Warhammer Online merges two more servers
by Eliot Lefebvre 
Nov 24th 2009 at 8:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Server downtime, Warhammer Online, News items
It wasn't entirely unexpected -- after all, Jeff Skalski gave some indications this might be coming in our recent interview with him -- but it's still unbalancing. Warhammer Online community manager Andy Belford confirmed today that two of the game's servers, Dark Crag and Phoenix Throne, will be shutting down. The population of these servers will be allowed a free transfer to two other servers each -- Iron Rock or Badlands for Dark Crag, Gorfang or Volkmar for Phoenix Throne. He also mentions that there will be a 20% bonus to experience and renown in the weeks following the transfer, to at least slightly take the sting off the event.
It looks as if there will be slightly more servers in the European region, as they have a total of 13 still open... but several of those are due to the different languages, and at least one of the realms is scheduled for shutdown. As for what this means for the game itself... it's hard to call it anything but bad news, even with the promises of a boost incoming to ease the impact. We know that Warhammer Online's future looks a bit shaky after recent events, but this is more dire than any of us had expected or hoped. We'll keep up on any news as it becomes available.
[ Thanks to JP for the tip. ]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Steve said on 8:03PM 11-24-2009
Not surprising at all. Both these servers have been dead for a while now.
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CCon99 said on 8:07PM 11-24-2009
Wasn't PT one of the most populated servers?
Hiravaxis said on 1:21PM 11-25-2009
No.
PT and DC have both been pretty sickly.
It's the right move to make.
Mr Angry said on 8:10PM 11-24-2009
Good work JP, keep up the ambulance chasing :) hahahaha
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JP said on 10:22PM 11-24-2009
Hey, it's either I tell them this crap, or we see Sera "report" about how great a game CO is over & over. no thanks
Seraphina Brennan said on 3:05AM 11-25-2009
IT'S SO AMAZING OMG!!!!11111ONEELVEN
Seraphina Brennan said on 3:10AM 11-25-2009
((Pssst: I'm crazy. :D But we all knew that.))
NekoAli said on 8:11PM 11-24-2009
Phoenix Throne has always been one of the most populated servers, at least up till a few months ago when I canceled. It was also the only remaining role playing server. I guess now I have absolutely no reason to bother returning. To bad, a waste of a great license.
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Tony Montana said on 8:25PM 11-24-2009
That server wasn't unpopulated in fact it was one of the most populated servers out there, maybe even the most at one point.
Why they are shutting it down isn't making a lot of sense. Are the other two servers highly populated?
Hmm this is all very confusing I can understand they want to close low population servers and bring those people over to other servers but they are killing off a high population server here for some reason.
Maybe it is the deathknell coming or a last ditch salvage operation? Either way all very confusing but sounds like some bad news. Maybe they'll say more in the coming days.
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Skuz said on 8:25PM 11-24-2009
The Mythic guys have worked very hard to put right what was wrong from the very start, but it shows you just how hard it is to repair damage that was inherent in a fundamentally flawed overall design, the game has tons of depth but the gameplay doesn't reflect it at all, what you get left with is the impression of a shallow "drop in drop out" game, sadly this doesn't justify it's subscription, sub games need much more to them, and more people are choosing to drop out than drop in as a result.
With EA's history I can see them pulling the plug long before any kind of recovery could take place.
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Leshrac said on 8:26PM 11-24-2009
God, this is like watching someone die a slow death.....morbid.
I had moments of fun in WAR but it wasn't sustaining. Too bad, for the most part I think WAR had the best PvP to date.
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Jadacks said on 9:03PM 11-24-2009
There are about 13 servers in the EU yes, back frankly only 2 are worth a damn now, those are Norn and Azgal, and I have my worries about Azgal. Those who play or played on the non English speaking servers seem to be flocking to norn.
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Hambone_Hamlet said on 9:13PM 11-24-2009
This is not good but hopefully moving these players to other servers will improve RvR. Isn't patch 1.3.3 coming out soon?
The endless trial is great, too great because I am playing the game everyday but do not intend to resub anything soon.
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crsh said on 9:13PM 11-24-2009
So odd, I was playing on Phoenix Throne up until I quit in April, we were the most populated RP server and overall one of the top servers. What happened? I know WAR is struggling, but that bad?
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Cameron said on 9:32PM 11-24-2009
I'm surprised to hear so many people claiming Phoenix Throne was populated. I was playing a few months ago and couldn't get a single queue to pop for hours on that damn server, which was a shame because I wanted to play on an RP server. I'd hop over to Order on Gorfang and get queues for scenarios almost immediately after I hit the button.
Y'all is crazy.
Sorry to see Warhammer continue to suffer, though. It actually made PVP in an MMO fun.
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crsh said on 7:30AM 11-25-2009
My theory is that patch 1.3 (Land of the Dead) and following months caused a mass exile; LotD effectively killed RvR in the T4 pairings for a few weeks after it came out, those who weren't interested in playing PvE for easy loot just canceled.
PT really was, once, one of those most populated servers, despite it's imbalance in favor of Destros (I played Order, we were outnumbered 3 to 1 sometimes); the fight still went on every night.
I stopped playing 2 weeks after LotD went live and saw the early damage it caused, the faction who controlled LotD deserted RvR zones and the "losing" side was left to steamroll those T4 zones without any sort of resistance. Pretty damn boring for those interested in PvP.
GaaaaaH said on 9:40PM 11-24-2009
Didn't the interview mention that they would only merge the servers after evaluating the new unlimited trial?
Well, they're merging the servers, so does that make the trial a failure?
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tw34k said on 9:44PM 11-24-2009
I get the feeling it wont die completely, it will trundle along, and i think if the team can get a break or maybe even some time to drive something into the game it might come back from the brink.
There is alot of potential in this game and its franchise and they have the elements there, but maybe a reworking is needed, its something not generally done in mmo circles, but i think given the right situation this game could, with the right changes and new direction it could make an about turn and rise from the ashes.
The right people and ideas and anything is possible
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Archmage said on 10:41PM 11-24-2009
There is no saving this game in it currently implementation, just let it die already. Hopefully the IP will end up with someone who is a competent MMO designer (read: NOT Mythic/EA) and who also happens to be passionate about being faithful to the spirit and nature of the Warhammer universe.
Alex said on 9:53PM 11-24-2009
Was playing on Phoenix Throne last October. Place was dead, with RvR rising up only with extreme effort. Then, it was the only remaining dedicated roleplay server.
I see even that has come and gone. At least they're being transferred to good servers. Volkmar is on that list, right? Maybe, if I ever resubscribe, I'll throw my lot in with the Goons.
Have fun. As a die hard Warhammer fan, it really pained me to see this game slip, especially when I'd reveled in the bountiful popularity it enjoyed after its birth.
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