MMO Roundup: Last week on Massively

Choose my Adventure: Massively style
Today, we're proud to introduce a brand new weekly column here at Massively called Choose my Adventure, lovingly stolen from our siblings at WoWInsider (now WoW.com). The concept is simple: we create a brand new character in an MMO and document its adventure in a special image gallery and a weekly journal post -- but with a catch.

Next World of Warcraft patch announced: Call of the Crusade
Blizzard has announced that the next major content patch in the works for World of Warcraft is Patch 3.2: Call of the Crusade. Patch 3.2 will expand upon the features of Wrath of the Lich King, and Blizzard lists a few highlights:

Latest LotRO test realm patch notes released
There's something really exciting about a new set of patch notes, especially when it's for a fantasy MMO like Lord of the Rings Online. Turbine have just released the latest patch notes for the Bullroarer test server for volume 2 of book eight. These notes will hit live servers -- barring the usual changes, updates and revisions -- in June.

A few reasons to cage the nerdrage
There's so much anger in the consumer market these days. It seems like when a new product comes up, there has to be this bandwagon of people who roll in and start nerdraging over the product. Oh, APB isn't up your alley? Better nerdrage about that! You don't like Warhammer Online? Rev that nerdrage engine nice and loud so your neighbors can hear it.

Infiltrating SOE to get a sneak peek of The Agency
Eurogamer's Oli Welsh had a chance to visit SOE headquarters and chat with Hal Milton, Lead Designer of The Agency. We think it's fair to say this is the most we've heard about the spy-MMO in a long time and it has us excited about what we might find out at E3 2009.

Steampunk MMO Gatheryn opens closed beta registration
The developers at Mindfuse have been hard at work on Gatheryn, a steampunk MMO that Massively got a preview of at GDC 2009. The HeroEngine-powered Gatheryn will incorporate casual and minigame elements in addition to standard MMO game mechanics. Now gamers will have a chance to see what the title has to offer in the Gatheryn closed beta, for which Mindfuse has announced they're taking registrations.

Once you play MMORPGs, can you ever go back to single-player RPGs?
Before MMOs came around, I used to be a pretty active single-player RPG gamer. My platform of choice was the console but I eventually got into a few PC titles as well.

Massively interview: Jumpgate Evolution and the art of ship design
We recently had a chance to speak with Darren Klein, NetDevil's art director for Jumpgate Evolution. He's got plenty to say about the design process that goes into creating the ships for their upcoming space shooter MMO. It's a very interesting read, too. Example: you wouldn't have guessed that it only takes about five days to design a ship from start to finish.

Evolve your 3D avatar
Evolver (currently in alpha) is an interesting service. It allows you to build a 3D avatar either from scratch and components or from a photograph of yourself, and export that avatar as an image, a functional 3D model in a couple of different formats (presently Maya [MA] or Kaydara 3D Data Exchange Format [FDX]), or a ready-made avatar for a number of 3D virtual environments.

Developer Diary: Exploring Levels in Fallen Earth
Starting today, Massively is proudly hosting a brand new developer journal from the Fallen Earth team. This five-part series will explore various levels in Fallen Earth, their storylines and how they make the player experience richer. This first one takes us through Kingman Prison, and was written by Grace Hagood.