EA is really taking out the big guns in an attempt to take down Blizzard and their World of Warcraft — Recently announced is the merger of Warhammer Online developer Mythic and Mass Effect developer, BioWare.

These two merged studios will form a new RPG/MMO studio group with most all of the executives from both studios staying onboard. However, Mark Jacobs, co-found of Mythic, has left EA yesterday June 23rd, 2009.

Both of these studios have come up with some great stuff, now let’s just see if they can pump out a game that will be enough to send Blizzard packin’.

Warhammer Online, an MMO based in the Warhammer universe, launched with over half a million new registrations in its first week. Since then, the online population has dwindled to around 300,000. Despite the closure of servers, Mythic and EA are both said to be committed to the game.

EA Mythic has recently announced that their new recruitment campaign for Warhammer Online is not of the conventional type.

Apparently, if you recruit 1 player you will get 30 days of free game time and then it gets good. Recruit 2 players? You get a exclusive in-game pet along with another 30 days of free game time, but it doesn’t stop there.

Recruit 4 players and you’ll get a Rod of Service or Collar of Servitude which both increase experience earned by 5%. Sounds pretty cool. After 4 players you will continue to get a free month of game time.

Sounds to me like if you keep recruiting players you’ll never have to pay for the game.

Read (Joystiq)

The two melee-focused careers can be chosen after completing the new “Bitter Rivals” event, which includes the new RvR “Twisted Tower” scenario. They are Orc Choppa and Dwarf Slayer.

Other additions include two new secret lairs, an improved crafting system and easy public quests. You can check out the exhaustive list of tweaks and changes on the official site.

THQ has released the system requirements for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II. They are not too demanding at all, compared to some of the more beefier games out there today. The game will hit shelves on February 27, 2009 for the PC.

Minimum Requirements

Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1
P4 3.2 GHz (single core) or any Dual Core processor
1 GB RAM (XP), 1.5 GB RAM (Vista)
A 128MB Video Card (Shader Model 3) – Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT / ATI X1600, or equivalent
5.5 GB of Hard Drive space

Recommended

Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1
AMD Athlon 64×2 4400+ or any Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB RAM (XP and Vista)
A 256MB Video Card (Shader Model 3) – Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT / ATI X1900, or equivalent
5.5 GB of Hard Drive space

The number shows an increase of around 50,000 subscribers over the month of October. This shows that the game is going strong in the face of strong competition from the likes of World of Warcraft and Age of Conan.

While 800,000 is not a number to scoff at, it appears miniscule compared to Blizzard’s mammoth 11 million subscriber-base for World of Warcraft which gained a million subscribers this year.

"We’re definitely looking at the opportunity to bring the MMO experience to console, without question," said EA Games president Frank Gibeau.

"[Star Wars: The Old Republic and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning are] under consideration," he continued, though he noted that the company is not in any position to announce anything.

Warhammer Online did pretty well, raking in quite a few subscribers since release. No release date was given for the Star Wars MMO.

Initially planned to be restored to the game post-release, one of these classes just won’t make the cut. However, the game’s producer Mark Jacobs had some interesting things to say: "I can’t tell you which yet, that’s a surprise. We’re probably going to be replacing one and putting in another class in its place. But we’ll be talking about that in a few months."

They will be adding four classes to the game, though the latter two classes still remain unknown.

The 1.1 patch will add the Black Guard and Knight of the Blazing Sun classes. It will also add free server transfers for over and under-populated servers, as well as “major additions” to the chat system and targeting system, which includes the addition of Main Assist and Target of Target.

RvR gameplay will be enhanced as well, with improved gear drops, increased drop rates, an RvR influence system as well as other tweaks.

"Thanks to our players, the war between the Realms continues to escalate at an incredible pace," said Mark Jacobs, Mythic Entertainment co-founder. "The battlefields are alive with three quarters of a million players fighting for the forces of Order and Destruction in truly epic and unparalleled Realm vs. Realm battles!"

