Originally posted by ishomishu All those chicken little's. The sky is falling. lol
Ironic thing about it is the sky was falling and no one believed him, and no one could see it, but it happened. then the aliens came cause of the fish, and chicken little tried to tell everyone but the aliens went invisible before they could get there to see. It was the turkeys fault really cause he couldn't leave the damn penny alone. So then no one believed him till it was too late. But in the end they gave the kid back to the aliens and the aliens made everything back to normal. All this over a nut.
If the aliens left the damn nuts alone in the first place then none of this would have happened.
EA's reputation is enough to turn folks way. It doesn't matter how good the game is. Word of mouth folks. No matter how much spin is put on it the facts remain the same.
i wont be buying it now that i know EA is behind the game. That's all that matters to me. Id rather buy something from a company with a proven track record that supports their games, past and previous. A company that shows a lot of love to their community. A company like that makes a community love them back. That is Blizzards secret. And yes i say secret cause most, not all but a majority of these companies out still don't get it. sure its about getting rich. But whos gonna last longer the guy thats rich and hated or the guy thats rich and loved.
Originally posted by Wardrop Originally posted by ishomishu All those chicken little's. The sky is falling. lol
Ironic thing about it is the sky was falling and no one believed him, and no one could see it, but it happened. then the aliens came cause of the fish, and chicken little tried to tell everyone but the aliens went invisible before they could get there to see. It was the turkeys fault really cause he couldn't leave the damn penny alone. So then no one believed him till it was too late. But in the end they gave the kid back to the aliens and the aliens made everything back to normal. All this over a nut.
If the aliens left the damn nuts alone in the first place then none of this would have happened.
Whoa, I thought acid flashbacks were a myth. I think I just had one.
Originally posted by reavo Originally posted by Wardrop Originally posted by ishomishu All those chicken little's. The sky is falling. lol
Ironic thing about it is the sky was falling and no one believed him, and no one could see it, but it happened. then the aliens came cause of the fish, and chicken little tried to tell everyone but the aliens went invisible before they could get there to see. It was the turkeys fault really cause he couldn't leave the damn penny alone. So then no one believed him till it was too late. But in the end they gave the kid back to the aliens and the aliens made everything back to normal. All this over a nut.
If the aliens left the damn nuts alone in the first place then none of this would have happened.
Whoa, I thought acid flashbacks were a myth. I think I just had one.
While it is sad to see Mythic be bought out hopefully they are able to keep general control. EA like most big business companies care only about the end dollar and the idea that players are suckers and will pay for whatever they can get. In part this is quite true. We have seen this happen many times before with SOE's products over the last 4 or so years now. I can only hope along with Mythic demanding the largest wedge of this working relationships pie and that EA's head goons have learned from their and others past mistakes and try not to micro manage and control everything to suit their egos and their wanted overall impression that everything within EA's domain is beause of their might and glory.
Mythic while a small company has been one of the best in the MMORPG and on-line playing field for many years. DAOC has still years later one of the best settings for PVP while still conforming to a PVE demand at the same time the has a lot of uniqueness and feel to the different realms and races within DAOC. Mythic is one of the most honest game companies out there. Many games only list their registered users accounts to tell everyone how great they are while actual subscription numbers are far less. Mythic has always posted their "actual" numbers for active accounts to tell how they are doing. Along with this they also have not hesitated to fire employees who failed to get their part of the game right. Hopefully EA sees that Mythic made themselves in an era of "big business" and has been able to survive and as such will leave Mythic to do their thang and hopefully simply be willing to reap the profits and be happy with that and their logo everywhere for all to see.
Both are publically traded companies and the release of speculative information could be considered illegal. "We may get bought out by EA" could send stock buyers into a frenzy.
Mythic is a private company. They are not publicly traded.
EA on the other hand is...
and apparently they have a rather dismal record when it comes to MMORPG's.
My assumption is that EA hopes to make a LOTTA money with Mythic's team of developer's and EA's big marketing dollars.
