Well, yes and no. First, a bit of an explanation. Unfortunately my absence from blogging was due to a whole bunch of issues all hitting at the same time. Those who have read all my posts (should be a Tome of Knowledge unlock – “The Masochists”) know that the end of September is a particularly trying time for me. Combine that with just a wee bit of pressure with the pre-launch, launch and post-launch of WAR and you get a rather unhealthy mix for starters. Throw in some personal issues and what do you get? Someone who has not a lot of time/interest in blogging.
As far as what I’m going to do going forward, well, I’m certainly going to try to get back to blogging as I really enjoyed it. Nothing will change in terms of my subject matter (though I want to throw in some other subjects every so often) but I’m not 100% sure that I’ll be back at the pace I was before this blog went dark (that’s the ‘no’ part). I’ll give it a shot though and we’ll just have to see what happens.
So, off we go…
Again. 
Mark
Filed under: Entertainment, MMORPGS, games, mmos, online games
*wakes up with a snort*
Who are you and what are you doing… oh, hey Mark! Welcome back!
Nice to see you back, Mark.
Welcome Back Mark!
Good to see your on the “blogging side of life”.
Greetz from Germany – Yitu
Let the bloggination resume!
When you hit T2 blogging you’ll finally understand that blog > life.
Weeeeee! I was just cleaning up my feed reader and noticed you hadn’t posted in a long time. Glad I kept ya on!
Wow, welcome back Mark, have this on my RSS and it is always grey, I was surprised to see it bolded today! Have a Merry Christmas! Happy New Year and all of that.
Welcome Back Mark, Unfortunatly there has been a nerf to blogging it is no longer blog>life, as blogging has had a 10% reduction over time added to the coefficient.
Have a Happy Holidays.
Actually, Mark, we gave some love to life, we didn’t nerf anything.
w00t!
WB Mark. Was wondering when you would return
Syp and Snaf at the 1 and 5 spot, I see. There’s no rest for the weary. =) Mark, nice job on fitting those patches in before Christmas. That must have been some late nights for everyone. I (almost literally) can’t wait to get the Open RvR improvements that you have lined up. One quick question: how long do you think we have to earn the ORvR influence rewards before they get replaced? I need me some Greenskin Elite rewards.
welcome back
i look forward to hearing more from you but take your time and relax…enjoy the holidays!
Can you start a “lessons learned” post?
So glad to see you’re back dude, even if it’s only for a while, missed you a lot <3
Nevermind the “omg I think this game should…” types of comments, I’m really looking forward to hear your thoughts and insights about launch, first months of the game and possibly future, the stress, the drama, the lack of sleep, wanna hear it all.
Cheers from Croatia and happy holidays!
Welcome back Mark! I missed reading this blog. Its amazingly refreshing to know theres a game company out there who lets their audience know that execs are real people too.
And please forgive the length of this post, as a gamer I think this might be some interesting insight for future development.
I’d be interested in your take on a situation that came up with my friends recently. I’m what you call polyaMMOrous. I have tons of MMO clients and betas installed on my boxes with 3 subs going with the major players this round; WoW, WAR, LoTRO(EQ2 used to be in there before all my friends migrated). Most of my WAR friends let their subs lag once their 2 or 3rd month was up(poor college students like to wait for subcards for Christmas!). With my WAR buddies gone, I migrated back over to WoW to hang with those friends, yet I kept WAR running and updating and lvling everyonce in a while. When my non WAR playing friends asked why I kept the sub going with sporadic playing and none of my WAR buddies playing, I ended up saying the following sentence in a guild post:
“I didn’t buy WAR for what was in the box. I bought WAR for what was in the head of Mark and his boys(and gals). WAR right now is like the block of marble sitting in Michelangelo’s workshop as he raises the hammer for that first blow. ”
1.1a&b I think are the first hammerfalls from you and your amazing team. I really wonder what the next blow is going to show. Sticking with the art metaphor(which gets me in trouble on forums, that whole game as art debate), from the polyaMMOrous gamer view, heres another quote Im interested in your reaction
“So its no secret that WoW is basically the Mona Lisa of MMOs, but there’s absolutely nothing stopping WAR of being David. They both live in the same museum and both are highly appreciated on their own merits. Does WAR really have to “compete” with WoW? Or can we finally see a the beginning of shift in MMO consumerism to an adaptation of the (shock and awe) art distinction system?! ”
As a lover of games I’d love to get your reaction….oh and WAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!! Oi! Welcom becks to the WAR!!
