World of Tanks launching April 12th

After nine straight months of intensive beta testing, the finish (and the beginning) is finally in sight for fans of Wargaming.net's World of Tanks. The World War II-based action MMO is officially launching in both Europe and North The united states on April 12th, and die-hard testers "who did a long way from [closed beta] to release will get some bonuses" according to a post on the game's net site.

"Our team has been working hard to generate a distinctive blend of action, strategy, simulation, and RPG in World of Tanks, and now the moment all fans across the globe have been waiting for is right around the corner," says Wargaming.net CEO Victor Kislyi.

World of Tanks looks to blend the fast-action gameplay of its squad-based modes with the large-scale strategy of the clan wars mechanic to generate the definitive heavy armor MMO title. The game features destructible environments and authentically rendered combat vehicles from a variety of nations, and it is all wrapped in a free-to-play package designed to permit curious game enthusiasts to try before they buy.

The Alliance vs. Horde. The Federation vs. the Klingons. The Guardians vs. the Defiant. Most of our favourite games have done an brilliant job splitting up its players in to one different groups and sending us on quests aimed at obliterating each other. Although these divisions permit for dynamic gameplay through PvP interactions and the chance to play through one different storylines, sometimes you need to cuddle up along with your friends from across the bay.

The Every day Grind: Would you like to see cross-faction teaming?

So in case you had the choice, could you see yourself throwing aside your differences to team up against a universal foe? Would you cross-faction team through raids? Would this be game-changing or immersion-breaking? How would PvP at endgame work?

Hugs and kisses aside, each faction comes together to defeat a common enemy without being able to offer each other an /invite. While this can be basically blamed on the story or chalked up to the fact that the various studios don't have the know-how within their games to permit for this, would not it be awesome to team up and move on from enemies to frenemies?

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Why would some "AAA" MMORPG fan want to play your title Golemizer? What should he expect out of your game?

Players who are tired of linear gameplay in static worlds will find an incredible sandbox to play with in Golemizer. In Golemizer, you don't go from level 1 to 80 through the same path as everyone (there are no levels, in fact) -- you choose your own path. You are not just a visitor in a world built by some developer; you shape this world by creating cities, dungeons, quests, or shops. This MMO will particularly appeal to crafters, as I'd say 95% of what you see in Golemizer is crafted by players... from simple furniture to houses and of course the many monsters (golems) that give Golemizer its name. If you're curious to see how players are able to shape the world of Golemizer, I suggest you take a look at the Atlas, which contains pictures taken from players (taken directly in-game, using a gadget that players can craft... in-game, of course).

"I wouldn't do it again that way for sure, but that was my way to deal with the money problem."

The financial reality of indie development is often a scary one. Do money woes often taint the development process?

The initial budget for Golemizer was about $0. At some point, I did have to spend money, but it was nothing my day job couldn't pay for back then. So it's possible to do a lot with very little. However, it took me about one year to get to the release of Golemizer, working on it nights and weekends while keeping my day job to pay for expenses -- so it's far from perfect. I wouldn't do it again that way for sure, but that was my way to deal with the "money problem." When you deal with the "money problem" this way, and it takes so long to create a game, I do not need to tell you how many times you can feel like just giving up. The lack of money is always a threat to any game development project.

What sort of advice would you give to a brand-new developer?

Probably something like "start something you will finish" and then I'd add "learn from your mistakes and then do it again, again and again." My first game was an MMO, which everyone will tell you is probably the worst kind project a new developer can undertake, and everyone is right. I knew I was stubborn enough to get through it even though it was anything but easy. People will remember you for your games and not for your ideas for games, so making sure you can finish a project is really where it all begins.

If you had a large budget, would you continue to make games like you do now or would you go for something much different?

I wouldn't change a thing. For me, being indie means a quality of life I'd have a hard time getting any other way. Being 30 seconds away from my workplace when I wake up is priceless. I have no ambition to have employees, and I like to be part of every aspect of a game project. I like doing my own thing alone and working with small teams on occasion for specific projects. So a large budget would probably allow me to raise the scale of my projects, but in the end I would stick to how I do things currently.

