Warhammer Online apparently R.I.P.

[AOFanboi]

According to Eurogamer a certain evil company bent on turning youth into paint-sniffing zombies who spend all their money on miniatures and related produce has halted development of the MMOG based on one of the best - nay, THE best - fantasy PnP RPG.

It hurts - I think.

[schild]

Oh well.

[Alluvian]

Ah well.  Sucks, but the field was pretty damn cluttered.  As a business decision I can't really blame them at this point.  MMOG dev is not the virgin territory it once was.

[SirBruce]

Thank god.  Field is already too crowded as it is.

Bruce

[Alluvian]

If they cancel Dawn of War I am going to fucking tear their throats out, however.

[stray]

Well, I hope D&D Online doesn't suffer the same fate. The only other big name franchise that appealed to me was Star Wars, and we all know how that went.

[Soukyan]

You had to know that was coming considering how long they've been "in development" and how little progress they had actually made. Shame though.

[Mesozoic]

According to Eurogamer a certain evil company bent on turning youth into paint-sniffing zombies who spend all their money on miniatures and related produce has halted development of the MMOG based on one of the best - nay, THE best - fantasy PnP RPG.

It hurts - I think.

Good.  I'm not sure that an MMORPG is a good way to pay tribute to ...well, anything.  A small part of my childhood just dodged a bullet.

[Alluvian]

DND online is being made by Turbine.  I expect much suckage.  I have a bad feeling it will be as fun as AC2.  Just a bad gut feeling.  Same goes for MEO, which is an awful fucking idea in the first place.  Worse than Star Wars for a mmog world.

[HaemishM]

Now we all know that both D&D Online and Middle-Earth Online will make it to market, and suck most mightily.

It's a damn shame about WHO. They had some interesting ideas, the world fiction is already well-established. However, given GW's past history with computer game translations, chances are it would have been a cluster fuck of the highest order.

I still probably would have tried it.

And if they touch Dawn of War, a most unholy reckoning will be required.

[stray]

DND online is being made by Turbine.  I expect much suckage.  I have a bad feeling it will be as fun as AC2.  Just a bad gut feeling.  Same goes for MEO, which is an awful fucking idea in the first place.  Worse than Star Wars for a mmog world.

Well, I'm not saying that I'm not skeptical myself, but Turbine's track record is 50/50. They've made a "not so shitty" game before: AC1. As for AC2, the only good thing about it was the engine, and I heard that's what they'll be tweaking for DnDO. So half of the job is done already. The most important thing is that it's self-funded. They're also getting a lot of help from Wizards of the Coast, creating a new DnD world from scratch (to be released as PnP as well). Supposedly they're giving it a campaign-like feel (with lots of quests/dungeons/instancing), with a initial lvl cap of 20.

Agreed about MEO: pointless. But I still have faith in DnD because Turbine's doing it with their own cash.

Star Wars could have definitely worked if the job was given to someone who actually cared about Star Wars, instead of his own ideas.

[Mi_Tes]

Turbine not showing MEO at E3 wasn't a good sign.

[Arcadian Del Sol]

you did NOT just call Warhammer the best PNP RPG of all time. you absolutely did not.

did you see the screenshots? nice buildings, horrible environs, really bad 'plastic looking' models

the only thing it had going for it was franchise - one that to date, hasn't managed to produce a single PC game that wasn't a complete disaster[/list:u]

[kaid]

Well I was not very into the whole warhammer online thing anyway but man if they ko dawn of war I am going to england to kick some booty. Thankfully relic is a fairly big company so likely they can get it done.

A rts is a hell of a lot easier beast to build and ship than a MMRPG. With eq2 and WOW coming out this year and the jump to light speed thing for swg It is really not a great time to jump into the market.


Kaid

[Alluvian]

I still don't think EQ2 is coming out this year.  WoW, maybe.  EQ2 is way too hush hush and have not started beta yet.  The only way to get that out is a huge rush job.  Unless their internal testing is second to none and they debut beta with an almost finished game.  This to me is about as likely as duke nukem online coming out this year.

[schild]

I still don't think EQ2 is coming out this year.  WoW, maybe.  EQ2 is way too hush hush and have not started beta yet.  The only way to get that out is a huge rush job.  Unless their internal testing is second to none and they debut beta with an almost finished game.  This to me is about as likely as duke nukem online coming out this year.

A huge rush job? SOE is the MASTER of huge rush jobs. Though Raph and co. may have wised up since the debacle that is Star Wars Galaxies. Though, if ANYONE can afford a top notch internal testing team, it's SOE.

I don't see them holding a huge beta test for the sole fact the game will proably be at least dvd sized if not bigger. it would be hugely expensive to send out the dvds and bandwidth on 5-6 gigabytes worth of data would drive them mad.

Duke Nuken Online? Are you skipping a generation? Duke Nukem Forever won't even be out this year. Expect DKO in 20X6.

[kaid]

I was thinkign about that as well the other day. How in the hell can they do a full beta if their game is like 10 cds long. Unless they are charging and shipping the disks out I am not sure how they could really give eq2 a full test.

As for ship date I only say this year cause thats what the goons are saying I think they will be lucky to make it by december and very likely it will slip into next spring.

WOW should ship this year it has already been in a pretty huge beta already for a good while I doubt the money men would let them not kick it out by this fall come hell or high water.


kaid

[Soukyan]

I was thinkign about that as well the other day. How in the hell can they do a full beta if their game is like 10 cds long. Unless they are charging and shipping the disks out I am not sure how they could really give eq2 a full test.

