Warhammer Online has 300k subscribers News

I'd play it if they fixed public quests. There's nowhere near enough people around most of the time for them to even work.

So they have lossed over half there subscribers already?

I'm not sure if I like the random nature of the Public Quest loot. Not that I complain that much, I've never lost yet, even when I've done almost nothing!

I like WAR for different reasons than I like WoW, and there's certainly a place for both.

@Eraysor: Try Azgal, or Norn for populated bits in T1/2 and yell, I was on Izor myself before the move and both servers just feel as the game was intended :)

Nice to see at least one article out there that noted the falloff of the 750K to 300K might had been somthing to do with WolK (or MoM) comming out at the same time at least, WAR's too new to be 'perfect' atm for some ppl, but with the MMO market flooded with games these days (where as DAoC's only 'other option' was EQ at the time) 300K at entry status it's too shabby :)

Selling1.2 million £30 boxes in Sept and then keeping 300K players playing on avg £10 isn't too bad income for 4 months work :)

Indeed, any MMO with a half-decent subscriber base must be a dream for publishers. about £9 a month from 300,000 people is still 2.7 million a month, which I'd imagine is enough to keep the developers creating new stuff and keeping the servers going.

It could do with a few server merges though. Even though the server I joined has an XP bonus, it's still a bit empty - though it has enough people to get a little bit RvR and Public Questing on the go.

The mass sucess of WoW has set an un-realistic benchmark, as said above 300k subscribers is very good money, unless you budgeted for 1m+ year one and over spent that is.

Blizzard have always had a massive fan-base in Asia which does make up a large portion of their userbase iirc, so getting up there would be a climb for anyone.

Part of the problem is their pre-paid cards are so expensive when compared to WOW, that and hardly anyone actually stocks them.

Rizo,

Firstly, its 'have they LOST over half their subscribers already?'

Secondly, no one knows that, because EA and WAR have only mentioned 750,000 copies bought, that does not translate into subscribers.

As someone who WANTED to love the game, and leveled up a R40/RR41 SM, i just got tired of a game that wasnt ready for launch.

Keep in mind that WOW once started small as well...

thats a canny enough number

AoC went from 700k subscribers to 415k in the first 3 months, which are comparable figures to WAR. What will be interesting is whether WAR holds on to what it has or continues to lose subs (the people I know still playing it are 50-50 split over being excited about the new classes and zone, or quitting because of what they see as inherent flaws in PvP that are not being addressed).

@Eraysor
I'd play it if they fixed public quests.There's nowhere near enough people around most of the time for them to even work.

That's always the problem with MMOs: group content is a pain-in-the-ass when you're behind the curve, in the first month or two the T1/T2 zones were thriving, now most people have levelled beyond those areas so you'll have difficulty finding a group. That said, on the weekends I've had no problems completing T1 PQs on my plethora of alts including RVR (that's Order on Karak-Hirn, which is giving bonuses for Order players which would account for that) and they've tweaked it so there's at least one "easy" PQ that can be soloed per chapter.

As for the numbers, they're just releasing in Russia this weekend and I don't believe they have any far-eastern servers yet, so I'm willing to bet that the numbers will grow but, regardless, 300k is healthy.

I still havent resubbed yet, but intend to, just dont have the time right now. :)

Played the beta didn't enjoy it. Friend recently both it and it still looks like a beta. Graphics are bad, animations are still as good as not present. But it seems there are still enough people who enjoy it.

@Bleh - Question: For a game that has 100s of players in one small area (ala Keeps/forts) and expect 360/ps3 quality graphics in the game - what pc specs would you be looking at?

If you even look at DCU Online it's not going to be 'epic' in quality either and thats heading for the ps3l... Quality graphics and the mass numbers on screen that you get with a MMO just don't mix, well they can but just not that well on a 'normal' pc, unless your willing to fork out £3000+ to get both to get the best of both worlds.

Besides WAR 'looks' Warhammer, thats all that matters to most, now all we need is more options to dye armour, kinda hate having amour sets where dyes only cover a small part of it

@Kremlik
@Bleh - Question: For a game that has 100s of players in one small area (ala Keeps/forts) and expect 360/ps3 quality graphics in the game - what pc specs would you be looking at?

If you even look at DCU Online it's not going to be 'epic' in quality either and thats heading for the ps3l... Quality graphics and the mass numbers on screen that you get with a MMO just don't mix, well they can but just not that well on a 'normal' pc, unless your willing to fork out £3000+ to get both to get the best of both worlds.

Indeed, like DaoC before it the graphics are designed for large scale ORvR, hugely detailed models wouldn't work. That said the game looks great to me with all the bells and whistles on but at those settings it can chug a bit in scenarios and ORvR even with the graphics performance improvements so I've downgraded the settings to "looks great to me with a lot of bells and whistles off". The animations appear fine on the characters I use but I'd like more emotes (especially /sit /lie commands).

screw the public quests. This game is amazing. Last weekend I was in a warband of 300 people in a 4 hour running battle with destruction. No other game comes close. I don't even do PVE anymore. You can get all the xp and gear you need in PVP.

And they've totally fixed the game engine. It's smooth as butter now.