Lastly, explain to the readers why supporting indie development is important. Or not, of course -- you can just tell them all to go away.

Something is bugging me with the expression "to support indie development." It sounds like it's some kind of charity or something. Ultimately I want people to support me because they like my games and not because I'm indie. However, here's some food for thought. To stay in business, indie developers need to come up with something different, to innovate, to find a niche. There's no point trying to come up with something like "World of Warcraft: Indie Edition" as it will only suffer in comparison. People are complaining more and more that big studios are just trying to sell them the same game over and over (the WoW-clone argument, for example), so they should pay attention to indie development as they might just find what they are looking for. Sometimes, yes, the production value of indie games isn't what it should be, and it's up to us indies to do better. When people "support" us, it surely helps a lot to improve our games. It ends up being interesting to players as they will have access to higher-quality games that are not just merely clones pushed by big studios that are too afraid to lose millions if they "innovate too much."

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Mul-Ti-Pass

As they flitted from instance to instance, the creativity that Turbine has poured in to these new adventures shone brightly. Each dungeon had its own matchless feel that not only captured the flavor of the zone in which it was set but added something new to the mix as well.

Equally fascinating was a mini-boss in the Trollshaws' Lost Temple, which is actually composed of a sister & brother team. By separating them, you weaken their respective powers, but two times one is in danger of dying, the other will rush to his or her aid, necessitating a quick kill in case the fight go badly for your fellowship.

North Downs' Stoneheight, a town ablaze & choked with ash, was as far from Forochel's ice-bound Sari-surma as you can get. It was tidy to see fights where choices came in to play, such as an encounter with a sister bear & her cubs in Sari-surma. The fight plays out differently in the event you assault & kill the sister first or the cubs -- & common sense ought to tell you that getting between a sister bear & her kids is a , bad idea.

Endgame

The Lost Temple is also home to a giant assortment of glowy maggots, creatures that originally appear as unassuming as they do disgusting. However, these maggots are tenacious & will launch themselves at you to feed on your face, growing bigger in the process. They mentioned Aliens' Facehuggers to Kate Paiz & he laughed, saying that is what he thought as well.

The two smaller dungeons are but a prelude to Enedwaith's Ost Dunhoth, a giant, four-winged raid dungeon that ought to show a significant challenge to all but the best parties. Fortunately, Ost Dunhoth's wings can be done on different nights, as the raid has a one-week timer attached.

It is here that all of the Gaunt-lords make their play against you in a bid for revenge or perhaps sport. Players will find themselves dealing with each Gaunt-lord's brand of sinful, from poison to disease, & will require to fine-tune tactics & gear accordingly.

One of the tidy mechanics of the raid is when adventurers come on a corridor filled with deep channels. Two times players go in to the channels, giant mammoths charge out of the finish with an intent to trample. There is no fighting them, & you cannot run speedy to escape them. Your only hope for survival is to throw levers that trigger doors in neighboring channels, meaning that only a split raid coordinating its efforts by juggling doors can save the whole party.

Looking for fellowship, take two

Donate EVE ISK to help catastrophe relief efforts in Japan

With all of the new dungeons & the terrific instant-instance interface (say that two times speedy!), was Turbine thinking of how to get more players walking them? When they pressed Paiz on this issue, he admitted that the team is indeed working on redesigning the Looking For Fellowship interface, although any new version would be only useful if players actually adopted it in lieu of ignored it.

Each PLEX bought on the in-game market & donated to charity represents 30 days of game time that anyone in the world originally paid for with money but that won't be redeemed in to game time. Because of this, CCP can donate the full money value of that game time to a registered relief charity without taking a giant loss. CCP absorbs all management & tax fees to make positive that 100% of the donated game time's value is passed on to registered charities (in this case, the Red Cross).

