A fresh batch of Rift: Planes of Telara updates have arrived, with a brand spanking new trailer that shows off a zone, along with a ton of screenshots and concept art.  This new zone is titled the Gloamwood.  This dark and dreary forest awaits all heroes that attempt to conquer its growing evils, with hordes of undead fiends and creatures no man should ever have to face.  Shadows hang over the forest, and constantly looming in the air is a thin film of fog that blocks most light from even touching the forest’s edge.  The ground itself is wet and black, and if you look closely enough, you can find the tracks of the creatures that reside there.  There are multiple zones to the Gloamwood, the first of which is called Silkweb Pass.

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MMOCrunch is excited to announce that we are giving away 85 beta keys for A Tale in the Desert 5 (ATITD5). That’s right folks, you can be the first to set foot into the fifth telling and experience the story unfold before you.

The fifth telling continues the story between feuding brothers Wahim and Sami and their struggle for power. In addition it also boasts revamps of current features and a couple of brand new ones:

• A new fishing system
• A revamped mining system
• And much more!

Who will be the next Pharaoh of Egypt? What new tests will players be challenged with? Get a first hand sneak peek and open the next chapter of A Tale in the Desert‘s saga!

To sign up for the beta visit our beta sign up page, and for more information on ATITD5 you can visit their official website.

As of late, naval warfare has become a growing niche in the MMO genre. In addition to Pirates of the Burning Sea and Vanguard, Darkfall has been promoting ship combat as a viable catalyst of PvP and clan politics. However, in these games, shipbuilding is only a part of the overall experience, and a largely optional one, at that (with the slight exception of PoTBS).

Enter Captains of DarkTide, a free-to-play MMO focused entirely on sea combat. Skill trees, upgrades, and crew control are all on board, as you progress your ship in much the same way as one would an individual avatar. If you so choose, elves and orcs can put aside their differences and serve on the same ship as crewmates. Blasphemy, I say!

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Have you ever desired to play as a fisherman in an MMO? Well now you can!  Square Enix has announced that there will be a grand total of 18 classes in Final Fantasy XIV from the obscure mining class to the magical conjurer.  Each of these classes fall under their own disciple.  There are four disciples in total, the first being the disciple of war followed by the disciple of magic, the disciple of land, and the disciple of hand. Each of these groups house specific classes that relate to their corresponding disciple.  For instance, the disciple of hand houses classes such as the blacksmith and carpenter.  Each of these classes has their own unique abilities and fighting styles.  It will be your job to decide which class fits your playing style best, luckily you have plenty of options!

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Germany publishers, Burda:ic, the minds behind such free-to-play MMOs Avalon Heroes and S4League, have recently announced a new addition to their line up – the RTSMMO Chaos Online">Land of Chaos Online, or simply, LOCO.

LOCOs open beta will begin August 3^rd and they are looking for testers to help develop the game.

We’re really looking forward to opening the floodgates to players who have yet to experience the pandemonium that is the Land of Chaos,” said Achim Kaspers, Managing Director of Burda:ic. “With this final test run, we’ll be working around the clock to collect feedback and valuable info as we prepare for the official launch!

LOCO lets you take control of over 30 characters spanning two factions as you struggle for control of the gaming world and boasts high-end graphics and a unique combination of RTS, Action and RPG elements.

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Attention all Exteel players, as of this moment every single one of you should currently be logging into to Exteel to play your hearts out.  I’m asking all of you to do this because it is my job to regretfully inform you that as of yesterday, NCsoft announced that they would permanently be shutting down all official Exteel servers on September 1st.  NCsoft also tells us that this is a global shut down and will not just effect the American servers.  Players will no longer be able to purchase NCcoins from the online store or use any purchased game time cards to convert into NCcoins.  If you already own a time card for NCcoin purposes, then NCsoft sends you their apologies but reminds you that you are still able to use that card on any NCsoft title to redeem game time.

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Dungeons and Dragons Online has recently a new screen concerning Update 6 and its new feature: Underwater Combat. The above pic is from the Into The Deep quest line that will be launched with the update. Added to this, a new area of the game will be opening up – the Red Fens.

This is only a small taste of what DDO has in store for fans in the upcoming weeks. Keep checking back to MMOCrunch for more details on DDO Update 6 as more news becomes available.

Despite their recent decision to adopt a free-to-play model, Turbine remains ambitious and passionate about Lord of the Rings Online. So passionate, in fact, that they are reimagining their vision for the game, and taking a microscope to the game’s entire instancing system. Judging by the staggering amount of instanced content and handcrafted material, this undertaking is clearly not for the faint of heart. Fortunately for us, Turbine’s developer team is not afraid to get their hands dirty and dig right in to areas of the game that they feel are lacking the accessibility and quality that the players (and the team themselves) have come to expect.

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As of today, The Walt Disney Company has decided to acquire Playdom, a leader in social browser gaming.  Playdom is a casual games/entertainment company who mainly puts their time and resources into such games like Mobster and Social City.  Most of their games are available to play on social networking sites, such as Facebook and Myspace.  It should also be noted that Playdom has recently acquired another casual games company before being picked up by Disney.  Playdom recently bought out Acclaim who, as of today, also works under Disney’s command.  As we recently posted, Acclaim is working on a ‘hardcore’ action MMO for Facebook (snicker).

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Attention all past and present Daevas.  This weekend NCsoft will be hosting a “Double The Fun” weekend in Aion Online, that will allow past Aion players (and current ones) to log into their accounts and start earning DOUBLE the experience points.  Thats right, all Aion accounts will be activated for this weekend and this weekend ONLY.  Once the event is over, non-subscribers will go back to not subscribing, and current players will go on with their happy lives.  If you would like to reactivate your account after the weekend event is over, then of course you will get the treat of keeping your bonus experience and findings.

This event will Start: Friday, July 30, 2010 at 8 a.m. PDT ,11 a.m. EDT, and Saturday July 31, 2010 at 1 a.m. AEST.        

This event will End: Monday, August 2, 2010 at 3 p.m. PDT ,6 p.m. EDT, and Tuesday August 3, 2010 at 8 a.m. AEST.

Be sure to get in on the action before you miss your chance to power level your way to the top!