Last week we saw the id/Bethesda merger under parent company ZeniMax Media and there was much rejoicing, but what if Electronic Arts merged its two online game developers into one giant super developer wouldn’t that raise some eyebrows and be general cause for mass excitement?

Well that actually happened as the publishing giant reorganized a bit putting RPG mavens Bioware and long time MMO developers Mythic in the same division. While the two studios will remain mostly autonomous for the time being, they now both have a single reporting line up the chain to the big bosses and money men. That single leader? Bioware’s Dr. Ray Muzyka.

Dr. Muzyka’s ascencion to the head of the organization basically also points to the exit of Mythic’s longtime leader Mark Jacobs. According to Jacob’s blog the MMO pioneer is taking a sabatical for awhile and he leaves with a classy ‘I’m not going to dish on anything, I’m just going to thank folks and peacefully step aside’ sort of announcement – a classy response that we don’t get to see so often these days.

Regarding the future path of the now combined studio’s efforts, Dr. Muzyka indicated in an official response over on IGN that:

Anything’s possible. We can’t say it wouldn’t happen. There’s no active plans, currently to do that, but the teams at Mythic and BioWare I know from talking to all of them, they’re really excited about working together, so I think that fuels a lot of cool things.

Warhammer: Age of Reckoning is still holding strong in the WoW dominated MMO market while Bioware’s first effort – the much anticipated Star Wars: The Old Republic is still a ways off. Mythic has a lot of experience that could help the minds at Bioware pull off their vision of Star Wars and maybe even put a dent in the Warcraft numbers but only time will tell if this pairing will be all it seems.

If you’re a Warhammer Online player looking for some insight or official answers to the most commonly asked questions relating to the huge upcoming update for Mythic’s MMO then it’s probably a good day for you. Earlier today the developer published a FAQ about the changes and additions coming to the game with the update.

The FAQ covers the level requirements, how the new areas will be handled in Realm v. Realm control and discusses some details on the dungeons and lair instances in the expansion.

While I’ve not played Warhammer Online since shortly after launch (not because I dislike it, but because I only have time in my life for 1 MMO and Lord of the Rings Online already has a claim on my soul), EA Mythic seems to continue to deliver many of the features promised before launch and thanks to player feedback since.

Reading through the FAQ almost convinced me it was time to reload the client and rejoin my Dark Elf compatriots in preparation for the new content.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning’s newest live event is called the Keg End and will be running December 17th – January 5th. All armies of WAR are invited to celebrate the Dwarf New Year festival which will be filled with the things that those short, hairy little men like the best: beer, boasting and things that explode. With plenty of things to do whether you are part of Order or Destruction, you can look forward to new ways to earn drops and elite Influence rewards and fireworks will be prevalent as well as capital city pub crawls.

Looking for glory and bragging rights? Then you may wish to search the battlefields for the Golden Stein to earn the blessing of Grimnir himself and partake in its frothy goodness. However, watch your flank as the Ogres have caught the scent of blood and beer and they want both very much because, well that is just what ogres do. Also, in Realm vs. Realm, the Keg End live event also introduces a new emote – /boast – to taunt your adversaries. You can also grab a free beer and /toast your comrades-in-arms to receive special Tome of Knowledge unlocks.

If you want to learn more about the Keg End event, check out the Warhammer Online website where you will learn all the ways to celebrate the upcoming holidays in game. New screens depicting some of the live events are posted below.

The Knight of the Blazing Sun and the Black Guard are the last new classes for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning players will see for a while. WAR Developers say plans for Orc Choppa and Dwarven Slayer are a long time out if the classes see live play at all.

Mythic devs Adam Gershowitz and Josh Drescher told Massively that any future careers will be well thought out and added because they bring something new and worthwhile to the game. Although they won’t add new classes to WAR just to throw in more stuff, they refuse to table edible halflings. They’re my kind of guys.

Read the full Warhammer Developers’ Class interview on Massively for all the details.

GigaMedia is heralding the launch of the official Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning website for China. With Warhammer Online launching in China in early 2009, the GigaMedia site provides fresh recruits for the WAR armies with community news and account management. The website is a trove of artwork, screens and background information on the armies of Order and Chaos for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as well.

The GigaMedia Traditional Chinese Warhammer Online website, the English WAR site and the FunTown blog are all open for visitation.