When it comes to collecting aid for catastrophe relief, EVE Online developer CCP Games has a matchless way of helping players donate. While lots of MMOs ask for donations or release limited-edition money shop items, CCP has managed to devise a way for players to donate in-game funds to help people in the actual world. In the coursework of the relief hard work for last year's earthquake in Haiti, CCP began accepting donations of 30-day Pilot's License EXtensions (PLEX) for their full financial value in game time. With the recent devestation in Japan, CCP has two times again asked for the EVE community's help to raise money for relief aid.

To donate to the relief hard work in Japan, EVE players are encouraged to buy PLEX on the open market & contract them to the character "CCP PLEX For Good" before March 31st. As usual, EVE Online's normally permissive rules on scamming have been suspended in relation to the charity drive. Anyone trying to scam players out of ISK or PLEX using this charity drive will be handled harshly. With notable rich players & corporations able to potentially donate thousands of dollars' worth of PLEX, this charity drive is positive to raise a substantial amount of money for disaster-stricken Japan.

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Second RuneScape novel "Return to Canafis" to be released this month

In August of last year, Titan Books announced the beginning of a new series of novels set in the lands of free-to-play fantasy MMO RuneScape. The first novel, Betrayal of Falador, told a vivid story from RuneScape's backstory using key characters from the game's lore & in-game quests. The book was well-received by both RuneScape veterans & new players looking for a nice read. Our own RuneScape novice Rubi Bayer had a blast reading the novel & being absorbed in the backstory of this popular browser MMO.

Darkfall weblog details PvE tweaks, hints at giant PvP changes

Fans of the first novel will be pleased to listen to that its sequel, Return to Canafis, is due for release this month. The book will be in stores in the U.S. & Canada on March 22nd, with the United Kingdom release following on March 25th. Whereas the first book introduced the lore surrounding Falador, Return to Canafis takes the story to the city of Varrock. The citizens of Varrock are being stolen away to Morytania, the land of vampires, & the king sends an expedition to Canafis to unravel it. Stay tuned to Massively's RuneScape coverage this week for our in-depth review of the novel.

To kick things off, Aventurine's Tasos Flambouras gives us the low-down on grungrocs, & these gnarly boar-like bipeds are twisted on ruining every adventurer's day. There is also talk of boss fight tweaks, & Flambouras writes that there's "significant changes" coming to high-end PvE content including destroy cap adjustments, fight tuning, & loot table changes.

Fascinating things are afoot in the world of Agon, & Aventurine's every week Darkfall activity document is here to fill you in on all the grisly details. Whether you are keen on seeing one of your personal weapon designs imported in to the game or curious about the continued PvE & AI updates, this week's entry makes for fascinating reading.

Darkfall's PvP is getting some love as well, & new land-based objectives (similar to the game's sea fortresses) are in the works. Flambouras also hints at a new "Arena" project & "a lot more we are doing with PvP" that will be revealed at a later date. Finally, all Darkfall accounts have been gifted with 25,000 meditation points (the game's offline leveling money) to celebrate the title's second anniversary. Check out the full presentation on the Darkfall Epic Weblog.

Value Posts:

I played E&B for the best part of a year and only stopped when I moved to Canada for some time. I did, however, come back for a brief visit for the Sundown.

How long did you play Earth & Beyond and why did you cease?

If EA hadn't pulled the plug, how do you envision the ways Earth & Beyond would've developed?

To be honest, I am not definite. Westwood was keen on mysteries and story. I honestly think that, given a fair shake, Earth & Beyond would never have rivalled EVE in size, complexity or playerbase, but it would have possibly set a standard on storytelling and engagement.

What did Earth & Beyond leave behind as its legacy to the MMO style?

It actually was a pity that the budget (this is a wild guess) took a hit when Westwood finally shut up shop. I could have happily listened to plenty of years of Claudia Christian as one of the NPC leads. Who knows how far they may have developed the voice work?

It left behind passionate people. Not necessarily about Earth & Beyond, though there's plenty of those in the emulator projects. I am liking to think that a few parts of EVE history owe themselves to individuals who were first gathered together in Earth & Beyond.

Do you think MMO game enthusiasts will ever embrace science fiction as much as fantasy?

Science fiction can tell the tales as well as fantasy can, but someone can engage with fantasy. Sci-fi, however, is apparently shunned because it is that much more geeky. Why? I don't know. Hopefully one day there will be an epic sci-fi MMO out there. Though I think in the event that they
 need one to launch and to survive, it's to be at least familiar to people. Sci-fi also appears to be a byword for "I think we'll try this random MMO idea and see if it works; laser guns means it is OK."

I don't think so. Personally, I think it is an acceptance thing. It is perfectly fine to read The Lord of the Rings or much any fantasy because all of us grow up with monsters and magic and shining heroes in our popular culture, but if they are in Federation uniforms, it suddenly takes on a whole different tone. Or is an terrible fanfic -- I am definite one exists.

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EVE Evolved: Tough lessons in corp management

Back in November, they began the Massively Mob -- an EVE Online corporation designed to help our readers get in to EVE despite the game's steep learning curve and harsh death penalty. The primary objective of the Mob was was to provide advice and assistance to new players as well as a financial safety net to help them overcome the game's notoriously steep learning curve. Free corp ships were available to help players try out the many things the game has to offer without that fear of losing loads of property in one beginner mistake.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I dig up some tough personal truths and share my experiences of the difficult job of corporate management.

Players flocked to the corp in droves, many just starting EVE or returning to give the game another shot. One member set up a forum, another a killboard, as well as a third provided a free teamspeak server. Members wrote helpful guides; the forums filled with ship fitting advice and mission fleets flew very  every night. Regular events and contests kept the corp alive with activity, and for a time everything was nice. They started out with the best of intentions and set our sights on the very difficult task of being a enormous corporation that does a little bit of everything. It is been a bumpy road; the corp has lost its way several times and we have learned some very tough lessons.

Trust is at the heart of EVE

For all the press EVE gets as a harsh dystopian world in which everyone is out to rob you, no group can survive without trust. When the Mob started, I put in place a rigorous method of corp hangar access to dictate which members could access the free ships, modules and ammunition they had available. New members had access to a very little stockpile of modules worth at most 20 million ISK as well as a little choice of frigates.

To make thieves accountable for theft, they put items in to locked audit-log containers that would record who unlocked items and took them out. This method worked well but was  over-engineered for the little value of items it protected. Over the months, they suffered only one theft of the hangar contents, which were much more basically replaced than stolen.

Where I  failed was in not trusting corp members with anything above this basic level of access. I protected access to the corp's wallet and stockpile of ships and modules to such an extent that nobody who needed to access it  could. In retrospect, I should have elected several members early in the corp's life and given them full director access within the corp. It is that leap of faith, to give a stranger access to everything, that I could not make. In the finish, not having easy access to corp assets during a war caused giant stress on corp members who wanted to fight. ISK and ships were there for people to make use of, but they could not access these things.

Activity levels and recruitment

In the beginning of the Massively Mob, the players organised themselves with such fervor that I was two times  astonished. In barely a week, they had forums, a killboard, a teamspeak server and regular mission fleets walking in various time zones. Players were willing to put in giant hard work in order to get the corp off the ground, and together they gave it an excellent start. That momentum from starting a  new corp can only be expected to last for so long, and there must be a strong follow-up to keep activity levels in the corp up.

As expected, many of the new or returning players who joined the Massively Mob finally decided they still didn't like the game and left. Others got interested in EVE again and found their ways in to more established corporations specialising in what they wanted to do with their game time. To protect against the dangers of corporate infiltration, our recruitment procedures also necessary lengthy API key checks and maintaining with applications became a full-time job for me. While the number of players in the corp steadily rose, the number of active players was on a decline.

Delegation

When I wasn't online, members of the corp would become restless waiting for their friend's application to be accepted, the next event to be organised, or the corp's ammo stockpile to be replenished. It wasn't much later that corp members suggested the obvious solution: that I should have been promoting members to officer positions to take the workload off me.

