Every turn around the gaming corner there seems to be an announcement of a new MMO in the works, some more interesting than others. It can be difficult, however, to weed through the trash to get to the good stuff.
No, don't get up! Stay seated in your chair (or whatever the hell your ass calls a home), for no weeding will be done today, I have done it for you.

Tabula Rasa
Release Date: Oct 30, 2007

It's hard not to hear about this game. PlayNC does a good job at advertising, now if they just could make an MMO right (CoV/CoH was ok). Fear not! There is hope, hope named Tabula Rasa.



Game Highlights
Imagine a third person shooter with RPG and MMO elements and you've got Tabula Rasa.
The shooting is the game is not a complete shooter, there's things like stick targeting and players with greater stats have the advantage (kinda like how the level 70 rogue has the advantage over the level 60 druid).
As for missions, they will be given out by NPCs and will not be your average static "quests". PlayNC is really trying to get past the "linear" quest thing by offering players more than one way to compelete certain quests, and how you chose to complete them will determine how NPCs in the game treat you.
There's just way too much to cover on this game, read more about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_Rasa_(computer_game) (Believe it or not Wikipedia has a great amount of info on this title).

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Release Date: Q1 2008



This is the one I'm looking forward to. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
The fact that it's from the creators of Dark Age of Camelot is an instant win!
This game promises to focus on realm vs realm pvp, and pvp itself. You can level through pvp, earn gear through pvp, and get special titles through pvp and pve (say you kill 1,000 rabbits, your title would be Rabbit Squisher, actually I don't know if that's a real title I just made it up but you get the Idea).
There promises to be 40 levels, each in tiers. Tier 1 (10 levels) Tier 2 (10 levels) etc...
There will be two factions, Order and Destruction, each faction will contain six different armies.
Order consists of:
Dwarves
Empire
High Elves

Chaos consists of:
Greenskins
Chaos
Darkelves

Each faction offering 12 player classes, you'll have 24 classes to chose from!
Other Pros include:
- Public quests that benefit from the participation of the entire army
- Conflict quests that pit players against an enemy with opposing goals
- Branching quests that let you choose the outcome of the quest and your reward

Ever want to get your guild and overtake an opposite faction's city? In warhammer, you can.
Kickass.

Read more here: http://www.warhammeronline.com/


Pirates of the Burning Sea
Release Date: Jan 22, 2008



Right here, I could just say "Pirate MMO, 'Nuff said" and leave it at that. But there's more to be said!

Ship battles!
This game will feature high stakes, cannon launching ship battles! The big behemoths will not rule the sea, the small ships stand a chance too.
Big ones are slow, but pack a lot of fire power. If you can get about 3 fast small ships to trail it and attack it's back side, you can take it down. Steer clear of it's cannons though!
That's basically how tactics will play into this game.

Other info: It's a pirate mmo? What more do you guys want?!?!?
Fine, demanding bastards! Read more here:http://www.burningsea.com/page/home

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
[size=25]Release Date: Mar 25, 2008





Alot of haze around this game, but beyond that is alot of promise, promise of a great MMO in the making!
Also appearing on the 360, age of Conan takes the MMORPG into an original setting of the B.C. Era.

"In development since 2003, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is an upcoming online action role-playing game based on the Conan the Cimmerian stories written by Robert E. Howard in the early 1930s. The game is being developed for the PC and the Xbox 360 by Funcom, the creators of the science fiction MMORPG Anarchy Online and the critically-acclaimed adventure game The Longest Journey. While the game appears to be a traditional MMORPG, Funcom prefers using the term "online action RPG" instead.[16]

The game is divided into two sections: In the first section you can choose if you want to play alone or with other players. At night, the game is a single-player-experience, while at day it is a multiplayer-experience. Switching between the two is done by sleeping in an inn. This whole first part is done on an island called Tortage. When you reach level 20, you are allowed to leave the island and thus the second section takes the character created during the first portion to a whole new environment. The online world promises to be dynamic, as players may form guilds (player organizations), conquer territories and erect cities which are vulnerable to attacks by humanoid NPCs.

