at retail, but Mythic confirmed that the premium limited edition quickly sold out after it was initially announced earlier this year.

The MMOG has been developed as a collaboration between EA-owned Mythic Entertainment and Games Workshop, who created the fantasy universe as a tabletop RPG in the early 1980s. While Games Workshop's original universe features a decidedly macabre aesthetic, the MMOG has been rated T for Teen by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

Mythic expects to open its servers for stress testing on September 7. Those interested in gaining access to the open beta will be required to preorder the game at participating retailers or through publisher EA's online store. Current closed beta participants will automatically be granted a slot in the open test.

For more on the long-in-the-making MMOG, check out GameSpot's most recent impressions from earlier this month.

141 Comments

  • Vargre666

    Posted Sep 13, 2008 9:18 am PT

    Ill tell you right now, it doesnt live up to the hype. Ive been playing since closed beta...been waiting on this game since it got scrapped way way back, years ago, before WoW was a twinkle in Blizz's eye. When i heard it was finally going to be made, i practically had an (censored). Anyhow, it doesnt live up to all they claimed it would be. Several classes were scrapped. The AI is no different from WoW. The combat system is essentially the same as all MMO's...you click a button and wait for a cooldown. Admittedly the CD's in WAR are far quicker, but all in all, as Zomglolcats says, its not all that impressive. There are some cool additions, no more waiting forever for a party, you can join any open party in your area. Most of the quests are somehow related to RVR which WAR is concentrating on. Characters seem very limited as far as what they can and cant do. For instance, a Witch Elf is essentially a "Rogue"...she has stealth, lots of dmg and dps. Low armour and hps. But never ever will you be able to change from knives. That is the wpn you start with, that is the wpn you will have, for all 80 lvls. That being said, ill play it for awhile. I bought the collectors edition, but i dont know for how long. There are ALOT of new MMO's coming out in the near future and truthfully, WAR is not going to stand the test of time. They promised too much and delivered far too little. Just another MMO in a different package.

  • zomglolcats

    Posted Sep 9, 2008 7:55 am PT

    I played the beta for WAR. While I do like the game, it's just missing something... I don't know, most of your attacks and special moves are not very impressive looking or sounding. Granted its beta, plus, I haven't tried any high level abilities, but most special attacks seem lackluster to me, compared to the spell and ability effects in WoW.

    Combat just seems dull.

  • zomglolcats

    Posted Sep 9, 2008 7:49 am PT

    @Cabal23: As opposed to all those productive hours playing Counter Strike or any other game? Come on. People love to hate on MMO's. I'm not quite sure why. I don't know if it's because of monthly fees or what. But saying an MMO is a waste of time is just dumb. It's no more of a waste of time than any other game. If you enjoyed your time with it, it was money well spent.

  • 69Kameleon69

    Posted Sep 4, 2008 5:55 pm PT

    1. Grind, level, rinse, repeat.
    2. Work, sleep, eat, party.
    I'll stick #1!

  • Cabal23

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 10:39 am PT

    Reclaim your life and abandon MMO's. Nothing is going to change. Grind, level, rinse, repeat. You just spent years of your life creating nothing.

  • CamiKitten

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 6:16 pm PT

    I might have to wait for a guestpass for this sucker since I'm in limbo between FFXI and WoW =/

  • invictuslemming

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 9:42 pm PT

    I'll definately be trying WAR, don't know if I'll stick with it. Entirely depends if it lives up to the hype. I'm expecting a more pvp oriented game, something WoW lacks in my opinion. (BG's are cool, but I miss world large scale faction combat).

    Its going to have to make a good first impression though if they plan to succeed, if it fails to set a positive feeling for the newcomers, the WoW expansion will probably draw them back again, since its only two months behind WAR launch.

  • Killingspree303

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 2:03 am PT

    I'm not sure if I'm going to buy this. I'll wait for a trial version or guestpass...

  • fairlypriced

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 1:51 am PT

    I was making a new MMO it was going to be better than PvP, better than RvR. It will be MMOvMMO WAR, WOW, FFXI, COH, Lineage II and LOTRO players will be able to fight against each other. The project got cancelled in the end as in all simulations All the MMOs ganged up on WOW and completely wiped it out.

  • fairlypriced

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 1:38 am PT

    6 days open beta is far too short but should be enough to help me decide if I will bother with the European servers or try and get a US copy of the game to play US servers. GOA are running the EU servers and if you compare the US version of the Warhammer online website with the GOA EU managed ones it looks like EU is getting substandard care/attention. I hope the actual game isn't managed/supported in this way.

  • soupa_mario

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 1:07 am PT

    wow everybodys comments on this page are really long.

