[Editor's Note: Hey, everyone! I would like to introduce David Moore. He has run the site gamebunny.com for the past ten years and co-runs torwars.com, a site focused on all things Star Wars: The Old Republic. Basically, he is an MMO MASTER! He will be contributing a new weekly series, That's So MMO!, rounding up the week in MMO news. If you are a fan of MMOs, you are in for a treat! Let's give David a warm, wet Destructoid welcome! -- Chad]
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Destructoid’s That's So MMO! I’ll be your MMO master of ceremonies for this weekly wrap-up (July 03 - 09) of what’s hot and happening in the world of online games.
Let’s get right down to it!
“Battle of the planets” - SOE has been busy shuffling its deck. After killing off one eight-year-old game, Star Wars Galaxies, they’re pumping new life into another eight-year-old game with the confirmation of a long-rumored sequel to PlanetSide. PlanetSide 2 doesn’t yet sport a release date, but Sony is promising that “technology” has now caught up with their original “vision.” Those looking for a space age Call of Duty, with customizable players and weapons, may want to enlist.
“Let the blood flow freely” - Funcom’s barbaric MMO Age of Conan has gone free-to-play. If you have any desire to quaff mead with brazen wenches, ride exotic beasts and behead your sworn enemies, now would be a good time. Check into AoC’s “Unchained” offering and commence with the slurping and slaying.
“Raid Aid” – You may have heard about World of Warcraft’s new “Starter Edition”, which allows prospective players to fire up a character and reach level 20 without time constraints. What’s new and fabulous for the subscribed faithful? Patch 4.2 introduced a Dungeon Journal containing locations, loot tables and boss abilities for all instances in the game. Your need to Alt-Tab out of WoW for tips & tricks has just decreased.
“Origin Story” – EA’s recently announced Origin digital download service will be the only way to obtain a digital client for Star Wars: The Old Republic when it launches later this year. No Steam for you! If you are worried about lack of content in SWTOR, simmer down. EA Games President Frank Gibeau has stated that each character class in SWTOR offers 200 hours of fresh gameplay. Let’s see: 8 classes x 200 hours = like … a bazillion hours! Not bad.
“Trails and tribulations” – With the new "Waves of Madness" Update 1.3 certain shards (servers) in Rift have been re-designated as “Trial” servers. These Trial shards will be destinations for the waves of incoming newbies sampling the game with trial accounts and promotional offers. What does this mean for paying players with characters already living on these shards? Eviction notices!
“Macro not micro?” The just introduced “Incarna” patch for EVE Online brought with it the Noble Exchange (NeX), or “Item Shop.” Many players are up in arms at the high prices and possible future introduction of non-vanity items, such as ships and powerful guns, which could unbalance gameplay, favoring those with thick wallets. Player protests are ongoing. Stay tuned.
“Opening the gates of Hell” – T3 Entertainment has remade Hellgate: London and are inviting interested adventurers to jump into the fire with the debut of the Hellgate Global Open Beta. Is this formerly derided and failed game now worthy of your time? Hey, it’s free-to-play. You’ve got nothing to lose by burning your shoes with a download.
That’s going to do it for this time around worldly ones. I’ll see you next week with the latest and greatest in Massively Multiplayer. Keep it logged-in.
Contest:
12:30 PM on 07.09.2011 | 
I also love the intro: there are many new faces here, and outside of the community members we don't know who a lot of them are. It was nice to get a bit of history on you: welcome!
Nice round up! I can definitely appreciate it!
So glad there was a little bio included with this post. I have no idea who all these new writers are.
I'm not an MMO fan, but I love the title of this series!
We do have a lot of new faces around here as we try to expand our coverage to other areas, like more MMO stuff. Thanks for being gentle with them!
So, WELCOME! :D
Thanks so much for the warm welcome. It's exciting to be here reporting on the insanity of our beloved persistent worlds.
Rest assured both Guild Wars 2 and Undead Labs work-in-progress will be mentioned from time to time. =D
http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=935
You might want to change the piece of info.
Welcome to Destructoid.
Now that that's outta the way..
Sup with the stupid name? I thought those were reserved for Slowtaku? If this is a feature that is going to be taken serious by MMO gamers(read: the hardcore), it would help to know that the feature('s writer) at least takes itself seriously.
Speaking of which, I liked the catchy subtitles you gave each paragraph. Not necessary, but I like the extra effort. It'll be interesting to see if you can keep them fresh/witty every week.
In regards to the feature itself; Are you going to be delving into each game in more detail than a simple paragraph? I ask because, though I've played a healthy amount(aint nothing healthy about how many and how much I've played) of MMO's going on a decade now and have never heard of Gamebunny, so I am not sure of your/their knowledge and/or how they cover it.
Speaking of which; Are you going to be covering MMO's from a newbie perspective, or as/for those who have played an MMO or two? I ask this because I've seen some of the most idiotic anti-MMO comments from the community here, usually in regards to how all MMO's should be free to play and how they can't fathom why anyone would pay a monthly fee for an MMO, due to some unrealistic moral conflict or because they feel that they wouldn't get their money's worth if they stopped playing for five minutes to go eat, and finally, how they could never get into an MMO because they have a preconceived notion that they would become 'addicted' as the stereotype dictates.
Last but certainly not least; Will you be covering more than just updates? Announcements? Debuts? When one goes free-to-play? Shuts down(R.I.P. SW:G[pre-CU&NGE)? When there is new/old life to be found in one(SW:G Emu has provided a pre-CU/NGE experience for many months now)?
Thorough? Yes, however, I'm passionate about the MMO's I play, which is why I'd like to know if this feature will mean the difference between something I follow voraciously, or an article I skim on my way to in-depth MMO coverage sites. Hopefully, I didn't come off too harsh, I believe my bluntness might have to do with the fact that; since I pay ~$15/Month per MMO, I sure as hell am going to keep informed on them.
As I'm writing this on my iPhone on a road trip, can't see the text field(its actual size is 0.5 inches x 0.5 inches) to see if I've written a WALL-OF-TEXT-ATTACK or not, so I will end this at WELCOME!
Also please include Guild Wars 2 next time. Its not out yet but it should get more coverage.
Star wars old republic was covered and its not out yet either.