In her latest Producer's Letter to Warhammer Online fans, Producer Carrie Gouskos sounds quite excited for what this year has in store for Warhammer Online. More specifically, for those of you who don't know, Warhammer Online actually turned two years old about two weeks back on September 18, with players receiving an endless firework, the WAR double aegis, and a special two year anniversary cloak. Carrie goes on to explain that, for this year, the team is really planning to focus on improving the RvR in Warhammer Online. Given that Warhammer is virtually defined by its RvR experience, this certainly sounds like a good plan!

If you were one of those players (like myself) who player Warhammer Online during its launch week, Mike B. aka Fony also did his latest BFF Report on Warhammer Online, and while getting stuck on that terrain does seem pretty bad, Mike seems to have had fun diving back into this two-year-old game. So check out that BFF Report and remember that Warhammer Online does have an "endless trial" system for players up to level 10!

Also, you can read Gouskos' letter after the jump.

Come back to Dark Age of Camelot, re-enlist in Warhammer Online, or return to Ultima Online and enjoy some free play time in BioWare Mythic's "Return of the Legends" campaign:

BioWare Mythic has summoned all former Ultima Online, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and Dark Age of Camelot players to join the Return of the Legends Re-Enlistment Celebration, beginning today, September 28. Returning legends will receive a hero's welcome with free game time, bonuses, and events for the former players returning to the lands of Britannia, The Old World and Camelot.

Former players will have full access to all of their characters during the re-enlistment celebration and free re-evaluation period.

You can watch BioWare Mythic's "Re-Enlisters" video after the jump. Will you be taking advantage of this opportunity for any of these MMOs?

Like what DAoC's developer's have been doing for the game? Then show your support by voting for them in the Game Developer Conference Online Audience Award:

Cast your vote for your favorite game from the team here at BioWare Mythic. Whether your heart belongs to Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, or Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning share your passion for the MMO in your life by submitting your vote for the 2010 Game Developer Conference Online Audience Award before Friday, September 24th. The winner will be announced live at GDC Online in Austin, TX on October 7th.

Thanks for your support!

Warhammer Online recently celebrated its two-year anniversary, and Mythic is marking the occasion by giving out presents to longtime players! The team has unveiled three new two-year veteran rewards: a WAR Double Aegis, a Regenerating Firework launcher, and a Celebratory Cloak (seen above).

Happy anniversary, Warhammer Online! See you on the battlefield! Waaaagh!

Combat and Careers Team Lead Nate Levy has posted some good news in the WAR Herald for players who chose the Engineer and Magus careers in Warhammer Online. The development team plans to make Turrets and Daemons "more meaningful and impactful in a synergistic way, to help reinforce their role as a central part of those careers' gameplay experiences."

So what exactly does that mean for the Engineer and Magus careers? Basically, it means that a character's stats will boost his or her Turret or Daemon and the character will gain buffs if they stand near their Turret or Daemon. Also, the Daemon's autoattacks will now deal magical damage.

You can read all the details of the upcoming changes after the jump. So what do you think of the proposed buffs? Keep in mind they're still in development.

Despite an exciting launch in September 2008, with a respectable number of players, Warhammer Online's subscriber base took a substantial hit just two months later, when Wrath of the Lich King dropped in November. An abundance of gameplay bugs, balance problems and client issues didn't help WAR's hemorrhaging player base either, as we noted in an editorial last summer. However, a lot has changed since the MMO's launch in 2008; new classes and content were added, bugs were squashed and entire game systems were revamped. Last year's Land of the Dead content update helped retain many of WAR's already-devoted players, while Mythic's free-to-play "Endless Trial" system is attracting more new players every day.

In anticipation of the MMO's two-year anniversary this fall—as well as the substantial changes and new features added since launch—ZAM is returning to WAR! This new feature series examines WAR from the perspective of players who left the game in early 2009, like many original subscribers (either to explore Northrend in Wrath or because they weren't satisfied with WAR's early development). In this first installment of our "Return to War" series, we offer our initial impressions of the new features and gameplay changes. During the next few months, ZAM will dig deeper and explore certain aspects of today's WAR (solo/group PvE, open RvR, Scenarios, City Sieges) in more detail, including the occasional interview with Mythic's game producers. Continue reading the first part of our "Return to War" series after the jump, and leave your comments or questions for future installments—including our Q&As with Mythic—in the dedicated Return To War forum thread.

Some sad layoff news for the gaming industry arose yesterday as Josh Drescher, the Producer for Mythic's Warhammer Online, noted on his twitter account that, as of 11:00 AM, he would no longer be an employee of EA Mythic. Josh is, however, ever the gentlemen, as he quickly follows up this tweet by noting that "I can't get into details . . . I don't HAVE any more details . . . but it was a layoff. I wasn't fired and I still love Mythic." As well, Josh is emphatic in his support of Warhammer Online, and his parting words to the team are quite touching:

WAR isn't dying. The game is better now than ever before and more goodness is on the way. Even though it's not my baby anymore, I'm proud of what it's become and want the team's hard work to be rewarded moving forward.

With so many layoffs coming from the Warhammer Online team, let's just hope Mythic employees can keep their heads up and going strong.

