The Day of Reckoning is Almost Upon Us as Warhammer Online Goes Gold

EA and Mythic Entertainment announced this morning that Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has gone gold, and is being prepped for shipping as we speak. WAR will open its North American, European and Oceanic servers on September 18 and will be offering players a variety of flexible subscription options, meanwhile, gamers who pre-ordered the game in North American will enjoy special benefits such as a live game head start, and bonus in-game items.

It has indeed been a long, arduous journey for the fantasy MMORPG based on Games Workshop’s tabletop game. The development process started back in 2000 when Microsoft and Climax, the original team working on the game, canceled the project in 2004 and handed the reins over to Mythic Entertainment in 2005. One year later, Mythic was purchased by EA and renamed EA Mythic – part of Electronic Arts’ plan to own or hold stock in every gaming company known to man.

Recently crowned “Best Online Game” at GC ‘08, WAR has been built to contain five years of content as well as the innovative Realm vs. Realm play where players meet upon the battlefield to decide whether Order or Destruction will reign supreme. With less focus on PvP and on constant raging wars instead, each fight you engage in will have both an economic and strategic impact on your faction so you need to choose your moves wisely. Both the Order and Destruction sides have compelling character classes with simple and straightforward choices, and it will bode well for player to explore every nook and cranny in the realms instead of just hacking and slashing your way to the top.

Despite the delays, some content hitting the cutting room floor and company name changes, WAR is finally headed our way folks. While you wait for it to go live you may want to brush up on your Warhammer lore and choose a side, because I have a feeling it is going to be one hell of a fun ride.

See you in The Inevitable City – last one there is a stinky Greenskin.