  • Superion74

    Posted Aug 28, 2008 1:38 pm PT

    As a long time WOW player, I will give WAR a try. WOW is nice, but it's too grind-intensive, and right now I don't have the time to run an instance 1,000 times to get some gear. Also, there is too much of a disparity between the haves and have-nots, which rewards those who have too much free time on their hands (I have family and job, so naturally my play time is limited). I have preordered WAR and played in the preview weekend, and aside from crashes the game left a very good impressive in me. I doubt it is the WOW killer, but I believe it will become a terrific MMO, and probably the first real challenge to WOW's dominance.

  • swordaxe

    Posted Aug 28, 2008 8:44 am PT

    I've been in the beta for WAR a long time now. It's been well worth the wait. I even bought a new computer to play this game (mine's 4+years old). I've never done that with any game I've ever loved or owned. The RvR is just awesome. If you're worried about lag in pvp, it's really not bad or sometimes non existent, depending on your system. If you can play WOW at max graphics you can play WAR at mid. As far as WAR 'feeling' like WOW? That goes away after about 2 min of playing. WAR only looks like WOW in some aspects, it does not play at all like WOW. And the graphics in WAR are great, I love the character models they look just like the ones I own for tabletop.

    I'm also happy with the immense depth of WAR, there's so much to do it's almost dizzying. No MMO has ever launched with as much content as WAR. It feels like actually playing a full game, not some rushed MMO that's missing parts (like AOC, LOTRO, EQ2 etc). I hope in a future expansion they add the VC army to the playable list of Destruction. They're my favorite.

  • Deano

    Posted Aug 28, 2008 4:43 am PT

    I have never understood why people pay real money for wow gold. outside of an epic flying mount which is easy to farm with daily quests(or even before dailies) what on earth do you spend money on. I think it's retarded, played for 3 years and farmed everything myself, guess i'm not lazy.

  • yukikaze8721

    Posted Aug 28, 2008 12:37 am PT

    because the point is, you're in the wrong place BUDDY.
    you need to learn that fact. if you wanted to be liked by the people when you're trying to share you "what-so-called" secrets, you need to learn to know about your PLACE. the place to share your secret is NOT HERE. if you're sharing your secret here, then ITS ALL POINTLESS, you'll just GET FLAMED. if you cant understand that, then it's clearly you were just bluffing arround with all your "what-so-called" secret. what are you BUDDY? a SALESMAN? a door to door SALESMAN? what kind of ignorance do you have? this is a site for games. this is the place to share your thoughts about games not secrets. there is a place to share your thoughts about bussinesses. but THE FACT is you're in the wrong place!

    now if you really concerns about your ebay stuff, go back to ebay and do not waste any of your time again here. this is a place for people who likes games. not a narrow-minded what-so-called bussinessman that complaining about a game because it retail price is $50 and its monthly fee is $15.

  • slimebucket

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 10:52 pm PT

    @ yukikaze8721 you obviously a WoW player because of how you are against listening to other peoples points of view.

    Just because you do not agree with something does not give you the right to assume that point of view is wrong and that the person with that view should go away and stfu.

    You are stuck inside your own little world... Did I force you to read what I typed? I wasn't complaining,

    I was stating facts

    You on the other hand, is doing nothing but COMPLAINING about what I said.

  • waterwizard2005

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 10:24 pm PT

    Mor-GanX That is where I'm coming from. I wouldn't have guessed it either. I've already tried it. Wow's graphics bothered me. These graphics are fine. Gameplay seems more fun than Lotro!

  • yukikaze8721

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 8:59 pm PT

    @slimebucket

    if you don't really like MMORPG games, i dont think this is the place you should be. And to complaining about stuff about MMORPG here, doesn't seem to be very intellect of you. go ahead and have fun with your ebay stuff. we're HAVING FUN here. and if you dont like the idea of paying $50 and the $15 monthly fee ( to keep the game fresh and, lots and lots of additional patches that will keep the game fun to play, which is WORTH IT ) get outta here man..this is just not the place for you. share your math with some other ebay freaks.

    this is gamespot, not ebay.

  • thanos723

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 5:55 pm PT

    ratavaquera,

    i don't think you read what he wrote. he said wow would be better if it wasn't aimed at kids so much. not there are no kids on wow

  • ratavaquera

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 4:42 pm PT

    LMAO

    thekodaman:

    i dont know if u know this but, there are LOTS of kids playing World of Warcraft LMAO. Just go to Stormwind and read the chat... "OMG my mom needs me", or just go and make an instance, you'll notice that there are at least 1 or 2 kids in your party lol.

    Thats why WoW its good as Teen rated.

  • Captainintendo

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 4:16 pm PT

    "You can't compare WoW and WAR. Sure they are both MMOs, but WoW is PvE, and WAR is PvP, and PVP is what it's all about! WAR all the way."

    ......ummmm, thats not correct. Have you even played WoW?