After over a month of micro-managing every corp activity, handling all the recruitment, and worrying about roles, I noticed that I needed help. When I logged in, I had to deal with an endless list of chores and complications. Ideas were being flung at me from all directions, from players keen to set up everything from research starbases and mining operations to PvP training classes and mission fleets.

Delegation is absolutely the key to walking an EVE corporation, and it is the point on which I continually failed. While I finally recruited sure members in to officer positions, I hoarded corp roles and hangar access as in the event that they were precious. Still satisfied I was two times in a world filled with corporate infiltrators and backstabbing opportunists, I promoted no players to full director positions. This meant that there were vital tasks that only I could ever do, like setting corp roles or accessing the corp wallet to reimburse PvP losses.

The Mob reborn

For days or even weeks at a time, I can be hit with an very  complete and persistent inability to function. I lose all creativity, writing takes 10 times longer than it should, and facing everyday tasks or duties seems like the most insurmountable of goals. For most of the two-week period of the Massively Mob's war, I could not bear to face the organisation of the war hard work or deal with any other corp duties.

In New Eden, war comes to us all. The inevitable cost they pay for grouping together and calling ourselves a corporation is that someone, somewhere will finally pick to declare war on us. For the Massively Mob, a lengthy war came at the most inopportune of times. Something most of you won't know is that I suffer from some  serious and ongoing depression.

In my absence, PvP officers Nimloth Valinor and Communist Hunter saw corp members despair at being unable to play for the period of a war and seized the chance to forge a  new direction for them. Taking up the objective of leading nullsec PvP gangs, Nimloth created the Massively Dynamic PvP corporation. Although this drew all of the players interested in PvP out of the Massively Mob, the war also followed them. In turn, they've created Massively Motivated -- a  new PvE specialist corporation with the objective of taking on Sansha incursions. The organisation of this corp will hopefully be a testament to the tough lessons in corporate management we have learned over the past few months.

Summary

While cautious hoarding of corp roles and hangar access can avoid unnecessary theft and drama, ultimately those roles and hangars are worth nothing if the hoarding causes the corp to fail. With Massively Motivated, I will be putting the entire organisation and wealth of the corporation in to the hands of several corp members. I am prepared to take that leap of faith and assign some directors, who between them will do with the corp anything they wish. There is always a risk that one of them will turn out to be part of EVE's dark underworld, a sleeper agent or opportunistic thief. But it is the existence of that antisocial element that spurs us to generate a cohesive society, and it is the potential of betrayal that makes it so rewarding when trust is returned in kind.

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SWTOR's loss is Playdom's gain -- Gordon Walton

It's always a sad thing to see a developer leave your favorite game, especially when the game has yet to be released like Star Wars: The Old Republic. Last month, Gordon Walton stepped down as General Manager at BioWare Austin to take a job at the social gaming company Playdom. SWTOR media site Darth Hater quoted Community Manager Stephen Reid as saying, "With great thanks and appreciation, we say goodbye to Gordon Walton for helping bring the game to the phenomenal state it is in today [...] It is business as usual at all BioWare studios, where we remain committed to creating, delivering and evolving the most emotionally engaging games in the world."

Gordon Walton spoke quite frequently about MMOs as a business. He was not afraid to speak frankly to other developers. You may remember his GDC 2007 quote about "the grind" in most MMOs. He explained that the "object is not to keep people as long as humanly possible, but to provide entertainment. [The players] will do it, but they will hate you."

Walton was at BioWare for five years, and we at Massively look forward to seeing his work at Playdom. Good Luck, Gordon!

Exclusive: Massively's Lineage II High Five interview

Today's the big day for Lineage II fans, as NCsoft is dropping the much-anticipated High Five content update on the game's live servers. The patch features a ton of tweaks, additions, and improvements for the world of Aden, and it offers quite a makeover in terms of character skills for the seven-year-old fantasy title.

