Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

Warhammer Weekend Update From WarhammerAlliance.com!

2009-07-03T21:03:52Z

WarhammerAlliance.com has posted the latest news updates for everything in the WAAGH!!! Not much from Mythic this week as they're on vacation for the fourth, but there's been some chatter around the net about LotD impressions and Tufmudda winning the special mount on his server!

Here's the latest Warhammer News from WarahmmerAlliance.com:

Warhammer Alliance News

Tome Tuesdays: Quoting Shcolar Timothy Ehrlichmann, Aeternis talks about some Land of the Dead bugs. No, not those kinds of bugs! We are talking about Giant Scarabs, Khepra beetles and Tomb Swarms.

Forum Fanatics. vbGuild is a vBulletin plugin for guilds to help organize their forumites. Unmoderated Info gives you the lowdown.

News From The Herald

All's quiet on the home front, with Mythic taking a vacation this week. Play on, my friends! May you be relaxed and refreshed when you return.

Around the 'Net

One Shard. Gotrek and Felix book review, plus some LotD impressions.

Tufmudda. Congrats to Tufmudda, who won one of the special mounts on his server, as well as his coverage of LotD.

CoTCast. Circle of Trust as a guild disbanded, but their podcast has one final tale to tell.

Warhammer Video Spotlight: Tomb of the Vulture Lord

2009-07-01T18:29:21Z

WarhammerAlliance.com has recently posted a new video spotlight on the Tomb of the Vulture Lord! This is part of the most recent Land of the Dead expansion which brought new PvE content to the world of WAAAGH!!!

Here's a look at the Spotlight On: Tomb of the Vulture Lord:

Werit(WCPI) has posted some fantastic footage of the Tomb of the Vulture Lord, a new RVR/PVE dungeon in the Land of the Dead which features two major boss fights within the a chilling environment full of heiroglyphed walls and skittering bugs.

In addition to minions slain and treasures found, the tomb features phased boss encounters, traps, and an element of suprise - the other faction can enter to wipe your party, so beware!

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Warhammer Online Daily WAAAGH!!! News Update!

2009-06-30T14:24:04Z

WarhammerAlliance.com has posted a daily news re-cap for all the important topics related to WAAAGH!!! The most recent hot fix cleaned up a few bugs in Land of the Dead and Gamasutra posted a new interview with Ray Muzyka about the Mythic/BioWare collaberation.

Here are the stories from the Warhammer News Re-cap:

Warhammer Alliance News
The latest happenings from your favorite WAR fansite!

WAR Community Promotion Initiative - Mythic/Bioware Reaction
WCPI #21 focuses in on the reaction to the Mythic/Bioware new grouping, as well as some other reaction throughout the 'Net.

News From The Herald
News from the Herald compiles Herald posts from the day.

Hot Fixes - 6/27/09
Land of the Dead had a few bugs to stomp, as well as some minor RvR and item-related things which were dealt with in this hotfix set.

Around the 'Net
WAR News and Interviews from the intertubes.

Gamasutra Interviews Bioware Co-Founder Ray Muzyka on the Mythic/Bioware Group
The new head of EA's MMO group talks about what the results of the new Mythic-Bioware collaboration will bring to WAR and to SW:TOR.

Warhammer Online Daily WAAAGH!!! News Updates!

2009-06-25T12:43:43Z

WarhammerAlliance.com has posted the latest news from Warhammer Online, including topics like Mark Jacobs leaves Mythic, Tomb of the Vulture Lord Goes Live, and a "Merger" Clarification about the recent BioWare/Mythic moves. Look to WarhammerAlliance.com for the latest news and information for Warhammer and be sure to vote in the latest Warhammer Poll!

Here's a look at the latest Warhammer Online News:

Warhammer Alliance News

Mark Jacobs Leaves Mythic. In a Herald post today, Mythic announced that GM Mark Jacobs left the company on June 23. Stepping in as GM will be Rob Denton, formerly Chief Operating Officer of Mythic. This caused quite a stir on the forums. Read on to see what the community thinks, and add your two cents!

News From The Herald

Tomb of the Vulture Lord Goes Live! All North American and Oceanic servers were taken offline at 9:00 AM EDT. 55 minutes later, all servers were back online, with access to the Land of the Dead up for grabs and the Tome of the Vulture Lord live.

Realm Resource Handicap Live. Today marks the first example of the Realm Resource Handicap system. Realms previously locked out from LotD will gather resources at an accelerated rate.