Originally the Tortage-part was going to be a full single-player-experience, but that has now been changed. [17]

One of the primary attractions of Age of Conan is the "Real Combat" system, which promises greater player interaction during combat than previously seen in online role-playing games. The player is able to direct the swings of their character's weapon during combat to attack six separate target zones. Funcom has stated that this system will be easy to learn even for veteran MMORPG players who are used to "click and wait" combat; however, the specific details of this system have yet to be unveiled. Other features will include battle formations, which impart bonuses to the group using them, and mounted combat, which will also use the "Real Combat" engine.

Funcom is focusing on developing content for the "end game," the time at which characters have reached maximum advancement, rather than the "grind" and promises a fast leveling process. Funcom has also promised the graphic nature of Robert E. Howard's short stories will not be toned down for the game and that they expect Age of Conan to receive an ESRB rating of Mature due to its content."

Read more here: http://www.ageofconan.com


Hellgate: London
[size=25]Release Date: Oct 31, 2007
(This is the one is tied with Warhammer)



Yeah, that's right, I called it an MMO. It has rpg elements with online play (free or p2p, p2p get special stuff like extra character slots and Hardcore mode).
That's an MMO in my book.

Imagine Diablo 2 with better graphics and in London. There you go. Awesome.
I hate to say it but wikipedia has more knowlage than me on this game, so you'll have to settle for a quote and miss out on my witty remarks.

"Hellgate: London combines role-playing game mechanics with first-person shooter gameplay. Although the game looks and plays much like a first-person shooter, characters do level up, receive points to spend into skills or character statistics, and the outcome of a battle is influenced as much by items as by player skill.

High replayability is attempted through randomly generated levels, randomly placed monsters and fully random item drops and modifiers.

Multiplayer is focused on cooperative player vs. environment (PvE) combat, there will be a simple duel-based player vs. player (PvP) mode, and Elite subscribers will gain access to full-fledged arenas and a PvP ladder.

In multiplayer mode, players can meet and organize for team play and quests in safe zones - the old Underground stations, protected by the Freemasons' wards. The world will not be split in "shards" or servers, but rather play like a massively multiplayer online game with heavy instancing, such as Guild Wars. Like in Diablo II, but unlike in most 'true' MMORPGs, grouping with other players is optional. Every character is capable of soloing the entire game, though grouping will bring benefits in terms of experience gain and items. Difficulty will be balanced much like it is in Diablo II, where the opposition grows stronger as more players play in the instanced areas.

While it has been stated on the PC Gamer magazine that Hellgate: London will support Windows Vista and DirectX 10[citation needed], Flagship Studios has made repeated statements[citation needed] that the game will run perfectly well on Windows XP and DirectX 9 based systems. The game is said to be capable of running just as easily on computers as old as 4 years with some settings disabled.

Being an action RPG modeled on Diablo II, Hellgate: London features no designated tank, healer, or DPS classes. All classes simply do damage and heal themselves.

As published in the May 2007 issue of PC Gamer[citation needed], there are six classes in Hellgate: London, divided equally among the three factions in the game. The factions, "Cabalists", "Templars" and "Hunters" represent the different approaches towards the demon invasion. Cabalists are witches and warlocks, Templars are holy knights in shining armor, and Hunters are high tech ranged specialists. All characters of a given faction share the same graphics, quests, storyline and some generic character skills, like the ability to throw grenades.

Within each faction, there are two classes. Cabalists have the Evoker, a frail but powerful direct damage spellcaster, and the Summoner, with few direct attacks but strong minions. Templars have the Guardian, a defensive class that receives bonuses for being surrounded, and the Blademaster, who can wield two swords and trades defense for damaging power. Finally, Hunters have the Marksman, the classic first-person shooter class, and the Engineer, a high-tech version of the Summoner, using hovering attack bots and armed drones.

Each class has its own class-specific items. Templar classes typically use swords and heavy plate armor; Cabalist classes use "Focus Drives", power gloves that allow one to cast spells; and Hunter classes rely on high-powered rifles and cannons, but have weaker armor."



Waay too much info on this game, read further here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellgate:_London


There's my most looked at upcoming MMOs. What are yours?
Leave a comment telling myself and readers what MMOs you're keeping an eye on. Also, feel free to point out any errors I have made so I can use the "Edit" feature!

- Pantheon