With the advent of an online game comes the knowledge that it must one day be an offline game – either when its paymasters’ sums come up ugly, or the last radiation-powered servers whirr their final gasp, whichever comes sooner. Every developer who ever chased WoW’s numbers knows the pact they’ve entered – but that doesn’t make the peculiar sadness of a dying game any easier.
Maybe this will. Warhammer Online’s parents Mythic have opened the game’s gates to all past account holders, subscription or no.
“Effective immediately”, Mythic have turned off the ability to apply for one month subscriptions or game time codes, as well as the ability to open new accounts – this trip is strictly nostalgia-only. Anybody who ever played the game and left it in “good standing” can now hop in for its last days.
“We will be adding new NPCs to the game in order to power up your characters as well as other unique experiences for everyone to enjoy as we say goodbye to Warhammer Online over the next few weeks,” write the dev team. “So please join us and help say goodbye to Warhammer Online in one last big WAAAGH!”
Waaagh-ah-ah-ah *sniff*. No, you go on and pillage without me. I’ll catch you guys up – think I’ve got a snotling in my eye.
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will close down on December 18, which gives former players more than a month to revisit their old haunts. The way Mythic tell it, the cause is the end of their licensing deal with Games Workshop, rather than a catastrophic case of the tumbling subscriber figures.
Will you be returning briefly to the ranks of the Armies of either Order or Destruction, before the end?
Thanks, VG247.