All Posts by Meddle

Forum Threads Watch List

Well you asked for it, the forum watch list now allows you to manage your forum thread subscriptions from one central page. Watch as the latest posts bubble to the top of the list in your favorite threads, remove some unwanted watched threads or all of them if you want!

To check this new feature out be sure you're logged in and head over to the forums. In the top of the left menu on the page below the Spy glass link you'll see the glasses icon indicating the new area. Click on this link to check out the new Watched Threads feature!

EA / Mythic today released a new Career Profile for WAR. The Chaos Chosen is a powerful mage / tank class. Check out the screens and write up.

A Chosen Champion of Tzeentch is a sight to behold - warped by the blessings of the dark gods, these hulking behemoths have the power and size to match even the mightiest of mortal creatures. Their thick Chaos armor can ward off the most punishing of blows, while the fell weapons they wield can cleave the heaviest of defenses. However, these "blessings" come at a price - the Chosen is beholden to Tzeentch, and must constantly strive to earn his favor. For the Chosen of Tzeentch this means more than mere slaughter and death. In order to earn the grace of the Changer of Ways, the Chosen must apply guile and trickery as much as brute force. Only through careful planning and deliberate carnage can a Chosen of Tzeentch truly find the favor of their god.

The Chosen of Tzeentch Specialty

Tzeentch expects his Champions to be both ferocious warriors and cunning tacticians. As a result, Chosen who excel in these areas are granted profane rewards. These Dark Giftsallow the Chosen to manipulate the ruinous power of Chaos itself. While this provides them with ever greater strength, it also continually strips away any remnants of humanity that may still reside in the dark recesses of their memories. These Dark Gifts supplement the warrior's awesome martial skills, increasing their durability, strength and even allowing them to harness the Winds of Magic.

Read it all right here.

Every now and then, we like to take a look at an RPG that has some kind of multiplayer function. Even though they may not be classified as true MMORPGs, they can sometimes provide a fun and interesting diversion. In this article, Hasani Davis takes a look at Two Worlds, a new RPG out of Germany.

I had the opportunity to stop by the studio and see an Alpha run of South Peak Games TWO WORLDS. As always, I will cut to the chase, this game is 100% next generation RPG. The game world has very high end graphics as well as world effects. It is still in Alpha and already, in my opinion, this game has set the pace for the pack and is the new "ten" standard to measure all other RPGs against.

Two Worlds is created by Thought Pump, a gaming company based out of Poland who created games such as Earth 2160. They are making the jump to the RPG market on both the XBox and PC with Two Worlds. The game will cater to most player desires. You can play a single player story mode with a highly reactive world that changes according to what decisions you make in the game. Or you can play in a group setting linking up with 8 people for Xbox. If you are running it on the PC, you can open the MMO feature up to hundreds of friends and foes alike. So far, only the human race is the story mode race, but there are many races you can choose from. Orcs, dwarves, Groms (think barbarian trolls), Elves, and serpent men which move around on just tails and have no legs!

Check out the entire article here.

Staff Writer Donna Desborough takes us into the world of Middle Earth for this review of the just-released MMORPG from Turbine, Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar.

J.R.R. Tolkien created a world that is loved by millions around the world. Turbine has re-created his world for us to play in. Turbine's rendition of Middle Earth is a much awaited game that has many on the edge of their seats. Is it as good as our imaginations?

Actors, take your places!

In the grand scheme of the story, you the player are not the hero. The heroes from the books are still in place, you don't replace them. The player's place in the overall story is that of a supporting role. You are the Free Peoples. All of the unsung heroes and the supporting troops, that is us, the players.

As you go through the quests the story of individuals and yourself will unfold. Your part in the world may seem small in comparison to others, such as Frodo and Samwise, but your story will be just as important.

Read the entire review here.

Staff Writer Jeremy Star takes an in-depth look at Bigfoot Network's Killer K1 NIC.

A couple of months ago, I reviewed the Killer NIC here at MMORPG.com. While my testing concluded that the Killer NIC did indeed smooth out the MMORPG experience, a common complaint in our forums and elsewhere was that it was just too expensive to justify purchasing one.

The people at Bigfoot Networks have heard the complaints, and have answered the call for a cheaper version of the Killer NIC with their newest product: The Killer K1.

The Hardware - My what big ports you have!

The Killer K1 is a PCI NIC designed to replace your onboard ethernet ports. Just like its big brother - the original Killer NIC, now designated M1 - the Killer K1 runs its very own Linux operating system on an onboard processor and 64 MB of RAM.

Unlike its older sibling, however, the K1 runs its OS and LLR technology on a 333 Mhz Network Processing Unit (NPU). The M1 has a 400 Mhz NPU. Does this make a big difference in performance? Not according to Bigfoot Networks. They told me that the extra processing power on the M1 is used for the FNApps programs, so the K1 and the M1 should have almost the same performance effect in games. If you are running a game and an FNApp, then the M1 has the decided advantage, but at a higher cost. (FNApps are Flexible Network Architecture programs, designed to run on the Killer's NPU so they don't slow down your gaming.)

Read the entire review here.

Early this morning MMORPG.com visitors were exposed to a virus through our web pages. We shut down our web site and proceeded to secure our services against this new threat. We are now confident that we have isolated and halted the malicious code and have once again turned our site back online. Users are advised to install a virus scanner and perform a full system scan to be on the safe side.

We apologize for the inconvenience and would like to assure our community that we will continue to do everything in our powers to keep our visitors safe from these attacks.

Blizzard has released this gameplay trailer for Hellfire Citadel, one of the new dungeons in The Burning Crusade expansion.

Hellfire Citadel Gameplay Trailer This gameplay trailer showcases Hellfire Citadel, one of the new dungeons in The Burning Crusade.

You can view all of the videos here

Turbine and Codemasters have released two new short videos featuring footage of the classes available for play in LOTRO.

	Classes Movie Part 1 Here is some short video footage of the different classes in LOTRO. Captain, Burglar, Minstrel and Guardian are touched upon in this release.
	Classes Movie Part 2 Part 2 of the overview of classes in LOTRO. Hunter, Loremaster and Champion have video footage in this video.

You can view all of the videos here

Another great trailer from GDC. This time out it's a new trailer for this upcoming scifi MMORPG.

GDC Movie From the GDC here's a new official movie featuring some very exciting gameplay footage from this upcoming scifi MMORPG!

You can view all of the videos here

NCSoft has released this new movie giving us a visual glimpse of the changes upcoming in Issue #9

Issue 9 Official Movie Straight from the GDC here is a movie featuring a visual overview of changes upcoming in Issue 9 including the new Invention System.

You can view all of the videos here

Now that we have had a month to play it, let's sit down and talk about The Burning Crusade. First off, I must come out and say it was good to have a renewed interest in World of Warcraft. I have continued to play the game. After all, I am a gamer and always have to play something. It's just that things can get stale and the game play of the old Warcraft world wasn't something to get fanatical about. As a gamer, that's what I want in my games. I want it to have that lasting impression on me which turns me into a fanatic. Don't take it out of context, and think lunatic, but just a fanatic. I want to be at work wondering about new ways to smite my foes and then get home and be happy that I am playing something worthwhile, not just be playing to feed the need for gaming.

So Burning Crusade came out, just in case you all didn't know. To me, it is a chance for Blizzard to start the whole game over again and take it in a new direction. With a level cap raised to 70, new instances, and a host of new items, there is plenty of room and opportunity to re-balance the game and take it to a new level. The question is; has Blizzard delivered on the two year wait that WoW players have had on an expansion?