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Here we go again, it's time for people to start predicting the sales of the next big MMO. So get out your thinking hat and grab ahold of your pie charts and bar graphs! Hm, somehow that sounded a lot more exciitng before we said it. Anyhow, Warhammer Online is nearly at launch day and has been given a 650,000 sales prediction for the first month in the United States from Lazard Capital Markets senior VP, Colin Sebastian. It's important to stress that this is for the US territory only, which means that's kind of a high prediction.

Our guess for the reason behind the European exclusion is because it's a bit of a wildcard. Warhammer being a much bigger property over there means its sales could land almost anywhere. It could also be because Lazard Capital Markets only deals in US sales predictions, but we like to think they're scared of Europe, instead. All in all with first month US sales being predicted at over half a million, we have to assume many are expecting Warhammer Online to perform pretty impressively overall.

If you've got a guild in Warhammer Online that's level six or higher, then you can gain access to Taverns. These places of social gathering are located at each faction's capital city, permitted that city is at least rank two. The forces of Order gather at Sigmar's Hammer, while Destruction gather at The Viper Pit in The Inevitable City. Entry at guild rank six is gained by speaking to the Guild Merchant just outside of either Tavern. You could also try to punch the merchant in the face, but that's not likely to work out well, even for an Orc.

Mythic plans to offer various NPC vendors and services within the Tavern based on your Guild rank. Examples given include a flight master, crafting merchant, renown merchant, siege merchant and a Guild Standard merchant. One especially interesting service is offered at Guild rank 16 and opens up a "Guild Leader Hall" that only guild leaders and officers may enter. This hall offers a rest bonus, giving all those inside rested experience. It doesn't really seem like the rested state is any better than a normal rested state, so don't flip out like a Witch Elf or anything just yet. Check the gallery for some images of the two Taverns and for more detailed information on the various merchants and services, head below the break.

So you're one of the lucky few -- well one of 60,000 anyway -- who got your hands on the Warhammer Online Collector's Edition, and without any of the order snags people have been reporting. Well congratulations! You've got the Greenskin miniature, the graphic novel, the art book, the virtual items and the exclusive quests. So now you can sit back and relax, secure in the knowledge that you have the most badass collection of Warhammer Online gear ever assembled, both in-game and out.... right?

Actually, wrong. For the Warhammer Online player who simply must have everything, there's one more step to go as it turns out. There's another exclusive in-game item called "Korssar's Helm" that allows you to transform into a bear. The catch? You need to order, or pre-order, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 to get the WAR item...

After our interview with both Paul Barnett and Jeff Hickman at PAX08, we talked some more with Jeff about various subjects regarding the upcoming open beta and subsequent launch of Warhammer Online. It was a incredibly casual and open discussion on topics that are usually met with fiery bile depending on what part of the internet you happen to be at any given moment. One particular question we asked revolved around the choice to limit players in the open beta to level 20 out of the 40 total in the game. The move has of course spawned some skeptics of the existence of higher level content. Find out exactly what Jeff had to say about that below the cut.

On the first day of PAX08, we sat down with Mythic Entertainment's Jeff Hickman and Paul Barnett to discuss several different topics concerning Warhammer Online. We've covered the game very extensively to put it lightly, so for this go-around our goal was to mix things up a bit for the dynamic duo of Jeff and Paul. (Josh Drescher was there, but he was embroiled in a deep discussion about Bacon Salt and its many uses) Let's just say we got some interesting comments about Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings. So, amidst the constant murmuring of the exhibition hall, we recorded the following interview for your listening pleasure.

With the Age of Conan launch not far behind us, and the release dates of Warhammer Online and Wrath of the Lich King coming up soon, The Lord of the Rings Online hasn't been getting much attention as of late. That's a pity, really, since it's just hitting its stride, with the Mines of Moria expansion coming out this fall as well.

Turbine has been shy about releasing subscription numbers, but an educated guess could place LotRO in the #2 spot as far as subscription-based, western MMOs go. So to give LotRO a little much-deserved attention, we decided to ask you: how's LotRO treating you these days? Turbine has had over a year to polish the game. How's it coming? And if you're a LotRO player now, will WAR or WotLK draw you away? Or do you expect Mines of Moria satisfy all your MMO cravings this year?

