Warhammer Online Merges Servers

[John Funk]

Warhammer Online Merges Servers

Mythic is pulling the plug on 63 of its low-population Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning servers, moving characters onto other high-population realms.

Last month, it was reported that WAR had approximately 300,000 active subscribers [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/89183-Warhammer-Online-Population-Drops-to-300-000], a significant drop from the 800,000 the game was boasting right after launch. In an attempt to consolidate the game's population, Mythic has been offering free character transfers from low-population servers to higher-pop ones for several months now. Those character transfers are no longer optional - and the plug will be pulled on the empty servers this week.

A total of 63 servers will be shut down - 43 in the US & Oceania, and a further 20 in Europe - which is a pretty hefty number of closures. On the one hand, this certainly isn't good news - Mythic's Mark Jacobs has said that the mark of a MMO's health is whether or not it's expanding. If the game needed to add more servers, it was in good shape. If they were merging servers, then there was trouble. Such a large merger, then, doesn't bode well for Mythic and their PvP-centric MMORPG.

On the other hand, this consolidation should make the game experience significantly more fun for the game's population. The trouble with having such a PvP-focused game is that if there's no one on the other side to fight, it can be rather dull. Making sure that all the available servers have a healthy and thriving population is a good way for Mythic to ensure that everyone is having an experience that is at least similar to what they intended the game to be. Heck, the prospect of having people to always play with might even draw people back to the game.

It's not good news for Mythic, no - but maybe it isn't quite as bad as it might have been.

(Via Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22654])

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[Mariena]

I still say they should have gone with a 40k MMO, and not yet another elf, orc whatever fantasy game.

 

[Sigenrecht]

I'm a sad panda. Maybe I should renew my subscription out of good will.

 

[tk1989]

I would play it, but even with windows installed on my macbook it wont run; the game needs the graphics processor just one above mine! If i ever feel like playing an MMO again i guess it will have to be WoW...

 

[Bretty]

Truly sad news...

I wonder if WoW truly is a phenomenon? I personally think WAR is a better game... It is wierd to see is bounce down so quickly.

To think about the grind, uggh.

 

[Kajt]

It's the beginning of the end, it's really a shame tho, it was a okay game.

 

[Murmur95]

I would want to try it out but i don't want to pay as much as they want to play.

 

[Senrab]

I liked WAR alot, but I can't bring myself to play it again. The keep system needed alot of changes and I vowed not to return until these changes were made. They've improved the game I'm sure, I've been reading the patch notes, but not enough. If I were to return now I'd just get annoyed for all the same reasons and quit again.

On the other hand, they have finally started handing out 10 day trials to the game, so perhaps this will increase the playerbase?

 

[AnimalAl]

It's the beginning of the end, it's really a shame tho, it was a okay game.

No, it's not the beginning of the end, it's the end of the beginning. Much more fun to be had by all.

 

[Phyroxis]

I like WAR.. I just dun like subscriptions

 

[Littaly]

Hmm, I have a subscription for another few weeks, but so far time has stood in my way just like the last time I quit.

To be honest these aren't the bad news people make them out to be. While it's a sign of weakness it's also something they needed to do in order to enhance the game. Right now they need to keep the boat floating while polishing, and by merging servers hopefully more people will stay for a while longer.

 

[GyroCaptain]

How the frell many servers did they have? I'm in SWG and they're doing a closure of some servers, but even at peak they never had anywhere near that many.

 

[Ranooth]

As a dedicated Warhammer and Mythic fan all i can say is: OH F---!

 

[cainx10a]

As a dedicated Warhammer Online and Mythic fan all I can say is: Hell yeah, about time you take those servers with low pop and merge them together to form a bigger community for the players to enjoy themselves.

AoC partly died because Failcom took forever to merge it's servers. And Server Merges are not such a bad thing for the player in the long run, I really feel bad for people playing on low-pop to med-pop servers who always seem to cry about the lack of WAR in warhammer.

 

[In Limbo]

WAR was a victim of an early rush at launch. They had to expand to accommodate those people, but it appears a lot of them eventually went back to WoW. 300,000 is still a respectable amount of players, and if Mythic can keep delivering with polished content and good PvP mechanics, then the MMO will start expanding again. I'm personally waiting for a free trial or a price drop to AUD$50. I don't feel $100 for a month of play is a sound investment, no matter how much I loved Games Workshop in high school.

 

[Joeshie]

It's kind of sad how World of Warcraft has practically strangled the life out of the MMO scene.

 

[oliveira8]

I still say they should have gone with a 40k MMO, and not yet another elf, orc whatever fantasy game.

Oh yes they should. 40k would bring much more people, cause 40k>Regular Warhammer.

 

[gmer412]

I still say they should have gone with a 40k MMO, and not yet another elf, orc whatever fantasy game.

Oh yes they should. 40k would bring much more people, cause 40k>Regular Warhammer.

Agreed. Another fantasy game or an awesome dystopian(might be misusing this) futuristic setting? You decide.