Massively's PAX Prime 2014 roundup

PAX Prime 2014: ArcheAge is launching on September 16th
And lo, a new MMO came upon them, and the glory of non-linear gameplay surrounded them, and they were sore afraid.Actually, they weren't afraid.

PAX Prime 2014: ArcheAge is a go for launch!
The packed ballroom at Trion's PAX Prime party erupted into giddy cheers last night when the team announced that ArcheAge's launch is merely a couple of weeks away.

PAX Prime 2014: Hands-on with Warlords of Draenor
If you've played World of Warcraft once, have you played it for all time? I was wondering this as I slipped back into Azeroth for a look at the upcoming Warlords of Draenor expansion at PAX Prime.

PAX Prime 2014: The mystery behind WildStar's Nexus
Nexus is a giant ball of mysteries at its core, but WildStar doesn't want to drag out solving them. In the upcoming Defile drop, the team is prepared to address some of the biggest questions of Drusara and the Elden as players delve into the mystery of Genesis Prime.

PAX Prime 2014: H1Z1's bears will end you
In most MMOs, bears are chunky cannon fodder: good for lowbie XP and a sad scrap of a pelt as loot. In H1Z1, bears are possibly more terrifying than zombies and gankers combined.

PAX Prime 2014: Going on a deer hunt in H1Z1
The time was just before dawn, with colors muted by the limited light. I silently roamed through fog banks, looking for a quarry in the woods and finding none.

PAX Prime 2014: Landmark comes into its own
After the better part of a year of being both an excellent building simulator and the sparse skeleton of an actual MMO, Landmark is finally starting to fill out in all sorts of pleasing ways.

PAX Prime 2014: RIFT's Nightmare Tide expansion launches October 8th; Trove's closed beta begins September 25th
Trion made a bunch of ArcheAge fans happy earlier this evening, so now it's time to do the same for followers of RIFT, Defiance, and Trove.RIFT's Nightmare Tide expansion officially launches on October 8th, while Defiance will get "a massive end-of-September" update called Aftermath that includes new missions and events.

PAX Prime 2014: Unpredictable water flows through RIFT: Nightmare Tide
When RIFT's Nightmare Tide releases on October 8th, Trion Worlds expects that it will make more than a few MMO gamers rediscover why this is not a game to be discounted.

PAX Prime 2014: The Repopulation's Josh Halls on beta, fishing, and houses
Above & Beyond Technologies Lead Developer Josh Halls has been on a very long journey with The Repopulation, a journey that began back in 2009 and isn't even close to being over yet.

PAX Prime 2014: Hands-on with Shroud of the Avatar
When I got my first look at the live game of Shroud of the Avatar at PAX Prime this past weekend, one thought slammed me to the ground: This game is so much better-looking than the website's screenshots let on.

PAX Prime 2014: Paying a premium for Pathfinder Online
Would you pay to get into an alpha test? Well, would you continue to pay a monthly subscription to keep on playing a title that's not yet launched?

PAX Prime 2014: I wonder as I Wander
We've been keeping our eyes on Wander for a year now, and during PAX Prime I caught up with Lead Developer Loki Davison to see how this collaborative exploration title's been going.

PAX Prime 2014: Trove moves at the speed of lightrail
Probably one of the coolest features that I've seen in an MMO in a long time came during a Trove demo at PAX Prime this weekend. The devs were keen to show off the game's magriders, which are tracks that players can lay down to take others on a pre-planned route around the world.

PAX Prime 2014: Defiance defies barriers to play
If there's one message that Trion Worlds wants to get out about Defiance from PAX Prime this year, it's that the game is bursting with content and absolutely welcoming one and all to play.

PAX Prime 2014: Warhammer 40k trains players to think like soldiers
Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade is most emphatically not about two things: PvE and lone rangers. While there will be a smidgeon of PvE content in the released game, the focus of the developers is about coordinated group PvP.

PAX Prime 2014: Hands-on with Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade
After getting the pitch from Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade at PAX Prime, I was given the opportunity to sit down and experience a PvP bout first-hand.

PAX Prime 2014: Marvel Heroes is the industry's surprise success story
Meeting with Marvel Heroes' David Brevik at PAX Prime confirmed what I have been observing over the past year or so: This game has quietly and steadily become one of the bigger success stories in the online gaming industry.

PAX Prime 2014: Upsilon Circuit debuts to the public
I'll echo what Eliot wrote back at PAX East earlier this year: Upsilon Circuit is almost certainly one of the strangest and most intriguing video game concepts I've ever seen.

PAX Prime 2014: Hands-on with The Crew
Ubisoft's The Crew was part of two different booths on the PAX Prime exhibit floor this year, giving ample opportunity to anyone who would like to take a test drive of this online racing game.

PAX Prime 2014: PlanetSide 2 meets the PlayStation 4
PlanetSide 2 is waging a war for your attention on two platforms these days. The big push by SOE as of late is to prepare the title for its testing and release on the PlayStation 4.

PAX Prime 2014: World of Warships balances historical accuracy with big boat fun
A warship is understandably larger and more complicated than a tank or plane, which is why Wargaming is diverging slightly with its third online title.

PAX Prime 2014: Hearthstone eyes an expansion
The PAX Prime Blizzard booth was one of the larger and more populated venues on the show floor this year. A slow-moving line wrapped around it as players waited eagerly to try out Warlords of Draenor or to see Heroes of the Storm for the first time.

PAX Prime 2014: State of Decay takes steps toward something larger
Down at Undead Labs' new studio in Seattle, there is evidence of one low-tech approach to development. It's a very large, flat table that designers use to playtest pen-and-paper games that they create on the spot.

PAX Prime 2014: Hands-on with Undead Labs' Moonrise
One of the maxims of Undead Labs is that the team is composed of "gaming omnivores" who don't want to get stuck in a rut of doing the exact same game and genre over and over again.

PAX Prime 2014: Heroes of the Storm is friendly, zany fun
Heroes of the Storm's beginnings are rooted in a mod that Blizzard made in 2010 to encourage StarCraft II players to get into the modding scene.

PAX Prime 2014: Strife learns from the past
S2 Games is a big believer in learning from the past. Whereas many other MOBA developers are creating their very first such title, S2 already has a MOBA -- Heroes of Newerth -- under its belt.

PAX Prime 2014: Tome makes for a more aggressive MOBA
One interesting trend that I noticed among the up-and-coming MOBAs that I previewed at PAX Prime this past weekend was how there's this real desire to challenge the status quo and cut out what's hurting rather than helping the genre.