Daily Devs

"Merger" Clarification. Andy Belford clarifies:

"Mythic is not "merging" with Bioware.

Mythic and Bioware remain independent EA studios within a larger MMO/RPG group.

Thanks!"

Tweet, Tweet!

Josh Drescher's response. "One word response: BioWAAAGH!!!"

Mythic and BioWare Form New RPG/MMO Group

2009-06-24T15:14:07Z

Thanks to WarhammerAlliance.com for picking this information up! It looks like BioWare and Mythic are working together to form a new group within EA that will focus on MMORPG game! The group will be headed by Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, two legends in the gaming world!

Here's the official update about Mythic and BioWare Working Together:

From the General News category we have: Mythic and BioWare Form New RPG/MMO Group:

Today we have important news to share with the community. EA is restructuring its RPG and MMO games development into a new group that includes both Mythic and BioWare. This newly formed team will be led by Ray Muzyka, co-founder and General Manager of BioWare. With this change, Ray becomes Group General Manager of the new RPG/MMO studio group. BioWare’s other co-founder, Greg Zeschuk will become Group Creative Officer for the new RPG/MMO studio group. Rob Denton will step up as General Manager of Mythic and report to Ray. BioWare’s studios remain unchanged and continue to report to Ray.

Mark Jacobs, current General Manager of Mythic will leave EA on June 23, 2009. We thank Mark for his contributions at Mythic and wish him the very best going forward. Mark played a major part in the success of Mythic with his contribution as General Manager and Lead Designer of WAR.

Mythic retains a strong team led by Rob who co-founded Mythic in 1995. Rob played a critical role in the development of Dark Age of Camelot. In his previous role as COO, he was responsible for all day-to-day management of the studio including all development, operations and support.

Please join us in celebrating the union of these two award-winning studios.

Source

The Latest WAAAGH!!! News and Updates From WarhammerAlliance.com

2009-06-23T18:18:21Z

WarhammerAlliance.com has posted a recent update detailing recent hot fixes, a Land of the Dead update, Friday's Faithful Advice, and some in depth discussion about RvR from PhoenixRed! Warhammer is undergoing several changes this month with the release of massive new content with the Land of the Dead expansion, all kinds of hot fixes, and the viral marketing campaign where bones were sent to several top sites. Follow WarhammerAlliance.com for the latest information on these and future developments for Warhammer.

Here's a look at the most recent WAAAGH!!! news update:

Warhammer Alliance News
We report, you bash hide.

Follow the White Rabbit
In this episode of the WAH, PhoenixRed bites into that juicy vegetable product: the carrot of content. With his friend Binky the Rabbit, he goes on a quest to dig up the roots of this tasty root.

Friday's Faithful Advice No.2 !
Here we are again with Warhammer's two Oliphants of Opinion: Saleeya and Rev. Barrows! This week, they deal with a gender confused goblin and lunchbreak trips to the afterlife. Will the victim live past the endless yo-yo of death and ressurections? Will the goblin find true identity? The Answers Await!

News From The Herald

Hot Fixes
These fixes are hot off the presses! Included are some career changes and bug fixes. These updates go hot today, 6/22/09.

Game Update: Land of the Dead - Tue. 6/23/09
The Land of the Dead will be opening to the winning realms on Tuesday! Make sure you bring your sunscreen and a bag lunch, because it'll be a long haul across the desert.

Spotlight: Warhammer Land of the Dead Guides!

2009-06-22T13:33:07Z

Call to arms: Land of the Dead is being released this week it seemed like a good idea to re-cap the expansion and point out some useful guides to prepare you for what's coming! WarhammerAlliance.com has put together several useful articles listed below, and the official Warhammer Online website has also posted a Land of the Dead overview and an official Land of the Dead Trailer!

Here are the Land of the Dead Guides from WarhammerAlliance.com:

Reanimated by the undying Priests of Death, the skeletal warriors of the Tomb Kings march forth to reclaim the lands they once defended in life. To this day, the land once known as Nehekhara is a barren, sun-blasted desert where only the dead stir.

The first thing you must do is know what you're getting into.

In the original Warhammer canon, armies of the Tomb Kings hail from the desert lands of Khemri, the first human civilization to emerge in the Warhammer Fantasy World.

