Warhammer Online developer Mythic Entertainment has introduced an unlimited free trial for its fantasy MMORPG to replace the previous ten-day trial introduced in March.

Characters on trial accounts will be restricted by a level cap of ten and confined to two 'Empire vs. Chaos' zones--Nordland and Norsca--plus three instanced PvP scenarios and one dungeon, though they can of course play them for as long as they please.

Mythic recently merged into a "RPG/MMO studio group" with fellow EA subsidiary and Mass Effect developer BioWare. Mark Jacobs, co-founder and general manager of Mythic as well as lead designer on Warhammer Online, departed in the shuffle.

Mythic today announced that the Dwarf Slayer and Orc Choppa careers have gone live in Warhammer Online.

Both classes are essentially berserkers, with a rage mechanic that allows them to build up power as they fight.

The career additions are part of an ongoing series of updates to the MMO, which Mythic is referring to as the Call to Arms "live expansion."

More information on the classes can be found on the Warhammer site.

Marketing research firm NPD has issued its weekly list of the ten best-selling PC games at United States retailers, this one covering the first week of March.

That week saw the debut of The Creative Assembly's historical strategy game Empire: Total War, which also topped the chart for digital distribution site Direct2Drive. Mythic's Warhammer Online also reappeared, probably due to a lowered average price.

As NPD's figures do not include digital distribution, you'll find Direct2Drive's corresponding list of PC best-sellers below. However, please note that this only covers one of many online outlets, while NPD covers a variety of brick and mortar stores.

NPD's Top Ten (3/1 - 3/7)

1. Empire: Total War / Creative Assembly / $48
2. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King / Blizzard / $39
3. Warhammer Online: Age Of Reckoning / EA Mythic / $16
4. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe / EA Maxis / $20
5. Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II / Relic / $48
6. The Sims Carnival: Bumper Blast / Electronic Arts / $2... Read more

Following in the footsteps of other MMOs, Mythic is now offering a free 10-day trial of its fantasy title Warhammer Online.

The trial will restrict players to the Tier 1 and Capital City game zones only.

Mythic is running two separate trials for North America/Asia Pacific and European servers. Follow the appropriate links to join in.

Mythic Entertainment today kicked off its three-month long "live expansion" for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning with the 1.2 patch, which adds two new careers to the MMO along with a new scenario, new treasures, and various other tweaks.

By completing the new "Bitter Rivals" event, which includes the new RvR "Twisted Tower" scenario, players will be able access the two new melee-focused careers--the Orc Choppa and Dwarf Slayer--a week before everyone else. Two new secret lairs have been added as well, along with an improved crafting system and easy public quests.

A list of the highlights and general changes follows below. For the exhaustive entirety of the numerous combat and career-specific tweaks, hit up the official site.

Highlights
• New Careers! Unleash the savage fury of the relentless Orc Choppa, or take up the doom-laden oath of the unstoppable... Read more

Following yesterday's rumor that indicated Warhammer Online developer Mythic had let go between 60-130 of its employees, company representatives today confirmed that the studio has indeed downsized.

"Mythic is resizing the team to move from a pre-launch to a post-launch size and remains fully committed to maintaining the trust of the WAR players," reads a company statement sent to Shacknews.

Added Mythic: "In no way does this conflict with our commitment to customer service and upcoming content schedule for the game - we remain fully committed to creating and delivering the best WAR experience."

While Warhammer Online boasted over 800,000 subscribers following its September launch, that number has since fallen to around 300,000 according to publisher Electronic Arts.

Update: Joystiq is now reporting that "several well-placed sources" have confirmed a new round of Mythic layoffs, on the order of 60-130 employees.

The story claims that the layoffs extend to the development staff, including senior designers. Shacknews has contacted Mythic owner Electronic Arts for comment.

Original story: Tucked away in yesterday's Electronic Arts conference was the news that Mythic's MMO Warhammer Online has seen its player base reduced to a lean 300,000 subscribers.

The number places Warhammer's base ahead of MMOs such as EverQuest II and Lord of the Rings Online, but far behind behemoths like Lineage and World of Warcraft.

Following Warhammer's September launch, developer Mythic had registered 750,000 players of the game. By early November, Electronic Arts was reporting that Warhammer had accumulated over 800,000 subscribers.

