Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

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Silver
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Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#1 Post by Silver »

Oh how Mythic and EA struggle to keep this failure afloat when its hit by a huge iceberg

Accounts were billed 10x, 20x or more the regular 'current subscription' that were on their account even if it wasn't up for renewal this weekend. People have had their accounts drained into the red through overdraft charges.

This looks like one more nail to the already tightly sealed coffin of WAR.

Sad sad, such promises, too much hype and a great potential, all ruined by incompetence.

http://forums.warhammeronline.com/warha ... d.id=15916


I was looking forward to resubbing this summer to try it again, so I played 10 free days recently.
I think the game is done now. Too bad.

O:

We should probably remove this forum soon ;D
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#2 Post by VictorK »

Warhammer Online makes another incredibly stupid move and Blizzard sends me a 'come back to Azeroth' e-mail.

Hmmm... :-k
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#3 Post by Allerion »

wow....
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#4 Post by Silver »

Allerion wrote:wow....
Looks like the Avatar is staring at this topic and is dumbfounded! O:
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#5 Post by Spartan »

An awful end to an extremely sub-par game. Mythic really screwed the pooch on this one.
Silver wrote:We should probably remove this forum soon ;D
*refers Silver to the latest thread in the Website Topics forum*
:wink:


EDIT: Just read that thread on the Mythic forum. Mythic is a freaking trainwreck when it comes to customer service.
Last edited by Spartan on Mon Apr 12, 2010 1:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#6 Post by Allerion »

Silver wrote:
Allerion wrote:wow....
Looks like the Avatar is staring at this topic and is dumbfounded! O:
:lol:

nice catch.

im kinda interested in how this all plays out. It kinda seems like the Mythic team is saying "Well, uh, go fix it with your bank." Id almost be surprised if Mythic didnt dissolve as a company after this. (too small of a game for just the players to impact it, but if the word gets out....) The reputation of Mythic will kinda take a hit from this...
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#7 Post by Dargon »

Allerion wrote:im kinda interested in how this all plays out. It kinda seems like the Mythic team is saying "Well, uh, go fix it with your bank." Id almost be surprised if Mythic didnt dissolve as a company after this. (too small of a game for just the players to impact it, but if the word gets out....) The reputation of Mythic will kinda take a hit from this...
The rammifications could be quite a bit bigger than just Warhammer Online and Mythic. It's likely their billing company was decided by EA, and not Mythic. EA have absorbed both Mythic and Bioware, and set them as their MMORPG department, so this fiasco potentially effects and threatens all future MMO's under their banner (such as Star Wars: The Old Republic).

For my part, I am still subscribed to Warhammer Online and was hit by this (fortunately not too bad compared to many - thank-you strong Aussie Dollar). Time will tell if I unsubscribe over this. The damage is already done, and frankly it is such a completely monumental catastrophe this time, that I'm quite confident they'll do everything possible to ensure it never happens again (I have images of EA internal investigators running rampant "Kill Bill" style slaying all in their path as they close in on those responsible). It'll all come down to how quick and easy it is to get my money back.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling we are never going to get the full story of what went wrong, but I can't help but remember back to our Ulthuan in Flames campaigns, and those moments when the programming glitched and we got mysteriously hit with random multiple turn/combat sequences.

Just a thought...
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#8 Post by Luna Guardian »

Dargon wrote:I can't help but remember back to our Ulthuan in Flames campaigns, and those moments when the programming glitched and we got mysteriously hit with random multiple turn/combat sequences.

Just a thought...
But there was no Druchii airlift this time. This is far less serious than the Ulthuan in flames campaigns!
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#9 Post by Ilthaen »

Mythic ruined the warhammer IP (much like wow did with warcraft) so i can´t be sad to see them go down. I feel bad for the affected thought, i was in the beta and played 6 months so i´m going to check my bank just in case. I´ve read people with unactive accounts were affected as well. [-X
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#10 Post by Burning Sun »

Dargon wrote: I can't help but remember back to our Ulthuan in Flames campaigns, and those moments when the programming glitched and we got mysteriously hit with random multiple turn/combat sequences.
Yes, you have a good idea there, we should charge by the turn for our next campaign...
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#11 Post by Bob of Beleriand »

Burning Sun wrote:
Dargon wrote: I can't help but remember back to our Ulthuan in Flames campaigns, and those moments when the programming glitched and we got mysteriously hit with random multiple turn/combat sequences.
Yes, you have a good idea there, we should charge by the turn for our next campaign...
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#12 Post by Voodoomaster »

Bob of Beleriand wrote:
Burning Sun wrote:
Dargon wrote: I can't help but remember back to our Ulthuan in Flames campaigns, and those moments when the programming glitched and we got mysteriously hit with random multiple turn/combat sequences.
Yes, you have a good idea there, we should charge by the turn for our next campaign...
Cash Cow Sequels? Sign me up!

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Enraged by the failure to participate in the last campaign, Narmo has swamped Ulthuan.nets new Campaign with his own bizare story line and had hacked the campaign software to fight for himself, please submit your bank account details to Ulthuan.net and prepare for the battle against the clones.

:D
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#13 Post by Uther Di Asturien »

Voodoomaster wrote:
Enraged by the failure to participate in the last campaign, Narmo has swamped Ulthuan.nets new Campaign with his own bizare story line and had hacked the campaign software to fight for himself, please submit your bank account details to Ulthuan.net and prepare for the battle against the clones.

