..By Destin Bales. Most of you've probably already seen this, but for those of you who doesn't check out war-europe.com on a daily basis here's something to read. 
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Waaagh!
Sure, you've seen that word several times by now. But do you really know what it means? Well, here in the halls of Mythic Entertainment, it means several things. It's an enthusiastic battle cry, challenging both our enemies on the battlefield and ourselves in the office. It's a howl of frustration when at the last moment some piece of code unexpectedly breaks. It's the sound of a rampaging horde of developers rushing to get to the pizza on a night we have to burn the midnight oil to make sure an update to the game is fully tested and ready to go. It's a sort of unofficial slogan we proudly wear on green t-shirts. Oh, and yeah, apparently some Orcs said it once.
As the Live Producer for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, I've become intimately familiar with Waaagh! in all of its myriad forms. I've been on the WAR team practically from the first day it existed, when I occupied the role of Content Director. Back then, it was my job was to infuse our game's quests, public quests and dungeons with as much Waaagh! as possible. Now that the game has launched, it's been a lot of fun to watch you, the players, dive into the story and explore that content. I've enjoyed reading forum posts from those of you who are finding the fun little secrets and Easter eggs sprinkled throughout the Warhammer world.
For example, how many of you have visited Black Fire Pass and walked the Path of Sigmar, following in the footsteps of a legend? How many have found the barrel in the Marshes of Madness that tells the story of the two unfortunate Goblins who decided to hide from a stalking ghost by climbing inside of it? Has anyone found the way into the Lair of Xaphan? If not, you might want to start looking around for altars. It might seem odd at first that they don't do anything when you interact with them. Well, that's probably because you haven't found them all yet.
Yes, WAR is a pretty big game, chock full of fun discoveries, crazy tome achievements and cool little secrets to find. Well, I'm here to tell that it's going to get a lot bigger. You see, I saved the best instance of Waaagh! for last.
On September 18th we gathered the entire WAR team together in the parking lot outside our studio, and sent an intrepid photographer up onto the roof of our building to take a team photo. On the count of three, we all cried out - you guessed it - WAAAGH! It was both of cry of victorious exaltation at getting the game out the door, but also an exuberant yell inspired by the great things still to come. It was the sum total of all the passion and excitement that makes this team great, given a very loud voice. You see, we know something you don't know. We know what's coming up in the months ahead, and we're just as amped up - maybe even more so - to share the growth and evolution of WAR with you, our awesome community, as we were to get the game into your hands.
Now the game is live, and the war has begun. Now it's YOUR turn to cry "Waaagh!" Maybe I can help by letting you in on some of the work we're doing to improve and enhance the game. We're on the threshold of another maintenance patch and continue to work on fixes which were brought to our attention by your great feedback. Though they may not all make this next batch, we are aggressively working on a number of things including knocking out a bug that limits alliances to just two guilds, additional crash and performance related fixes, adding a restriction to “need-ing” items in scenarios in order to limit the option to those careers that can actually use the loot, preventing AFK’ing in scenarios from being lucrative, and additional work towards the eradication of gold farmers.
All in all, you will find WAR to be a smoother and more user-friendly game.
Well, I've probably taken up enough of your time. No doubt you're eager to return to the killing fields of Nordland, or the dusty wastes of the Badlands, or the dense forests of Avelorn. After all, your enemies will never rest, so how can you?
I'll see you on the battlefield, and may the loudest Waaagh! win.
- Destin Bales, Live Producer
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Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning
------------------------------------------------------------
Waaagh!
Sure, you've seen that word several times by now. But do you really know what it means? Well, here in the halls of Mythic Entertainment, it means several things. It's an enthusiastic battle cry, challenging both our enemies on the battlefield and ourselves in the office. It's a howl of frustration when at the last moment some piece of code unexpectedly breaks. It's the sound of a rampaging horde of developers rushing to get to the pizza on a night we have to burn the midnight oil to make sure an update to the game is fully tested and ready to go. It's a sort of unofficial slogan we proudly wear on green t-shirts. Oh, and yeah, apparently some Orcs said it once.
As the Live Producer for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, I've become intimately familiar with Waaagh! in all of its myriad forms. I've been on the WAR team practically from the first day it existed, when I occupied the role of Content Director. Back then, it was my job was to infuse our game's quests, public quests and dungeons with as much Waaagh! as possible. Now that the game has launched, it's been a lot of fun to watch you, the players, dive into the story and explore that content. I've enjoyed reading forum posts from those of you who are finding the fun little secrets and Easter eggs sprinkled throughout the Warhammer world.
For example, how many of you have visited Black Fire Pass and walked the Path of Sigmar, following in the footsteps of a legend? How many have found the barrel in the Marshes of Madness that tells the story of the two unfortunate Goblins who decided to hide from a stalking ghost by climbing inside of it? Has anyone found the way into the Lair of Xaphan? If not, you might want to start looking around for altars. It might seem odd at first that they don't do anything when you interact with them. Well, that's probably because you haven't found them all yet.
Yes, WAR is a pretty big game, chock full of fun discoveries, crazy tome achievements and cool little secrets to find. Well, I'm here to tell that it's going to get a lot bigger. You see, I saved the best instance of Waaagh! for last.
On September 18th we gathered the entire WAR team together in the parking lot outside our studio, and sent an intrepid photographer up onto the roof of our building to take a team photo. On the count of three, we all cried out - you guessed it - WAAAGH! It was both of cry of victorious exaltation at getting the game out the door, but also an exuberant yell inspired by the great things still to come. It was the sum total of all the passion and excitement that makes this team great, given a very loud voice. You see, we know something you don't know. We know what's coming up in the months ahead, and we're just as amped up - maybe even more so - to share the growth and evolution of WAR with you, our awesome community, as we were to get the game into your hands.
Now the game is live, and the war has begun. Now it's YOUR turn to cry "Waaagh!" Maybe I can help by letting you in on some of the work we're doing to improve and enhance the game. We're on the threshold of another maintenance patch and continue to work on fixes which were brought to our attention by your great feedback. Though they may not all make this next batch, we are aggressively working on a number of things including knocking out a bug that limits alliances to just two guilds, additional crash and performance related fixes, adding a restriction to “need-ing” items in scenarios in order to limit the option to those careers that can actually use the loot, preventing AFK’ing in scenarios from being lucrative, and additional work towards the eradication of gold farmers.
All in all, you will find WAR to be a smoother and more user-friendly game.
Well, I've probably taken up enough of your time. No doubt you're eager to return to the killing fields of Nordland, or the dusty wastes of the Badlands, or the dense forests of Avelorn. After all, your enemies will never rest, so how can you?
I'll see you on the battlefield, and may the loudest Waaagh! win.
- Destin Bales, Live Producer
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Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning
