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Yesterday was the first day of BlizzCon 2008, a cornucopia of awesome for every World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo player on the planet. Though there wasn't the usual megaton announcement we've come to expect, there was a solid round of panels, interviews, and presentations for fans of Blizzard's numerous games. WoW Insider, Massively's big sister site, was onhand to get all the info you want to hear about. So ... here it is: BlizzCon Day 1.

	BlizzCon 2008 swag bag Fresh from the check-in lines at BlizzCon is our gallery of the all the contents of the goodies bag Blizzard gave us. Some real great things in there: special goo, a free authenticator, the special mount card, a beer bottle cooler, and either an inflatable frostmourne or inflatable bubble hearth beach ball.
	WoW Insider interviews J. Allen Brack Here at BlizzCon, we just got to sit down with the head honcho of our favorite game, J. Allen Brack, lead producer of World of Warcraft. And the biggest surprise of the interview wasn't a nice tidbit about the future of WoW (and its battlegrounds) or how class changes are made, though we did talk about both of those things.
	Class panel liveblog WoW Insider is doing a lot of coverage today here at BlizzCon in Anaheim, C.A. We've already live-blogged the opening ceremony, the U.I. panel and discussion, and up next will be the live blog of the class panel at 4:30 EDT / 1:30 PDT.
	BlizzCon 2008: The costumes The best part of coming to a convention like BlizzCon? Sure, the news is great, and it's fun to meet the devs and fellow WoW players, but let's be serious: everyone comes to see the costumes.

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	One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!

As we referenced in our post yesterday about DC Universe Online's concept art, the folks at SOE Austin are looking to change the playing field fairly substantially with their superhero MMO title. In fact, in a number of ways they're looking to re-examine a lot of the basic elements we think of as part and parcel with the MMO package. One great example is the concept of questing. Your average experience in a massively multiplayer game right now involves seeking out quests - essentially 'todo lists' - from characters a story-centric quest hub somewhere in the game world.

In DCUO, the goal is to let players do what they want to do with the time they have in-game. To that end, the designers are seeking to push content on players, rather than make players seek them out with their precious game time. Calling them 'encounters' rather than quests, these experiences are totally changeable based on developer intentions, and local conditions. DCUO offers traditional questing as well, with well-known quest givers and amazing quest content ... but they're definitely seeking something new in encounters.

We also chat with the developers about the ways in which their physics-based gameplay fits in, the game's death mechanic, and how the game 'feels' like a 3rd person action game more than an MMO. Read on for all the gameplay details!

Jens: Now, not only can I pick up physics objects in the environment, as you can see here, I can walk over and it tells me I need to use my – whoops, I got stunned when I picked that up. The cool thing here is I could have withdrawn if I wanted to, but if I also... We don't have a death mechanic, we have knock out. It's called a 'rally mechanic'. It allows me to get up on the spot if I feel the situation is going to be safe enough. I don't have to run away and spawn somewhere else all the time. I can if I want to, if I'm surrounded by five guys, but if my friends are still here fighting, I can clear the cobwebs and pop right back up again.

Chris: We can talk a bit about why we decided to have a timer mechanic instead of a death mechanic. Like how the death penalty isn't really necessary, with the timer mechanic?

The Daedalus project is the most important research project into MMO player demographics in the world. Run by the unflappable Nick Yee, it's a fantastic look into the minds of MMO guild leaders, female players, old players, young players, and everyone in between. Past Daedalus articles have tackled issues like playing with romantic partners, the willingness of players to buy gold online, and the importance of achieving goals in a virtual setting.

The newest round of research delves into some fascinating stuff. Probably this round's most interesting data surrounds genre preferences. Have you ever wondered how much people want to play super-hero games vs. sci-fi titles? Whether guys want to play vampires, or whether girls want to play vampire hunters online? All of these questions and more are addressed in the Game Choices article in this round of the Project. Plus! Find out how the demographics of guilds pan out, what the thought process is behind character creation, preferences in class role, and the logic behind choosing a 'main character'. Check it out!

