Slim Down for Summer with That's Fit

The MMO week in a minute

Big Download's sister site Massively.com has all the news you'll need about MMOs. Here's the best, brightest, and most interesting stuff from the last week, all in one convenient place for your MMO minute.

Blizzard announces major World of Warcraft class changes at WWI
Representatives from Blizzard offered up a heaping helping of Wrath of the Lich King information, with some great info for just about every class. You're going to want to head to WoW Insider for the full monty, but here are a few highlights...

Age of Conan patch notes for June 26th
The patch notes for today's Age of Conan update are now available, and a few of the fixes that we've seen talked about in recent times have made it in. There's nothing significantly game changing unless you're a Necromancer, or are waiting to get into Alchemy (and it's not the big PvP patch unfortunately) but Funcom's to-do list is now a little shorter.

World of Warcraft Arena Season 4 begins!
Season 4 is a brand-new ballgame, with stiff requirements to earn the coveted loot offered over the course of the next few months. The site has a huge wrapup post in place, working through everything they know about it ... and you can bet they know pretty much everything there is to know.

World of Warcraft originally planned as free-to-play
Blizzard's own Rob Pardo recently dropped something of a bombshell about World of Warcraft at the Paris GDC event when he revealed in a keynote that the game was originally planned as a free-to-play experience.

LotRO interview reveals more on Book 14
In the second part of MMORPG's interview with Lord of the Rings Online's Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel, we learn more about the final stages of development with LotRO's Book 14. Steefel discusses exactly how this final book of the first volume will unfold before the Mines of Moria expansion arrives on the scene. He also mentions the fact that Moria will not be considered Book 15, but instead be referred to as the first book of Volume 2.

AoC 23/06 patch notes: ToS and Necro AoE nerfs steal the headlines
The delayed notes for today's Age of Conan patch have now hit, and there are some significant changes in store for a couple of classes. The headline of this post pretty much spoils the suspense as to which two classes they are, but we'll discuss them in detail after the break.

Age of Conan tradeskills getting badly needed attention
In a recent forum post, Funcom developer Twicer acknowledges that Age of Conan's crafting professions are completely behind the curve, and are currently the subject of intense scrutiny by the development team. Considering that Alchemy in its current state is completely broken (when we say broken, we mean: it crashes your client when you try and do it), this message is certainly long overdue.

Realtime Worlds donates $1k to APB fansite
Fansites have always been a labor of love. People create, share and maintain them at a cost simply because they're passionate about something. In the case of APB-Evoloved.com that passion lies with Realtime Worlds' upcoming grand-theft-style MMO All Points Bulletin.

WAR European guild beta live within a month
The long-anticipated Warhammer Online guild beta appears to finally be moving forward, as we've heard via the grapeline that European guild leaders are being notified about the imminent start of the guild beta. According to this email, guild leaders are being given until July 2 to submit the information for members hoping to participate in the beta. Interestingly, the NDA for the beta will remain in effect for the duration of the guild beta, so don't expect to see full-fledged personal accounts for a little while yet.

First Impressions: Dreamlords the Reawakening
Lockpick Entertainment has been hard at work on the relaunch of their fantasy MMORTS Dreamlords the Reawakening, and their efforts have not been in vain. This title is just as rich and complex a game as you'd hope for. If you're the type of gamer who likes getting your hands dirty, the level of micromanagement alone will please you. As for the rest of you, you'll have to decide for yourselves whether DtR is your cup of tea.

Behind the Curtain: Hacked account - opportunity or deathknell?
Well, it seems I may have been too hasty in jumping on the 'omgblizzardgmsaretehsuckzorz" bandwagon last week. Merely a handful of hours after logging back on to my World of Warcraft account and submitting a GM ticket after reformatting my PC, not only had my deleted characters been restored, but all of their gold and items had been recovered.

Player Consequences: PvP Consequences in Age of Conan
Player versus Player combat is always a tricky subject in the realm of MMO design. It has been with us since some of the earliest games in the genre and has had a huge influence on many players. Indeed the demand for PvP game play is now so high, that most developers believe they have to include some form of it or risk losing players. It is easy to see why the developers for Age of Conan chose to have so many different types of PvP in their game.

A nostalgic look back on the Star Wars Galaxies beta
With Star Wars Galaxies, unbelievably, celebrating its fifth anniversary (and winner of the Spinal Tap, "Where are they now?" category, 2008) I was asked to reflect on my experiences in the beta program. Most likely, time healed a lot of wounds and I've probably got my new rose-colored glasses on, so forgive me I'm overly nostalgic.

A screenshot and video tour of Silkroad Online
Earlier this month we had the chance to take a tour of the free-to-play Joymax title Silkroad Online. A unique fantasy game, this microtransaction-supported offering transports players back to the time of high adventure along the trade routes between Europae and China.

Add your comments.

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

Advertisement