High Five brings a new hunting system to the table as well as several Grand Olympiad enhancements (including new stadiums, visuals, daily quests, and rewards), difficulty tweaks on epic bosses, and matching system improvements designed to encourage more players to participate in raids and epic battles.

To mark the occasion, we nabbed an interview with Lineage II lead developer Steve Chae, so head past the cut to learn more about what's in store for you courtesy of the new update.

Massively: With the huge number of skill additions (as well as the new raid bosses and whatnot), it seems like the game is undergoing quite a significant change. Can you talk a little bit about the thought process behind these sweeping additions? Why now? Did the players request all these new skills?

Steve Chae: It's been a while since our last major update, and balance within the game is constantly shifting and evolving. Based on all these constant and continuous changes, we felt that it was really important to listen to and meet the needs of our players by revamping skills and bosses in line with the ever-evolving nature of the game. It seemed like a good time to go over the past seven years of content updates and make improvements where necessary.

Speaking of player feedback, NCsoft is talking up the fact that the High Five update was largely player-driven. For those who may have missed out on the chance to give feedback, what is the best way for players to communicate their desires? Are there certain official channels that are actively monitored or was the update the result of general feedback gathering?

We have very open lines of communication with our GM and Customer Service departments -- we talk to them on a daily basis. We listen to their experiences with the community and also to the feedback that they collect from the players themselves and try to reflect that in our development. Aside from that, we are constantly going through the player forums and listening to what our community wants through fan gatherings and meet and greets.

Rise and Shiny recap: Free Realms

I remember when Free Realms was announced and when Laralyn McWilliams showed off a peeing puppy, in real-time, at Fan Faire. Everyone was excited for the new game and world -- even hardened raiders and roleplayers. The demo was just cool-looking and had a very unique feel to it. Most gamers' only experiences with a social or "real-life"-style game were with Second Life, and those experiences were often tainted by run-ins with 40-something-year-old bondage fans.

My experience was slightly more broad. I spent a lot of my earlier MMO years within games like There, Second Life, Furcadia and a few others. While I was not a fan of some of the stranger people who frequented these games, I loved the idea of a game that allowed players to just hang out, to live in a virtual world, and to form relationships. My first experience with disabled players was through There, and ever since then I have looked at MMOs differently. So when Free Realms was announced and released, I looked forward to spending time in a game that revisited that style of "living" in a game world.

Over the last week, I decided to peek back into the world to see how it has been holding up. Click past the cut to find out how it worked out!

I need to clarify that I have played Free Realms, sometimes at great length, ever since its release. I was in the beta and have even hosted a short-lived podcast about the game. It's easy to say that I have always been a fan. After all that, I can say that the main problem Free Realms has had over the years is one of identity. What is the game? Is it a game? Who is the target market? While it would seem obvious that tweens and young adults are the intended demographic for Free Realms, I would have to say that the various in-jokes and semi-complicated puzzle-gameplay begs attention from more than just kids. The casual Mom-space has already shown its teeth with the success of "casual" gaming, and Free Realms is chock-full of casual gaming. Also, young boys or teenagers seem to be targeted, especially with all of the massive weapons and opportunities for combat.

This is not to say that any of these groups should be the target audience or that any member of these groups should want to play games in a certain way, rather that SOE seems to have been looking straight at certain people when designing certain parts of Free Realms.

Still, it's just not that simple. Like you can in any MMO I have ever come across, you can find players from all different walks of life and age groups within FR's playerbase. Heck, we just did a story about an 83-year-old Ultima Online player the other day -- and I can assure you that a game like Free Realms boasts an even more miced-up playerbase. This is the good thing about Free Realms' identity crisis. While in-game, you will find not only all sorts of different players, but also different styles of play. Over this last week, that was more evident than ever to me as I stacked playground-style blocks in my housing plot, explored the beautiful caves under the ground, and spent time minigaming the heck out of it.