I think if EA allows Mythic to develop as they please, this could be a good marriage - business wise and game wise.
Imagine WH:AOR with a WoW player base - that would be awesome and total war. The RvR concept of DaOC with manymany players hacking and slashing the hell outta each other... It could be good. Of course, the more the merrier and more knucklehedz too, but that comes with the territory.
And if WarHammer is successful- and if you're an EA shareholder, I think you would be rather happy with your stock portfolio.
Face it kids, we live in a capitalist society where the one and single goal is to make money. Make More money than gawd and then you become gawd in this society - for better or worse. (George Soros vs. Rupert Murdoch) - figure it out punks.
And like it or not kids, one day you might be working for an EA or SOE and making the same bone-headed decisions that their upper brassheads are...
And looking at some of these posts - I shudder to think about our future.
Cheers, Rainmosheen
"I have live my life by these nine simple words: It sounded like a good idea at the time." --Livingston Taylor
It is late and my memory could be wrong but EA (sports) were involved in the playstation version of Warhammer from the mid nineties...if so that was a superb classic...nope my memory is shite...it was Games Workshop Warhammer Dark Omen...i lie Electronic Arts on the front of said PS box...being English not up to speed with Americana but I guess EA is the same as Electronic Arts? So memory not bad after all but in risk of looking a fool if Electronic Arts is not EA...must be...?
Well the 2 playstation games were the best PS one games I ever played...so as much as I h8 EA (EA make shite football games...they double xxxxing suck)...I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship...
If Games Workshop (a British company) sold the rights of the game idea to Mythic (an American company) then surely EA were involved in that too? Any way ... I am speculating but my point is that the whole scenario is just business practice that as some one previously mentioned could spawn a game that rapes WoW (the macdonalds of online games and thus far to unforfilling for me to bother slagging off) so bring it on, devs.
i cant imagine anything other than a studio liquidation and closure of mythic based on the years of history ea has in the mmo industry and their actions in it.
fact:
every good external studio theyve bought theyve liquidated
fact:
they havent had a successful mmo in 8 years and that was purely because of richard garriot, currently running nc soft usa
fact:
they make great sports games (not sure why this applies but its a fact i guess)
yes this is a capitalist society in the usa. being a businessman myself if someone were to ask me if they felt they should invest their entertainment dollars on ea mythic and WAR well.....
id say based on the facts, it has about as much of a chance at being a good game and having a "WOW sized playerbase" as the phantom console has outselling the forthcoming ps3 and nintendo wii combined
Games i'm playing right now...
"In short, I thought NGE was a very bad idea" - Raph Koster talking about NGE on his blog at raphkoster.com
not much to be said really, EA's history in this matter is really clear, biggest example i guess will be westwood not long after they vanished, and reformed petroglyph. well anywa we'll wait and see but things dont look good imo. and btw petroglpyh's hiring
Some of you might remember a small developer company named Wolf Pack. Well they sold out to a large production company named Ubi Soft and their game, Shadowbane, went all to hell. Major component changes a week before release, dictated by the parent company, caused some major security holes in the game. Code leaks by the parent company to consumers who then studied the code and started producing their own out of game, 3rd party system hacks. I hope Mythic doesn't see this happen. IMO, DAoC is probably done. EA will push Warhammer and Imperator to the front and abandon DAoC as a game that has seen it's shelf life and more.
Anyone here ever been part of a "merger"? Yeah, its corporate-speak for buy-out/sell-out.
I was part of one once. It will take about six months before the changes hit. I looked into the new company that had acquired the smaller business I worked for. I was younger and a night manager for a 120 K facility. I put out fires, served as front-line staff support, customer support, and acted in the stead of the GM. It was a fun job, but it was an expense. I was not in sales or marketing. I was mid-level management. I didn't begrudge the owner. He had earned his millions in the transaction.
I did some research and low-and-behold, my position wasn't exactly part of their corporate structure. I left 3 months later of my own accord because I was intuitive enough to know what was coming based my interactions with the suits who had shown up now and again with their smiles, assurances, and kind faces.