As for ship date I only say this year cause thats what the goons are saying I think they will be lucky to make it by december and very likely it will slip into next spring.

WOW should ship this year it has already been in a pretty huge beta already for a good while I doubt the money men would let them not kick it out by this fall come hell or high water.


kaid

They charged for SWG beta, they'll charge for EQ2 beta as well.

[kaid]

It is probably the only way they can do it but man that is going to be a pricey beta for 10 disks plus shipping.

kaid

[Hanzii]

GW should have stuck with the original plan and made an mmog version of their most popular licenses as they are. That is gone the Wizards of the Coast route and implemented their rules in an online game, made at matchmaking service and make people buy virtuel miniatures.
If they did it without the stupid ass pricing scheme that WoTC adobted, they could have made a bundle.

And anybody saying good riddance to WHO, which was at least slightly original, and looking forward to EQ2 is a tool.

[schild]

Hey, Hanzii, had you played WHO?

Can you tell me if those design docs were worth anything? I'm not promoting EQ2, but what you just said makes you as much a tool as the next guy.

Design Docs mean NOTHING.

[Sky]

Anyone making me buy VIRTUAL ITEMS for REAL MONEY as a portion of their online game is a marketing tool in my eyes. Die.

[Margalis]

In Magic online you can win prizes, and you can redeem virtual card sets for real ones.

[Jain Zar]

Its still stupid.

But this doesn't suprise me.  There really isn't a need for yet another Fantasy MMORPG, especially one where little old Games Workshop acts like its niche industry can tell the gaming industry what they can and cannot do...  For some reason GW thinks their games are that important when the EAs and Microsofts of the world could buy them in a heartbeat should they actually want them.  Instead of making big videogaming money off the games many people would play if it wasnt for the absurd costs, massive amounts of work, and incredibly ambiguous rules, they watch the real money go away and wonder why pissing off games developers for years hasn't made them much money.

[stray]

Does anyone remember a post that was circulating a while back, supposedly written by someone associated with the project, warning everyone that WHO would never be made? It'd be interesting to read again, but I can't find it anywhere.

He went into a few details about the fuckups going on behind the scenes, the progress (or the lack thereof), how the money was being wasted, etc., etc.. Actually, I believe he said the game had made zero progress, except for a few 3D models. He painted a pretty bleak picture, and that was only a little over a year ago. At the time I remember some were writing it off as a hoax, but if it was true, it makes me laugh to think how much work they might have put into it since then.

[Comstar]

That was at Fat Babies I think, 2 years ago now?

They should have gone with the idea of RTS WHFB online, or do what EVERYONE has said, and make Warhammer 42000* Online.


--------------
* 4th Ed rumors are its now swt 2 centuires after 3rd Ed. Warhammer 42K sounds like a DOS game.

[stray]

That was at Fat Babies I think

Found it. Thanks

http://www.fatbabies.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2659

[eldaec]

games many people would play if it wasnt for the absurd costs, massive amounts of work, and incredibly ambiguous rules, .

Hmm, maybe GW products are perfect for the MMOG implementation after all.

[schild]

I want to bring myself to care about this. But I really can't.

For one thing, it's a fantasy MMO. We do NOT need another fantasy MMO. It's a waste of goddamn time. Everquest 2 and World of Warcraft will have that market cornered. Tabula Rasa is sort of fantasy based, but I'm sure they'll have enough steampunk looking shit and the signature silliness of Lord British to differentiate itself.

What GW should have done was plan a Warhammer 40k MMO. I would absolutely kill for a post apocalyptic MMO. If I had the time to play City of Heroes, I still would - if only because I don't feel like I'm playing all the other MMO's I've ever played. It's something new. It's a total change of pace.

Dragon Empires, Dark and Light, Ryzom, Mourne (formerly.....Realms of Torment, I think), and all those other independent developers have their eggs in a basket with no bottom. Anyway, I'm just complaining now, not even ranting...

[Alluvian]

Is Mourne or Realms of Torment or whatever it is called these days even coming out?  I have seen nothing there to set it above the crowd.  The fanboys that used to show up bragging about it back in he p2p days amused me greatly, but even they seem gone now.

I thought the game looked like ass way back then.  It must really be showing it's age now.

[schild]

I just got an email from them about having to redo my beta application because the old database was so old most of the emails were bouncing. I must've signed up for it something like a year or two ago. Apparently they are starting beta soon. I don't know if I care, but it's my duty to play2destroy.

[Alluvian]

So is there a new beta signup then?

Otherwise sending an email because most of their emails were bad makes not fucking sense at all.

[schild]

There is a new beta signup.

[HaemishM]

We do NOT need another fantasy MMO.

I disagree with you on this basis. We DO need another fantasy MMOG, we need a fucking good one. All the rest of these stinkers suck ass or have been played out. I'd kill for a good fantasy MMO that isn't just another EQ clone.

Now the market, she don't need no stinking fantasy MMO's. Not that that will stop anyone else from making one or releasing a shitty sequel to a shitty game.

[schild]

We do NOT need another fantasy MMO.

I disagree with you on this basis. We DO need another fantasy MMOG, we need a fucking good one. All the rest of these stinkers suck ass or have been played out. I'd kill for a good fantasy MMO that isn't just another EQ clone.

EQ2! It's not a clone, it's a sequel! am i rite?