Long before the Old World was civilized, an ancient civilization known as Nehekhara came to power. The land was divided into city-states, each ruled by its own King and defended by its own army. Over the centuries, the power-hungry Kings, frustrated by their short mortal lifespans, sought ways to prolong their lives. Although true immortality eluded them, the rulers of Nehekhara came to believe that if they preserved their bodies after death, powerful magic could one day revive them and they could return to power. Elaborate tombs and pyramids were constructed to protect the remains of these dead monarchs and to house the many treasures and warriors that were buried with the Kings to serve them when they were reborn.

Learn More about the Tomb Kings

Next, you must know how to speak to the locals!

The Land of the Dead is a foreign and mysterious place full of treasures never before seen or dreamed of! There are Ushabti, Kanjar, Ossuaries, and Sigils, Guisarme, Khopesh, and Coleopters! Don't get stuck telling your party you are being chased by hoards of Arquebuse when you really mean Arbalest!

Learn about Land of the Dead residents and items

Don't leave home without your trusty towel

Or in the case of desert expeditions, your sigils. Sigils represent powerful wards obtained by the acquisition of armor sets and pieces or the completion of certain tasks. Each Ward has five fragments and each fragment has one or more ways to unlock it. You do not have to do all of the tasks listed, just one.
For example, to gain your first Greater Ward, all you need to do is don a pair of Conqueror or Darkpromise boots and kill Dralel the Whitefire Matron (Lost Vale) 8 Times, or kill 300 RR 55+ players.

Learn more about Wards

Finally, you wont be going anywhere without Flight!

Live Event beginning June 16
A successful expedition to the Land of the Dead cannot be undertaken without a faster, more secure method of travel : air travel. Emperor Karl Franz or Warlord Tzar'chanek have charged their forces with obtaining the materials needed to create these airships. Slaughter your enemy to obtain airship blue prints and search the depot crates in the contested battlegrounds for airship parts and tools.

Collect 25 Airship Parts from the Open RvR Battlefields (Resource Points : 10 Repeatable)
Collect 15 Airship Tools from the Open RvR Battlefields (Resource Points : 15 Repeatable)
Deliver 1 Airship Blueprints to the Event Herald in Altdorf (Resource Points : 50 Repeatable)

In an effort to support the airship race, the Reikland Factory has begun producing Airship Fuel. It would be a terrible loss if the opposing forces were to secure the Factory (and the Fuel) for themselves!

Participate in the Reikland Factory scenario 5 times (Resource Points : 25 Repeatable)
Win Reikland Factory scenario with 500 points (Resource Points : 100)
Claim the Airship Fuel for your realm in the Reikland Factory scenario 3 times (Resource Points : 50 Repeatable)

Every member of the Order and Destruction armies has been called upon to support the airship effort, be that through taking a place on the front lines, aiding in the actual construction of the ships in the capital cities , or donating much needed materials and blueprints to the cause.

Kill 50 enemy players (Resource Points : 100)
Complete the Iron Eagles quest near the Flight Master in Altdorf or Hammer and Chain Quest at Fates Edge in the IC (Resource Points : 100)
Complete the Lucky Lady public quest in Altdorf or Big Floata public quest in the IC (Resource Points : 75 Repeatable)
Personally contribute 2000 points to your faction in the resource race (Resource Points : 50)
Complete all 10 tome challenges (Resource Points : 250)

Airship Parts : There is a noticeable camp with lots of tents and boxes in each RvR area.

Once you've gotten the basics under your belt, you will be ready for bloodshed and plunder.

Our very own Jistabell of Karak Norn (EU) has painstakingly catalogued his discoveries from many hours spent on the PTS. While some features are subject to change in the coming weeks, his guide is an invaluable source of preparation and knowledge for those looking to conquer the several PQs and dungeon in the Land of the Dead.

View the WHA Land of the Dead Quest Guide here

Special thanks to ToK and Gaarawarr for all their hard work!

Warhammer Daily News Update From WarhammerAlliance.com

2009-06-18T15:11:36Z

WarhammerAlliance.com has once again taken the time to update us with their daily WAAAGH!!! update! Hot topics include a recent joint WAR Community Poll with the WAR Vault, discussion and coverage of Hotfixes from the 16th and 17th, and a Hotplate Response from Andy Belford who defends the PTS. “To say that this round of PTS testing was ineffective is doing a grave injustice to the players who were actively participating in this round of testing.”

Here's the official Warhammer news update:

Warhammer Alliance News
The latest happenings from your favorite WAR fansite!

WAR Community Poll: Once again another joint poll with WAR Vault. Tell us why you login to the PTS! Share your thoughts about the testing system!

