Vikings of Thule, one of the first ever MMORPGs designed for Facebook, released their first expansion pack this week. Chapter 1: Slayer of Wyrms is oriented towards single player content and features a long questline. The new content enables players to set their own difficulty level, making it available to new and old characters alike.

Iris Kristin Andresdottir, Senior Producer for Vikings of Thule, said of the expansion, “We have been pleased to see more players than ever before engaging with [our game], so we wanted to create a whole new experience for them.” Also included in the update are new game maps.

Vikings of Thule lets players use force and craftiness to work their way through the hierarchy of Viking society. Players collect gear upgrades and earn the favor of certain Norse gods, all of which come into play when they engage others in fierce PvP combat.

This week, Kintaii steps up again to give us a glimpse into the recent activities at the Anarchy Online offices in Norway. Having personally worked on the upcoming PvP playfield, Kintaii has a great deal to say about it. After getting acclimated to the company’s world-building software, “TIDE”, he revels in the ability to shape the zone exactly as he sees fit. Subsequently, some changes have been made to the playfield; these tweaks include, but are not limited to:

• HP/NP regen inside Tower area
• Expanded teleportation into the PvP area
• Banking/Surgery terminals inside towers
• Improved building collision
• More distinct “areas” within the zone

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Gala-Net has opened up registration for players who want to help beta test their latest offering, Iris Online. Developed by the same team responsible for Luna Plus and Titan Online, Iris Online is a gypsy-themed free-to-play 3D MMO with both PvE and PvP encounters.

One of the unique features of the game is its Divination System, in which a player can visit a Fortune Teller to receive a Tarot Card reading. Cards will reveal story lines, give buffs and magical benefits, and perhaps even temporarily turn the character into a monster!

The Tarot Card theme doesn’t end there. Each of Iris Online’s 22 dungeons is designed in the style of one of the Major Arcana cards, such as The Fool or Wheel of Fortune. For example, The Lovers Dungeon can only be entered by a male and female pair who remain linked through out the raid — if one dies, the other character will instantly die as well.

Does your future hold a visit to Iris Online? Control your own destiny — players can sign up here to join the closed beta testing process, which is expected to start this Fall.

Warner Brothers Interactive has announced today that Turbine’s Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO) will be changing its pricing model. The game will move from subscription only to the same Free-to-Play model exhibited by another Turbine MMO, Dungeons and Dragons Online.

Starting September 10th 2010, Lord of the Rings Online will be completely free to play into the end-game with additional content offered in the LOTRO Store. Extra character slots, potions, further character customization and more will be available through micro-transactions done in real time, in-game.

“Our LOTRO beta program has been a huge success and we want to thank all of our players who worked
with us to get the game ready for launch,” said Kate Paiz, Executive Producer of LOTRO, Turbine. “Our
unique pricing model has revolutionized the industry and starting in September, players will be able to
choose how they pay for and play one of the world’s best online games and we can’t wait to welcome
millions of new players to Middle-earth!”

Hopefully this change of business strategy will create an influx of fresh players to the MMO based on such rich lore and storytelling.

The guys at Funcom have been pretty busy in the last few months. Not just with Anarchy Online, Age of Conan, and The Secret World, but with a little expanding, too. While live support and additional production teams will remain in Oslo, Norway, the rest of the team has packed up and hauled it over to Montreal, Canada.

Now, they’ve set up shop and are continuing to work on Age of Conan’s next update. The new patch won’t be much of a content overhaul or feature introduction, but rather a series of tweaks and fixes. Tier 3 & 4 Raid content is being examined in light of a few overly arduous encounters. The “Keeper of Artifacts” in particular is mentioned as being toned down in an effort to smooth out the difficulty curve. In addition, Tier 3 Raids will offer higher mastery rewards, and a couple instances have been tweaked to fix disappearing loot.

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SOE released a new trailer for the upcoming superhero MMO, DC Universe Online (DCUO).  The trailer shows off costumes and powers, and features popular superheroes like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. 

DC Universe Online is scheduled to release this coming November.  Hopefully, beta details will be forthcoming.  We can’t wait!

To watch this and more videos, become a follower of the MMOCrunch You Tube.

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En Masse Entertainment is at gamescom and released a new trailer for their upcoming MMORPG Tera Online, as well as several new screenshots. 

The Tera Online Trailer is after the jump.  Maybe we’ll get more details on release date before the show is over.  Or even beta testing!

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Here’s a helpful serving of screenshots for the upcoming MMORPG from Square-Enix – Final Fantasy XIV.  Aren’t they pretty?  More FFXIV Screenshots after the jump.

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Aeria Games announced Kitsu Saga, a new free-to-play Fantasy/Martial Arts MMORPG currently in development.  Kitsu Saga allows players to enter the world as amateur martial artists, who then have to pass training under their chosen faction in pursuit of becoming masters of their art.  The Kitsu, fox-like creatures descended from a holy nine-tailed spirit, will be encountered and join the battle with players against evil.  Check out the trailer after the jump.

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We’ve been hearing about it for a while, and no doubt it has some former players considering a glorious comeback. Warhammer Online’s Patch 1.3.6 dropped today around noon, and it’s selling point centers around RvR changes. Major player grievances have often stemmed from imbalanced and un-incentivized ORvR (Open Realm vs. Realm) battles, and Mythic hopes to address this with “Against All Odds”.

Against All Odds is a passive buff that is activated upon a faction that is outnumbered by more than 20%. All members of the outnumbered faction that are participating in an RvR Lake battle will receive an increase to Experience, Renown, and Influence proportional to the odds stacked against them. Needless to say, this should encourage more activity on the RvR front – the very essence of Mythic’s vision for PvP.

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