This is the answers from Jeff Hickman about our concerns (was posted the 11 of November on USA site):

Hello everyone,

With all that is going on within Mythic Entertainment and EA, I would like to take a moment to reinforce the studio’s dedication to both our games and our players.  At Mythic, we remain committed to our games and the passionate people who play them – we’re going to continue to deliver the content and service that keeps you playing. We want to assure our community that we will maintain the same high level of customer support you’ve come to expect and continue to improve our games with an exciting schedule of patches, live events and new content.

At Mythic, we are the torchbearer of three great gaming franchises that we love and nurture:

-Ultima Online is the granddaddy of MMORPG’s and it’s still going strong after 12 years. Thanks to the release of our 8th expansion, there are now more players exploring Britannia than we’ve seen in quite some time. We have a passionate and committed team working on UO, and they have some really interesting plans for the future. Stay tuned!

-Dark Age of Camelot is over 8 years old and the Realm vs. Realm action keeps getting better. The development team loves what they do and never forget that DAoC was the first true MMO love for many of you (and for many of us!).  They are dedicated to providing continued updates and support for this great game so the fighting in the Frontiers will never end.

-Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has had a solid first year despite some issues that we’re working to address every day.  We’ve seen a great response to 1.3.2, which introduced tremendous performance improvements. A flood of new players are discovering the game every day thanks to the recently released Endless Trial and New User Journey. Moving forward we remain committed to releasing more great patches, continued performance improvements, and changes based upon your valuable feedback!

We want to thank you again for your continued commitment to our games.  In return, we remain committed to providing you with the best possible gaming experiences and customer support both now and in the future. Be sure to keep an eye open for more information about upcoming patches and the exciting plans we have in store for your favorite MMORPGs.

See you on the battlefield,

Jeff Hickman
Executive Producer, Mythic Entertainment

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Fabianv wrote: 

This is the answers from Jeff Hickman about our concerns (was posted the 11 of November on USA site):

 

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And it might surprise some to know that it was also posted here in the EU forums (and website) on the 11.Nov as well.

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Tmarauder wrote:
This game is going to die out, pretty depressing.

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And you're not helping. Lets not get too depressed. WAR is not doing too bad right now, lets hope that the number of active players will increase over time.

Nice to see so many cheery folk out there. I love the forums... *rolls eyes and grins*

Well, in the last few weeks I've seen the activity of my guild increase greatly, with many old players returning to the game. They're delighted with most of the changes, but the biggest cause of misery is the removal of fortresses. We can only hope these come back some day, and the fact that they're still on the map tells my that Mythic must be considering this - otherwise they'd have been removed all together.

Yes, there are still many things that need to be fixed in game (from disobedient pets and clipping, to lag and zone crashes) but after a year, I'm really happy with the improvements made.

As for the announcement about cutbacks - it's a sign of the times. We're in a recession, and many companies are laying people off. They're not going to pull the plug on WAR, from a company point of view, they make more profit if they sell the same amount of products but have less overheads (sadly including employees).

This is the best PvP game out there, without a doubt. I and many others are thoroughly enjoying the Waaargh, so don't let doomsayers like Tmarauder put you off.

I would be careful about saying "best PvP" game, since there obviously exist many other games with good PvP. EvE Online, Darkfall, Age of Conan just to mention a few. It´s a matter of taste. However Warhammer is a good RvR game, no doubt about that, otherwise i would not play.

True people are coming back, but so far it seems a great majority stay with the endless trial. Mythic need many more paying customers. The announcement about sacking 1500 people at EA which incl 40% of Mythics work force can not be explained by the current recession only. This game lost somewhere between 6-700.000 paying customers in one year.That´s the main reason behind the cutbacks in Mythic.

This game wont get any new content if Mythic dont have any money. And that will mean a slow death to Warhammer. Just like DAoC and OU. People never stay in a game without development.

So lets hope people coming back in masses. That´s the only hope we got.