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RIFT announces battle mage soul: The Harbinger
If you listen very carefully, you'll hear the cry from over the mountaintops: "Battle mage? Battle mage?" And if you listen even closer, you'll hear Trion Worlds' response: "Coming in Storm Legion! Coming in Storm Legion!" Indeed, RIFT's development team has confirmed the first of four new souls for the Storm Legion expansion, the Harbinger. Designed for the Mage calling, the Harbinger is a melee DPS soul. Unlike other Mage souls, this one prefers to get up close and personal with attacks, summoning fiercesome weapons for the fight, such as the energy scythe and lightning blade. It's designed to work well with the other souls and to bring survivability and utility to the calling. The Harbinger's special armor also reduces cast time, allowing the melee soul to mix in quick magical attacks into its rotation. In the same livestream, the team also teased the upcoming announcement of a massive horned mount nicknamed "Mr. Landslide." The devs said we should be hearing more on this mount next week. The full reveal video is after the break.
Nexon releases new MapleStory map and two new classes
MapleStory's Big Bang patch series is reloading for a second round of content updates, and this time the new stuff includes a new map, two new classes, and a new story. Nexon's free-to-play fantasy side-scroller now features the Wild Hunter and Battle Mage classes, which players can commandeer in an effort to stem the tide of the relentless Black Wing menace that threatens to destroy the Resistance. Surprisingly, the Battle Mage isn't a bring-up-the-rear kind of DPSer like most mages you may have met. Nexon's press release says he'll be "the first into danger, placing himself between his teammates and the forces of darkness." The Wild Hunter, on the other hand, is very much a keep-'em-at-range kind of gal who "will shoot down her targets with deadly accuracy [while riding] on the back of a jaguar." MapleStory will also be featuring another Hot Time event on August 6th, so mark your calendars and be sure to log in, grab an SP reset scroll and get some double XP. Finally, don't forget to click past the cut for a couple of videos focused on the new classes.
MapleStory invites you to join the Resistance
If you thought that MapleStory's Big Bang update a week ago was impressive, just you wait. In a few days the dev team is going to roll out the second part of the game's overhaul, introducing a lot of new content: two classes, a faction and a zone. As the Black Wings cult rises in power, players will travel to the tech-savvy mining town of Edelstein to see what they can do on behalf of the Resistance. There they'll be able to try out one of the new classes to the game, either the Battle Mage or the Wild Hunter. Both are ranged fighters -- the Battle Mage flings long-range spells that hit multiple foes while the Wild Hunter fires arrows from the back of a jaguar mount. Don't mess with someone riding a jaguar, our momma always told us. Big Bang Part 2 is scheduled to hit MapleStory's servers on December 20th. Now it's time for you to make a choice: Do you want to read more about this update (head on over to MapleStory's site if so), or do you want to watch the promo video for it (hit the jump)?
Breakfast Topic: What class would you like to see added to the game?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Let us ponder upon classes, the very thing that defines one's playstyle the most in World of Warcraft. Whether it be the ever-gorgeous, plate-clad warrior who shouts, "I HAZ TWO ROCKET SWORDZ, UR POINT IZ INVALID," the warlock-hating mage or the mage-hating warlock, or even the druid who thinks that Woodstock was really great, we all have our preferences on what we think is the best class of them all. Yet if Blizzard has taught us anything, it is to plan for upsets or twists in class selection. Remember the great death knight massacre of 2008? Everyone and his great-grandmother's mailman had a death knight. They were easy to acquire, incredibly powerful and just a blast to play. Yet modern death knights are shells of what they once were. They play like the polar opposite of paladins now, but upon their initial release, they felt more like a battle mage class. Now, thanks to a complete revamp of the death knight class, the closest thing to a battle mage is long gone, leaving those who enjoyed the class idea from different roleplaying games feeling rather empty and disappointed, much the same way as when we discovered that the delicious cake we were promised was actually a lie. It leaves us with a curious idea, though. Considering that the idea of a battle mage in WoW is doable, could it be brought in as its own class? Or would Blizzard dare to put in a totally different class?
Exploring Eberron: Rolling the right character for you
Who are you whippersnappers? Get off my lawn or I'll blast ye into kingdom come! Shoo! I mean, howdy! Sorry, I got a little startled there. We just found out this morning that Rubi, your faithful DDO columnist, was captured by a beholder and locked away in a level 20 dungeon. While the Massively DDO guild, OnedAwesome, faithfully levels up in a rescue attempt (every Wednesday night, 9pm eastern/8pm central!), I've been drafted to keep the column going until victory is assured. Considering that a vast majority of my personal DDO resume is confined to levels 1 through 10, I have a soft spot for the newbie experience. And seeing how many fledgling dungeoneers are flocking to DDO these days, I figured I'd go back to the beginning to walk new players through the first week of the game. For you veterans out there, this would be a great time to (a) point out how much I say is completely wrong, and (b) offer up your own tips and advice in the comments section. Today, let's start with one of the most vital decisions you'll ever make in the game: rolling a character. Hit the jump and let's hope for all 20s!