6 uneventful months later, throats at the top started getting cut without notice. Yep, my former boss (only the GM was higher in authority in the original structure) walked in one day and was told, "You are done. Pack your things and leave."
Prior to the "merger" this was a model business in the community, dare I say, a model that was emulated throughout the industry based on its former reputation. Community service was top notch. All departments were tremendously profitable.
At the six month mark it went out the window. It became a money game and CS went bye-bye. Within a month managers in no less than 8 dif. departments were fired. The GM left. The assistant GM left. And if I hadn't left, I would have been fired.
EA bought Mythic to make money. Period. The Mythic owners simply couldn't turn down the deal. Period. EA will streamline the business wherever they can to cut costs and boost profits. Give it six months. Then you will know what you are dealing with. It is what it is. Just don't expect Mythic to stay the Mythic of old.
Permadeath and environmental challenges are the next great step in the evolution of MMORPGs. Only through true adversity will one feel accomplished. Only in truly knowing you can die will true adversity present itself.
Originally posted by phunkymunkey Anyone here ever been part of a "merger"? Yeah, its corporate-speak for buy-out/sell-out.
Yup, and I agree with everything you've said.
People will post "it's no big deal, things will carry on as normal" and look down on people who don't like the idea of EA having anything to do with WAR but the fact of the matter is while the money might help make a better game, EA could also cripple it.
EA has taken 2 companeies to my knoleged Bullfrog (Dungeon keeper series ) and Mythic. they dont care about the game they are in it for the profeat. They can go f*** them self, they shouldn't be in gaming if they just take over over companies and do nothing about it.
Too bad. Dark Age of Camelot was the first MMO I ever re-activated after letting the subscription lapse. Now that EA has their hands on it, I'm sure it will spiral down into the bottomless pit of forced releases and overpriced expansions.
I understand Mythic's problem... they have a popular but aging game and nothing new on the immediate horizon. The costs to run the thing don't go down, and as the subscription base shirnks, it gets more and more tempting to take the cash and run.
Still.... EA and SOE both need to fail so horribly that they pull out of the PC gaming market and make room for other developers to grow.
Well it was bound to happen, as stated earlier I hope EA stand back and watch what can happen if you take onboard what is working already and what people enjoy. I have never played Warhammer myself, well, not the fanasty version, I have played the Tabletop Warhammer 40k and would love to see that show up as an MMO, and if WAR:AOR works out I could see this happening.
The thing with Warhammer, Mythic need to continue the way they have been going and keep working closely with Games Workshop to produce a game that has the chance to knock World of Queuecraft from the number 1 spot on MMO's, which I dont think it deserves. And before the fanbois start up, I play World of Lagcraft and have a lot of characters and a couple of 60's, but I find the game lacks a lot of things.
Warhammer is bring to me what I have wanted, the chance to raid a city, and take it over !! Who has wanted to raid say Stormwind or Undercity and actually do something that can have a bearing on the game for players. I am for one. I play EVE online and I use this game to fill the Sci-Fi part of my life, atm I use World of Borecraft for my hack and slash as thats all it's really good for. I just hope Warhammer doesn't go the way of WoW ( I have more names but I've had enough) and have elitiest assholes playing who will only recruit a member if they are"keyed" or have full epic armor sets and a particular talent tree set up. I would like to see a good community involved in the game, I am sure it will be there with the huge following that Warhammer and the Games Workshop already have backing them.
Ok enough for now, Good luck to Mythic and get on with a great game that already has people drooling ready to play something new.
HQ - Aedald VIII - Moon 5 - Republic Military School Office - Lustrevik III - Moon 2 - Quafe Company Warehouse
Well, I don't know what's going to happen in the future, and I won't pretend to know everything that happened in the past.
The truth is:
Because of this "merger", MANY people are cancelling their DAoC accounts, and forgetting about warhammer. I've yet to hear one person I've talked with say, "Oh, EA is buying Mythic? I guess I'll buy WAR!"
