BioWare points, ANOTHER vacation the PTS and thank you to da boss Xzi

I have a Bioware Social Network account from buying Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 so one account rather than multiples is always good for me, it's also inevitable that SW:TOR will go through the network as well, possibly DAoC and Ultima will come later if it's viable.

So what does this mean really? Well one key thing that the BSN (I can't be bothered typing it out each time, so it's now called that) has is the purchasing of BioWare points for real life money, this is used in Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age to purchase downloadable content such as new quests, party members and expansions.. Could Warhammer be going down the road of purchasable items? There was also mention a while back about new vanity pets coming in, this would be a way to gauge interest, maybe add some of the mounts that are hidden in the files that people have found.. There's a possibility. What I don't see happening is a free to play model, WAR is profitable enough to not have to worry about that... For now.

And guess what? I'm on another vacation. Last one for the year probably but I'm off for a week to Sweden with the girlfriend and to meet up with some long time guild mates, we're heading up to the north of Sweden, just inside the Arctic Circle with a forest, lake and mountain around us. Mmm 1600 metre mountain to climb. Should be a good laugh :)

The PTS I've had very little time to play with, the problem with it right now is that I don't have Lokax on it, I hate using template characters as they don't let me 'test' situations properly. I know Loks gear, limitations with it and what not, so giving me two sets of high end gear and a lot of emblems doesn't help when I still have jewels, other weapons and other armour pieces I use. From what I've heard though the plan mechanic changing is not too bad, will take some time to get used to for some people but when you can open up with a Down Ya Go or Shut Yer Mouth it certainly can't be bad.

And finally my long time guild leader has stepped down to concentrate on real life. We went out with one final Hand of Blood warband with Xzi leading on Thursday night before he logged out for possibly the last time. So here's vid that one of our members took.

/salute Xzi

You were a gud git.

(click to expand to see the full version)

The day after....

I have to admit, I was expecting to wake up to some sort of post apocalyptic MMO world this morning. As I sat in work first thing (the joys of being the only one in the office at 7am) I hit a few websites and forums to see if there had been any response, any news, perhaps a sign of the end times or a pulse of life. Instead all I found was the world moving on, Destructions king had been killed again at silly AM, the odd website had made mention of the layoffs but things seemed to be moving along with no change.

It's only a day after the news broke, but I honestly feel that if we were at panic stations for WAR then it would have been noticeable by now, not just from the layoffs at Mythic but in general. I still see more and more people returning from Aion or from elsewhere to visit the old world.

A days thought about it makes me believe that EA might be putting Mythic on 'maintenance mode' but this doesn't mean a halt to production, simply that the game is focused on how it stands rather than adding more to it and at this point it's what WAR needs. A good solid focus on removing those pesky bugs and working out performance issues.

There's many games out there with less subscribers that are surviving fine, many are planning expansions and are staying afloat nicely. Yes, WAR has lost subs, but it is in no way a non profitable game, EA wants to make money. You don't get rid of something which is making money, no matter what the profit margins.

Personally, I'm looking at it as stage 2 of the Mythic/Bioware team. I can see Mythic being fully Incorporated into Bioware over the next few months with Ultima and DAoC also coming under the Biowa(aaagh)re banner.

The Waaaagh might be quieter right now, but the green tide is rising...

Mark Jacobs leaves the building...

And Bioware join the team, it's looking to be interesting times in the future for sure.

http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=841

This WILL change the development of WAR without a doubt, it's just all in the air. I'm sure no harm will come to WAR, but what of the good?

Hmm, interesting times lie ahead, and I'll be commenting more on this later on...