This article pretty much nailed it with Hammer. The concept, and game play was awesome when it first was released. But, as mentioned, the servers were lopsided. Populations of Good Vs. Bad was OVERWHELMING one sided. Plenty of bugs (but not as bad as "Conan"). The game did take a HUGE, and dramatic downturn on player population after the WoW expansion, and for the simple fact that people just got tired of the B.S. in the game from 40-1 RvR battles, coupled with unbalanced characters.
Do I think this game will EVER reclaim it's once possible glory? NOPE... It's to little, to late. Most games(now a days) around this time start going F2P(Free to Play). But Warhammer is holding out and only doing Tier1 F2P instead of doing like others and going FULL F2P with subscriber bonus's and extra's to buy.
What does this do? This gives the unknowing new player sense that the game is LOADED with people. When in fact, it's not. Once they pay for a subscription and move on to Tier 2. They will find a bleak, and bland, world void of people. Not able to return to Tier 1... they would either have to start a new character, or keep trying to make it to Tier 4 and hope there are people there.
But once again upon entering Tier 4 you run into problems again. Your weak, they are WAY ahead of you. Players will find themselves SEVERLY tormented by higher players until they themselves reach max level.
Overall.. I feel this game needs to go full F2P or else it will surely perish.
ZAM Returns to Warhammer Online: Part 1
In anticipation of the MMO's two-year anniversary this fall, ZAM is returning to WAR to cover the substantial changes and new features added since early 2009
Mythic also streamlined character progression and increased rewards across the board, in both RvR and PvE gameplay. For example, the Empire and Chaos paired continent is the "default" PvE path for now, which prevents each server's population from spreading too thin throughout the world. Players of any race can still access their home continent and zones via Flightmasters (and those zones are still being developed for improved quest flow), but for now, Mythic is nudging us closer together to give us more opportunities to find groups and enjoy all those Public Quests.
Many core game systems have also been upgraded or entirely revamped and, depending on how long they've been gone, returning players will find new careers and PvE/RvR content like Land of the Dead. Literally dozens—if not hundreds—of convenience-related issues were fixed and new mechanics added, spanning from inventory management to dungeon encounters.
When we returned to WAR with one of our higher-rank characters, we were a little worried about being able to find our bearings and get back on the progression track. Jumping in with a Tier 1 character is one thing; there's a whole new tutorial in the "New User Journey" to help the noobs. But surprisingly, many of those features are available to characters of any rank, like the handy "Advice" chat channel. The "War Report" is another useful feature that displays real-time updates of open RvR for each tier; the report also indicates zones with a high player concentration, and you can even use it to teleport directly to those locations (with a few hours of cooldown).
It's also easier than ever to create, find and join parties and warbands with the upgraded group tools and "Rally Call" feature. Previously, the only way for players to find an "open" group was to be in the same zone. Today, the group tools can be used to search throughout the entire world, and for specific quests, public quests, open RvR, dungeons and more. It's like Blizzard's new Dungeon Finder tool, except 9000 percent more awesome and flexible! We didn't belong to a guild nor have any remaining friends when we came back to WAR, yet we were running around in open RvR warbands our first night back, and joining a City Siege by the second day.
So far, our return to Warhammer Online has been a pleasant surprise, especially from the perspective of an early quitter (having left the game in early 2009 and only popped in twice since then). WAR is finally becoming the MMO it was meant to be, from a development standpoint; unfortunately, these vast improvements might have come a little too late, when the active subscriber base isn't high enough to fuel the game's true potential. The free-to-play trial is bringing in fresh blood every day though, so it's possible Mythic might someday recoup a few hundred thousand of the players who quit last year.
More fixes and gameplay improvements are scheduled for the big v1.3.6 update, which is now live on the public test realm. The combat system and careers (dubbed "C&C" by the development team) are receiving some major attention in the upcoming patch, along with new bonuses in open RvR and various improvements to the auction house, user interface and more.
ZAM's "Return to War" series will continue next month with more coverage from the unique perspective of new and returning players, detailing the best improvements (and at times, the worst neglect) in Warhammer Online since 2009. We'll also be talking to Mythic's lead game producers about WAR's progress this year and what it means to returning players. Of course, we won't forget to ask about the future as well, especially with the MMO's two-year anniversary coming up in September and the speculation about patch 1.40. Have questions, comments or suggestions for this series and our Q&A with the producers? Drop them in our "Return To War" forum thread or in the comments section below!
