There comes a time in every fury orange monsters’ life when the realize they just need a little help.  Maybe that dragon is too strong and keeps eating him.  Maybe that troll is too strong and keeps clubbing him senseless.  Maybe that giant snake is…. oh, not the giant snake again.  Anyway, you get the picture.

MMO stands for Massively Multiplayer Online, and believe it or not, many of them are meant to be played with other people.  A shocking revelation, I know.  From Lord of The Rings Online making Moria more solo-friendly to World of Warcraft, well, being World of Warcraft, there is a trend to make MMO games more accessible to solo players and small groups, which is fine with me!  I like playing with other people, have a lot of fun with it in fact, but I don’t like to be FORCED into it.  I think that a lot of the bigger games out there right now have a nice balance that lets groups of friends have a great time while not penalizing the casual player who likes to dive in and do things on his own.

For the purpose of this article, I’m going to make the wild and unlikely assumption that you actually want to make friends in-game to adventure and even socialize with.  It’s a crazy concept I know, but hang with me and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised, because making friends in an online game can be a really rewarding experience.

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Today, Trion Worlds released a new Rift trailer featuring the Rogue class. In most MMORPGs, rogues are known for skulking around a battle’s edge waiting for an opportune time to strike, but with the power of Rift’s Ascended Soul system, you’ll find them jamming on lutes, teleporting, or even tanking! Considering rolling one of these versatile saboteurs? Get inspired by three powerful incarnations of Rift’s brains-over-brawn calling in the latest class trailer featuring rogue builds of the death dealing, sniping, and support varieties.

Check out the Rift Rogue class trailer below.

Blizzard Entertainment today announced the tickets for Blizzcon 2011 will go on sale in two batches, on Saturday, May 21st at 10 a.m. Pacific time and Wednesday May 25th at 7 p.m. Pacific time.  In addition, tickets for an exclusive pre-Blizzcon dinner to benefit Children’s Hospital of Orange Count will go on sale on Saturday May 28th.

Blizzcon 2011 once again returns to the Anaheim Convention Center on October 21 and 22. Gamers who are unable to make the trek can enjoy BlizzCon from the comfort of their own home by ordering a BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, which offers comprehensive live coverage of the event streaming online and also on DIRECTV in the United States. Virtual tickets are priced at $39.99 USD (pricing may vary by region)

“We love being able to meet directly with our players, and since BlizzCon is one of the rare opportunities we get to do that, we always pack as much information and entertainment as we can into the show,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “This year will be no different — whether you’re with us in Anaheim or joining from home, be prepared for two days of Blizzard gaming and good times with the most passionate community in the world.”.

Tickets to the convention will be priced at $175 USD each and will be available for purchase from the official BlizzCon website (www.blizzcon.com).

Tickets to the BlizzCon Benefit Dinner, which include admission to BlizzCon, will be priced at $500 USD each, with proceeds going to Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Taking place the evening of Thursday, October 20, this exclusive event offers guests an opportunity to rub elbows and trade war stories with Blizzard game developers and other employees before the show. Approximately 200 tickets to the benefit dinner will be available for purchase beginning Saturday, May 28 at 10 a.m. Pacific time.

The Virtual Ticket grants access to comprehensive live HD coverage from the show floor on each day of the convention, including exclusive interviews, demos, and more. Virtual Ticket coverage will be available to viewers globally as a multichannel Internet stream and also via Pay-per-View on DIRECTV in the United States. DIRECTV customers who order the televised event will receive the multichannel Internet stream at no extra charge, allowing them to watch in the format of their choice. Those who order the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket will also receive this year’s BlizzCon-exclusive World of Warcraft and StarCraft II in-game items (availability may vary by region), to be revealed at a later date. Limited streaming coverage of the BlizzCon opening ceremony and certain BlizzCon tournaments will be available via the Internet for free.

