by Garrett Fuller



With the announcement that EA Mythic will be delaying the launch of
Warhammer Online
until the second quarter of 2008, we are all left with
a lot of questions. Fortunately, the man himself - Mark Jacobs - has
all the answers. We were able to get a brief interview with Mark
Thursday evening on the state of Warhammer Online and why the game was
delayed.



Mark was quick to start out by saying that W.A.R. had gone through beta
and received a ton of feedback from testers. In regards to feedback, he
had this to say:

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style="font-style: italic;">Jacobs said the
feedback they got from beta was generally solid.

 “Most of it was quite good. Some of it was, you
know, not good. Still, the team had delivered the content it needed
too. Unfortunately they had delivered it in the time line we had
allocated for polish. We looked at everything else we needed to do
before February, and we felt, okay there are two paths here. Path
number one, we cut out some features, we cut out some content, and we
deliver. Or we go to EA and say we need more time. EA said here is your
extra time, go and make a great game.”



So the game was pushed back to the second quarter of 2008. The time
difference is not really that much and the reasoning makes perfect
sense. No one can argue with adding more time for quality and polish to
a game.



Mark went on to talk about the beta testing that is expected to re-open
in December.

He did say that the “launch delay has zero effect”
on the beta. EA Mythic plans to go through the normal steps of beta
testing where they will continue to open and close beta as needed to
get the best feedback possible for the game. Mark is hoping that
testers will go in and really “beat on the new
stuff.”

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style="font-style: italic;">During beta, WAR
testers should really focus on giving feedback.

With this open and closing process of beta, Mark stressed feedback as
the most important thing. Once they get the feedback on key areas, they
will open guild beta.



“When we re-open for guild beta, we really have done our job
and plan to give the players a great experience,” Mark said.



We asked Mark a quick question about the upcoming Elf classes for
Warhammer Online and he mentioned that this month’s
newsletter highlights the Shadow Warrior for the High Elves and goes
much more in depth about the Sword Master. Mark said, “I have
been playing the elves and they are…pretty cool.”



When talking about the game, Mark did emphasize that WAR is near
content completion, which means that all major quests and monsters are
in the game. However he pointed out that “it does not mean
it’s finished.” There is a first cut and second cut
just like re-editing a movie. Once you have the game where you want it
you go into the polishing phases.

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style="font-style: italic;">EA and Mythic have
a commitment to quality.

So those are the comments regarding beta and launch for Warhammer
Online from Mark Jacobs. The one thing that he stressed more than
anything else in the interview was the commitment to quality that EA
and Mythic have for their games. We all know Warhammer is a very strong
IP and has a large following. They do not want to let the players down
by delivering a sub standard product.



While we had Mark on the phone we had to ask the question about EA
acquiring Bioware and Pandemic Studios. We were curious if EA Mythic
would be working along side Bioware Austin on their upcoming mystery
MMO (*rumor*…KOTOR…*rumor*). Mark did say that
they were very pleased to see Bioware join the EA family and he has
been friends with them for a long time. Mark had this to say in regards
to working with Bioware:  



“They wanted to continue control of the MMO, it is their
game. EA Mythic has no say. Our friendships go back a long way and if
they want to talk about ideas…definitely!”



There you have it folks, Mark Jacobs certainly has stepped up to the
plate to answer the difficult questions that go along with developing
an MMOG. While many fans may be sad that Warhammer will be delayed
another few months, they should certainly take comfort that someone
like Mark Jacobs is behind the scenes. It was 8 pm by the time we
finished our call with Mark. You have to appreciate that he is up
working late to lay down the facts about Warhammer Online and build a
quality MMOG we can all enjoy.

See you all online in 2Q 2008! Thanks again, Mark!

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