Congratulations Warhammer Online fans, the game is officially turning one year old! EA Mythic has announced today that August 31st will mark the beginning of Warhammer Online's anniversary special live event - The Wild Hunt! For the month of September players will be rewarded with a +20% experience / renown bonus as well as exclusive anniversary items - Halfling Pies and the Jubilee Cloak - which will be delivered via in-game mail to all players. The Wild Hunt event itself will take place between August 31st to September 7th, and it will "pit the forces of Order and Destruction against the ultimate quarry in the new instanced dungeon, The Hunter’s Vale." Following this, there are special weekend-only events planned with special versions of the Mourkain Temple (September 11-14), Gates of Ekrund (September 18-21) and Temple of Isha (September 25-28) scenarios.

Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer of Warhammer Online says that "this anniversary marks a major milestone for WAR, the Mythic development team, and our fantastic community of players. We could think of no better way of marking this occasion than by celebrating our success with our fans for the entire month of September. We’ve got new content to share with the Wild Hunt live event, special versions of popular scenarios, and a 20% experience and renowned bonus, plus, players can get special rare drops, veteran rewards, fireworks, Halfling pies, and exploding stout! Now that is a party Warhammer style!”

The long awaited 1.3.1 patch is here!  This is the first step in Mythic's plan to update and re-design the City Invasion process.  This patch also paves the way for the next Live Event, The Wild Hunt (beginning Aug. 31st).

Now, it's easier than ever to siege your enemy's capital city (or defend your own!). Game Update 1.3.1 also brings with it many other changes and improvements that will make it even easier to jump right into the fray, including expanded Keeps (two ramps to the Lord room), revised Keep and Battlefield Objective statuses that updates on the fly, Summoning Stones, and much more!

Check out the 1.3.1 patch notes here, or read the full announcement after the jump!

Producer Jeff Skalski has written a new letter to the Warhammer Online community discussing the upcoming 1.3.1 patch, City Invasion, as well as what's in store for 1.3.2. Skalski said "we realized we needed to step back and reevaluate the city siege mechanic from beginning to end," which is a big part of the changes in 1.3.1.

City siege is undergoing a major overhaul. First of all, players will be racing to earn Vicotry Points by killing opponents and holding battlefield objectives. Also, "there is no longer a pillage stage. The city will now progress from contested straight to captured. Second, the Warlord PQs open up, which are now balanced for a single warband to complete." And last, but not least, city defenders will never be kicked out of their city during an assault.

You can read more about open-field RvR, the addition of a Friends List and Summoning Stones, and what's coming in 1.3.2 in the full letter after the jump.

Check out the link below to access the bulk of the download for 1.3.1!

The Invasion draws closer as we release the 1.3.1 Pre Patch. Be prepared to assault you enemies cities and defend your homelands early by downloading the 1.3.1 Pre Patcher.
Players can now get a jump start on Game Update 1.3.1 by downloading the bulk of the update here.
Clicking the link above will prompt the file PrePatch1.31Setup.exe, which is a single 750 MB download. Simply install the file and continue to play the game as normal. The file will automatically be activated with the release of Game Update 1.3.1 That's all there is to it!

Please note: This pre patcher is for North American and Oceanic clients only. The GOA team will be launching our European pre patcher early next week.

Tomorrow night at 8:00pm Eastern, Mythic is hosting an exciting event on the PTS.  Anybody who participates will have the chance to win a very rare in-game mount!  Be sure to check it out!

How do I win you might ask?

Simple - there are six chances to win by participating in all of the keep assaults/defenses one winner from each keep will be chosen so the more you participate the more chances you have to win!

Winners will be announced on the spot and a total of 12 mounts will be given away (6 to each realm), you'll be contacted via in game tell to provide additional information so be ready to reply - if you snooze, you lose!

See the full announcement after the jump!

