Words of Replicant Jesus

I am not sure what to make of this EA Mythic + Bioware merger today.  I am excited because I think the merge could mean some experienced talent on the Old Republic MMO but I am not sure what this means for WAR, EA Mythic’s MMO title.  On the one hand I think losing Mark Jacobs will be a morale blow to that team but I think working with Bioware could really sharpen that product up as well.  Bioware usually brings polish and quality to their products and I am excited to see what this new group will do with their established titles and forthcoming products.

Although I never played Dark Ages of Camelot (DAoC) I recognize that the game was rather successful in it’s time and although still kicking and going is in decline as newer products come to the fore.  I recognize that Mark Jacobs played a large part in that initial vision for DAoC and should be respected at least for bringing an influential product to the MMO scene.  The game was successful and although not World of Warcraft numbers at the time it was an MMO blockbuster as far as subscriptions go and impact on products that followed.

Having beta-tested WAR I was not too surprised that it’s success, relative to World of Warcraft, was not what EA thought it would be.  The game never really hooked me and seemed to emulate much of what Blizzard had done without understanding the why it was done.  I do think the game has plenty of legs though and I think it brought some really good ideas to the table that I am sure we will see in future products.  I hope that the success of WAR did not affect this departure but I suspect it may have played a role.

I wish him the best of luck and I hope this merge brings good things to us in the future.

Link: http://kotaku.com/5302069/ea-combines-mythic-and-bioware-into-a-giant-rpg-robot

Well today is a crappy day for Warhammer Online news; four classes (Choppa, Hammerer, Blackguard, and Knight of the Blazing Sun) and 4 Racial Capitol Cities will not make it into the game; those were just the major changes that were announced by Mark Jacobs.

SOURCE

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I think I am going to like Warhammer Online if for nothing else the character and flavor of the game should be entertaining, although I am not sure which side I would choose.  Many of my good online friends are split between both sides of Destruction and Order.  On the side of Destruction I like the look of the Chaos Chosen; the style of the Black Orcs, and of course the attitude of the Blackguard.  If the Blackguard can be a female Dark Elf… then Vanifae may yet live again as a Blackguard!

I have never been much for dwarves though my first paladin in World of Warcraft was a dwarf since everyone else was a human.  Warhammer dwarves have much character though and I like the stunties, but th Empire Knight of the Blazing Sun and the Swordmaster have my most attention.  Most likely I would choose Swordmaster though because I would like to continue Vanifae’s illustrious career.

Not that it is over any time soon… Wrath of the Lich King comes.

Well first off, I am not even sure this will be a regular feature but it sounds cool and since it sounds cool I might as well try to make it a regular feature even if I fail at doing so.  But maybe it can be at least a weekly feature… maybe.

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Age of Conan (AoC) is coming and strangely I am not overly excited about this game, I mean I feel some sense of excitement about Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR), although I am not sure how excited I am about Realm versus Realm (RvR); I enjoy PvP but I like a good PvE game as well… so hopefully they deliver on both accounts. But back to Age of Conan, I know that this game looks pretty fantastic, the game play may be novel or tedious/button smashing according to some; but I guess I am just wondering where the meat is and if this is possibly an Everquest 2 (EQ2) retread with a more PvP focus.

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