News From The Herald
News from the Herald compiles Herald posts from the day.

Immediate Server Downtime: The gremlins of server stability are at it again. Mythic apologized for the short notice, but needed to make some tweaks to servers due to the new 1.3 patch. North American and Oceanic servers were taken down at 2:35 PM EDT and brought back online at 3:23 PM EDT.

Hotfixes from the 16th and 17th: Earlier today, Mythic fixed the “Hammer and Chain” Live event quest. Players will now earn event credit when they complete this quest. Players that have already completed this quest and did not earn event credit should speak to the Event Herald. Players no longer select objects (doors and the like) when they hit “taget nearest enemy" key binding. On the Combat and Careers front, a few items were noted. It seems DoKs and Warrior Priests had regeneration rates reduced on AoE heals. The Archmage High Magic mechanic was fixed. Git To Da Choppa now will only affect one enemy per pulse.

Daily Devs
Daily Devs compiles all the important Dev Tracker posts from the day.

Lost Vale Sigil: It seems bosses aren’t dropping the correct (if any) sigils and wards. The team is aware of the issue and is working on a fix.

Hotplate Response: Andy Belford replies to the hotplate and defends the PTS. “To say that this round of PTS testing was ineffective is doing a grave injustice to the players who were actively participating in this round of testing.” Further, Andy lays out future plans:

“We are going to continue to offer strong in game incentives for PTS participation moving forward. We believe that if you are willing to invest your time into helping us make this game better, you should have something to show for it. You've already seen some rewards with the Shroud and keep looking out as we're going to be rewarding the Imperial Griffon and Enslaved Manticore mounts for PTS testing soon.”

Thank you, Andy!

Warhammer Alliance PTS Discussion About 1.3 and Land of the Dead!

2009-06-16T18:31:17Z

WarhammerAlliance.com has posted an update about the PTS server and some of the happenings there for Patch 1.3. Mythic has often scheduled testing events for the PTS to try to generate the best feedback possible. "The Sands Run Red" is merely the latest PTS event in course of WAR's release. There is, however, a slight problem pointed out by the author of the article.

Here's a snippet from the post, be sure and visit the Warhammer PTS Discussion for the full article:

Lately, the Public Test Server, or PTS, has been getting a lot of publicity. Testing has been open for Patch 1.3, featuring the Land of the Dead, for several weeks and just closed earlier today in anticipation of tomorrow's release of the patch to the live servers.

We have been told many times by Mythic that the PTS is one of the best ways to share feedback with Mythic and the development team. Lately, Mythic has been hard at work trying to encourage use of the PTS and is even offering incentives, such as special ingame items, to players that spend time on the PTS and supply constructive feedback. Still, it can often feel like time spent on the PTS has no positive impact on what we see on the live servers. Testers find themselves wondering if their time spent on the PTS is meaningful, relevant and helpful.

We can look back over the course of WAR's release and even into Beta to see how Mythic has responded to the feedback of their testers, but we have several excellent examples from the testing of Patch 1.3 on the PTS. Just days ago, Mythic announced that due to player feedback from the PTS, they would be adjusting the Realm Resource Quest that will determine who controls the Land of the Dead. According to the announcement, they will be dropping the required resources to gain control of LotD from 10,000 to 5,000. Apparently, this feedback followed several PTS Events advertised on the Herald, including “The Sands Run Red” on the 9th and 10th, which was intended to test out the Land of the Dead content and gather specific data on the Resource Expedition Quest.

Mythic has often scheduled testing events for the PTS to try to generate the best feedback possible. "The Sands Run Red" is merely the latest PTS event in course of WAR's release. However, Mythic included the following note in the Herald post about the PTS event that I find extremely interesting:

Quote:

Please note that this is a hands-off event. Mythic staff will be observing the natural progression of the mechanics as both sides battle it out for supremacy. So remember to build up resources by capturing Tier 4 zones, looting your enemies, and returning the resources to your Expedition Quartermaster near your Flight Master in the capital city.

Immediately, we see that Mythic seems to be attempting to gather data about how the Resource Expedition Quest will run on live servers. They want to be "hands-off" so that they can "observ the natural progression of the mechanics." After the test was complete and they started evaluating feedback, it became apparent that the Resource Expedition Quest was too slow and needed to be more responsive to player actions. So, Mythic used the PTS feedback to alter the system and cut the needed resources in half. At first glance, this all looks very encouraging. We see Mythic engaging with their players and testers and taking the initiative to make system changes to improve the game.

