Anybody know why the Warhammer RPG MMO is so popular?  What did they do right?

jh

It's Warhammer and it was supposed to have the best RvR system around (was not really like that at the beginning, but now thy should have fixed it).

How popular is it?

I would say enough... at leas at the beginning... now the subrscription had a fall... it should be something around 80000 accounts or something like that right now... really do not know, it's being a lot since i stopped (mainly because of time problems).

jadrax said:

www.gameogre.com/topmmorpgs.htm

gigaom.com/2007/06/13/top-ten-most-popular-mmos/

I checked several sites and it shows up very high for pay to play.

ive played MMO's alot i think the that game mechanics and game play are abysmal, i quit after the first month of launch only to come back earlier this month and IMO nothing has changed. I was really dissapointed because the game has/had sooo m uch pottential for background and atmosphere, its just bogged down with poor gameplay and mechanics.

I'm a big fan of WAR. Good graphics, dynamic gameplay, and fun RvR. I don't think FFG forums are quite the right place to discuss it though.

Plus, I hear there are ALLEGEDLY goblin porn easter eggs in the Wastelands realm - I guess they just wanted to cover all the bases. 

 I don't play MMOs, but my guess would be that it came at a time when a lot of people were at the point where they had played enough WOW and were looking for a new game...And who can resist the dark, grim appeal of the Warhammer setting?

Popular? AFAIK there are not that many players. I guess under a million. Its by far not the wow killer they thought it will be.

Only people looking forward to it said it would have been a WoW killer before its release... Mythic always said they never intended WAR to become a WoW killer, and they said it a lot of times during the months before the release...

Dreary_Angel said:

Mythic was smart. Any company intending their RPG to be a WoW-Killer is not being smart.  WoW is a phenomenon no one is likely to duplicate soon.  I can name any number of MMOS that are better than WoW but not nearly as popular.  WAR is one of them. 

WAR isn't completely faithful to the Warhammer Universe, of course.  The magic system being one of the key differences.  But it is a fun game to play nonetheless, and it is cool to see the Warhammer places and lore in an MMO.  I enjoy it.

Steerpike said:

Oh man. Speak for yourself. WoW is much a better MMO than WAR or any other out there.

Heh.  The list of MMOs I'd rather play than WoW, because I think they are better, includes WAR, AoC, LOTRO, DDO, Vanguard, EQ2, and Eve.  I played WoW all the way though Burning Crusade just because many friends and family played and I wanted to be able to play with them, but man...it's hard to think of an MMO I like less.

To each his own, eh? :) 

I think the point of why I ask this is why wouldn't a game company want to emulate WAR or WoW?

jh

Because WAR and WoW will always do it better than an pen and paper version of them.

If you've got a unique concept or IP you don't make money by trying to make it like something else. You make money by really selling the concepts unique to it. Those are the copyrightable aspects that your game world will have that no others will have.

Apple used to try and go head to head with Microsoft years ago. Now they have found their niche and are surviving on the strength of their brand and concept.

This is one of the reasons I'm not sure I like the 3rd ed heroic vision. WFRP's uniqueness is being ignored and it is being moved closer to already established and extremely successful RPGs. The things that make WFRP unique are what brought in the players. If it's like another game then you aren't tempting someone over from that game unless they like the Warhammer setting that much.

You should be playing to the strengths of the game, not to the strengths of another game in the hope you can somehow ride its coat tails or steal its players.

Hellebore