Mythic is clearly making up for the long development cycle (more than three years) of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning by announcing that it plans a world wide release for the game on September 18, which is no less than five days earlier than the date we were expecting to see it thanks to recent rumors. Well, five days do not exactly make up for the last big delay, which was about six months, but it's still nice to see that the game is finally getting released.

Mythic says that this is the first time that a MMORPG launches at the same time in North America, in Europe and in Oceania, with portions of Asia also targeted. The earlier than expected release date might be due to the fact that recently the developer revealed that the final fame would be missing four character classes (no Orc Choppa!) and four capital cities which were originally announced as being in the game.

The announcement of the release date also includes some data regarding pricing for the title and the bonuses that people can expect when pre-ordering the title. A monthly subscription to Warhammer Online will cost 14.99 dollars, with prices per month dropping when a player chooses a three month subscription, for 41.97 dollars or a six month subscription for 77.94 dollars. Retailers will also carry pre-paid cards that offer access to the game for 30 or 60 days.

Pre-ordering the game will also bring interesting bonuses, depending on the retailer you choose to order from. Players will get admission to the open beta of the game and to a Head Start initiative which allows them to download and to play the game before the official launch date and before their copies arrive. There will also be some bonus in-game items and a Warhammer Online Universal Fighting System Battle Deck. If you want to get your hands on the bonuses, make sure you pre-order from companies like Amazon.com, Best Buy, Circuit City, Direct2Drive, EAStore.com, EB Canada, EB Games, Fry's, Futureshop, GameCrazy, GameStop, GoGamer.com, and Walmart.com.

Mark Jacobs, who is the founder and general manager of Mythic Entertainment, stated that "For the last three years, the entire team at Mythic has poured their hearts into making Warhammer Online the next great MMORPG. We are so excited to open up this world and share it with the fans that will live in it, quest in it, go to war in it and make it come alive".