Except for one glaring problem....Read More at WarhammerAlliance.com!

Warhammer Alliance Weekly News Roundup! Get Caught Up On Everything WAAAGH!!!

2009-06-15T16:05:30Z

WarhammerAlliance.com has once again made keeping up with Warhammer Online a piece of cake with their Weekly Roundup! Highlights from this roundup include the new Community Poll, the continuing scavenger hunt as part of an ongoing campaign by Mythic, and another interview with everyone's favourite Live Event Lead Mark Davis!

All Warhammer News updates from the past week at WarhammerAlliance.com are listed below:

Another week, another Roundup! Warhammer Alliance once again brings you this week's top news, including our newest creative content as well as Mythic's and GOA's latest news on the game!

6/08

In this week's Hotplate, PhoenixRed tackled the issues of exploits and Mythic's policy in dealing with them, sparking not only a constructive discussion but also a response from Mythic's very own Andy Belford.

The May 2009 Newsletter, full with information and media goodness about Rise of the Tomb Kings and Land of the Dead in general, arrived in inboxes around the world, and was to be slightly corrected the next day.

6/09

Tome of Knowledge was the first to receive a mysterious package from Mythic, starting yet another viral marketing campaign involving the playerbase that would keep players (and fansite staff) trying to solve the riddle for the rest of the week!

The new Community Poll was unfolded, this time asking you what you were most looking forward to in Patch 1.3

Tome Unlock Tuesday, one of WA's new content features, showed you some tome unlocks you surely don't need high end armour for.

6/10

While the news was mainly dominated by the continuing scavenger hunt, one thing was not be missed: Mythic "]put out the call for dedicated testers[/url] to give detailed Feedback for Land of the Dead, introducing the Guild Focus GroupTesting.

6/11

Thursday was all about the continuing scavenger hunt, with several new hints and discoveries made!

6/12

Via Massively, the community finally received a set date for the coming of Rise of the Tomb Kings: players ought to start watching the skies on June 16th!

Here at Warhammer Alliance, we scored another interview with everyone's favourite Live Event Lead Mark Davis, giving all the finest last minute details on Rise of the Tomb Kings.

Friday was a night of dancing, as both the Friday Folly and the Fan Vid Spotlight highlighted the awesome dancing skills of the Warhammer community!

In Grab Bag Number 18, Jess Folsom answered key questions about Lands of the Dead.

The Patch 1.3 Pre Download was put online, saving time for all of us who are not blessed with a fast internet connection.

6/13

In a rather unusual installment of the Warhammer Alliance Podcast, an equally unusual cast of hosts discussed matters such as the 1.3 Career Changes pushback and single gender classes in WAR.

Warhammer Alliance Podcast: Poll Questions, 1.3 Career Changes, and the Temple of Isha Discussed!

2009-06-14T15:58:08Z

WarhammerAlliance.com has released their latest Podcast covering the recent poll questions, 1.3 career change pushbacks, the Temple of Isha, and a special topic on Single-Gender Classes! Special guest this week is Stephany (Persefani) from Honor Guard of Phoenix Throne!

Here's the original notice from WarhammerAlliance.com with the Podcast Breakdown and how to listen to it now:

Sorry for the delay folks! If you listen to the intro, it'll totally explain everything, because it most certainly was not a technical issue that caused me to lose my edit 3/4ths of the way through.

Your hosts for this podcast are: Kristen, Kelly (Ariwyn), Sarah (Helvetica), Anne (Roksana), and Stephany (Persefani) from Honor Guard of Phoenix Throne

Introduction (5 minutes)

Intros via poll question: "Who's your favorite video game heroine?", featuring Rinoa Heartilly.

New host introduction

Community Hot Topic (15 minutes)

Featuring 1.3's Career Changes Pushback News and what's left for the latest patch

Scenario Strategy and Slipups (5 minutes)

Featuring Temple of Isha

Special Topic: WAR and Single-Gender Classes (10 minutes)

Community Poll Pingback (5 minutes)

Featuring: Poll on 1.3 Stat Contribution

Total length: 39:10 minutes

Podcast Home
GCast Subscription XML Link
Direct MP3 download
iTunes URL

As a special note, Warhammer Alliance would like to bid good luck to Ariwyn (Kelly) who is retiring from the site to pursue bigger and better things. Kelly's going for her Master's degree, and also is writing an English/grammar themed blog at Unenlightened English. We thank Kelly for all her work at Warhammer Alliance and wish her well in her future endeavors, and if you want to follow her on Twitter, look for Unenglish!

