Welcome to Betawatch, Massively's weekly report on the state of MMO betas. In each installment, we'll report everything from the latest open betas, closed betas and even alphas in one convenient place. Plus, we'll make sure to include as much info on each game's current status, including projected release dates (if known) and links to the sign-up forms to get yourself into that beta you've been seeking.

We're bidding a final farewell to Allods Online this week -- the EU launch came some time after the NA launch, so one version of the game hung around the Betawatch list a little longer. The EU servers launched on the 11th, so the game is officially up and running worldwide!

Speaking of launches, Faxion Online got a launch date this week -- May 26th will see the game set sail for the live servers.

Follow along after the cut for the latest Betawatch list!

Continue Reading

Birthdays are usually a time when you get to have more things for yourself -- people bring you cake and presents while letting you act more or less however you want. But Gamigo is turning that formula on its ear just a bit. The publisher of several free-to-play games (such as Black Prophecy and King of Kings 3) is celebrating its 10th anniversary by giving away some bonuses to players, starting with a chance to get twice as much in-game money.

While each individual game will be getting some more specific promotions in the coming days, every 10th player who purchases money from a game's cash shop will receive double the amount purchased. It's a decent chance to double the size of your in-game wallet at no extra charge, although the promotion is only running for the next 10 days. If you'd had your eyes on a big purchase lately, now might be the time to put down the money -- you just might get lucky.

Dawn of Fantasy seems like it's been in development for an awfully long time, but with a release coming in June, MMORTS fans should be getting excited. The team behind the game has sent along some new screenshots as well as more information on the three most influential races in the game -- Men, Orcs, and Elves.

Elves, as most fantasy fans will likely expect, are split between Wood Elves and High Elves, with the former excelling at natural magic and the latter focusing on city building and alchemy. Orcs count a number of savage tribes among their numbers, with Desert Orcs and Swamp Orcs both focusing heavily upon offensive measures. Last but not least, the race of Men encompasses the cities of Rollingplain and Menthorn -- both are united under a single ruler, but Menthorn is filled with unrest and talk of rebellion.

MMORTS fans will want to keep their eyes on Dawn of Fantasy as the game approaches release on June 17th.

Asking a room full of MMORPG enthusiasts what the word Darkfall brings to mind isn't likely to net you many serene responses. The game and its associated tomfoolery certainly don't trigger tranquil thoughts or conjure idyllic fantasy scenes complete with beautiful deserts, atmospheric forests, and stoic mountain terrain. No, the sandbox title from Aventurine is most famous for its cutthroat FFA full-loot PvP implementation, which makes a new video designed to show off the game's stunning environmental soundscapes all the more curious.

This isn't the first time Aventurine has experimented with environmental sounds, but it is the very latest iteration of how Agon is seen and heard.

The clip runs for over five minutes and features a multitude of characters traversing many of the terrain types found in the huge game world. The trailer also highlights the upcoming tweaks that link Darkfall sounds to specific locations as well as the continuous randomization of environment sounds and 3-D emitter effects. Immerse yourself in the world of Agon after the cut, or head to the Darkfall Epic Blog to learn more.

Continue Reading

As we announced recently, Super Hero Squad Online is making the most of the release of the new Thor film by adding the Norse god and his homeland of Asgard to the free-to-play MMORPG. Now, thanks to a press release from Gazillion Entertainment, we have a wealth of new information regarding these new additions. Players will be able to take on the roles of Thor -- in both his classic and ultimate incarnations -- Valkyrie, and Gladiator Hulk.

After assuming control of any of these new heroes -- or any of the old ones as well, for that matter -- players can now take off to the mythical land of Asgard, home of the Norse Gods. From there, Gazillion says players can "discover the World's Tree and other landmarks in Asgard or battle through two brand new missions", known as The Gods of Thunder and Freezer Burn.

