WARHAMMER: RETURN OF THE MAN IN THE RAT SUIT

Bold + Italics = producers letter
Red text = me




It’s a brand New Year! Yup, Hai! For many, this is a chance to reflect, Like a mirror!! :D for others a time to look ahead. Like what deer don't do (stupid deer) Some make resolutions Like in Tunisia? Oh.. RESolution.... Sometimes they stick to them, sometimes they don’t Are we still talking about revolutions?. Regardless of your personal view of the New Year and what it brings, it marks a time for change. Like.. TZEENTCH!!! Wait... he's the change guy.. right? Eka correct me if I'm wrong



This month’s Producer Letter is being brought to you by James Casey The guy in the rat suit?. James has been a Producer on the project for some time and has run a number of WAR initiatives (New User Journey Oh..., Endless Trial OH..., Verminous Horde OHHHHHHHHH, etc.) in tandem with Carrie. Carrie is still working on WAR, but is looking at a different aspect of the game. This new focus will be revealed in due time. Sometimes I get focused when I play my dok, I don't like it when I die.. it makes me feel inferior.



In setting up this year, we took a look at what we accomplished last year and what remained on our ‘to-do’ or wish lists My wish list would to have a rally master on theislandoftru. These are gathered internally Like.. from organs? and from feedback Ohhhhhhhhh... that we gather all year long. We then plotted those out with our normal patch cycle in mind.  Teehee, like a pirate's patch.

 The actual numbered patches for this year (1.4.1, 1.4.2, 1.4.3, 1.5, 1.5.1 :D…) will follow a similar cadence to last year. Our first patch for the year (1.4.1) will be a smaller version dedicated to bug fixes When I was like, 7, I broke a grasshopper's leg off... but I don't think you're talking about that kind of bug fix and a few new features Yay!!!!!. Amongst those features will be a new way to claim account entitlements (such as the Snotling Herald Pets) I don't have that yet.. o.o. This new interface will replace the current method of delivering account entitlements via the in game mail system Will it still make me feel special when I see I have mail?. We did this for a number of reasons. The primary reason is that in-game mail expires by necessity I've lost many this way :-(. The new claim interface will allow you to claim the items anytime ooooooh!!!. The second reason is that we wanted to give you an easier method to recover lost items that you may have misplaced over time One time my pie disappeared for a few days, and I was sad, then I sent in an appeal, and in less than a day I got my pie back.  Yay . For items that don’t have charges or function as a ‘currency’ item, such as War Tract scrolls, players will be able to reset those account entitlements at their leisure without having to contact customer service. Does this breastplate make my hip look wide?  This new feature will cover all item based deliveries from account entitlements whether they are paid items like you can purchase on the EA Store or marketing rewards from events or the collector’s edition.



Another feature of the patch is a re-structuring of our Scenario line-up Yay! I think we should make Khaine's Embrace a permanent SC for all tiers.. :-)... or pheonix Gate.. :-D. We’ve monitored feedback and statistics over the last year and decided to shake up what scenarios are available all the time for each Tier Put all the SCs in a hat and draw them, that works best. The current structure of the Scenarios will remain unchanged, but the Scenarios themselves will be different Make everything a team deathmatch, first the 500 points, 1 kill = 1 point :-DDDDDDDDDDDDD. Some scenarios stayed where they are, some changed what tiers they are available at Did you know.... A cat can make over 100 facial expressions, while dogs can only make 10., and some are gone and replaced by other classic scenarios. For example; The Maw of Madness Meh, I never cared for this SC will be making its return to the Tier 4 scenario Queue. We’re going to be closely monitoring the scenarios when 1.4.1 goes live and will make further adjustments in later patches as go through the year based on your feedback. The mouth is on the face.. not the back.. duh

We have plans for major features for each of our numbered patches this year. YAY!!! :D The plans include expanding existing areas Oh my god.. somebody call Eka.. now.. NOW.. and features as well as new concepts to the Warhammer Online experience. With each subsequent producer letter I plan to share more of these plans. I like PQs.. do you like PQs man in rat suit?

 Shifting gears a bit , I’d like to tell you about our plans for Live Events I am quite fond of Live Events. We have eight Live Events planned for this year WOW!! That's one for each month of the year! Wait.... Some of these are returning favorites (like the recently completed Keg End Wait til December please.. I'm tired of fireworks... also make it so the opposing realm can see your fireworks) and the forthcoming Night of Murder in February What a weird theme for valentines day.... Others are new ones we have planned to fill in some of the calendar gaps. YESSSS, THANK GOD, FINALLY!!! Along with the Live Events, we’ll continue to support Weekend Warfronts with plans to introduce some scenarios that haven’t made their debut in the Warfront format Just please don't say you're introducing something for Grovod Caverns... We also have some very special plans for Grovod Caverns GAHHHHHH, at least make it so I can summon my mount in the place then....



Along with the patches and live events, we also have plans to expand our services and Account Entitlement offerings this year. This includes introducing paid name changes I Won't change my name.., more pets Yay, and more ways to personalize your character Ehh.

 Finally, I’d like to address a topic that I’m sure is close to everyone’s hearts; server population Cross Server SCs for t2 and t3 if possible plz. We’ve been monitoring the situations on each of our servers in every market Ever been to a Moroccan marketplace? Yeah me neither, I will one day though.. ONE DAY.... Our current situation on most of the servers shows us numbers that fall within traditionally acceptable parameters, notably our peak population values Mount Everest is a peak.. I think. Peak population is where we see the most activity on the server Go on...; during what is considered prime-time for the server or ‘peak’ hours You just repeated yourself.... However, we understand that population is a key component to enjoying the game YES :D. As part of an effort to ensure off-peak hours are as enjoyable as peak hours can be, we are actively discussing our plans for lower population servers Man, I tried to log onto my Dark Crag character yesterday.. that place is dead, let me tell you... no one but me I swear.. come to think about it, I wasn't even able to log on... If you haven’t heard anything to this effect by the time this letter sees print, you should see something very soon I saw it.. yes.. I did.... We are committed to ensuring that we do what is needed to make sure players enjoy their experience in WAR. Well, that's fortunate.

 As we close out this producer’s letter, the first of many for the year 8, we’d like to take a moment and thank all subscribers; past Yaaay, present I like presents, and future Yaaaay. Thank you for your patronage, your support, and your feedback on Warhammer Online over the past year and we hope to continue to provide you an unparalleled RvR MMO experience into the New Year That reminds me.. it's almost february... you know what I bet the guy who came up with the spelling for february was the same guy who came up with the spelling for Wednesday... that bastard...!



On a side note.. it was James Casey in the rat suit during the video Q&A.. right? If not I'm going to look really stupid.. more stupid than usual...

Poll Results: What is your favorite RACE (Not archtype..)

High Elf: 13%

Dark Elf: 18%

Chaos: 9%

Empire: 4%

Greenskin: 22%

Dwarf: 0% (awww)

Monkey: 31%