Unfortunately, the game and world really is meant for hanging out with friends. A long time ago, SOE hosted an in-game concert to celebrate the release. When I was in the virtual audience, I hung out with fellow bloggers and writers, and to be seriously and very honest, I truly felt like I was spending time at a real-life concert. People were dancing and jumping, the music was loud, and there I hung on the fringes of the group with my weird buddies, talking about all sorts of things. This is where Free Realms really nabs you: by recreating real-life experiences inside a fantastic, beautiful world. It's like attending a movie within a movie, and it feels pretty cool much of the time. I just wish I had pulled in some more of my friends while on this trip to the recent past, but they were busy grinding away at dungeons or romancing Kaidan from Mass Effect.

The social aspects of Free Realms can often be troublesome. I have rarely, if ever, logged in to find a chat that wasn't filled with non-stop spam or requests like "I need a man." While this could easily be some tween sitting alone in her bedroom (while her parents ignore her), it could also be some crazy older man who is using the game to gain access to private information. While Free Realms can in no way be responsible for bad parenting or for what happens outside of the game, it does not help that the game hands    buy tibia gold,     cheap WOW GOLD US,     atlantica gold,     aion kinah buy,     sro gold, out tools for tricking young players. In fact, an entire "hacking" culture has grown up around kids' propensity to fall for anything. Essentially it is referred to as "hacking" when one player is simply duped into giving another player a password or private information, leading to accounts that are drained of coins or items. While SOE tries to educate the players about exchanging passwords or accounts, how do you combat relatively free chat and sneaky players?

There are filters on the chat, but they are mostly annoying and do more to disrupt "normal" players than anything. I suggest that SOE offer a free, unfiltered chat with credit card verification as is done in Wizard101. Block that free chat from younger, unverified eyes and leave it at that. Also, I have no idea why SOE has decided to allow the non-stop spamming to continue. I have played primitive free-to-play MMOs that block such repetitive speech with a simple timer -- yet any gathering in Free Realms is usually disrupted by some dork spamming "I need a pair of shorts for coins! I need a pair of shorts for coins!" Stopping the spam alone would do wonders for the culture of the game.

RIFT reveals a brand spanking new dungeon with The Fall of Lantern Hook

The ooohs and ahhhs continue courtesy of Trion's RIFT, and the fantasy MMO is ramping up for its fifth beta event this week. Along with the recently announced public grouping feature, Trion is also spilling the beans regarding a brand spanking new dungeon called Lantern Hook.

A taste of things to come

In a brand spanking new lore piece released today, we get a taste of how dire the situation on Telara truly is and how the fate of the realm hinges on the actions of the few Ascended courageous  to challenge the fiery depths of the dungeon. Lantern Hook is located in the Droughtlands, and swimming to the bottom of an enchanted well there will transport players to "a nightmare world of limitless flame," complete with kobolds and yes, a dragon. This particular dragon is named Maelforge, and you can read more about his dark designs for Telara's future after the cut.

In Lantern Hook in the Droughtlands, there is a deep, clear well. it is said that this well is enchanted, and that any Ascended who swims to the bottom will be transported to a nightmare world of limitless flame. This is so, but only the mighty Ascended are courageous  to chance the deep waters. and when they emerge from the well, they do find themselves in a world consumed by fire. Yet this is no alien land but a dark vision of Lantern Hook itself, the last spot on Telara to fall to the rampaging hordes of Maelforge. By experiencing the Fall of Lantern Hook, the Ascended can see firsthand the horrifying fate in store in the event that they fail and even one of the dragons is allowed free reign over Telara.

Guardians are drawn to Lantern Hook by dreams and visions, believing their experiences at the bottom of the well are part of a revelation from the Vigil. The Defiant, no strangers to time travel, think that the Fall of Lantern Hook is but another alternate future like the one they hail from, where Regulos devours the world with the wasting energies of Death. The Fall of Lantern Hook depicts Maelforge, Dragon of Fire, roasting Telara alive and unleashing a frenzy of consumption and desolation.