But even before the World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King launched in November, competitor Blizzard was reporting that up to 46% of Warcraft subscribers who had cancelled their subscription citing Warhammer had already returned. Lich King went on to break sales records, increasing Warcraft's stranglehold on the MMO genre to 11.5 million subscribers.

Though layoffs at Warhammer developer Mythic were rumored last month, the company has reassured fans that it will continue to support the game, announcing a series of updates that will roll out between March and June of this year.

Developer Mythic Entertainment has revealed its plans to bring free new features and content to Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC) between March and June.

Dubbed the "'Call to Arms' live expansion," the three-month-long update will add two new careers to the MMO--the Orc Choppa and the Dwarf Slayer--along with a new dungeon zone, three in-game live events, a new RvR scenario, and a free trial version.

Mythic general manager Mark Jacobs referred to the program as "the first of our 'live expansions' planned for the game," adding that the new Tomb Kings dungeon "is the spiritual successor to the Dark Age of Camelot dungeon, Darkness Falls."

Call to Arms Live Expansion Schedule

• 'Call to Arms: Bitter Rivals' Live Event (March): Successful completion allows head start access to the new Orc Choppa and Dwarf Slayer careers. The event will also include... Read more

Following rumors that Warhammer Online developer Mythic Entertainment lost some staff in the latest round of cost-cutting measures for studio owner Electronic Arts, Mythic VP Mark Jacobs has assured fans that its PC MMO will continue to be supported.

"It's not like we had a small team at launch or even a small team now," he wrote in forum post. "I have a very large team continuing to work on WAR now and going forward and we'll continue to build with that." The rumor claims all of Mythic's playtesters were let go, along with half of its QA team and 21 customer service employees.

While unable to comment directly on "possible/actual layoffs," Jacobs... Read more

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning developer Mythic Entertainment is the latest EA subsidiary to be hit in the company's latest cost-cutting efforts, Joystiq reports.

Citing anonymous sources, the site claims that all of Mythic's playtesters were let go, along with 21 customer service employees and half of its quality assurance team.

When reached for comment, studio owner Electronic Arts once again stated that no specifics on the latest round of cost-cutting measures would be provided until early February--the same response given to rumors that EA axed Pandemic Brisbane.

Electronic Arts had previously announced that it would cut roughly 10% of its global workforce by March 31, and close "at least" nine facilities. Skate and Need for Speed developer Black Box is among those slated for closure, with the studio's teams and "associated game franchises" moving to a nearby office in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Warhammer Online developer Mythic today deployed another significant patch to the game, bringing the version up to 1.1a. The 1.1a patch sees a number of improvements to the MMO, including an open realm vs. realm influence system, two new careers, additional content, and public quests redesigned to be easier.

The full patch notes follow:

• Two New Careers - The Knight of the Blazing Sun and the Black... Read more

Over half of the subscribers that left World of Warcraft to play Funcom's rival PC MMO Age of Conan have since returned to World of Warcraft, developer Blizzard has revealed, adding that the return rate from Mythic's Warhammer Online is currently at 46%.

"To date, 68% of the players who listed Age of Conan as their reason for cancellation and 46% of the players who listed Warhammer as their reason for cancellation have reactivated their subscriptions to World of Warcraft," Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime explained during a financial conference call, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha.

Last month, Blizzard claimed that "a significant number of people, well over half" had returned to World of Warcraft from Warhammer Online after its September 18 launch. As for Age of Conan, which launched in May, Blizzard previously reported a 40% return rate.

Launched in 2004, World of Warcraft currently has over 11 million subscribers worldwide, with the game's second expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King, due out next Thursday, November 13.

Mythic's MMO Warhammer Online has surpassed 800,000 subscribers, according to recently released Electronic Arts financial documents. As Eurogamer points out, the number shows an increase of around 50,000 subscribers over the month of October, proving that Warhammer is growing in the face of strong competition. Publisher EA has sold a total of 1.2 million copies of WAR since its release in September.

Direct competitor Blizzard recently announced that World of Warcraft has now ensnared over 11 million subscribers, an increase of 1 million subscribers between this January and October.

Though BioWare only announced its story-driven MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic for PC, studio owner Electronic Arts have revealed that console releases of both Star Wars and EA Mythic's PC-only MMO Warhammer Online are being considered.

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

"[Star Wars: The Old Republic and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning are] under consideration," he continued, warning that the company is "not really in a place to commit or announce anything specific with regards to those."