Have you ever wondered what the modern MMO landscape might look like if the forerunners of the genre had been different? The multiplayer text-based games, MUDs, of the late 80s and early 90s ran on pre-Internet, dial-up networks called Bulletin Board Systems, or BBSs. These games helped to pave the way for early-generation MMOGs like Neverwinter Nights; the first MMOG to feature graphics instead of a text-only or ASCII art interface.

Next came the classics; the pioneers of the MMO industry like The Realm, Ultima Online and Everquest. But it wasn't until World of Warcraft that MMORPGs truly went mainstream, breaking down the walls that separated RPG fans and PC gamers. Both Everquest and WoW changed many gamers' preconceptions about the role-playing genre. They exemplified a new breed of MMORPGs that didn't rely so much on turn-based combat, text-heavy interaction and many other inherent staples of traditional RPGs.

When I see the products that consistently rise to the top in today's lineup, it makes me wonder if the modern "mold" of MMOs is cured to a rock-hard standard, or if we might still see an innovative change in the mainstream market. Also inspired by an editorial I stumbled upon recently; Colin "Seraphina" Brennan's "All hail the modern MMO gamer—a twitchy, frothy mess," I'm more curious about the current MMORPG paradigm than ever. Will players embrace unfamiliar MMO concepts, or are we stuck in a market that will only produce viable games if they follow tried-and-true designs?

The latest Grab Bag contains information about the forthcoming Live Event, The Wild Hunt.  With an all-new dungeon available for only one week, this one promises to be interesting!

Q. At what level of difficulty (Blood/Bile, Lost Vale, Tomb of the Vulture, ect.) will The Hunter’s Vale dungeon be comparable to?

A. The Bleeding Hart Charm goes into the new “Event” item inventory slot.  The charm has archtype-specific stats that are useful to your career. It actually has no physical appearance when equipped.

A. The Hunter’s Vale dungeon isn’t warded, so the closest comparison will be the Bastion Stair.  The difficulty of this dungeon is more weighted toward figuring out how the encounter works rather than how hard the monsters hit. You don’t need to have the perfect group make-up. (Fun fact—when we ran through The Hunter's Vale during core testing, we completed the dungeon with a group that had three healers in it.) The Hunter’s Vale is meant to be a quick, but fun and engrossing experience that all players of all Ranks and skill levels can enjoy.

Q. What will the Bleeding Hart Charm do?  Is it for aesthetic purposes only, or does it have a useful function like the Herald's Cloak?

See the full Q&A after the jump.

The first round of Mythics promised City Invasion changes are now available for testing on the Public Test Server!

Be sure to check out how to access the Public Test Server and join in on the excitement. Also, don't forget to participate in the 1.3.1 Focus Discussion on the official forums starting tomorrow!

Don't have a Rank 40 Character? Not to worry as we will be providing character templates for this City testing only. Simply create a new character and select the template in the top right corner or the character creation screen prior to hitting "Create". Please note, these templates will be made available prior to tomorrow evenings testing. So come and support your realm and see all of the exciting new City Invasion changes!

See the full announcement after the jump.  You can also check out the 1.3.1 patch notes here!

Mythic announced an update today to its free character transfer offer, which started last month. If you're on Ironfist, Magnus, Monolith, Skull Throne or Vortex, you can choose to move to Volkmar, Gorfang or Badlands. Basically, the restrictions have been lifted so you can choose freely between the three destination servers.

Remember, this is a one-time-only deal. Once you pick a destination server, you can't choose another one. You can read the full FAQ below.

Are you a Mac user who's been wanting to enter the world of Warhammer Online? Well, now's your chance! The Mac beta client is currently available for players to test out in preparation for its official launch later this fall. Whether you're an existing player on Windows or want to try out the new client by using a 10-day free trial account, head over to the Mac page of the official Web site to download the beta version of the client.

If you have any questions, you can check out the extensive FAQ, or keep reading after the jump for the section that focuses solely on the Mac beta client. You'll also find the minimum system requirements below. Oh, and European players can expect to see the Mac beta client soon. Keep an eye on the European site for details.