Curse Partners with Warhammer Alliance

[Garthilk]

Warhammer Alliance is very happy to announce that it has joined forces with one of the fastest growing MMO Communities, Curse. For the last several months, Warhammer Alliance has been in discussions with Curse regarding the future of both sites in the long term. Talks have gone extremely well. My primary concern has always been: what's best for this Warhammer community? With this announcement, I want to ensure everyone that this community has a long and healthy future ahead of it, as Curse will be supporting Warhammer Alliances future growth.

So what does this mean again? Again, I cannot go into details and there are a few specifics still to be ironed out. But I think it's safe to say that both Warhammer Alliance and Curse see the potential of this community. To pull off a truly awesome community site as WAR’s release approaches, Warhammer Alliance will require the kind of support that Curse can offer. With Curse's assistance, Warhammer Alliance will continue the success we've enjoyed over the last two years.

Does this mean we’re being acquired? Does this mean management changes are in the works at Warhammer Alliance? No, the staff isn't going anywhere. However, what it does mean is that in the long term we will now have the support we need to develop, improve, debug and optimize the site. That means new features, new layouts, new graphics, and better, faster servers. With Curse helping us support our community, we'll have everything from forums and add-ons to image and video sharing, and a lot more.

Basically, the site isn't changing domains; we're not closing the forums. The staff isn't going anywhere. Everything, for the most part, is staying exactly as it is right now. Your usernames stay the same, your posts stay as they are, and the banned stay banned.

For us, this is going to be a huge opportunity. The site will be moving to new, top-of-the-line server hardware in the coming weeks. Without the constraints of having to pay for hosting, and without having to throttle the servers in order to keep the site alive, I can begin to work on the really big projects.

For those of you not familiar with Curse, they are a small company devoted to massive online game communities. They're one of the few companies putting in the labor and money to provide support to communities. For example, they have created and maintained Vanguard: Saga of Heroes' database. In addition, Curse’s repository of UI downloads and modifications for WoW rival any site out there. Frankly, they're the best possible partner for a growing community like Warhammer Alliance.

Also, I would personally like to thank you guys for the last two years and I look forward to all the great years to come. I'm very happy to have Curse as a partner and I think that everyone here should be excited as well. I encourage you to go check out their site, as they have some truly exceptional stuff going on.

Now, I know some of you guys have questions, and I want to try and answer as many of them as I can. So fire away.

[Garthilk]

Will we still be able to visit Warhammer Alliance?

We will not be closing up shop. In fact, this deal means that we're going to stay open regardless of the bandwidth and costs required to run. We will be capable of providing for the largest community possible. We will offer the coolest features and the most information. To that end, I really don't know how we're going to bring all these things to life just yet. However, I can say with certainty that we now have the resources, tools, and manpower to tackle just about anything that our — or your — imagination ponders.

Is this going to change anything? If so, what?

This site has always been about a commitment to Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, and providing information to the broadest WAR community. There are no plans, either at Curse or here, to change those things. Right now we are working in collaboration with Curse's programmers, artists, and staff to help meet our goals.

No seriously, what's going to change?

Let's use an analogy: when preparing for a new addition, most creatures feather their nest, so to speak. Essentially, they want to make it a suitable spot to live in. In that regard, the staff at Warhammer Alliance has been working with Curse to create a more suitable nest for this community. We really don't have a specific timeframe or a list of features. Our only goal is to ensure that whatever we do, Warhammer Alliance is properly feathered.

Did you just sell out? I don't see how this will improve the community?

I'm certain there were some people who said the exact same things when we moved from the WOF (WarhammerOnlineForum.com) message boards site to Warhammer Alliance. At the time, the WOF boards seemed more than adequate to many people. However, Warhammer Alliance was extremely different in its approach, its forum rules, and its look in its planning for the future. Hindsight shows us that the move was by far the best thing for the community.

With Curse we will have more staff, more programmers, more resources, and more time for the Warhammer Alliance community. And we’re just starting to explore the possibilities this collaboration will bring.

How will Alliance Champion accounts change?

For now, they won't. We are working to provide even more benefits to the folks whom helped keep the site running during its early days. I can't go into specifics yet, but there will additional benefits and we’re working to make them pretty cool.

What kind of new features are we going to get?

I wish I could elaborate, but needless to say there are ones I think are very cool. Already we are working to offer up some great stuff. For now, some of that has to remain secret.

Will moderation rules change?

The same staff, the same moderators, and the same rules of respect and constructive feedback will persist. Part of the reason Curse came to us is because they like how this site and community has evolved. They have a lot of faith in the staff and myself because of that success. That said, if you didn't like how things were run before, you won't like them any more in the future. However, if you've enjoyed this truely wonderful community, stick around, cause it's going to get even better.

How are we as a community part of this?