Alpha County is on the horizon, but it ain’t here quite yet. No need to worry, though, since the wastelanders at Icarus Studios have been making timely and incremental advances towards the big release. Meanwhile, Fallen Earth is getting its shoes polished with regards to Progress Towns, the center of player-driven content in sectors 2, 3, and Deadfall.

The terrain and environmental effects are getting some love as the developers work to make the atmosphere of Alpha County fit the overarching lore therein. Not content with recycling the same artistic style that dominates the wasteland, Icarus is starting from the ground up with improved tools and and a close eye on how the environment interacts with players as they progress through the story.

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This week, Sony Online Entertainment hands over the pitchfork with the implementation of farming activities in Free Realms. As a game that caters to an increasingly wide audience with varying age levels, Free Realms makes a genuine effort to combat the specter of tedium that hangs over every massive title. To that end, the game has been quite successful; the official site gives new players an idea of the assortment of activities at their disposal:

Decorate your house, then invite your friends over for a party! Teach your pet a new trick or dress them up in a sweet costume! Battle enemies as you search for lost treasure or duel other players, mine for gold, cook up a meal, or race your car!

With this update, players will receive a free “Wilds Farm” instance, where they can cultivate and customize crops, chase vermin, and – as always –  invite friends to join the fun. As you level your farm up (there are 20 levels), the acreage will increase, along with seeds, tools, items, and quests. However, free players will only be able to reach level 5 before they will need to convert to a paid account. As of right now, the farming feature is completely available to all players — all you need to do is log in! Below is a full list of the features coming with Free Realms’ farming update:

• New Wilds Farm instance for every player
• Use farming tools to keep farms clear of weeds, obstacles, and pests
• Harvest crops in the overworld and convert them to seeds for planting
• Plant, water, and grow a wide variety of crop types and be sure to chase away the critters
• Experiment with the Farm-O-matic machine to create new hybrid crops
• Harvest crops and trade them in the Farmers Market for rewards
• Play mini-games and convert harvested crops into coin
• Visit friends’ farm to earn more coin
• Cool items available in the marketplace to boost farm production

Rift Asunder is an ongoing saga of Eaj Cire, a High Elf Guardian Rogue. His past lost to him, his future uncertain; he moves through the world of Telara searching for answers. Walk with him now as he fights to reclaim his fragmented life, struggles to understand his destiny; and takes part in an epic conflict to save a world torn apart.

How did it come to this? How did we fall so quickly? Who is to blame? Was it the conflict born of two Mathosian brothers? My own kind turning their backs to the divine? The Dwarves and their pacts signed in hopes of greater wonders of crafting? Perhaps it was the Defiants, having turned away from the Gods, to embrace their machines; technologies even they struggle to understand and control.

In the end, in matters not who is to blame. For we all find ourselves now in the same dire situation. The Rifts have come, and with them endless hordes of the minions of the Dragon Gods. Our past, history, is a slippery thing. At times we see it with the perfect clarity of honesty. Other times, we are doomed to reshape it with the lies we tell ourselves. So truly, it matters not how we have come to this place, this time. All that matters now is that we stand at the brink; the very edge of oblivion.

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So I’m playing my favorite MMORPG, really getting into the game, the characters, the magic spells – it’s SO much fun!  I’m just finishing up the introductory areas, where I’ve gained a few levels, learned some skills, and figured out how to play.  My character has a great hat – I do enjoy nice hats.  I probably should have upgraded my sword first, sure, but this hat looks so good – you should see it!

So I finish my final quest in the introductory zone and I’m given my first ‘real’ quest – go find Eric Questgiverson in the town of Toofarfromhere and give him this letter, post haste! It is of the utmost importance, lives may depend on it!  So I lace up my shiny new level five quest reward boots and I head out the West gate into the virtual sunset, a spring in my step and quest in hand!

And I walk.  And I walk.  And I walk.  and I walk some more.

‘Your level five quest reward boots have worn through and need repair.’