EA has already done damage to WAR and the game isn't even out yet. The community just took a MASSIVE hit.
But who knows. If Mythic couldn't afford it, there would be no community anyway. I guess better to have few, than none.
I'm one of those people who just said good-bye to WAR. For those who are staying, I wish you luck. If the game turns out alright, I may come back, but I'm not going to sit here and wait for a potential flop.
EA has taken 2 companeies to my knoleged Bullfrog (Dungeon keeper series ) and Mythic. they dont care about the game they are in it for the profeat. They can go f*** them self, they shouldn't be in gaming if they just take over over companies and do nothing about it.
Contrary to what a lot of people are suggesting in this thread, I will now be buying Warhammer because EA are involved. I thought Warhammer would be a clone of that sad cartoon game WoW (I rate WoW worse than EQ2 and that always gets a 1/10 from me) but having seen EA's involvement and being aware that EA were behind Warhammer Dark Omen in the nineties on PS one I will now reconsider and give the game a go. For the record Dark Omen was the sequal and both were one of the best PS games of the nineties. In other words for you purists, the best games (indeed the most successful elements of life) tend to be those with the harmonious comprimise of inventive creativity and hard brutal cash.
EA stinks. They have a history of gobbling up little companies, firing all the employees, milking every dollar out of the acquired games and then moving on to another like some kind of corporate Borg. Just look at what they did to Westwood if you don't believe me. Earth and Beyond was a great game which had nearly as many players when it was shut down as some MMO's do today and would probably still be running today if not for the EA goon squads.
What a shame too. In the late 80's and early 90's EA was one of those companies like Microprose that you just bought the game simply because their name was on it. EA meant a quality product back then and I still remember endless hours playing great games like Archon, Mule and Chuck Yeager. Now they are nothing but a corporate hack squad.
Originally posted by Endemondia Contrary to what a lot of people are suggesting in this thread, I will now be buying Warhammer because EA are involved. I thought Warhammer would be a clone of that sad cartoon game WoW (I rate WoW worse than EQ2 and that always gets a 1/10 from me) but having seen EA's involvement and being aware that EA were behind Warhammer Dark Omen in the nineties on PS one I will now reconsider and give the game a go. For the record Dark Omen was the sequal and both were one of the best PS games of the nineties. In other words for you purists, the best games (indeed the most successful elements of life) tend to be those with the harmonious comprimise of inventive creativity and hard brutal cash.
Sorry but what does EA having anything to do with the game have anything to do with WAR being like WoW or not? If anything EA will want it more like WoW to get the leet b.net kiddies playing.
The thing to understand about EA is that management consists of food service and banking industry professionals. They know nothing about developing MMOs (as evidenced by Motor City Online). They have no understanding of what it takes to support new MMOs (as evidenced by EA's purchase of Westwood for the Ultima product and then completely dropping the ball on development and support for Earth and Beyond). When EnB went dark EA said in their financials they were pulling back from the MMO space with the exception of Ultima. Looks like they're going to try taking the plunge, again and I have every belief that Mythic will go the way of Westwood.
Mythic is supposedly going to work out of their current offices and no changes to staff will be made. Yet. EA isn't going to be happy with this arrangement for long and history dictates that they'll insist Mythic relocate to Redwood City (and shed 'unneccessary' staff in the process) so EA can keep a closer eye on expenses and development. The moment this happens you can kiss any creativity goodbye that Warhammer Online would encompass.
EA sees the dollar signs that WoW generates. They know how popular the Warhammer product is, particularly with GamesWorkshop's support. Most likely they're presuming GW will do the heavy lifting when it comes to marketing becuase EA is miserable at marketing their own MMOs, The Sims not withstanding. They're thinking Warhammer Online is going to be the next WoW and both Warhammer and DAoC will be the casualties of EAs ignorance.
WoW there goes another gameing company down the drain. Blizzard died with WoW, then Mythic with this stupid crap EA Mythic. First of all that is a stupid name, and I hate EA most of there games suck the big ones. They better keep the people working there or im going to picket. Sad day for all gamers, you santuary of fun will not be filled with EA advertisments for shitty sports crap.
Comments
If the aliens left the damn nuts alone in the first place then none of this would have happened.
EA's reputation is enough to turn folks way. It doesn't matter how good the game is.
Word of mouth folks. No matter how much spin is put on it the facts remain the same.
i wont be buying it now that i know EA is behind the game. That's all that matters to me. Id rather buy something from a company with a proven track record that supports their games, past and previous. A company that shows a lot of love to their community. A company like that makes a community love them back. That is Blizzards secret. And yes i say secret cause most, not all but a majority of these companies out still don't get it.
FoE Fist of the Empire
If the aliens left the damn nuts alone in the first place then none of this would have happened.
Whoa, I thought acid flashbacks were a myth. I think I just had one.
If the aliens left the damn nuts alone in the first place then none of this would have happened.
Whoa, I thought acid flashbacks were a myth. I think I just had one.
CLICK HERE FOR CHICKEN LITTLE PROOF««««
FoE Fist of the Empire
What's next EA to acquire SoE acquring Blizzard?!
EA has to be one of the worst companies out there now a days. Buying up rights to football games, companies. No kudos to EA nor their affiliates.
While it is sad to see Mythic be bought out hopefully they are able to keep general control. EA like most big business companies care only about the end dollar and the idea that players are suckers and will pay for whatever they can get. In part this is quite true. We have seen this happen many times before with SOE's products over the last 4 or so years now. I can only hope along with Mythic demanding the largest wedge of this working relationships pie and that EA's head goons have learned from their and others past mistakes and try not to micro manage and control everything to suit their egos and their wanted overall impression that everything within EA's domain is beause of their might and glory.
Mythic while a small company has been one of the best in the MMORPG and on-line playing field for many years. DAOC has still years later one of the best settings for PVP while still conforming to a PVE demand at the same time the has a lot of uniqueness and feel to the different realms and races within DAOC. Mythic is one of the most honest game companies out there. Many games only list their registered users accounts to tell everyone how great they are while actual subscription numbers are far less. Mythic has always posted their "actual" numbers for active accounts to tell how they are doing. Along with this they also have not hesitated to fire employees who failed to get their part of the game right. Hopefully EA sees that Mythic made themselves in an era of "big business" and has been able to survive and as such will leave Mythic to do their thang and hopefully simply be willing to reap the profits and be happy with that and their logo everywhere for all to see.
Mythic is a private company. They are not publicly traded.
EA on the other hand is...
and apparently they have a rather dismal record when it comes to MMORPG's.
My assumption is that EA hopes to make a LOTTA money with Mythic's team of developer's
and EA's big marketing dollars.
I think if EA allows Mythic to develop as they please, this could be a good marriage -
business wise and game wise.
Imagine WH:AOR with a WoW player base - that would be awesome and total war.
The RvR concept of DaOC with manymany players hacking and slashing the hell outta each other...
It could be good.
Of course, the more the merrier and more knucklehedz too, but that comes with the territory.
And if WarHammer is successful- and if you're an EA shareholder, I think you would be rather happy with your stock portfolio.
Face it kids, we live in a capitalist society where the one and single goal is to make money.
Make More money than gawd and then you become gawd in this society - for better or worse. (George Soros vs. Rupert Murdoch) - figure it out punks.
And like it or not kids, one day you might be working for an EA or SOE and making the same bone-headed decisions that their upper brassheads are...
And looking at some of these posts - I shudder to think about our future.
Cheers,
Rainmosheen
"I have live my life by these nine simple words: It sounded like a good idea at the time."