  • thekodaman

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 3:04 pm PT

    Lets hope the Teen rating is just an abberation because if it isn't they might have made the game more child-friendly which would suck, World of Warcraft would be far better if it wasn't aimed so much at kids.

  • Mor-GanX

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 2:42 pm PT

    From what I've seen so far, this might be good enough to pull me away from Lord of the Rings Online. Never thought that would be possible.

  • TriggaMyke

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 2:21 pm PT

    You can't compare WoW and WAR. Sure they are both MMOs, but WoW is PvE, and WAR is PvP, and PVP is what it's all about! WAR all the way.

  • runstalker

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 1:29 pm PT

    Played the beta. It was a little more system heavy than I thought it might be, considering relative complexity of the shaders/draw distance/LOD. I'm sure it will optimize further. Looks like a strong WoW alternative with serious PvP considerations. The class/race combos are a little fragmented--it's too bad they had to ditch some classes so late in the game's development to make ship date. I hate it when that occurs. It hints that all classes suffer some balancing woes if several are deliberately plucked away from criticizing players in late beta. How many other classes just made it? But seriously, the Warhammer world is great and this game oozes Warhammer lore. So I might give it a whirl. Hopefully Mythic hauls ass on the other classes and additions.

  • SAPD_Officer

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 1:13 pm PT

    I'm glad to say I'm one of those people who have a Collector's Edition waiting for me on release night!

    "This is a Dark age, a bloody age, an age of daemons and of sorcery. It is an age of battle and death, and of the world's ending. Amidst all the fire, flame and fury it is a time, too, of mighty heroes, of bold deeds and great courage....."

    This is the Age... of Reckoning!

  • CoupeD

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 12:16 pm PT

    Ok Egotte the Yankee comment was retarded.

    I played the beta the game is incredible. The concept of guilds can control keeps and castles and fly their standard over it will create lots of guild tension. OH btw when you guild takes a keep it gets in game bonuses!

    RvR is top notch. Boiling oil, catapults, trebuchets, Fire cannons, ramp pads, are all a part of the castle seige. Plus there is a nasty NPC champ that is the lord of the castle that you have to kill after you kill the 50-100 IRL players to get there.

    Oh yeah and that's only level 2 of the 4 level world system. A lot more that I forgot too.

    This game is pimp and will take most of the pvp junkies like you and me away from WoW.

    Our only worry is all of the computer power taken to run this game. Or people with low bandwith dial-up or dsl's. After I pop in the second 8800GT and with a 40Mbit Fios line PIMP TIME!

    Can't wait to see y'all in game!

  • Koal_Jadian

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 12:15 pm PT

    Ya, I love paying monthly subscriptions for less gameplay value then regular video games.

    You guys all should keep paying for WoW too, gotta love that 3d GUI on a spreadsheet with terrible animation. You get so much value from that game

  • Arnoox

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 12:15 pm PT

    Every MMO there was, is and will be is similar/different to/from another MMO. Instead of commenting "omigod, dis be laik WoW??/", comment on WAR's aspects that make it unique and whatnot.

  • trueepower44

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 11:21 am PT

    I played WOW in beta and played it for a year after that, then came back after the expansion to try the flying mounts etc. I quit over a year ago because the pvp is non-existant. The graphics are annoying to me. In WOW everything i see looks cool the first time then shortly after it gets really old. My brother still plays which is cool and i know other people who play, i think this game is going to draw a lot of people.

    The RVR is going to be WAY better than any pvp in WOW. The Classes are very interesting. The graphics (although similiar to WOW) are way better. I expect people to enjoy this game for along time but, you have to have patience with new mmorg's. You might see a lot of people initually leave WOW and then come back when this game is more polished.

  • Mystoksor

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 11:12 am PT

    There is a lot of pvp, but it's not a lot different from WoW. It feels a little less static than WoW, but I'm sorry to say I was somewhat disappointed and I'm considering cancelling my preorder

  • fredwv

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 10:39 am PT

    I cannot stand wow arena and the lack of meaningful world pvp. I might actually give this game a shot.

  • earlthecannibal

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 10:25 am PT

    Best mmo i have played in awhile ..can't wait for it.

  • Nepherate

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 10:20 am PT

    All MMO's have bugs and some issues at release, the thing to remember about WAR is that it's a damn fun game, things are incredible stable considering, and Mythic has been known (throughout beta) to fix problems as quick as possible.

    Start playing and find the amazing RvR and PvE. In a few months, the game will be even BETTER.

    I pre-ordered the CE Edition, and having played the game, I'm totally keeping my pre-order.