Exclusive Interview: Rise of the Tomb Kings with Mark Davis

2009-06-12T19:41:20Z

WarhammerAlliance.com was recently able to sit down with Mark Davis and get all kinds of answers about the upcoming expansion Tomb Kings!

Earlier this year, Mythic announced "A Call to Arms," a Live Expansion for Warhammer: Age of Reckoning. A Call to Arms is comprised of three Live Events, building a continuous story arc that will introduce a brand new RvR Zone: the Land of the Dead. The first two chapters, Bitter Rivals and Beyond the Sands, are now behind us and Chapter III, Rise of the Tomb Kings, is rapidly approaching. With the Rise of the Tomb Kings about to begin, Warhammer Alliance managed to persuade Mark Davis, the Lead for the Live Events team, to answer some questions about the final chapter in "A Call to Arms".

Here's the Mark Davis Tomb Kings Interview:

Warhammer Alliance would like to extend a warm thank you to Mark for taking time out of his busy schedule to give us a sneak peak at Rise of the Tomb Kings, A Call to Arms, Chapter III.

Tell us how this particular Live Event is going to build on previous Live Events for Tomb Kings.

This is the third and final chapter to the "Call to Arms" event story arc. In Chapter 1, “Bitter Rivals,” players learned that agents of Destruction were attempting to acquire plans for an airship, something capable of traveling to the far southern sands. In Chapter 2, “Beyond the Sands,” we saw the results of those plans as Destruction airships returning from the Land of the Dead crashed into the RvR battlefields, spilling their stolen cargo and resulting in a Public Quest that revealed a very unhappy Liche Priest.

And now, in this final chapter, players on both sides will race to acquire the resources needed to build airships for their side to carry their troops to the Land of the Dead. The first realm to do so gets to claim first stake in the desert!

In the last Live Event, placement of objectives next to warcamps was an issue. Have you rectified this with Rise of the Tomb Kings, and if so, how?

In this event, the resources in the RvR areas are plentiful and located in multiple locations. Supplies are located in the open battlefield areas in all pairings and tiers, as well as inside the Reikland Factory scenario!

Some players might not be as excited about Land of the Dead as others. What can you tell us about Rise of the Tomb Kings that will help get players motivated to participate?

While there aren’t any personal event influence rewards for this event, there ARE rewards. And this is an event that won’t come around again. It’s a one-time thing. Many months or years from now, when you sport your event reward or title and someone asks you “Hey, where’d you get THAT!?” you can say, “During Rise of the Tomb Kings--weren’t you there?”

If people are looking to give feedback about Rise of the Tomb Kings, what specific metrics are you interested in measuring to make future Live Events better?

We’re extremely interested in how much fun the event is, how long it took to complete, and if that duration felt too long or too short. And, of course, any tasks they particularly liked or disliked.

You've said that the "winner" of the resource challenge is going to have early access to Tomb Kings for a full day. For the "losing" realm, how will you ensure that they will receive access in due time? There is the possibility on some servers that if the resource meters go back to zero after the Live Event, the "winning" realm will lock the zone again.

Once the event is complete, the “normal” mechanism for capturing the Land of the Dead kicks in. The system is built to ensure that one side will eventually gain access over time, though how successful they are in capturing zones and killing players will dictate the speed. So yes, it IS possible that, after the event is over, the same side might win access again--but they’ll be competing for it while some of their forces will be plundering the Land of the Dead of its treasures.

Give us a hint about a cool easter egg or an interesting piece of lore that you've woven into the Rise of the Tomb Kings Event

We love adding Easter eggs in our live events, and Rise of the Tomb Kings has its share! In RvR, players will notice that strange glyphs can be taken from fallen enemy players. Those glyphs can unlock a powerful treasure that was brought back--oh, I almost forgot, you just wanted a hint!

How soloable are the tasks for Rise of the Tomb Kings? Give us an example of the level of soloability that this Live Event will have.

This event is unlike most events, because our other events have been much more personal in nature. This event is won by your Realm, so, for many of the tasks, you’ll need to work with others. For example, the player-favorite scenario “Reikland Factory” must be won to gain points for your side, or an Airship in your capital city public must be successfully completed to gain points. To do these things, you’ll need to work together. But there are also solo tasks to achieve. Collecting resources from the battlefields and completing the event quest line are just a couple of examples.