Warhammer Online launched on PC this past September. Developer BioWare and publisher LucasArts have yet to state when Star Wars: The Old Republic will arrive, though the studio has promised that an open beta will precede its release.

Prior to Warhammer Online's recent launch, developer Mythic cut four classes and multiple capital cities out of the PC MMO. Two of those classes will be added back in December, but studio VP Mark Jacobs claims that one may be gone for good.

"One of [the remaining two] we hope to put back in," Jacobs told Eurogamer. "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."

With the Black Guard and Knight of the Blazing Sun classes due in a December patch, both the Dwarf Hammerer and Greenskin Choppa are still on the cutting room floor.

"There will still be four going back in, it just won't be necessarily the same four," Jacobs asserted. "We're not going to put it in just so we can go 'see guys, we put it back in.' If it's not great, it doesn't belong in the game."

Two of the classes cut from Warhammer Online prior to the PC MMO's release will be added in a major patch due out this December, developer Mythic has revealed.

Patch 1.1 will bring the Black Guard and Knight of the Blazing Sun classes along with free server transfers for over- and under-populated servers, "major additions to the chat system (item linking and more), as well as continued work on our targeting system," which includes the addition of Main Assist and Target of Target.

The title's RvR play will be revised as well--improved gear drops, increased drop rates, an RvR-influence system and "more incentive to engage in open RvR"--with other tweaks including 14 new quest chains, two new Lairs, more Tome of Knowledge unlocks, and changes to the nearly all of the game's careers.

"Almost every career is going to see some changes and love coming their way," Mythic VP Mark Jacobs explained in the first State of the Game letter. "There are very, very few changes that will be seen as reductions to a career's abilities."

Over half of the World of Warcraft players that left the popular PC MMO for Mythic's recently launched Warhammer Online have since returned to Azeroth, Blizzard claims.

"We've seen a significant number of people, well over half, that cited Warhammer as their reason for leaving--they've already returned." Blizzard COO Paul Sams told GamesIndustry.biz. "It surprises me because Mythic is a very good company and it doesn't surprise me at the same time because it's really hard [to make an MMO]."

"I think Warhammer is best positioned to succeed out of the various products that have come out thus far since World of Warcraft has come out," he explained... Read more

Mythic's Warhammer Online (PC), the MMO that bills itself as the Led Zep to World of Warcraft's Beatles, is still picking up players with publisher EA announcing today that the game has crested the 750,000 mark.

"Thanks to our players, the war between the Realms continues to escalate at an incredible pace," said Mark Jacobs, Mythic Entertainment co-founder, in a press release issued by EA. "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 online role-player launched on September 18, meaning that those 750,000 players have arrived in under one month. EA and Mythic previously touted gaining 500,000 subscribers in the game's first week. At that time, EA called it "the fastest-selling new MMO of all time."

Warhammer Online senior designer Josh Drescher has a unique take on the new MMO's inevitable rivalry with the 800-pound gorilla of the genre, Blizzard's World of Warcraft. In an interview with Destructoid, he swears that Mythic isn't looking to "steal" subscribers away from Warcraft:

When we say we're not competing with World of Warcraft we really do mean that. ... World of Warcraft is basically The Beatles, and if you set out to try and be The Beatles, you wind up as The Monkees. So, we really do just try and be a different type of product. We're not trying to beat them, we're not trying to replace them, we're not trying to destroy them, we're trying to be Led Zeppelin.

We're trying to offer you a harder, darker, heavier sort of experience. We're trying to offer you the kind of music you'd listen to down in your basement with your friends, with a black light on and maybe some illicit substances. We are not trying to be the thing that you all slow dance to at your high school prom. If that means we take a couple of players from World of Warcraft, great, but if it means that we get a group of people that have been waiting for an experience like ours then we're just as happy with that.

Since the official launch of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC) on September 18, more than half a million players have registered to play the Mythic-developed massively multiplayer role-playing game, the studio announced today.

According to the company, this makes Warhammer Online "the fastest-selling new MMO of all time," with studio VP Mark Jacobs adding that "the ranks of Order and Destruction are growing at a record-breaking pace for a new MMORPG."

The last high-profile PC MMO release, Funcom's Age of Conan, netted 400K players in the week following its May launch. Funcom later claimed that Conan was "the biggest MMO launch since World of Warcraft," a record that Mythic appears to be closing in on.