--Livingston Taylor
It is late and my memory could be wrong but EA (sports) were involved in the playstation version of Warhammer from the mid nineties...if so that was a superb classic...nope my memory is shite...it was Games Workshop Warhammer Dark Omen...i lie Electronic Arts on the front of said PS box...being English not up to speed with Americana but I guess EA is the same as Electronic Arts? So memory not bad after all but in risk of looking a fool if Electronic Arts is not EA...must be...?
Well the 2 playstation games were the best PS one games I ever played...so as much as I h8 EA (EA make shite football games...they double xxxxing suck)...I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship...
If Games Workshop (a British company) sold the rights of the game idea to Mythic (an American company) then surely EA were involved in that too? Any way ... I am speculating but my point is that the whole scenario is just business practice that as some one previously mentioned could spawn a game that rapes WoW (the macdonalds of online games and thus far to unforfilling for me to bother slagging off) so bring it on, devs.
i cant imagine anything other than a studio liquidation and closure of mythic based on the years of history ea has in the mmo industry and their actions in it.
fact:
every good external studio theyve bought theyve liquidated
fact:
they havent had a successful mmo in 8 years and that was purely because of richard garriot, currently running nc soft usa
fact:
they make great sports games (not sure why this applies but its a fact i guess)
yes this is a capitalist society in the usa. being a businessman myself if someone were to ask me if they felt they should invest their entertainment dollars on ea mythic and WAR well.....
id say based on the facts, it has about as much of a chance at being a good game and having a "WOW sized playerbase" as the phantom console has outselling the forthcoming ps3 and nintendo wii combined
Games i'm playing right now...
"In short, I thought NGE was a very bad idea" - Raph Koster talking about NGE on his blog at raphkoster.com
Anyone here ever been part of a "merger"? Yeah, its corporate-speak for buy-out/sell-out.
I was part of one once. It will take about six months before the changes hit. I looked into the new company that had acquired the smaller business I worked for. I was younger and a night manager for a 120 K facility. I put out fires, served as front-line staff support, customer support, and acted in the stead of the GM. It was a fun job, but it was an expense. I was not in sales or marketing. I was mid-level management. I didn't begrudge the owner. He had earned his millions in the transaction.
I did some research and low-and-behold, my position wasn't exactly part of their corporate structure. I left 3 months later of my own accord because I was intuitive enough to know what was coming based my interactions with the suits who had shown up now and again with their smiles, assurances, and kind faces.
6 uneventful months later, throats at the top started getting cut without notice. Yep, my former boss (only the GM was higher in authority in the original structure) walked in one day and was told, "You are done. Pack your things and leave."
Prior to the "merger" this was a model business in the community, dare I say, a model that was emulated throughout the industry based on its former reputation. Community service was top notch. All departments were tremendously profitable.
At the six month mark it went out the window. It became a money game and CS went bye-bye. Within a month managers in no less than 8 dif. departments were fired. The GM left. The assistant GM left. And if I hadn't left, I would have been fired.
EA bought Mythic to make money. Period. The Mythic owners simply couldn't turn down the deal. Period. EA will streamline the business wherever they can to cut costs and boost profits. Give it six months. Then you will know what you are dealing with. It is what it is. Just don't expect Mythic to stay the Mythic of old.
Permadeath and environmental challenges are the next great step in the evolution of MMORPGs. Only through true adversity will one feel accomplished. Only in truly knowing you can die will true adversity present itself.
People will post "it's no big deal, things will carry on as normal" and look down on people who don't like the idea of EA having anything to do with WAR but the fact of the matter is while the money might help make a better game, EA could also cripple it.
I understand Mythic's problem... they have a popular but aging game and nothing new on the immediate horizon. The costs to run the thing don't go down, and as the subscription base shirnks, it gets more and more tempting to take the cash and run.
Still.... EA and SOE both need to fail so horribly that they pull out of the PC gaming market and make room for other developers to grow.
Well it was bound to happen, as stated earlier I hope EA stand back and watch what can happen if you take onboard what is working already and what people enjoy. I have never played Warhammer myself, well, not the fanasty version, I have played the Tabletop Warhammer 40k and would love to see that show up as an MMO, and if WAR:AOR works out I could see this happening.