Games Workshop, creator and owner of the Warhammer games franchise, recently filed a lawsuit against the Curse Network for "operating and maintaining WarhammerAlliance.com," according this announcement at Curse's forums. WarhammerAlliance.com is a Warhammer Online forum and fansite created in 2005 and owned by the Curse Network. In the recent forum announcement, Curse described the lawsuit from Games Workshop as citing "trademark infringement, cybersquatting (on the domain name), dilution and unfair competition," according to the post. The announcement also provides a link to a PDF copy of the official complaint, which Curse is hosting on its servers.

The complaint was filed on March 29, 2010 in the District of Maryland Court by Games Workshop's attorneys and indeed cites trademark infringement related to Curse's use of the "Warhammer Alliance" name and domain usage. In the complaint, Games Workshop asserts its claim to the Warhammer franchise and applicable trademarks since 1984. That information will come as no surprise to most Warhammer fans, who have played GW tabletop games like Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40k for years. So why the lawsuit, and what motivated it?

Gamasutra just reported the results of a THQ financial earnings conference call in which CEO Brian Farrell expressed his confidence in the upcoming Warhammer 40k MMO, currently under-development by Virgil Games. According to Gamasutra, Farrell said that the "relatively low initial investment" of Warhammer 40k means that it will be easier for the publisher to break even, similar to its recent success with the low-investment Metro 2033 first-person shooter. The last time Farrell mentioned Warhammer 40k was in March, when we reported his claim that the MMO wouldn't be directly competing with the likes of World of Warcraft. According to Gamasutra, Farrell reiterated his confidence in the upcoming Warhammer 40k MMO in the conference call earlier today:

"One of the reasons that we think our costs are under control here is because we think we're building this game right," Farrell explained. The exec said that the game will initially cost on the high-end of a non-MMO triple-A retail game. We started with a very small and experienced MMO team who gave us the very wise advice to prove out all the technology and world-building tools before you start adding to the team and really ramping up all of the content that an MMO requires. That's why we think our budget is going to be very competitive."

Farrell didn't cite a specific number of subscribers that will allow THQ to break even with Warhammer 40k, although he did admit it won't be near the 1 million mark. "You can imagine that given the fact that we have a lower initial investment than some of our competitors talk about," he said, according to Gamasutra. "We don't need the kind of subscriber levels that people throw around, like a million subscribers, to make a lot of money on this title. If we get anywhere near that level, we'll be making a lot of money."

As we reported in February, THQ is expected to unveil the upcoming Warhammer 40k MMO in more detail at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) at the Los Angeles Convention Center, which takes place from June 15 to 17. So far, we've heard a lot of hype about Warhammer 40k from THQ, but we won't get our first glimpse of the MMO until next month at E3. And we're hoping the game lives up to the hype, because the Warhammer 40k universe has a ton of potential to make a great MMO, as we noted in last year's 2009 ZAM Awards when the MMO won an honorable mention for our "Most Anticipated Established IP" award category. Check back with ZAM's Warhammer 40k portal site for more information and upcoming news as it's available!

As we reported last month, THQ President and CEO Brian Farrell said fans of the upcoming Warhammer 40k MMO can expect an official unveiling at this year's E3 on June 15. In a recent interview with IGN, Farrell offered a bit of insight about the upcoming MMO's target audience, in addition to an interesting statement regarding its potential revenue model.

When asked about Warhammer 40k's chance for success in a market dominated by MMOs like World of Warcraft, Farrell said that THQ is confident Warhammer 40k will stand on its own, noting the IP's established fan base. "On the PC alone, the Warhammer 40K series has sold over five million units, so there's an audience there that likes that universe," he told IGN. "We think there's always competition in every market, but you got to have an x-factor, a point of differentiation, and we think we've got that."

Farrell also pointed out the stark differences between the sword-and-sorcery genre of WoW and the gothic sci-fi themes in Warhammer 40k. "World of Warcraft is a great game, but as you know in entertainment, there's always the juggernaut and that means there's opportunities out there for the right MMO," Farrell said in the interview. "What we love about the Warhammer 40K MMO is that it's different in that it's a sci-fi, futuristic-based world. We're not competing directly in the orcs and elves fantasy environment that World of Warcraft is in. We can differentiate ourselves."

Finally, Farrell hinted at a unique, region-dependent revenue model that THQ might be adopting for Warhammer 40k. He told IGN that THQ is developing the MMO with a "flexible business model in mind." Farrell said the traditional, subscription-based revenue model "still works" throughout North America and Europe, although it's a harder sell in the Asian markets. He told IGN that THQ is developing Warhammer 40k in a way that lends itself to several pricing models, including "time-based sessions or microtransactions" for the Asian market.

The upcoming Warhammer 40k MMO is based on the Games Workshop tabletop miniature game of the same name. THQ published a real-time strategy PC video game version, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War, in 2004. Virgil Games is developing the Warhammer 40k MMO, which takes place thousands of years after the events of the Warhammer Fantasy series. In January, we awarded Warhammer 40k an honorable mention in the 2009 ZAM Awards for "Most Anticipated Established IP."