What's the approximate time that you expect players to spend to complete all ten tasks for Rise of the Tomb Kings?

It can vary slightly, but in normal conditions we expect the tasks to be completed in roughly 8-10 hours. Though many of the tasks are meant to be repeated over and over again, we anticipate a lot of Realm pride to surface, and get lots of folks working together to beat their enemy. Even if they don’t want to go to the Land of the Dead, at least they can take the opportunity to steal a victory from their enemies!

What is the relationship like between the Live Event Team and Games Workshop when planning the Live Events? Is there a significant amount of interaction or consultation when conceptualizing Events? Can you give us an example from Rise of the Tomb Kings?

We work pretty closely with Games Workshop. By the time this event was being dreamed up, the Land of the Dead was well into production. We work up our ideas, put pen to paper, and then take that to Games Workshop for their approval. They liked most of what we came up with, but had improvements and changes that needed to be made to protect the IP--changes which we were glad to make. We’ve got a great relationship and the changes always improve the event and the content.

What's on the horizon for the Live Events team? For example, will we ever see the Factory or Twisting Tower re-emerge, or are Twisting Tentacle Pies the rarest commodity in WAR?

I believe I’ve spoiled the answer for this question; I’ve already spilled the beans on the Factory making its triumphant return to the live game. The Twisting Tower isn’t just twisting in the wind, either! Oh, no, we haven’t seen the last of that freaky tower. We’ve got more weekend events planned and a big event planned for around the end of summer. That’s all I can say for now, but it’s going to be awesome!

To discuss this interview visit the Mark Davis Tomb Kings Interview thread!

Warhammer Fan Sites Starting To Get Bones For Scavanger Hunt!

2009-06-11T18:09:04Z

Warhammer Alliance has posted an update regarding the bones sent out to fansites, they've started a list and are working on putting together the codes to get the special in game scarab amulet!

Here's the official Warhammer Scavanger Hunt notice:

Today was all about the Mythic/GOA online scavenger hunt so please forgive me for deviating from our normal programming.

As a quick summary, the Warhammer team is sending out 10 skulls to various game news sites (5 for EU players and 5 for North American players). These skulls contain cartouches inscribed with heiroglyphs. Translate the cartouches and you will get an unlock code for a fun in-game item (The Scarab Amulet).

Well, that's great and all, but how the heck do you translate the cartouches? Various fan blogs are getting partial decoder packages. Add all the decoder packages together, and you can translate each cartouche. Also important to note is that each cartouche will have 1,000 Scarab Amulet unlocks in it. That's a total of 5,000 unlocks for North American players and 5,000 unlocks for EU players. Once you have translated a cartouche, visit the your account page at https://accounts.eamythic.com to activate it. Those of you in the EU, visit http://www.war-europe.com/#/tombking/.

Below please find a quick listing of what has been reported so far:

North America:

Cartouches

MMORPG.com
Kotaku.com

Decoder and Diary Pages

Tome of Knowledge
Epic Slant
Da'Toughest
Keen and Graev

Decoder Key Compilation

Siberwulf

European Union

Cartouches

Decoder, Diary Pages and Map Pieces

MMOZone
Warhammervault

Decoder Key Compilation

War of Alts

Not to be lost in all the excitement is the fact that the Herald has announced a Guild Focus Group program. Mythic is looking for a focus group to give detailed and constructive feedback about experiences in the Lands of the Dead. Guild leaders are asked to fill out an application on and send it in. Deadline is 12PM Noon Easter on Monday, June 15.

Finally, don't forget the PTS event tonight. Log in between 7PM EDT and 12:00 EDT and earn some exclusive in-game items.

Warhammer Alliance Daily WAAAGH!!! News Updates!

2009-06-10T18:10:46Z

WarhammerAlliance.com has released a WAAAGH!!! news update for the latest and greatest topics related to Warhammer Online!
Hot topics this week include the latest Community Poll, the PTS Event & Exclusive In-game Item now available, and the Blog Challenge FAQ which is a massive undertaking by Mythic to send out special codes to several fansites in order to get the community working together to solve the riddle and earn an in-game prize!

Here's the official Warhammer Alliance News Update:

Warhammer Alliance News
The latest happenings from your favorite WAR fansite!

Hotplate: Last night our very own PhoenixRed pondered developer silence. He posits that Mythic’s silence regarding exploits of the game is breaking trust. Do you trust your results in oRVR? Be sure to check it out and add your views to this important subject.