The thing with Warhammer, Mythic need to continue the way they have been going and keep working closely with Games Workshop to produce a game that has the chance to knock World of Queuecraft from the number 1 spot on MMO's, which I dont think it deserves. And before the fanbois start up, I play World of Lagcraft and have a lot of characters and a couple of 60's, but I find the game lacks a lot of things.
Warhammer is bring to me what I have wanted, the chance to raid a city, and take it over !! Who has wanted to raid say Stormwind or Undercity and actually do something that can have a bearing on the game for players. I am for one. I play EVE online and I use this game to fill the Sci-Fi part of my life, atm I use World of Borecraft for my hack and slash as thats all it's really good for. I just hope Warhammer doesn't go the way of WoW ( I have more names but I've had enough) and have elitiest assholes playing who will only recruit a member if they are"keyed" or have full epic armor sets and a particular talent tree set up. I would like to see a good community involved in the game, I am sure it will be there with the huge following that Warhammer and the Games Workshop already have backing them.
Ok enough for now, Good luck to Mythic and get on with a great game that already has people drooling ready to play something new.
HQ - Aedald VIII - Moon 5 - Republic Military School
Office - Lustrevik III - Moon 2 - Quafe Company
Warehouse
Well, I don't know what's going to happen in the future, and I won't pretend to know everything that happened in the past.
The truth is:
Because of this "merger", MANY people are cancelling their DAoC accounts, and forgetting about warhammer. I've yet to hear one person I've talked with say, "Oh, EA is buying Mythic? I guess I'll buy WAR!"
EA has already done damage to WAR and the game isn't even out yet. The community just took a MASSIVE hit.
But who knows. If Mythic couldn't afford it, there would be no community anyway. I guess better to have few, than none.
I'm one of those people who just said good-bye to WAR. For those who are staying, I wish you luck. If the game turns out alright, I may come back, but I'm not going to sit here and wait for a potential flop.
well if EA bought them i feel sorry for them. the game will be a bust just like everything ea touches
EA stinks. They have a history of gobbling up little companies, firing all the employees, milking every dollar out of the acquired games and then moving on to another like some kind of corporate Borg. Just look at what they did to Westwood if you don't believe me. Earth and Beyond was a great game which had nearly as many players when it was shut down as some MMO's do today and would probably still be running today if not for the EA goon squads.
What a shame too. In the late 80's and early 90's EA was one of those companies like Microprose that you just bought the game simply because their name was on it. EA meant a quality product back then and I still remember endless hours playing great games like Archon, Mule and Chuck Yeager. Now they are nothing but a corporate hack squad.
I wouldn't touch Warhammer now if you paid me.
*edited to say anything one more time. Anything.*
The thing to understand about EA is that management consists of food service and banking industry professionals. They know nothing about developing MMOs (as evidenced by Motor City Online). They have no understanding of what it takes to support new MMOs (as evidenced by EA's purchase of Westwood for the Ultima product and then completely dropping the ball on development and support for Earth and Beyond). When EnB went dark EA said in their financials they were pulling back from the MMO space with the exception of Ultima. Looks like they're going to try taking the plunge, again and I have every belief that Mythic will go the way of Westwood.
Mythic is supposedly going to work out of their current offices and no changes to staff will be made. Yet. EA isn't going to be happy with this arrangement for long and history dictates that they'll insist Mythic relocate to Redwood City (and shed 'unneccessary' staff in the process) so EA can keep a closer eye on expenses and development. The moment this happens you can kiss any creativity goodbye that Warhammer Online would encompass.
EA sees the dollar signs that WoW generates. They know how popular the Warhammer product is, particularly with GamesWorkshop's support. Most likely they're presuming GW will do the heavy lifting when it comes to marketing becuase EA is miserable at marketing their own MMOs, The Sims not withstanding. They're thinking Warhammer Online is going to be the next WoW and both Warhammer and DAoC will be the casualties of EAs ignorance.