Last Week on Massively: WoW-related stories

The Star Wars / BioWare announcement is just hours away
We're just hours away from the highly anticipated announcement of the BioWare/LucasArts project most gamers expect to be a Knights of the Old Republic MMO. We here at Massively has been waiting for this day ... oh, for years. More recently, though, we've had some more concrete elements to talk about. Ever since the July confirmation of the project by EA's head, we've been very busy thinking, plotting, and planning.

WAR has only just begun to compete with WoW, declares Mark Jacobs
If you've been following this particular exchange you'll know the score, but let's recap: Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan just like turned around and said some stuff about Warhammer Online, about how he wasn't even in the Beta and stuff, and Mark Jacobs was like whoa, and he totally turned around and said some stuff about World of Warcraft, and now Mark Jacobs is all, like, dude, bring it, and everybody's like, ohmygawd, it is so on.

Analysts see World of Warcraft adding another million subscribers
Despite the success of Warhammer Online, analysts looking in on the MMO industry are of the opinion that Wrath of the Lich King will be another huge win for Blizzard's World of Warcraft. In fact, Eurogamer reports, Colin Sebastian at the Lazard analysis firm thinks the expansion will tack on another million subscribers to the game's already somewhat ludicrous playerbase.

Blizzard: World of Warcraft will do fine, global economic collapse be damned
Unless you've been stranded on a desert island for the past year, you know that there's a global economic crisis going on. But worry not: MMOs -- World of Warcraft in particular -- will be just fine, according to Blizzard Executive VP Rob Pardo.

Blizzard: Next MMO won't be WoW 2
Go ahead a strike the possibility of a World of Warcraft 2 off your list of possible next-gen Blizzard MMOs because it's officially not happening. In an interview with Wired, Blizzard's recently talkative Mike Morhaime flat out said that their next MMO project isn't a sequel to their first.

WoW players coming back from the WAR
It was inevitable that a wave of World of Warcraft players would be taken away from the game for Warhammer Online. It is also inevitable that many of those players would return to WoW after trying out the new shinies. Yet, according to a recent interview with Blizzard COO Paul Sams at GamesIndustry.biz, more than half of the players that left WoW for WAR have since returned.

Mythic Entertainment rebuts Jeff Kaplan's WAR critiques
Yesterday we noted an exchange between MTV Multiplayer's Tracey John and Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan, talking about Blizzard's exclusion from the closed Warhammer Online Beta. After that article went up, John put up another post touching on Mythic Entertainment's response - specifically, a phone call from the company's head Mark Jacobs.

Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan blocked from the WAR Beta, notes server imbalances
If you assumed that Jeff Kaplan, the game director of World of Warcraft, would have been an active participant in the Warhammer Online Beta ... well, you'd be wrong. Despite Kaplan's position, connections throughout the industry, and enthusiasm for the genre he and a number of other Blizzard employees were excluded from the Warhammer Online closed beta. MTV's Tracey John continues her string of insider-info articles on the employees and practices of Blizzard Entertainment, noting Kaplan's good relationship with Paul Barnett.

A video tour of the Blizzard Entertainment campus
Tracey John from MTV Multiplayer was recently given a tour of Blizzard Entertainment's Headquarters in Irvine, California, just before BlizzCon 2008.

How your Bartle Type influences your class choice: WoW style
Last week we showed the Massively readers a research report done at gamerDNA regarding MMO players' Bartle Type and how it influences their Warhammer Online class choices. In the comments at their site, and at ours, many asked if this could be done for other games as well, namely World of Warcraft. Well this week they treat us to just that, and the results might surprise you.

Anti-Aliased: Games you should have played, but probably didn't
What games would I recommend to my readers who just aren't happy with the current mainstream market? What games should you have played, but probably overlooked? I think I have a few.

State of the Game reveals Blazing Sun Knights, Black Guards coming to WAR
It's been a full month since the launch of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, and general manager for Mythic Entertainment Mark Jacobs has now offered up the 'first annual' State of the Game address to players. After opening with a heartfelt thank-you to the 750,000 players in the game and some cheering about the game's explosive growth, he quickly went on to talk about the major issues the team will be addressing in the near future.

EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction goes live!
We were there for the announcement of the expansion, with our fantastic chat with the developers. We had the chance to walk through the all-new content with you, and we've waiting while the lore has trickled out over the last few months. Now today's the day! EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction launches to eager fans.