Just yesterday we noted the rollout of the second major Game Update to hit Warhammer Online. One of the key points of that update was new 'Population Bonus' rewards for under-developed factions. This new feature will bestow additional XP and renown on underpopulated factions on specific servers. The Warhammer Herald already has a new page up on the site, offering a rolling list of realms and factions they think need a little help. Unsurprisingly, at the moment they're all on the Order side. The following servers are looking to get some folks into the light:

• Bechafen (Open RvR)
• Ungrim (Core)
• Ulthuan (Core)
  

If you're thinking about rolling a new Order character on one of these servers, make sure to check out our guides to the character classes of that faction. We'll give you the inside information you need to get the most out of your newly-formed good guy. For the Empire!

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	Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out our Warhammer guides: Massively's Character Creation Guide and our WoW Player's Guide to Warhammer. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

We've gotten word that iGames LAN centers across the US will soon be playing host to some unique Warhammer Online related events. All this month through October 31st, the centers will be doing a showcase of the game. While you can play it there on the LAN, even better is the news that you can pick up a 7-day trial of the title to take home and check out. If you get pumped up on the game, next month you might want to check out a couple of special "rally" events that will be held throughout November.

On November 1st, 8th, and 15th at select iGames member centers you'll be able to get together with guild mates and and other area WAR gamers. There's going to be free food, commemorative t-shirts, and special activities with prizes. Head on over there for events like leveling contests, warband raids, and scenario head-to-heads. Then on the 22nd they're throwing something called "All Out WAR", an event that they're planning to unveil more details on as the month grinds forward. Head over to the official iGames site for more details on these unique opportunities.

Thanks for the heads up, Wayne!

Batman. Superman. Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter. Black Canary, Oracle, The Question. The world of DC Comics is populated with amazing characters and fantastic stories. The entire four-color experience is coming to fans of the MMO genre in the form of DC Universe Online, a title in Sony Online Entertainment's stable of next-gen MMOs. Alongside the FPS title The Agency and casual/kid friendly Free Realms, DCUO looks to reinvent the concept of massively multiplayer game for comic book fans. And Massively has had a lengthy first-hand look at this groundbreaking title.

We had extensive hands-on playtime with the game's combat and powers mechanics, and hours of face to face chat time with the developers at SOE Austin. Over the next week, Massively is going to fully explore this dyanmic in-development game. In the words of the developers we'll crack into the studio's philosophy of play and discover the value these developers place on your play time.

To kick things off we've got a fantastic gallery of concept art taken right from the walls of the SOE Austin studios. Explore the work of Jim Lee and the other DCUO artists, with commentary on what you're seeing and hints on what is coming in the next week. Plus! Read on below the cut for Studio Manager John Blakely's insights into 'future screenshots'!

We're still a little more than a month away from the release of EverQuest II's next expansion, The Shadow Odyssey. Ramping up to that November 18th launch the folks at SOE have been releasing information about some of the dungeons coming in the expansion, and allowing players entrance to a fantastic playable preview of the Veksar crypts. Now they're offering up more details on specific subwings of some of the Shadow Odyssey delves.

Head down the rabbit hole to explore the Necrotic Asylum portion of Befallen, and Mayong Mistmoore's personal sanctuary Mistmyr Manor. There are a ton of restless undead to face in the Asylum, and Mistmoore's lackeys are seriously living-challenged to boot. Meanwhile the return to Guk will have a lot of EverQuest fans cheering. Take a look at the official site's look at the Guk Stronghold and (deeper in) the challenges and horrors of Lower Guk. Ribbit!

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	Well met, fellow Norrathian! Make sure to check out all of our coverage of the next EverQuest II expansion, The Shadow Odyssey as well as Seeds of Destruction, the next expansion to EverQuest!

It was just last week that Warhammer Game Update 1.01 was released on an unsuspecting waagh. Already the team at Mythic Entertainment has patched in the next major fix to their newly released title. The Warhammer Herald has full patch notes for Game Update 1.0.2, and it looks like they're adding in some fun new bells and whistles just a few weeks out of the starting gate. Here are the highlights:

• More anti-spammer measures! They're going to make it yet harder for all those spam-monkeys to do their jobs. When can we have a right-click-to-report feature?
• They are working to promote realm balance with (welcome) bribery. Some realms on some servers will now award their players with a +20% bonus to renown and experience! You'll be able to track this on the Herald's server list, and those bonuses will only last until balance is achieved.
• They've added in a debilitating debuff and auto-kick for folks that choose to go afk in Scenario starting areas. Thank goodness! Dang freeloaders.