This game is terrible. The concept is WoW in the Gamesworkshop Warhammer world. The gameplay, graphics and sounds are similar to the aging WoW, nothing spectacular or interesting. Some of areas are half built or half thought. The quests are grindy and awful with little happening for little reward. The levelling up is abyssmal and not worth the time or effort.

I have tried and tried to enjoy or even like the game to no avail.

The much vaunted RvR is just bad - its basically a frenzy of clicking and button pushing for no discernable difference.

The game engine is very smooth - their a positive (and about the only thing i liked)

Please, dont buy this, cancel your subscription it is just terrible. (I have cancelled mine)

"Please, dont buy this, cancel your subscription it is just terrible. "

Certainly..I will follow your advice, it is terrible after all. Why oh why am I spending all this time with my Engineer when I could be playing other games and not enjoying them instead.

Edited to ensure the sarcasm was realised by those reading my comment ;)

yes, it's a frenzy of clicking the right ability at the right time (of which there are many) and proper tactical and team based pvp. You are obviously shit at it.

It's the only place where you or I will ever get even the vaguest idea of what it's like running into battle with an army behind you and a massive axe in your hand. Now that either floats your boat or it doesn't.

The graphics are nothing like wow's. They are totally different in every way conceivable. Both in the art style and their resolution.

The quests are the least grindy quests from any game i have ever played. They only last about 3 mins, they all feed into each other and the game actually tells you where to go in order to complete them.

How is the levelling up different from any other kind of levelling up in any other game? Online or not? Besides you can level up youcharacter, your RvR level, your guild, your influence. You can level about a million things so you always get some kind of increase in something no matter what you do.

And even better, you don't even have to worry about grinding for gear AT ALL. So you can PvP and eventually you will be decked out in good stuff. Not that you need to becasue primarily its a game of skill.

but if you want to go back to killing 9 rat scorpions to collect their stings when for some reason not all rat scorpions actually seem to have stings be my guest.

moron.

I like this game better than wow, but then again, I hate wow

Thats a shit number given:

1) the strength of the warhammer brand name
2) even Conan had similar after its launch
3) the competition is only growing, so odds of it increasing much are slim

@Cynicalgamer
have tried and tried to enjoy or even like the game to no avail.

The much vaunted RvR is just bad - its basically a frenzy of clicking and button pushing for no discernable difference.

In the syle of WoW: L2P noob!1!!!!

Maybe you didn't notice a difference because you're using "a frenzy of clicking and button pushing". Try picking appropriate skills for appropriate situations, I find it's much more effective. ;)

Please, dont buy this, cancel your subscription it is just terrible. (I have cancelled mine)

Hmmm... well, ok, you didn't like a game so I will of course cancel my subscription. Seems like a reasonable request.

even Conan had similar after its launch

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From what I can gather, AoC sold 800K copies, according to Funcom.

Funcom announced they had 415K PLAYERS (and made a distinction between "players" and "payers" so this figure presumably included people playing the free trial or are they claiming they have more subscribers than players?) at their last announcement relating to the user-base, but this was before the server merge.

The last estimates I saw put it at around 150K subscribers.

I'm by no means commenting either way on WAR or AoC, but merely trying to present the figures for comparison.

Ouch.

http://www.massively.com/2009/02/04/rumo...

They probably need to hit that million mark soon, or theyll fall of the radar within 6 months.
Too bad, really. Blizzard keeps releasing amazing stuff, but some real competition wouldnt hurt anyone.

What is the next "big" one coming up? (KO)TOR?

@iokthemonkey
Ouch.

http://www.massively.com/2009/02/04/rumo...

I love how the article at Massively links to the one on Joystiq which links back to the one on Massively.

Rumour-mongering: mmmm them's tasty page hits!

Heh. I didn't see that.

You think it's some kind of anti-WAR circlejerk? : /

@iokthemonkey
Heh. I didn't see that.

You think it's some kind of anti-WAR circlejerk? : /

LOL! I hope so, I love a good conspiracy. :)

Breaking news: I've heard from several well-placed sources that EA have been sacrificing and eating Mythic employees in an attempt to downsize the staff without laying them off. Current estimates put the number of Mythic employees sacrificed to the Dark God Khaine at between 2 and 1,319,260.

We contacted EA for a statement and are awaiting a response. Which we won't get. Because they're bastards who are eating Mythic employees.

Edit: of course, it may be true, but I dearly hope it's not (that's not just me covering my ass, that's me acknowledging that it's quite possible that these rumours are true).

This kinda confirms my view that great PvP is not going to make a game succeed.

This kinda confirms my view that great PvP is not going to make a game succeed.

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I've always thought it was a poor substitute for "proper" content but whenever I say that, the PvPers all appear and shoot me down for being a care bear or something.

Funny though, if it's so popular, why is it that the two current MMOs that are PvP-centric (AoC and WAR) haven't been the runaway successes they were touted by PvPers as being? They'll claim it's nothing to do with the core concept of PvP being a niche thing and will pull out a bunch of excuses about balance issues or general quality but that still doesn't explain why PvE games do so much better in the West than PvP titles...