I was wondering where you went… I mean, it’s not like you have a job or anything.
Welcome back, Mark.
Welcome back Mark! Happy new year!
Was really missing the blog, hope you have some time to get working on WAR and DAoC again, DAoC really needs some attention, it’s really having it’s last death spasms.
Hi Mark, happy new year!
It may not be the best thing to do (for PR or marketing reasons, I suppose) but, if possible, could you speak on WAR’s subscription health? I vaguely recall a post by you before WAR’s launch in which you said that if no new servers were being added a few months after launch, that the game would be in trouble. We players have, in fact, seen ’server merges’ of a sort (the free transfers from low-population servers to high population ones).
Personally, the subscriber levels affect me little because I play on Dark Crag, which is one of the most populated servers. I truly see no population problem when I’m playing–but I read a lot of complaints on the forums. I love WAR–it’s the best MMO I’ve ever played, and this is coming from a long-time DAoC fanatic–but I cannot help but be worried about its long-term success when I read so many complaints/whines/doom-and-gloom on fan forums.
On a completely different topic, I was wondering where WAR’s customer service representatives work. Are they in Virginia at Mythic or are they elsewhere in the country?
Happy new years also from germany.
What will be the next entry from your blog?
take care – yitu
Oh, Mark, you tease…
No, you’re not. Don’t lie! :p
Did he has not longer a computer?
Or the marketing-department told him not to blog?
Mark,
As far as I’m concerned you are Mythic. I wish you the best in whatever you do. I hope you let us know what really happened. I enjoyed what you tried to accomplish in WAR. Take care, and good luck.
A fan, and friend.
Sorry to hear the latest news, Mark.
Best of luck with whatever you do next – I love WAR and look forward to your next project if there is one.
I’m going to echo what Rivs said. I wish you well in all future endeavors, and hope you start writing here again!
EA strikes again. Best of luck to you Mr. Jacobs. Please let us know what legendary thing you’ll do next when you decide.
Mark,
Good luck on your future endeavors. If they are in the realm of MMO’s expect at least one customer!
Many thanks to you for the years of fine gaming.
Best of luck for the future MJ. I for one will sorely miss your contribution to WAR and Mythic. Reading the boards, it seems that you aren’t getting much of the credit you deserve and I think it’s a damn shame. At least some of us out there can read between the lines.
I eagerly look forward to hearing about your next project, when you are able to come out and chat again that is.
I am not sure if you still check this here Mark or if you get a mail about new comments, but I want to wish you the best of Luck after what happened with the company you did everything for. I am extremely sad to hear you go and I know you always did your best for us, the gamer/customers.
Feel free to mail me directly if you want to, as I always had extreme respect for you.
The Daoc days are still filling my memories. Thanks for everything and I hope we will see you around somewhere, soon!
Just please don’t touch another MMO. Especially crafting.
Be sure to update us on your future plans Mark. Your contribution to the industry and the games you’ve made has made a difference and you have more fans that you probably realize.
Best of luck.
Mark,
I’ve proudly played and pushed your games for over 8 years now at the store I manage. I as I’m sure very many other people do value all the long hours and hard work you have put into your creations for us. I will look forward to seeing something from you in the future. Best of luck my friend, take yourself and family on a much needed vacation.
Best Wishes in all that you may do, you will be missed!
Cheers MBJ!
As someone that created Worlds were I had a lot of fun, I simply want to say thanks to you.
I often thinks that too often the road taken by big IT companies when in hard time is simply shortsighted and too easy, compared to the salary level of the people taking decisions like this one.
Too many assumptions on my side, however. Best of luck.
Hey Mark,
You’ve always been a class above the rest. You’ve always called it like it was and had open and honest communication with fans. Best of luck to you in your future work!
J
Good luck to you, Mark; sad to see you leaving Mythic. You were perhaps one of the most public game managers I had ever seen, and the MMO world needs more of that. We wish you the best with whatever you choose to tackle next.