If you're looking for a peek at SHSO's Asgard expansion before you log in to see it for yourself, check out the gallery below and hammer your way past the cut for an action-packed trailer. There's Thor, there's Asgard, there's Loki, there are frost giants, there's... hacky-sack! Don't miss it, lest you incur the wrath of the god of thunder.

Continue Reading

RIFT's launch was the biggest launch of an MMO in years, and unlike flash-in-the-pan MMOs, RIFT continues to innovate the MMO space. Recently, Trion Worlds hosted a massive event, the River of Souls. Granted, there were issues with server queues and players missing the entire event, but that does not negate its creative intentions. In an interview with Game Reactor, Design Director Simon Ffinch said that the team has learned its lesson from the event. "We made some drastic improvements to the way the servers handle large loads of players during that as we reacted to various things," he says.

But what is the next step for RIFT? Are the designers looking to add more sandbox elements to the themepark RPG? Ffinch says, "There are definitely some plans for [adding more sandbox elements]. That's actually a personal sort of favorite thing of mine, I'm the one who puts all the puzzles and stuff in and stuff for the explorers to find and stuff that is off the beaten path, that is absolutely my passion." In the same interview, he hints about other sandbox staples like housing. "We actually do talk about [player housing], that does come up quite a lot. Not only is there a lot of players that want that, but a lot of us here in design that want that as well."

Catch the latest weather report from Telara after the break, and skip over to Game Reactor to see the whole Simon Ffinch interview.

Continue Reading

I had some spare time this week, so I went on the Fallen Earth public test server to check out some of the new stuff. Progress towns have made their debut, and so has a slew of new skills and abilities. Actually, saying that there are new skills and abilities is kind of an understatement. There is an entirely new skills-and-abilities system in place on the PTS. It is barely recognizable compared to what we have now. Yes, it's that different. Is this a good thing, or is it bad?

With Sector 4 looming on Fallen Earth's horizon, we are looking down the barrel of the gun of change. There are a lot of new things coming our way soon, most of which are closely guarded secrets. I did have an opportunity to see some of the new stuff we'll be seeing in the next patch, but I didn't get to peer behind the giant wall that keeps our prying clone eyes out of the next sector. If any of this stuff interests you, click past the cut and I'll go into a little more detail about it.

Continue Reading

We continue exploring high-level content in One Shots this week with a spooky Lord of the Rings Online screenshot from Jason:

This is a screenshot I took of Barad Gularan, the ancient tower of the Witch-king in Angmar, taken in Lord of the Rings Online. The red sky in Angmar is so ominous and gives a real sense of dread to the area.

What do the endgame or high-level areas in your favorite MMO look like? Care to show them off a bit? Send a screenshot to us at [email protected] along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. We'll show it off here on One Shots with a helping of public thanks to you! While we're still welcoming more high-level images, we're also preparing for next week, so send in screenshots for your favorite free-to-play games as well!

Gamescom, the world's single largest games event, is gearing up for another great show from August 17th through the 21st in Cologne, Germany -- and the organizers are doing all they can to get you there. Today the official website has opened up its service portal to help attendees make travel and lodging arrangements.

If you're planning on attending, it might behoove you to check out some of the deals that are being offered for the early birds. There are plane tickets starting from 30 euros, train tickets from 79 euros, and hotel rooms from 90 euros. Especially frugal travelers could pitch a tent in the Gamescom campgrounds for just 29.50 euros a night.

The service portal will help you with flying, train travel, driving directions, lodging, the Gamescom camp, travel packages, day trips, and general information about Cologne. This will be Gamescom's third year. Last year, the event was host to 254,000 people and 505 exhibitors from 33 countries.

With Sony Online Entertainment's Pirates of the Burning Sea down for the proverbial count, nautically inclined gamers are likely looking for smoother waters to sail. IGG's Voyage Century Online may be just what the doctor ordered, and the free-to-play publisher has just issued a new press release detailing the game's naval battle mechanics.

Voyage Century features three types of naval wars: broadside battles, ramming battles, and boarding party battles. Broadsides require a certain amount of control and accuracy, whereas ramming and boarding party skirmishes are all about your sailors' equipment and your captain's fighting skills.

