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Warlord of the News
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Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:07 am :: dabigbom
Posts: 384 • Guild: I don't need a guild! I am the guild! • Class: Black Orc and that's final. • Joined: 12 Jul 2007
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This was posted over by Mark Jacobs on the WHA boards.
| Quote: | Folks,
So, I'm going to go ahead and create a topic here in which I'll be happy to talk about the change in release day and other associated subjects. As usual, I'll ask people to be polite and I will be so in return. Below this paragraph I have included some questions I expect you'll ask with some answers in advance. Please take the time to read this Q&A before asking me a question in return. I hate to be rude but I don't want to have to answer the same question again and again. Also, please read the entire thread (or at least my responses in it) before asking a question for the same reason.
And please, if you are going to use this thread to either outrage, disappointment and/or anger (real or feigned), I ask you please to do that in another thread. This topic is for people who want to talk to me about the delay, the reasons behind it, the effect on WAR, etc. As I said in the Eurogamer thread I expect lots of visits from trolls (just as we got the last time) from other games looking for an opportunity to pile-on because of this announcement.
Mark
1) When’s the release date? We are only prepared to say that the game will launch Fall 2008. Given the highly competitive nature of the MMO industry right now, we feel it is best not to establish a set launch date at the present time.
2) Will you still be able to launch the European and North American versions of the game simultaneously? That’s always been our plan for WAR and nothing about this delay endangers that at all. Actually, it gives us a little more time to make sure that everything is ready to go at launch.
3) How’s the beta going? It’s going quite well. We’re getting tons of great feedback and overall, we are quite pleased with the game’s progress. Given the rather complicate nature of MMOs in general, and the fact that WAR is both a PvE and an RvR game, getting it right at launch is paramount to the game’s success.
4) Do you think you are going to hit this release date? About as sure as we were the last time, which means that we’ll be sure that we’ll hit the date when the game goes gold master. Our confidence only increases the longer we are in beta.
5) It seems that WAR is taking a long time to develop, is this true? Mythic began work on WAR in Fall 2005. Even with this delay, if the game launches within the new window it will be only a three-year development cycle. That is far less than most other MMORPGs ... other than Dark Age of Camelot, of course.
6) How does EA feel about this delay? They feel the same way about it that we do, sad but supportive. We all would have loved to release this game in the 2nd Quarter but it wouldn’t have been a great game at launch we know it can be. A good game absolutely, but not great. Our CEO has been a vocal proponent within EA and spokesmen outside of it of the need to improve the quality of all games, including EA. We are thrilled to be happy to help meet his trumpet call.
7) It’s going to be a pretty crowded couple of quarters in the MMORPG space, why do you think WAR is going to be able to stand out? One of the lessons from developers like BioWare and Blizzard is that you can’t rush a great game to market. By taking the necessary time to make WAR a great game, we feel it will be able to stand out in any season. We would rather release a great game in the fall then a good one any other time.
Do you see any positives in the delay of the game’s release? Yes, lots of them. Extra time for polish, more time for iteration and a chance to be one of the standout products of the biggest selling season for the industry.
9) Why did you announce the date now? We could have waited to announce a delay, and in doing so take advantage of the hype surrounding the of the Collector’s Edition to sell a ton of copies. However, that has never been the way we’ve done business and that is not about to change now. We’ve always told the community that when a delay was necessary we would tell them right away, and we’re doing just that. I wish I could say all other developers do this but the fact is that they don't. We did what's right for the game but delaying the release and what's right for the community by announcing it now.
10) Will this have any effect on any other overseas launches for WAR? This has no impact on our plans for Asia. |
While I am a bit let down by this statement, I fully support EA Mythic's choice of delaying the release date and spending more time (and money) to make WAR a great MMO. If indeed WAR was to be shipped out this summer, polished in a hurry as it seemed it would be then that would've been a big minus for WAR.
p.s Funcom has done this mistake by choosing not to polish Age of Conan and thus hurrying it to get it out by this summer, in a desperate effort to gain a fast subscriber base. |
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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:19 am :: phantom
Posts: 586 • Guild: Dominion • Class: Marauder • Joined: 12 Jul 2007
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| Good deal. Glad to see them sticking to releasing when it's ready. If they need more time, take it and deliver one helluva product in Fall or whenever it actually comes out. All shall benefit from this in the long run. |
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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:29 am :: silex
Posts: 873 • Guild: Pirate Ghost Cows • Class: Zealot • Joined: 17 Feb 2006
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Done when its done! The good news is that the game is nearly feature complete, and the polishing is about to begin.
I'm anticipating another delay from Funcom as well (word from AoC beta is that it is still a good ways from feature complete). EA Mythic just drops the ball a good couple months in advance. Funcom has been dropping the delay news just a couple weeks from their past release dates.
Also Autumn apparantly means Q4. :-/ |
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Brain-Eater Hasselhoff
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Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:43 pm :: Mograth
Posts: 58 • Guild: Pirate Ghost Cows • Class: I make bad classes look good! • Joined: 21 Jul 2007
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To be taken with a grain of salt....
Gamestop has Oct. 14 as release day. |
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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:26 pm :: phantom
Posts: 586 • Guild: Dominion • Class: Marauder • Joined: 12 Jul 2007
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| That would be awesome, is that not the original launch date of DAOC back in like 2001?? |
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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:39 pm :: silex
Posts: 873 • Guild: Pirate Ghost Cows • Class: Zealot • Joined: 17 Feb 2006
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| phantom wrote: | | That would be awesome, is that not the original launch date of DAOC back in like 2001?? |
Hahah, that would be awesome.
Wikipedia says it was October 10th. Close!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Age_of_Camelot |
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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:16 am :: phantom
Posts: 586 • Guild: Dominion • Class: Marauder • Joined: 12 Jul 2007
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| I knew it was somewhere in there very close. Be uber to have the same date I think haha. |
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Junior Hasselhoff Fanclub Member
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Fri Apr 11, 2008 4:13 pm :: ChaosSpiderPig
Posts: 2 • • • Joined: 11 Apr 2008
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Hurry the hell up and release this. The day this comes out I am switching from WoW. Better release it before Wrath of the Lich King comes out though because I might have to change my mind.  |
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