Wanton destruction

on emerging from the enchanted well, Ascended will discover a chamber in ruins. Kobolds run rampant, laughing at the corpses of friends the Ascended will recognize from their adventures in the actual Droughtlands. These hideous dog-men prod and hack at the remains of fallen allies, snapping and snarling to choose who will get the next cut, as senseless devouring pleases their triumphant master. These kobolds guard cells where more of Lantern Hook's people wait to meet some grisly doom by fire or fang. Perhaps one of the Mages among their number can quench the flames stopping escape from this central chamber. But elderly allies are not the only familiar faces in the Fall of Lantern Hook, and any escapees must beware the patrolling jailer, a traitor who five times pretended neutrality in the battle between Telarans and dragons.

The future aflame

Kobolds are but the lowliest threat Ascended face in the Fall of Lantern Hook, as mighty Dragonians stalk the halls, tearing intruders limb from limb and roasting the chunks with breath of flame from their scaly gullets. Maelforge's cult, the Wanton, hold their revels among the charring ruins. Flamebringer Druhl, the demonic general of the Wanton armies, patrols here, while Pyromancer Cortilnald, arguably the greatest living Mage of his school, cackles as they summons hellhounds and imps to torment Lantern Hook's doomed citizens. Leader of the whole cult, Emberlord Ereetu lurks nearby, gloating over Maelforge's final victory.

Of coursework, there's other advantages to risking life and limb in this final stand against the Wanton. Several traitors show their true colors in this future, so Ascended who survive the Fall of Lantern Hook will know who can and can't be trusted when the dragons start their assault. Furthermore, all the cult's major leaders will be present when the Hook falls, and heroes can learn their identities and tactics firsthand. Indeed, all throughout this vision, the Ascended risk meeting a foe more terrible than they imagined. A deafening roar can be heard in the distance, over the ever-closer thunder of titanic crimson wings.

Why would someone want to experience a future where Telara succumbs to the inexorable Flame Sire? Because every hero must know the cost of failure, and the Fall of Lantern Hook plays out one feasible apocalypse in store for Telara if the Ascended ought to falter. Whether dream or temporal pocket, injuries suffered and treasures gained in the Fall of Lantern Hook are  actual and will follow the Ascended back to Telara-that-is. Still, seeing Telara-that-could-be is the true reason to swim in to the well.

Whether or not you're a fan of DC Universe Online, the game clearly goes out of its way to make nods to comics that spawned the franchise. That naturally has to lead to a query -- what books has the team been reading? After all, it makes lots of difference if the team is reading The Killing Joke when it comes to designing the Joker. Fortunately for all of us who know more about DC than may be entirely necessary, ComicsAlliance has unveiled the reading list for the game's development team, replete with all of the recommended books for getting a feel for the universe.

DC Universe Online's developer reading list

The resultant list has a lot of expected entries (The Killing Joke is indeed among them) as well as a few unexpected ones, covering both recent events in the continuity & studies of individual character behaviors. It also contains a few

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surprising omissions as well as a couple of questionable inclusions, even with the caveats of the comics not being in continuity (Watchmen is an excellent book, but not  in the game's milieu). Still, even in the event you can find fault with a quantity of the choices, it's definitely a nice primer for what to anticipate from DC Universe Online's in-game continuity.

Pirates of the Burning Sea celebrating third anniversary with a new build

It's been a couple of months since Flying Lab program opted to steer its Pirates of the Burning Sea MMO in to free-to-play waters. In the interim, the seas have been smooth & things have been  calm in terms of updates. Flying Lab hasn't been resting on its laurels however, & has  released extensive patch notes for the 2.2.83.0 update that ties in with the game's third anniversary.

First up is a new mission & series of minigames (and a new coat reward item) obtainable from the Royal Society NPC in your nation's capital. Treasure Aisle, the game's item shop, also features time-limited extras in the type of a black cockatoo as well as a celebratory monkey (yes really).

In other patch-related news, San Juan has been given an extensive graphical overhaul, a new live event chat channel has been added, as well as a boat load of stability & performance fixes have been introduced. Read the rundown on these -- & lots of other

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