Port towns also offer conflict opportunities for Voyage Century players, and more than 40 of the cities are constantly being attacked by players bent on conquest and resource domination. If any of that tickles your fancy, plot a course to the official Voyage Century website, where you can learn about the game as well as download it.

It's only been 15 days since Mythos Europe launched, but the resurrected action MMO is already seeing impressive results. According to Frogster, over 250,000 players have jumped into the game for some hectic hack-n-slash fun.

The company also provided some revealing statistics as it monitored its quarter-million playerbase. Apparently, the most popular class is the Bloodletter (40% of players), followed by the Pyromancer (32%) and Gadgeteer (28%). A full third of the playerbase chose the human race, with 28% going over to the Gremlins, 27% to the Satyrs, and 15% to the Cyclops. Finally, 66% of the characters created are male. So if you want to be a rarity, rolling a female Cyclops Gadgeteer is the way to go!

To celebrate this auspicious milestone, Frogster is rewarding its enthusiastic players with double XP for quests and monster kills this weekend. You can catch all of Mythos' double XP action from now until Monday at 12:00 p.m. EDT.

Have you been keeping up with the social media side of Massively? Our Facebook page and Twitter feed keep our readers up on the latest news stories and Livestream information, and we've got a fondness for doing surprise giveaways there as well. Our new forums are home to chatter on gaming, guilds, news, and anything else our readers feel like discussing. We've got some great resources for you, but today the spotlight is on our Twitter feed.

If you haven't remedied the lack of Massively Twitter in your life, there's no better time than now. We're rapidly approaching our 9,000th follower and celebrating with a very nice gift for one of our Twitter followers. As soon as someone rings that 9,000th bell, one of our followers will get to choose any single game in the Steam store (up to a $50 value), courtesy of Massively.

So are you ready for the easiest contest entry ever? Simply follow us on Twitter right now, retweet the contest, and if we we reach 9,000 (go ahead and say it) by Sunday the 15th at 11:59 p.m. EDT, we'll select a winner from among our followers so she or he can choose a new game. Good luck -- we'll see you on Twitter!

What's more fun than using the word DOFUS in a sentence? Using the words DOFUS: Battles, of course. Happily, the devs at Ankama have given us ample reason to do both thanks to the newly released iOS title called, you guessed it, DOFUS: Battles.

The strategy game is available in the App Store today for both iPhones and iPads and is an interesting blend of RPG, RTS, and tower defense mechanics, all tied to the game world of the wildly successful DOFUS MMORPG. Players will manage an army consisting of 12 heroes and a dragon, and the new game borrows 12 classes from its parent MMO and spices things up with 28 levels, three minigames, and more than 170 unique equipment items.

DOFUS: Battles currently comes in four flavors: a free version with battle and class limitations, the full version, and two corresponding HD versions for higher screen resolutions. You can learn more at the game's official site.

Continue Reading

As we talked about last month, Turbine's toting around a double-barreled shotgun full of content that it's preparing to unload. While the biggest blast will undoubtedly be Lord of the Rings Online's third expansion, Rise of Isengard, the team is working hard to provide us with plenty to do between now and then. Part of that effort is directed at Update 3, which is currently scheduled to go live on May 23rd in North America and after June 1st for Europe when the LotRO Global Service takes effect and all of the accounts are moved under Turbine's purview.

I eagerly sat down with Turbine's Aaron Campbell and Joe Barry for a play-through of Update 3's two new three-player instances, Halls of Night and Inn of the Forsaken. Both of these scalable instances will be available to a wide swath of players, and they feature mechanics and sights never before seen in the game.

Also, they're wicked cool.

So join me today as I take you on a brief tour of horrors and adventures beyond imagination. Has everyone used the restroom before we go? Are you sure? It's a long article; I don't want you leaving in the middle of it. OK, let's ride!