MMO Portal is offering up the MMO Calendar 2009 to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The third calendar comes with art from some of the most played MMOs out there. As an extra incentive, MMO Portal will be giving away prizes including boxed copies, premium accounts, 30-day passes, 60-day passes and closed beta accounts for the participating MMOs. Each calendar you purchase nets you one entry.

MMO Calendar 2009 proudly includes:

• Age of Conan
• DC Universe Online
• Dofus
• Eve Online
• EverQuest II
• Free Realms
• Guild Wars
• Pirates of the Burning Sea
• RuneScape
• The Agency
• Warhammer Online
• World of Warcraft

To get your copy of the MMO Calendar 2009 and do your part for St. Jude visit the MMO Calendar website. Don’t forget to check with your accountant to see if it’s tax deductible.

Beware Warhammer Online: age of Reckoning residents, because the fine line that exists between the living and the dead has grown thinner with ancient denizens of the dark descending upon the land to wreak havoc with one and all. With the approach of Witching Night (Halloween), you and your armies have new threats to subdue and starting today you can take part in WAR’s first-ever live in-game event which includes four new public quests, horror-ific new content, rare costume masks, unique titles and plenty of splendid potions, trinkets and a special event-only cloak to help drive the abominations back into the evil realms they came from.

While you can get these special event items by looting corpses during Realm vs. Realm play which will be set inside of the Open RvR areas, you will be competing with each other to be privy to the goodies distributed by the Herald NPCs scattered across the capital cities. After completing each quest, you will be able to repeat it once the timer expires, so if you did not get the item you were wanting the first time around, just be patient and try again later on.

Ghosts of the Fallen will be present on the battlefields and should you catch and kill one of these non-hostile entities, you will earn yourself a special reward. Witches, on the other hand, have gathered for a more nefarious purpose and should you happen upon these loathsome conjurers chanting around their cauldrons, dispense of them immediately to free the trapped spirits of the dead and then claim your reward.

Masks, ever an integral part of Witching Night, will offer not only a way to mask your face and provide amusement to your fellow allies, but each one of the four available will be difficult to obtain do to the rarity or the Elite-level influence you must earn.

So go forth brave warriors and let the last thing your enemies hear be the loud scream of WAAAGH bursting forth from your battle hungry lips. Drive the evil hordes of darkness back into their evil realms and claim a prize to be coveted and bragged about for many a day to come.

Witching Night goodies and more information can be found posted on the official Warhammer Online website.

Mythic Entertainment has announced that 750,000 subscribers are currently hacking their way through Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. During the first week, it already had half a million registered accounts and had topped the PC sales charts at launch – and with this latest bit of news, the numbers are are continuing to escalate.

Currently only available in North America, Europe and Oceanic territories, the MMORPG’s three-quarter of a million players are apparently enjoying Realm vs. Realm play and sacking cities all over the map. The game should prove to be even more interesting and immersive once Mythic starts restoring some of the maps cut for launch and some of the classes like Blackguard (Dark Elf), Choppa (Greenskin), Hammerer (Dwarf), and Knight of the Blazing Sun (Empire). They also need to tweak some of the rubber banding that goes on and fix a few bugs, but sadly gamers have come to expect a few flaws in newly released games – not that it acceptable, just that it is a fact.

With World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online getting expansions in November, and Age of Conan starting to feel the pressure of maintaining its core players, Fall is definitely going to be the season of the MMO. Who do you think will be the big winner in the end?

Mythic is reporting over 500,000 subscription over the first week of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. So far WAR is only available in North America, Europe and the Oceanic territories but you wouldn’t guess by the numbers. They have a good solid start. If the WAR team can keep the bugs fixed and restore the cut content as promised, they should be able to keep their numbers formidable.

SteelSeries has added a limited edition keyset for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning to its offerings for the Zboard gaming keyboard. The Zboard has several keysets available for games including Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and World of Warcraft.

Business Wire lists the assets of theWAR Limited Edition Keyset for the SteelSeries Zboard as:

• An intuitive layout for faster reflexes in battle;
• 16 dedicated keys for commonly used chat, group and social commands;
• 12 popular single-press emote keys including Shout, Brandish, Mad and Laugh; and,
• Immersion in the epic war with official game graphics

Gamers who go for this keyset will get a bonus in-game item – Kemmler’s Arthritic Hand. Although it sounds more like something you might use in to curse another character with, this exclusive item actually gives you a temporary increase of your action point regeneration rate. Those hardcore MMO fans who anticipate total dedication to WAR should look into this keyset.