As folks from the WOF's participated in a huge change, everyone here will be part of this change as well. The truth is that during the course of development at Warhammer Alliance, we did some amazing things. We also made some mistakes. I feel that the support of a larger network, with greater resources means that we'll be able to do some even better things.

And like in the past, we may well make mistakes in the future. But, everyone at WHA is constantly working to make things better. I think everyone who has been around and knows the staff here can say that we're all diehard WAR fans.

Are the ads going to change, will there be ads that take over your screen etc?

If anything that ads are going to get better. No you will not see any ads, that take over your browser, or force you to click to redirect back to what you were viewing. In fact, you'll very likely see more MMO related ads, and ads that are specific to the types of readers that visit here.

Forum quality is going to go way downhill....

The staff is not going anywhere, nor are the standards we've always upheld. To some degree, the forum quality has gone downhill at WHA already, then back up, and back down. It is always in a state of flux as we bring on new users and as they learn how this community is different than others they may have visited. One thing that remains however is the commitment of several individuals to make this the best place possible.

[Garthilk]

Folks,

On a personal level I'd like to thank everyone for the past two years of amazing success. We're fast approaching the tipping point and this site will soon begin the drum-roll to an even greater success. I've been to the Curse HQ's in San Francisco. I've played games with the dozen or so employee's. I've had fun, and trust me, you will be hard pressed to find a group more dedicated to MMO's. In all, we were approached by half a dozen networks, wanting to see this site grow. However, there was only one I felt comfortable with. A network with the honesty and integrity that I felt this community deserved. I'm very excited to have Curse working with me, and I can't wait to tell you about the stuff I've already got brewing with their programmers.

[saltbush]

Just wanted to say congrats on your deal with Curse, it sounds like it will be good for the site and hence the community on the whole.

I must admit i haven't had a lot to do with curse though so i can't make more n depth comments (checking em out now)


On a slightly less happy note why lock the news post about it? (would have liked to have posted my congrats there)

[Sagesse|Emil]

Curse was always a great sight for obtaining mod/custom ui for WoW...

So I welcome them, this sight is great, lets make it better!

[tazzy4u2]

Totally agree.

Played many MMORPGS for at least some period of time and have curse on my favs list. Their contribution to WoW UIs and the login recorder thingy (high tech termonlogy!!) they did for Vanguard was great to mention but 2.

Also followed this site and WAR in general for ages (only recently bothered to register) and again find this site awesome.

A great joining IMO and look forward to pre release and release inf0 and support as usual.
Hope it all goes smoothly, keep up the great work.

[Nergal]

Congratulations, I think this site is awesome and I also think that Curse is awesome so I really think this a really positive thing for the community, please dont prove me wrong

[Lord Dobo]

Congrats, I'll trust in your judgement. I have no experience with curse, and the only thing negative I can say is I don't immediately like their interface. But the content looks good, and because you said this site essentially remains the same... yay. No financial worries = happy community in the long run.

[Aqe]

Basically WHA get access to better servers and support to do offer more features and Curse get free publicity and perhaps some income generated from the ads on this site.

Win for Community
Win for Curse
Maybe Win for WHA owner depending on deal.

[Nerror]

OMG we're doomed!

If you take the MD5 hash of Curse Gaming and binary encode it and set it up just right, the zeros form the symbol of the alien arm of the Illuminati! With their superior alien IP technology, the Curse Gaming folks will now be able to take control of our monitors and thus our minds! Unless... <grabs the tinfoil>

[Saucon21]

Congrats sounds like a good deal all around and a very smart move as when Warhammer releases this site could easily see twice the amount of people here already, if not alot more people joining in on the fun we have here

[AlienOverlord]

I've frequently gone to Curse-gaming for MMORPG-related resources, they have useful UIs and info and such. I have them on my Favorites in my browser

I'm looking forward to seeing WHA and Curse team up, esp. since it sounds like we'll be seeing some more goodies on the site

[arildur]

Amusingly, this strongly reminds me of when EA acquired Mythic, right down to the same base tone and message in Garthilk's posts. And, well: nothing but goodness has come from the EA+Mythic deal, so I'm positive the results of this partnership will be a great community site. I don't have anything negative to say about Curse, (having used their site for finding addons for WoW, and also as a news source) nor about this decision, so.. thumbs up!

[Shadowsfury]

Congratulations to Garthilk and his team! Although I wasnt there from the beginning I see this as my home for news about WAR, and with this deal the features of this community site can only grow and with the same team on board who survived the first two years, Ill have the faith that this will turn out well. Nah, lets make that superb, shall we?

Everybody refill your pints!
Three cheers to WarhammerAlliance!
*chugs the ale*
Hurray!

[Drunkenmaster]

Very nice. Curse are a good bunch and this coperation will do WHA good.