Blizzard lols at Warhammer, says WOW subscribers coming back.
DateTime:7/8/2009 5:21:12 PM

In spite of the strong impression Warhammer Online has made on the MMO community, the game is not without its problems; problems that need to be overcome if EA hopes to contend with Activision-Blizzard's giant World of WarCraft. If Blizzard is to be believed, the battle may already be lost; the company claims that WarCraft players who left for Warhammer are already coming back in droves.

COO of Blizzard Paul Sams spoke with Games Industry yesterday, discussing the state of Warhammer in relation to WoW. "We've seen a significant number of people, well over half, that cited Warhammer as their reason for leaving—they've already returned," he said frankly. "We respect [Mythic] a lot and certainly wish them well to succeed, but having registration troubles, having server troubles, these are things that come with the territory."

Alas, it's becoming painfully clear that the balance issues at present are driving away some players—and that's something that many won't be able to tolerate once Wrath of the Lich King arrives. EA Mythic has got to think up a better plan than the XP bonuses if it plans for its game to stay relevant moving forward. And while the outlook may not be as bleak as the underhanded comments from Blizzard itself, Mythic still has its work cut out for it.

Aside from the inconveniences of life and work, both my play time and my interest in Warhammer Online have yet to subside. Mythic continues to roll out patches on what seems like a weekly basis, and RVR is still a joy to play in the end-game as the battle on my server is fierce. As was discussed in our report, server balance seems to be the one main issue driving players away from the game. Mythic has begun offering players bonus XP to join the short-handed side on specific servers and many guilds are beginning to uproot upon seeing the potential for expansion.