thatbloke
Junior Administrator
so, someone posing as the "EA Louse" has posted a blog (rant) on why Warhammer online failed.
It's quite an interesting read
It's quite an interesting read
Why Warhammer Online Failed
- Thread starter thatbloke
- Start date
Ghostwolf67
Well-Known Member
Cheers for the link Bloke. Thats is actually pretty insightful stuff. Raises a lot of questions about what actually hapens when big companies like activision and EA buy out smaller ones.
I always feel saddened when I read this sort of thing. It points to a total breakdown of trust, both ways. Honestly, if the guy feels this badly about the company he works/worked for then he needed to leave a long time ago. I guess he felt he didn't have much of a choice, or that EA were screwing over the environment he wished it was, or something.
Still, they may have made all manner of bad choices but I'm not sure that naming names on the Internet is really the way to respond to this or them. Just promotes further ill will. The guy really is a louse for that.
That their culture is wrongheaded almost seems inevitable for a company of any size. The "middle ground" is unlikely to work for anyone very well, though I imagine it's supposed to work for everyone at least a bit (rather than some well and some badly). Dunno, I just feel that the correct solution was to have left much earlier when it was apparent that the company wasn't listening, rather than trying to stick it out, hating it, then feeling so upset that posting named abuse on the Internet seems like the only way to feel better...
Still, they may have made all manner of bad choices but I'm not sure that naming names on the Internet is really the way to respond to this or them. Just promotes further ill will. The guy really is a louse for that.
That their culture is wrongheaded almost seems inevitable for a company of any size. The "middle ground" is unlikely to work for anyone very well, though I imagine it's supposed to work for everyone at least a bit (rather than some well and some badly). Dunno, I just feel that the correct solution was to have left much earlier when it was apparent that the company wasn't listening, rather than trying to stick it out, hating it, then feeling so upset that posting named abuse on the Internet seems like the only way to feel better...
Kasatka
Active Member
While i understand what you are saying Ronin, as the guy said he found out ahead of time that he was losing his job so he stuck it out for the paycheck. Moolah = king in any industry.
Also while i kind of agree, in this instance i think that leaving EA's employ would accomplish nothing other than them filling the post with some other code monkey or just cutting down on man hours on a project. By bringing stuff like this to the light it puts pressure on their PR departments to try and put positive spin on things or, even better, improve their ethic.
Also while i kind of agree, in this instance i think that leaving EA's employ would accomplish nothing other than them filling the post with some other code monkey or just cutting down on man hours on a project. By bringing stuff like this to the light it puts pressure on their PR departments to try and put positive spin on things or, even better, improve their ethic.
Panda with issues...
Well-Known Member
Has anyone considered that it failed because it wasn't world of warcraft?
thatbloke
Junior Administrator
I did play the game from launch. The game was RIDDLED with bugs, some of which prevented progress for levelling and prevented completing the various story "chapters" that the game gave you.
I went back to it for a month at least half a year later, and a whole bunch of these bugs were still present.
it is a shame as the game did have some good ideas, like for instance having 2 targets - you could have one friendly and one enemy targeted at the same time.
The problem is that publishers/shareholders/whoever are seeing the massive amounts of money that WoW rakes in and they believe that they can take a large share of that away from Acti-Blizzard, but they do not put the requisite amount of effort into doing so. If you release a half-assed game with little high end content and a shedload of bugs you will push all those potential customers away. While they may come and try your game, they will, regardless, of whatever fixes may be applied in future, ignore it because it's "crap".
WoW has been around for (nearly) 6 years now and is in its current state very polished, is consistently having new content and patches applied, and is also a FUN game to play. People get used to "how WoW does it" and then when it's not like that they don't like it.
I went back to it for a month at least half a year later, and a whole bunch of these bugs were still present.
it is a shame as the game did have some good ideas, like for instance having 2 targets - you could have one friendly and one enemy targeted at the same time.
The problem is that publishers/shareholders/whoever are seeing the massive amounts of money that WoW rakes in and they believe that they can take a large share of that away from Acti-Blizzard, but they do not put the requisite amount of effort into doing so. If you release a half-assed game with little high end content and a shedload of bugs you will push all those potential customers away. While they may come and try your game, they will, regardless, of whatever fixes may be applied in future, ignore it because it's "crap".
WoW has been around for (nearly) 6 years now and is in its current state very polished, is consistently having new content and patches applied, and is also a FUN game to play. People get used to "how WoW does it" and then when it's not like that they don't like it.
Panda with issues...
Well-Known Member
THis is partly my point.
I believe that there are a finite number of people who want to play a MMORPG.
To attract a number of people to a new MMORPG away from WoW, you have to offer something ostensibly different.
Yet those same players will stream back to WoW due to the fact that it is WoW. I.e, as bloke says, they are used to the way it does it. Then there are also the people who wouldn't dream of leaving WoW due to the massive amount of time they have 'invested' (wasted).
I guess the point I'm making is that to lure people away from WoW, you have to offer something different, but essentially the same. On top of that, People just can't be arsed to jump ship. Its the equivalent of moving house accross a continent - Too much effort.
Panda with issues...
Well-Known Member
You see, I don't REALLY believe that very much.