:D

I have a distinct feeling Narmo is amongst us...
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#14 Post by Spartan »

New RP idea: Narmo Among Us.
[i]"To contemplate letting the alien, the heretic or the traitor win just to save a few million lives is the worst kind of heresy, because it is clad in the mantle of good intentions."[/i]

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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#15 Post by Dargon »

Ilthaen wrote:I feel bad for the affected thought, i was in the beta and played 6 months so i´m going to check my bank just in case. I´ve read people with unactive accounts were affected as well.
If you previously used a credit card to play WAR, and that same credit card is still active, then yes it's a very good idea to check your bank account.

Reports are that inactive accounts have indeed been hit - whoever this mysterious billing company was, it seems they did not delete credit card details after people ended their subscription, so this glitch has even hit people who have long since left the game. Anyone who has subscribed to WAR with a credit card, whether it be past or present, should check their accounts, just to be safe.

Just a thought...
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#16 Post by grantmepower »

The game was already dead, but this is the last nail in the coffin.
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#17 Post by Dargon »

grantmepower wrote:The game was already dead, but this is the last nail in the coffin.
Surprisingly, the game actually was doing rather well (at least the US market, don't know about the European market). It had finally settled into it's place and stopped losing more subscribers than it was gaining (at 4 US servers), and with an imminent major patch that completely redesigns the Endgame (in preparation for a launch on the Korean market), there was decent potential for the game to finally begin to make a bit of a comeback.

Time will tell if the new content will be enough now just to keep the game afloat after this fiasco.

Just a thought...
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#18 Post by Dargon »

Happy to report Mythic have refunded all their excess charges to my account. No phonecalls or prompting needed. A stronger Aussie Dollar even resulted in Mythic paying back more than they originally charged me. All told, I'm out about $3 worth of transaction fees which really aren't worth the effort of chasing up with the bank. Pretty much as good a resolution as I could hope for.

Just a thought...
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#19 Post by Uther Di Asturien »

Spartan wrote:New RP idea: Narmo Among Us.
I'm in :D
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#20 Post by Tahl »

Uther Di Asturien wrote:
Spartan wrote:New RP idea: Narmo Among Us.
I'm in :D
Heh, it's like an inverse DUA. Which one isn't Narmo, and opposed to being played in the RP section it's site wide.
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#21 Post by Ilthaen »

In the end i was lucky enough to not be affected, but still this game reputation is pretty much all over the floor now. I give it one year more before it goes free to play.
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#22 Post by Silver »

A company like EA would probably shut it down before making it free.
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#23 Post by Tahl »

I think the problem is that games like WAR tend to have a few glitches and therefore require a lot of behind the scenes care. (When I was playing it I once jumped right through the ground, into oblivion and had to get a webmaster to rescue me) EA isn't likely to go to that expense when they don't have to.
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#24 Post by Silver »

It seems that the End-game players have deserted the game - Tier 4 of the game is empty now where it used to have a lot of action and only Tier 1 with the Endless Free Trial is alive and kickin'

Mythic and EA failed so terribly, wasted potential and no one cares but the players.
Such a sad outcome to what could've and should've been 'The WoW killer'. Ironic to realize now how much they (Games Workshop) lost by refusing to let Blizzard make Warhammer PC Games in the early 90s - Warcraft was born - pretty much plagiarizing Warhammer without repercussions.

Oh well, at least I'll save time and money by not playing WAR.
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#25 Post by VictorK »

WAR was never going to be a WoW killer...It might have been able to build its own fan-base, but it seems increasingly if you want to do that you need to have your own niche, like EVE Online or something similar. Most people don't give a damn about an authentic license or a story. If it's fantasy, why would you play WAR over WoW? The latter is such a superior product (though still having all of an MMO's short comings) the only people who would try WAR would be warhammer fans who cared about the IP or disgruntled WoW players, and if a game sucks a game sucks.
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#26 Post by Dargon »

Silver wrote:It seems that the End-game players have deserted the game - Tier 4 of the game is empty now where it used to have a lot of action and only Tier 1 with the Endless Free Trial is alive and kickin'.
I can't speak for other servers, but on mine (Badlands), T4 is still alive and kicking strong, although it can be very difficult to judge at times, as most players are currently hiding in scenarios in an attempt to farm currency for the new PvP weapons introduced last patch (not Mythics brightest idea :wink: ).
VictorK wrote:If it's fantasy, why would you play WAR over WoW?
From what I hear from other players within the game, WAR seems to continue to boast the best large scale PvP, and that seems to be the one selling point that keeps most of them in the game.


It will likely still be another month yet before we see how the game holds up and what future it has. Most of those with current subscriptions who were overcharged Mythic were still billed for their next instalment after refunds (for example, if billed 10 times, Mythic refunded 9 of them), so it's likely that many players intending to leave over this, may not actually leave the game until their subscription runs out. Mythic have billed them anyway, so they might as well use the time... by which time Mythic will have introduced their next patch (and it's a BIG one), cunning sods.

Just a thought...
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Re: Warhammer Online - Billing Catastrophe

#27 Post by Tahl »

I know this will result in me getting flamed but:

I had put off playing WoW untill last summer and when I joined the "busy" servers were literally empty for the lower levels. The only people I could bump into we're secondary accounts of people who already had lvl 40+ characters. This meant that I totally didn't experience any of the 'social side' to the game and was essentially playing a really crappy single player. So WAR might not have been able to pull the old guard away from WoW but for the guys just looking for a social mmorpg it certainly provided a higher level of gaming experience.
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