The game was launched on September 18, meaning that all these players joined in less than a month. EA previously bragged about bagging 500,000 subscribers in the game’s first week of release.

Mythic notes that this makes the game “the fastest-selling new MMO of all time” with studio VP Mark Jacobs adding that the subscriber base is “growing at a record-breaking pace for a new MMORPG.”

Just a few months ago, Funcom had announced that Age of Conan had gotten over 400,000 players in the week following its launch. The studio had noted that it was the “biggest MMO launch since WoW”.

Addressing those complaints, the studio has announced that it will maintain an online database of everyone who contributed to the project, regardless of current employment status. However, credit in the manual will be given to those who were part of the ‘launch’ team.

"I applaud Mythic for taking steps to address this issue," stated IGDA chairperson Jen MacLean. "Fair and accurate credits and transparent standards for crediting remain a pervasive problem in the industry."

The promised early access to the live game servers will come to those who pre-ordered the Collector’s Edition on Sunday, September 14. Those who bought the regular edition will be able to join the fun two days later on September 16.

Fortunately for these gamers, progress made during the head start will be retained when the game finally launches on September 18.

The current MMORPG scene is dominated by Blizzard with World of Warcraft that has a staggering amount of subscribers.

“We need to show the world that it’s not just Blizzard who can make a great game, and that the audience is absolutely willing to try new things and to play a game other than WoW,” said Jacobs. “If we don’t succeed with EA behind us, the Warhammer IP behind us, with one of the most experienced teams in the industry, that’s not going to be good for the industry.”

He also revealed that he hoped Conan would be more popular than it currently is.

“At some level I wanted Conan to succeed because for the last few years people have been saying it’s all Blizzard and nobody else can do it,” Jacobs stated. “‘Only Blizzard can get those kind of numbers,’ and so far they’ve been right. But now it’s our turn.”

Warhammer Online goes live September 18.

Eurogamer notes that Collector’s Edition pre-orders will be let in from September 14, with regular pre-orders joining a day later. The game launches for the public on September 18.

Those who create and progress with their characters created during this time will be able to retain them, though avatars created during the open beta cannot be transferred.

“If you’re part of the team when we launch, you deserve to be in the credits. No question about it. That, in my estimation, is what the credits are for,” he said. “Everyone who is currently at Mythic who’s worked on Warhammer is going to be in the credits. And that’s good enough for me.”

He noted that “online games are ever-changing and [have] ever-changing credits,” adding that crediting anyone who ever worked on the game would require constant updates as more people join the team after the game’s release.

“If we set that precedent right now, that anyone who worked on the game at any point in time is going to be in the credits, the credits will be 20 pages long within a couple of years. And nobody does that,” he said. “I don’t want 20 pages!” Jacobs laughed. “I can’t fit it in the manual.”

Jacobs continued further, stating that crediting anyone who works on a game is a “disservice to the people who are still part of the team, who are still working on the game.”

Warhammer Online is set for release soon.

Speaking to Shacknews, Mythic VP and general manager Mark Jacobs said: “Over the years, we’ve had hundreds of people work on the game, and we thank everyone who helped us bring our Warhammer passion to life, but only current employees that have continued until the end will be credited in the final game.”

Meanwhile, ex-employees aren’t too happy with the announcement. Claiming anonymity, a past employee noted that the move would “dog out many, many developers.”

“I spent three years on WAR and I, including many other people who spent just as much if not close to the same amount of time, will NOT be credited in the game,” said the anonymous developer.

Warhammer Online is due out September 18 following several delays and problems during development.

Those who were allowed into the closed beta of Mythic Entertainments Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning first first made to agree to a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA, making it illegal to spill the beans about the MMO

Well this is no longer true as the developers have announced that they are ditching the NDA, now allowing beta testers to talk freely about the game, get ready for a whole slew up YouTube gameplay videos.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is an MMORPG currently under development by Mythic Entertainment and will be released for the PC on September 18th of this year.