  • sidewinder4534

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 9:26 am PT

    I hope it doesn't turn out like Hellgate London

  • Egotte

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 8:50 am PT

    The appeal of this game is this: As soon as you create your character, you feel as if you've been thrown into the war. There's fighting going on everywhere, not just in select locations or in instanced areas. The reason a lot of you all are comparing to World of Warcraft is simple: WoW's been the top MMO for years now, and a lot of us would be curious to see something surpass it. Will this game surpass ten million-plus suscribers? Maybe not. It will, however, take a large number of people during these Fall months when Blizzard is trying their hardest to get Lich King out. A lot of us will stay in WAR, rather than revert back. I think WAR will also snatch up some of the Guild Wars community, too. World of Warcraft is almost like the New York Yankees; the monopolizing franchise that won over even the previous non-Warcraft fans and has seen victory over other MMO's time and time again, but if all goes well, Warhammer Online will be the possible unlikely hero, the Tampa Bay Rays of MMOs perhaps Now of course for this analogy to work the newer kids on the block (The Rays) will have to at least make the playoffs, but hopefully you get the point. PvP in WoW is dead for a lot of us. As sick as it sounds, I almost miss the old BG scene where getting top rank on the server was madly competitive. I liked large battles like no other, and AV was insane fun for a while. Instead of focusing on fixing the battleground scene (something a game called WARcraft should be known for), they went and turned PvP into a mock-off of Mortal Kombat meets the Gladiator film. This killed the true concept of what Warhammer employs with RvR. Arenas are "ok", but aren't we fighting a war here? Going off to dungeons for six hours at a clip and then fighting 2v2-5v5 isn't my idea of battle. So public quests, RvR from levels forty down to even the START of the bloody game! Now we're talkin'.

    EA Mythic saw a great working formula with games like WoW. Some of the devs there may have even been subscribers. But they saw things that needed to be improved in MMOs and are trying to make us question if the setup presented by companies like Blizzard are really actually FUN. Based on a lot of these comments, we're not having fun with our current MMOs or we're obligated to too much time in one sitting. Warhammer aims to change that, so cheers to Age of Reckoning. Get your staves and swords up, grab a stick of Juicy Fruit, the change is gonna move ya.

  • asdfpo

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 8:18 am PT

    I really think that everyone should buy it and atleast try the starting period that comes with it, so they can go on and update it
    WoW wasn't really that much on its release either, its all been added afterwards

  • xMADxDOGx

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 7:49 am PT

    hookax ... lol , just like jerry springer sed , go get a ...

  • Waximizer

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 7:40 am PT

    And this special edition I pre-ordered

  • graphicNature

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 7:30 am PT

    I felt the PvP in WAR is better than WoW.

  • Cherub_Rock

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 7:12 am PT

    I play WoW for PvP. If Warhammer's PvP is better then WoW, then I'll be a convert. Otherwise, back to WoW. Simple as that.

  • IXIWhistIXI

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 6:57 am PT

    Yeah jimmy, it'll probably have its share of bugs, but something tells me it will be in a lot more of a working condition than AOC.

    AOC was released while it was still in mid-beta. I think the most ironic thing is, they sold the collectors edition with one of the selling points being the ingame cape that let you get free drinks from various taverns...the thing they didn't do was make those drinks consumable as they probably had no effect made for being drunk yet. What's greater than preorder items not doing their primary function? Nothing. Man I'm so excited about conan again, I'm going to go throw it out my 40 story window.

    Anyways, expect this game to have some bugs but I doubt it will have bugs that greatly affect gameplay...like conan had. Either way, I'm still not going to purchase this game until its released and I see good reviews.
    Plus it wouldn't hurt to go find a job with the monthly fees and all. Damn college.

  • Hettie13

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 6:54 am PT

    I play WoW, but im gonna stop playing it and go give this a go. I reckon it could be pretty good

  • jimmypop_04

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 6:50 am PT

    I want to pick this up so bad, but I don't want it to be bug riddled like AoC's launch. Oh what to do what to do.

  • Plebbington

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 6:04 am PT

    Why is WoW even being discussed here, it's about WAR and how great that game will be. WoW fan boys defending their 'precious', should kindly crawl back to their clearly over-rated game. Thanks
    Now to get back on topic, I can't wait for this game to release! From what i've seen it looks amazing, see everyone on the battlefield!

  • Omnipresence

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 5:50 am PT

    public quests > everything.

  • Ceil

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 5:31 am PT

    I played this game this past weekend and could not believe how packed it was with other players. The game is better than Wow, cause if you cant find a group, no problem, they have open groups, which you can join, get some quests done, and if that doesn't work, you can join public quests. I have never lvl'd as fast in any mmo before. The graphics are great, the game ran smoothly, with exception of a couple of minor bugs. I really enjoyed playing and never got bored. Too much going on. Didn't have time to try out the crafting, but it seemed very simple to catch on. I think they have a winner here, and I cant wait for the Open Beta to begin.

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