• Gaming

The week in Massively features

By Michael Zenke Nov. 2, 2008 5:00 pm EST

	Everything we know about Star Wars: The Old Republic Here, then, is everything we know about the game at this point in time. Click through to read some of our coverage, and keep your eyes out for future articles on the site about BioWare's in-development title. We've got a long way to go, MMO fans!
	A WoW burnout's guide to Wrath of the Lich King Does Wrath of the Lich King, the second World of Warcraft expansion, have enough new, interesting and worthwhile content to give longtime burnout players a reason to come back again?
	Massively's grand tour of EverQuest 2: The Shadow Odyssey Join us for a tour of Befallen, Lower Guk, the dangerous catacombs of Mistmoore and (most impressively) the Anchor of Bazzul, a part of the treacherous Void! Vampire dragons, floating Void priests, undead frogs and slave-owning trolls all await you below, in our exhaustive exploration of this brand-new expansion.
	Five futures of Warhammer Online Everyone wonders these things at one point or another, so we've gone ahead and explored our thoughts on the topic. Then, after much deliberation, we distilled them down into five possible futures for Warhammer Online. Take a look and judge for yourself what feature is or isn't a matter of time.
	What's with all the capes? Why so many superhero MMOs? Although the superhero genre has been a steady burner outside of the MMO context, it's not the most obvious kind of world to set an MMO in, and designers trying to adapt comic-book themes and events to MMO gameplay face some pretty stiff challenges. We're going to walk through all three games, explain the differences, and try to answer that question.

	Anti-Aliased: Killing the auctioneers is a perfect reason to go to Northrend "What could Arthas possibly do to make everyone simultaneously angry and want to journey to Northrend?"
	The Digital Continuum: Let's talk about the Fallout MMO What's always been in the back-burner of my mind is whether or not the Fallout license would be necessary for a post-apocalyptic to flourish. While endlessly exploring our own personal post-apocalypticia is incredible fun, do we want a massive one?
	The Best of Massively: Our five all-time greatest hits Three of these are top five articles, so we're three-fifths of the way to making a top five top fives list, it would seem. The numbers don't lie, though, so enjoy, and tune in Sunday for the first giveaways!
	Massively's guide to Halloween 2008 in MMOs Halloween, though, is alive and well online in virtual environments and MMOGs. World of Warcraft, City of Heroes/Villains, Mabinogi, Guild Wars and more all have Halloween events running; And as for Linden Lab's Second Life, it's always like Halloween there — but it ascends to something of a fever pitch in the last weeks of October.
	The music of LotRO: Community perspective We're going to briefly cover the basics of the music system, just enough to help you understand how it works and get you started. In the second part, we'll show you an email interview we did with one of the leading original composers on LotRO's EU servers: Achazia of The Shades.
	BlizzCon and Fan Faire: A comparison of corporate conventions As we attended both events this year, we thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast some of the good and bad from both weekends. Curious as to how the two events played out? Check out our gallery tour of some of the common experiences from these two conventions and see how they stack up.
	SOE responds to the announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic Join us as with sit down with Mr. Smedley to talk about SOE's commitment to that game, those players, and the future of the Star Wars IP in the MMO space.
	Ask Massively: Please make George Lucas stop I rarely "go negative" on a game, in fact I have been accused on a few occasions of being a paid shill. Today, however, this is going to change. I'm completely in favor of having a rich fantasy world as long as it is contained within the game and not in the heads of the game developers themselves.
	EVE Evolved: PvP masterclass – Gang warfare In this second part, I explore how small gang warfare fits into the PvP landscape of EVE and help you decide what avenues you should pursue if small gang warfare is your cup of tea.
	Massively's exclusive tour of Hi-Rez Studios and Global Agenda This article will cover the company's prominent involvement with the Atlanta area's gaming scene, a bit of a background into the studio itself and most importantly, a look into their new MMO. Follow along by clicking the navigation link below, and don't forget to check out the Global Agenda gallery for the latest screenshots from the game and photos of the studio.
	Behind the Curtain: OH NOES POLITICS I may have made mistakes below, or came to false conclusions regarding the nature of the political systems I've outlined, so any mistakes are the result of that. That, or the fact that I'm loaded with the cold, and I've taken so much over-the-counter medicine today, that huffing paint is probably the next logical step in my intoxication.
	Meet the Team: Alexis Kassan Once a week our writers will give you a glimpse into their lives, to let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better.
	EVE Community Spotlight: SirMolle That's the nature of EVE — the setting provides potential, but it's largely the players who drive the game. In what has been aptly described as "the largest virtual conflict ever waged", the Band of Brothers Alliance (BoB) has stood at the forefront of that struggle for dominance in EVE Online for years.
	Massively's Guide to Warhammer's Witching Night Participating in the events of Witching Night gives you a chance to get your hands on a number of rewards, including masks, cloaks and titles.