Continue Reading

The 2.5 patch isn't the only thing coming to Aion's live servers this month. NCsoft is preparing a faction incentive program designed to entice players to roll Asmodian characters on both North American and European shards.

Asmodian avatars at level 10 or higher will receive Berdin's Amulets, which grant 50% more XP from hunting, gathering, and crafting for a period of one hour (with a one-hour cooldown period after activation). Gateway Getaway events will also happen more frequently, and Asmodian characters will be granted entry to Abyss instances despite Elyos ownership of the forts.

Finally, fortress siege incentives will be handed out on a weekly basis, with additional medals being awarded based on which forts are conquered. In short, there's never been a better time to roll an Asmodian alt or convince your friends to join you on Aion's dark side. Head to the official web site for more info.

Once again, I have managed to very effectively shoot my plans in the foot. Last week I promised that I'd be doing my year-in-review post this week, only to find on closer examination that I had missed a week in my column numbering over the past year, which means that I'm still one week shy to be doing a year in review, and while I could still write it up on the pretense of "close enough"... well, that's kind of a cop-out, right? Better to do that at the right time.

This is all well and good, but it does mean that my original plans for this week's column are pretty well blown to pieces. So instead, I'm going to spotlight two live events that have been going down in two of my games of choice -- the Praetorian Invasion in City of Heroes, and the heralds of doom popping up hither and yon in Final Fantasy XIV. They're interesting to look at from the perspective of roleplaying, since both of them support and stymie roleplaying in different ways, and they're useful case studies for live events in general.

Continue Reading

Everything's always better with a buddy. Sure, you might be having a lot of fun by yourself shooting at everyone in Global Agenda, but it's even better when you know your friend is right there watching your back. And if you decide you don't want to play any longer and move on somewhere new, it's even better to know that your partner is following you as well. You get used to the other person's styles and playing patterns, and you can help compensate for weaknesses.

Some of us have a partner who follows us through several games, some of us have partners in any given game, and some of us go through games like The Man With No Name, without anyone at our back. So where do you fall? Do you have a constant companion, a fairweather friend, or just random acquaintances? And which would you rather have, if the choice were totally yours?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

In the new video released by BioWare, we are shown that brute force is not the ultimate power in the universe. Sometimes the power of the mind carries far greater dominion over your enemies than a physical assault. The Sith Inquisitor commands the Force with a thought and defeats her foes with a wave of her hand.

The Sith Inquisitor is one of the most diverse classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Not only can she wield the Force to destroy her opponent, but she can also use it to heal and deflect incoming attacks, making her great for tanking.

Gamespot revealed the latest class trailer from SWTOR, which you can catch after the break. Follow the journey of the Sith Inquisitor from her humble start on the Sith homeworld of Korriban to her influence over political leaders of the galaxy. Then hop over to read Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller's words about this class-that-fills-all-roles.

Continue Reading

Today on The MMO Report: World of Warcraft subscription numbers, RIFT's new advertising campaign, Star Wars: The Old Republic's (lack of) release date, Aion's latest patch, All Points Bulletin: Reloaded, and BEER WITH BEARDS! BEERDS!

Ahem. Sorry, getting ahead of myself a bit. Today's MMO Report starts by talking about Blizzard's WoW subscription numbers, specifically that they are dwindling. But it's OK -- they'll be back.

Next up, RIFT's new advertising campaign, the RIFTcast. Parodying morning news weather forecasters, the advertisements are short, clever, and effective at spreading the word.

Massively gets another shout-out for our coverage of the Star Wars: The Old Republic release window, and Casey admits a bit of surprise at TOR's adoption of a subscription model, adding that regardless of pricing, "we'd still play this game if it required half a pint of blood on startup."

Aion's patch 2.5 gets some coverage as Casey points out the improved graphics, the mentor system, new instances, and in-game events to celebrate the occasion.

And to top it off, All Points Bulletin: Reloaded is entering open beta soon.

I swear I'm forgetting something... OH YEAH! Beer with beards! Go check it out after the break!

Continue Reading