I check my game map.  If I’m the little green arrow, and that’s the starting point, and that little dot is the town of Toofarfromhere, that means….

MMO game worlds are REALLY big!

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Latest to jump on the F2P train is Global Agenda, Hi-Rez Studios’ futuristic MMO shooter. By mid-April, the devs will release update 1.4, otherwise known as Free Agent, which will enable free access to all of the game’s content. Global Agenda has never had a subscription fee, with the only source of direct income coming from digital & physical box sales. With Free Agent, this $19.99 purchase price will be eliminated, allowing players to download, install, and log-in to the game without reaching for their wallets.

Up until the release of Free Agent, prospective players will still need to shell out the cash for Agenda, though they may choose to do so in light of the promised perks. When update 1.4 rolls around, any player that has previously purchased the game will receive an automatic upgrade to “Elite Agent” status, a rank that brings a laundry list of goodies:

• Earn End-of-Mission XP at twice the rate of a Free-to-Play user
• Earn End-of-Mission Credits and Tokens at twice the rate of a Free-Play user
• Earn End-of-Mission Elite Loot upon winning an instanced PvE or PvP match
• Choose which PvP gametypes you would like to play when queuing for Mercenary PvP.
• Access the Auction House
• Access In-Game Mail
• Less restrictive chat capabilities
• No ads for in-game voice
• Ability to create Agencies
• Higher Login priority

Players who choose to play as Free Agents can look forward to the following features. Click past the cut to check them out!

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Today, Funcom released the latest trailer for The Secret World titled “Everything is True“, in which The Secret World is finally revealed.  Not only does it show in-game footage but also lists out all the secrets within this world.  Below is a compaliation of what is shown in the trailer.  I have to say I wasn’t very interested in the game before, but that’s quite an impressive list.

Here’s the full list incase you missed some.

• We are in the fourth ago
• Powerful Cabals rule the world
• They have kept us in the dark
• Signals disrupt our thoughts
• The Host were here before us
• They are still here
• There is a city on the moon
• Eleven days are missing
• The Earth is hollow
• The Wagtail has arrived
• There are portals in time and space
• The bees are returning
• The eight watch over us
• Solomon’s Key unleashes hell
• The Tower of Babel never fell
• The old gods are awakening
• Atlantis rises
• The Ark of the Covenant is an engine
• Stonehendge is a beacon
• The Fountain of Youth is poisoned
• Immortal beings walk the Earth
• The Planets are aligning
• The End of Days are here
• Everyone must choose a side
• The Dark Places are crawling
• The filth will corrupt us all
• The morning light burns
• Demons march against us
• The Dreamers Whisper
• A blight befalls the Garden of Eden
• We have dug too deep
• Lilith’s children are unchained
• Pandora’s Box is opening up
• There is a Secret World
• Everything is true

It’s a trend, these days. Going free-to-play has become an increasingly viable approach to the MMO industry, where players are among the most critical of any audience. And rightly so, seeing as how we pay a monthly fee! After the wild success of Dungeons & Dragons Online, the snowball began its powdery descent — hopefully the bottom of the mountain isn’t too rocky. Yesterday, Gravity Interactive eliminated all monthly fees from its isometric MMORPG classic, Ragnarok Online. This is evidence that the company sees much more in store for the game in the near (and far) future; by dropping the fees, Gravity Interactive clearly hopes to entice new players to enter their exciting world. With so many character classes to choose from, there is something for everyone in Ragnarok:

Heroes of Midgard start as a Novice and may progress to be a Sly Ninja, or a Holy Arch Bishop; you can become the “1-Hit KO” Sura Class or the area buff and disablement ensemble crew of Minstrel & Gypsy. How about becoming a stealthy and fast-attacking Guillotine Cross or a “Bomb and Plant specialist” Geneticist?

The list goes on. For veteran players who don’t mind shelling out the same old fee, there are perks to be had! Jump past the cut for the details…

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