I believe there are a finite number of people interested in MMORPGs. It just doesn't appeal to everyone else.
But what we're really arguing here is semantics. WoW essentially defines MMORPGs. If you make something totally different, is it still a MMORPG?
Is something like Battlefield a MMORPG? It offers massively multiplayer online gaiming, and a levelling grind...
Kasatka
Active Member
Well no, because it's not got the RPG aspect, nor does it really have persistent worlds. Some like Planetside on the other hand does have character development and persistent setting.
WOW may define the xp-grind fantasy hack and slash style of MMORPG, but there are many different styles.
WOW may define the xp-grind fantasy hack and slash style of MMORPG, but there are many different styles.
G
Gombol
Guest
Lets hope after WoW there will be either GW2 / TORO or DMO.
Tetsuo_Shima
In Cryo Sleep
Guild Wars 2 will bring the goddamn meat to the table, yeah!
Zhar
New Member
Didn't a lot of people say the same about Aion?
Hoy, 
Well, yes, but before Doom, there was Wolfenstein 3D, but FPSs are still largely referred to as Doom-like. Just like Rogue wasn't the first Rogue-like game, either.
For good or ill, WoW does define the modern-day MMORPG, and not just on the fantasy genre. Star Wars Galaxies is basically a "WoW-like game", for instance.
One of these days, I'm going to have to try A Tale In The Desert...
Cheers,
J.
Well, yes, but before Doom, there was Wolfenstein 3D, but FPSs are still largely referred to as Doom-like. Just like Rogue wasn't the first Rogue-like game, either.
For good or ill, WoW does define the modern-day MMORPG, and not just on the fantasy genre. Star Wars Galaxies is basically a "WoW-like game", for instance.
One of these days, I'm going to have to try A Tale In The Desert...
Cheers,
J.
waterproofbob
Junior Administrator
I loved warhammer online, the reason I loved it because it did pvp pretty well. I was never majorly hindered by bugs, there were a few occasions when part of a quest I was on bugged but I sent a GM request and it was sorted normally within 5 minutes.
The reason the majority of players stopped playing quite quickly after hitting lvl 40 was due to flawed end game material on launch. The end game was split between doing top tier castle sieges and doing PvE instances in your capital city. The city instances weren't all in place at launch causing a general case of meh for everyone and also causing everyone to go blob castles.
It was here that the major issues appeared, smaller scale pvp worked brilliantly and castle sieges in tiers1-3 (lower lvls) worked pretty nicely as you wouldn't get too many people and the castles were simpler structures. The major issue people fought with was the tier 4 castles. The server couldn't keep up and this more than anything was what pissed a lot of people off. We had no decent level 40 instances so it was pvpland or nothing, the instances that were there you also needed the buffs from the armour from the pvp drops to make them doable, especially for a tank.
My major gripe was never against mythic but with GOA who provided the server support and did a horrid job of it. The server failed whenever you go a lot of people attempting to defend or siege a fort. It's a bit like the giant lag in eve, however rather than it being when a hundred to a thousand people are in a system it was when more than about 100 people came into an area.
Either way WHO was awesome, playing as a slayer was possibly the most fun I've had in a game in a long time.
The reason the majority of players stopped playing quite quickly after hitting lvl 40 was due to flawed end game material on launch. The end game was split between doing top tier castle sieges and doing PvE instances in your capital city. The city instances weren't all in place at launch causing a general case of meh for everyone and also causing everyone to go blob castles.
It was here that the major issues appeared, smaller scale pvp worked brilliantly and castle sieges in tiers1-3 (lower lvls) worked pretty nicely as you wouldn't get too many people and the castles were simpler structures. The major issue people fought with was the tier 4 castles. The server couldn't keep up and this more than anything was what pissed a lot of people off. We had no decent level 40 instances so it was pvpland or nothing, the instances that were there you also needed the buffs from the armour from the pvp drops to make them doable, especially for a tank.
My major gripe was never against mythic but with GOA who provided the server support and did a horrid job of it. The server failed whenever you go a lot of people attempting to defend or siege a fort. It's a bit like the giant lag in eve, however rather than it being when a hundred to a thousand people are in a system it was when more than about 100 people came into an area.
Either way WHO was awesome, playing as a slayer was possibly the most fun I've had in a game in a long time.
Kasatka
Active Member
Greed bob, i played it at launch and only didn't sub as the launch content was lacklustre and i was heavily into Eve at the time. Have since gone back to play the unlimited trial and have been mucking about with each race/class.
It's a well refined game, and as far as fantasy MMOs go, probably my favourite, but it just lacks the playerbase for me to find it "epic" in the way a good Warhammer Fantasy game needs.
It's a well refined game, and as far as fantasy MMOs go, probably my favourite, but it just lacks the playerbase for me to find it "epic" in the way a good Warhammer Fantasy game needs.
G
Gombol
Guest
Agree.
When I was leveling on it, I struggled to fnd people to group with, and the people who did group were utter idiots who didn't do anything as a team (Shamans standing around hoping I'll kill the mob before I die, etc.)
Not to mention this one time I was almost soloing a Public quest, when this guy jumps in at the last second, gets 1 hit in on the last boss, and wins the best bag. :/ Good idea on paper, failed in presentation.