While talking to Mythic's Jeff Hickman at PAX08, he mentioned a rather large update coming for the open beta hitting around September 7th (the date of the Open Beta). Some of the content in the upcoming patch includes player vaults, guild vaults, auction house, tons of fun new emotes, and a lot of general effects cleanup. There's even a new Public Quest and standard quest tracker for the user interface. It sounds like Mythic is making a really big push for the launch of the game. So even if you're in the beta now, expect some pleasant surprises once you hit the Open Beta or Live game in just a couple of weeks.

We've got tons more information coming from our time spent with the Warhammer Online guys at PAX08. Keep your eyes peeled for further updates.

MTV's Multiplayer blog sent its resident Warhammer geek (Joe DeShano) into the Warhammer Online beta. He came out with five key observations and published them on the blog. The observations: the game's world is at war, PvP is constant, the Tome of Knowledge should please Warhammer fanboys, the Empire's capital city is both cool and big, and applying dyes to armor is an awesome reminder of nerdy miniature-painting sessions.

He wrote up a general preview around those five key points (and a number of screenshots), and while you're not likely to learn anything totally new from it if you've been following the game, it can't hurt to read someone's hands-on impressions. At the end of it all, he seemed to have a high-ish opinion of the game, calling it "World of Warcraft 2.0."

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	Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

In addition to offering game-related downloads, our sister site Big Download covers PC news in general -- not just MMOs. But when it put together a list of the most anticipated games of the coming season, two MMOs figured prominently: Warhammer Online and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

In addition to simply listing the games, Big Download rates each release's chance of success. Of WotLK it says "near-perfect ... as close to a slam dunk as you're likely to get." On the other hand, it's a bit more skeptical about Warhammer Online. The article says that WAR's chances of success are "in question" because new MMOs in general usually have a rough time of it.

Check out the feature for more details, and to see what the other games on the list are if you're into more than just MMOs.

In a turn of events that doesn't really surprise us given its source, IDGA chairperson Jen MacLean has said in the group's recent newsletter that Mythic's choice to not credit all those who worked on Warhammer Online is, "disrespectful of the effort of the game developers who worked on the game, and misleads both consumers and game industry peers," While the choice doesn't particularly sit well with us either, the IDGA is taking the news very gravely. And so they should, seeing as they represent game developers around the world. "Some people claim that providing complete credit information...encourages people to leave their job before a game is complete," continued Chairperson MacLean. "These reasons are simple window dressing for policies that are arbitrary, unfair, and in some cases even vindictive, and they simply don't hold up."

Finally, she made her case against those who would call credits unimportant because nobody reads them by saying, "The number of people who read a game's credits is irrelevant. Even if only one person reads the credits of a game, integrity demands that all work be accurately and honestly represented." Our stance on the issue is the same as it was before. If Jon Doe worked on a game for eight months before leaving a development team for whatever reason, that should not suddenly make his hard work null and void.

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	Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

I've given my thoughts on the Dark Elf section of Warhammer Online, but now that the whole NDA is lifted I can finally speak about my experience with the beta as a whole. I've been in it for a long time. A really long time, in fact. We're talking about, well, since the thing started. Which gives me something more to say than the typical tester talking about this game. In my time interacting as a member of the beta community with Mythic -- concerning Warhammer Online, of course -- I think I've seen more progress made on any MMO in the span of about a year than I have in any other in beta. And I've been in a lot of them.

So what's the big deal? New MMOs are always facing the issue of going up against World of Warcraft's several years of polishing. Everyone has always wondered what it would take to deal with that issue, too. Mythic seems to have decided it will take raw, unadulterated determination. The kind that a child displays when presented with the opportunity to have a new toy. It also helps to have a license that Blizzard themselves once attempted to acquire because of its depth. Ironic? Only if WAR really does take a big chug out of the World of Warcraft milkshake.

Mythic's version of Warhammer Online has been in development for around three years now and many people have worked on it over that period of time. The random nature of life has meant that there have been individuals who actually worked on the title for some time, but are no longer with Mythic Entertainment. Recently, Mythic made the statement that those people will not be accredited for their work on the game.

Mark Jacobs told Shacknews, "Accreditation in Warhammer Online recognizes the incredible team that has poured their heart and soul into making WAR an amazing MMORPG experience." The problem is that apparently -- once again, according to Shacknews -- there are many developers who've put in countless days-worth of menial work to help make Warhammer Online a reality. They're not getting credited. This isn't a localized problem with Electronic Arts either, it's happened before, and is common in the games industry.

An excuse given says that hundreds of people have worked on the game over the years. That's no excuse, if you ask us. Something as trivial as having "hundreds of people" doesn't stop movie credits from listing everyone involved in the creation process.

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	Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!