Bloggers Got Mail: Tome of Knowledge is the first to report having received a goodie package from Mythic. Pay attention to this post, folks. Do a bit of detective work and you could win a fabulous in game item. Be sure to check ToK for all the photos, including the diary entry (which will help unlock clues for navigating the LotD). Many thanks to Tome of Knowledge for sharing the goods!

Community Poll: What are you most looking forward to about Land of the Dead? Let us know in the Community Poll.

Tome Unlock Tuesdays: Who said anything about HNT? Here are some great Tome unlocks you can get for doing things in your WAR skivvies!

News From The Herald
News from the Herald compiles Herald posts from the day.

Rise of the Tomb King’s Blog Challenge: As mentioned above, Mythic is giving away exclusive in-game items through an online puzzle. Over the next three weeks, various blogs will receive different decoder fragments. Put together, these fragments will form a “Rosetta Stone” of sorts, allowing you to translate the hieroglyphs of five (5) Tomb King Cartouches. Translate a Cartouche and you’ll have a code to unlock a unique Scarab Amulet reward. You’ll have to be quick, though, as each Cartouche only has 1,000 Scarab Amulets. That means a total of 5,000 Amulets in all. This contest is for North America. EU players have their own contest, and details will soon follow on www.war-europe.com. Unfortunately, this program isn’t available to our Russian WARmates.

May 2009 Newsletter Correction: As many of you probably noted, the May Newsletter arrived full of cheery news about the upcoming 1.3 patch. Thing is, the newsletter was drafted before Mythic decided to postpone “most of the Combat and Career changes in Patch 1.3.” Yes, they did say “most,” not “all.” More on that later.

PTS Event & Exclusive In-game Item: The Tomb of the Vulture Lord is now open in Phase III of PTS! The WAR begins Tuesday the 9th and Wednesday the 10th at 7 PM. Testing will be open all week, but anyone who logs on and participates the next two nights between 7 PM EDT and 12:00 AM EDT will be awarded the Shroud of Imrathepis. What is the Shroud of Imrathepis? Why, it consists of:

"Linens taken from the burial shroud of Prince Imrathepis. Those who wrap the burial shroud about their body are protected from harm regenerating minor wounds and injuries.”

Daily Devs
Daily Devs compiles all the important Dev Tracker posts from the day.

What Changes: Andy Belford let us know that crafting changes are still in place for Patch 1.3. He also teased that “We should have some updated patch notes later today for everyone to peruse.” As of this posting, those notes have not been posted, but do keep your eyes peeled!

Blog Challenge FAQ: James has posted a helpful FAQ for the blog challenge. The Scrab Amulet doesn’t have any stats. It is just for funsies. They won’t tell us which blogs get hieroglyphic clues.

Warhammer Online New Viral Marketing Mystery! Very Cool.

2009-06-09T16:01:59Z

Warhammer Online is doing something special this week in the viral marketing world and getting blogs and fan sites to work together to solve the mystery of the five cartouches. Each fansite has been mailed a bone with symbols on it that match symbols on the cartouches, a little investigative working with the other blogs/sites who got bones and you get a code you can re-deem in game for a Scarab Amulet. An item that releases a swarm of beetles all over you in true Mummy style!

Here's the official Warhammer Cartouches Mystery announcement:

It seems that Mythic is at it again with the viral marketing, this time for Land of the Dead. Blogs and fansite runners should watch their mail, because something just might be arriving for them from Mythic.

Here's an excerpt from Tome of Knowledge's entry:

Quote:

As the letter suggests, these symbols act as a Rosetta bone (taken after the Rosetta stone, which I just saw a casting of the real thing this weekend ironically!).

Mythic has posted (or will post) 5 Tomb King cartouches. The only way to translate these five cartouches is to have the keys to the symbols, hence these bones. So in looking at my bones, we know the symbols for the letters “J”, “O”,“V”,“N”, and “C”. Other blogs will presumably post their own hieroglyphic codes and we’ll eventually have the solution to the 5 cartouches.

By translating these five cartouches, you’ll uncover a game code (hint: name of a long dead Nehekharan royal), you can then activate the game code on your Warhammer Account by going to: https://accounts.eamythic.com. The item you’ll receive is the Scarab Amulet. An item that releases a swarm of beetles all over you in true Mummy style!

If you're a blog or fansite and you've received something from Mythic, let us know!