You can check out the full patch notes at the Warhammer Herald. Make sure to head back here for more talk about the ongoing WAR.

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	Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out our Warhammer guides: Massively's Character Creation Guide and our WoW Player's Guide to Warhammer. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

We've talked about burnout before on Massively, even in a Daily Grind or two. But we're always interested in how you're doing in the quest for MMO enjoyment. So today's question is simple: how do you deal with burnout? If you've been playing these things for a while you probably have figured out a couple of good ways for keeping yourself invested in your game. What are your secrets?

This blogger tries to keep things varied; it's a lot easier to burn out if you're only doing one thing night after night. PvP, questing, crafting ... there are a cavalcade of activities in any given game that can keep things from getting too monotonous. How do you do it? How do you stop the burn?

Massively Speaking Episode 26 is a news-heavy episode going over the simply ridiculous amount of MMO gaming news that dropped in the last week or so. Shawn and Michael chat about everything from the Conan director changeup to WAR post-launch changes. Join us for all the news that's fit for chat!

Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot us an email to podcast AT massively DOT com. Maybe we'll read your letter on the air!

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Read below the cut for the full show notes.

This week the online magazine The Escapist is once again delving into online interactions. They've previously talked about everything from failure cascades in guilds to the 'curse' of WoW addiction. Today they've got up a humorous piece about a family misunderstanding around the always contentious act of buying gold. In this case, the gold in question is Guild Wars gold, purchased for a young man enjoying a birthday.

Once the gold is purchased, miscommunications within the family lead to some tense moments and inter-generational conflict. Check out the piece and find out how the story ends, in Brendan Sears' piece "Careful What You Wish For".

If you're looking forward to October 21st as much as we are, you should know that you're specifically looking forward to 2pm Pacific time on that august date. What's happening then? Well, we're only going to find out (finally, for-reals) what BioWare and LucasArts have been working on all this time. At Massively, as you might imagine, we're feeling pretty confident that it's going to be an MMO set in the Knights of the Old Republic-timeframe of the Star Wars franchise. We're even willing to put money on the title being Star Wars: The Old Republic.

We'd like to go on record right now stating we think the game's MMO acronym should be SWOR ... but will probably end up being TOR. What do you think?

Joystiq's own Randy Nelson will be representing Massively, Joystiq, and the whole family of blogs at the event - ensuring that readers here and across the network are kept up to date. No pressure, Randy! Above is the frontside of our invitation to this event, and you can see what's on the back below the cut.

It's been a bit of a wait for this one, but finally the fan-anticipated Game Update 49 has gone live on the EverQuest 2 servers. We had a chance to preview all of the great new content that SOE has put into the game late last month. Go check out our post to get a look at the fantastic new guild halls, an extension of the current quest line for the Void Storms world event, and (among other things) the ability to resize housing items. The other big pull for GU49 is, of course, the newly-revamped leveling curve that players will be able to surf. Expect to make it to make level a lot faster after today.

Allakhazam has a number of guides that will help you out with this content as well. Head on over there to check out their guide to the new Guild Halls and their amenities, as well as a walkthrough for the Void Storms world event. For fully formatted patch notes, click on through below the cut!

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	Well met, fellow Norrathian! Make sure to check out all of our coverage of the next EverQuest II expansion, The Shadow Odyssey as well as Seeds of Destruction, the next expansion to EverQuest!

Final Fantasy XI is one of the most enduring MMOs of its generation. Coming up on the game's seventh year of live service, the folks at Square/Enix are making it ever-more accessible to the average player. Recent patches have added in content like NPC allies, eased boss difficulties, and even worked to overcome the game's notoriously challenging level grind. Now the developer is working to make it even easier to get into the game, with some expansions in the client's availability.

The game is now available for digital download via the Direct2Drive service! The whole game (FFXI, Rise of the Zilart, Chains of Promathia, Treasures of Aht Urhgan, and Wings of the Goddess) is available for just twenty bucks. You can buy the game's expansions individually as well. If you're not interested in shelling out cash without giving it a go first, they've got you covered there too. There's now a 14-day trial available via FilePlanet. Head over and check out the perils and promise of Vana'diel ... them Tarus are cute!