In June, three months after the merges, it was revealed that EA was to merge BioWare and Mythic into one RPG group. The most shocking part of this for me was news that Mark Jacobs had left Mythic and co-founder Rob Denton had taken his place. Jacobs had been the driving force behind Mythic for years, in fact it was partly down to his relationship with several Games Workshop managers that got Mythic the WAR licence.

After the news came out, Jacobs' blog revealed that he had actually been away from Mythic since May, when EA revealed its plans for the company to him. He didn't speak badly of EA, or hint at the plans that were mentioned, but one can't help feel for him. By reading his blog, he clearly invested a lot of himself into Mythic and I'm sure the company will be a different place without him.

During the summer, a number of changes and improvements have been made to WAR, including a major revamp of the starting experience, and an effort to make the game more social by consolidating the starter areas and adding beginner's channels. A Mac version of the game recently launched, and the time limit on the trial period has been lifted. Despite these changes, though, the bad news continues.

Last week, EA announced its 'restructuring' plans, which involve 1,500 job cuts. 80 of these lost jobs are from Mythic – that's around a third of its staff. WAR's executive producer Jeff Hickman was quick to follow up the news, and posted a letter to the community on the official site, assuring players that they will notice no change to service or the game's performance, and that there is still an “exciting schedule of patches, live events and new content.”

MMO players were shocked earlier this year when NCsoft's Tabula Rasa was shut down, just over a year after it launched. In September 2008, two months before the closure was announced, NCsoft's president said in an interview that the game was moving in a direction the company wanted, and that they were encouraged by its performance. Tabula Rasa received positive reviews at launch, but apparently suffered from a low number of subscribers.

So, with poor subscriptions, a fraction of the servers still running, the departure of Mark Jacobs and now 80 more job cuts, can WAR still hope to be around this time next year? Can the game's decline be blamed on the timing of WoW's expansion, or are there other factors to consider?

Firstly, let's look at WAR's character creation. Most MMO players enjoy making their characters and many create something that is appealing to the eye. Some like to make hideous, ugly, hulking characters and, for them, the choice is endless in WAR. But if you were hoping to make an attractive character, you'll be disappointed. For some reason, there are no pretty people in WAR, they all look like they've gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson. Perhaps Mythic decided to go with 'realistic and gritty', but is that what players of a fantasy MMO are really after? Just looking at the response Aion received should prove that we like playing characters that look good. A negative experience like this right at the start of the game may have put people off.

Another thing I think Mythic overestimated was the enthusiasm for a PvP-controlled environment. There are certainly players out there who enjoy it, but those that don't may be discouraged by the seemingly PvP-heavy theme of the game. WAR players do have an option to join Core servers, where PvP is toggled off by default, but RvR is a constant factor in WAR.

Perhaps most importantly, Mythic underestimated the commitment many MMO players have made to WoW. With five years now under its belt, players have spent days, weeks, in some cases months of game time progressing characters, gearing up, making friends and learning Blizzard's game. Will any MMO tempt them away? And will WAR be another casualty in this battle?

I think it's safe to say that WoW has the high fantasy genre pretty wrapped up for now. Games like EVE Online,  Fallen Earth and the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic and Global Agenda appeal to players that aren't interested in WoW, maybe that's where developers should set their sights for the time being.

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