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Ryzom certainly has a very shaky time-line, changing business models, being canceled and then saved. This sounds like a bit of a disaster, but in reality, it's proved that it can survive in the often-harsh MMO industry. A huge part of this resilience is the game's loyal fanbase, and in a recent first-impressions piece over at Eurogamer, it looks like the single server's community is still going strong -- in fact, it might be one of the reasons to give Ryzom a try.

The author of the article documented his first five hours with the game, reporting on each hour's experiences. He learned about the lack of restrictions with class choices, the stanza system (which allows players to customize their abilities), and discovered that Ryzom is definitely a lot more hardcore in terms of the hand-holding gameplay hints that most MMOs offer these days. Luckily, he found a lot of real people willing to help him out in learning the ways of the world.

This all sounds fine and dandy, but there are a lot of negatives too -- chief among these, the unintuitive crafting system, the grinding to raise different levels, and the harsh penalties associated with failure. These things are apparently bad enough to turn a lot of folks away, but for some, it's easy to look past them and enjoy what is there. We'd be interested to know where our readers stand on this title at this more peaceful stage in its life.

We've already talked this morning about today's patch 1.1a for Warhammer Online, as well as the numerous changes to RvR incentivizing the open field style of play. We also spoke with Adam Gershowitz and Josh Drescher about the recently released new careers: the Knight of the Blazing Sun and the Black Guard. They indicated those two will be the last new careers we should expect to see in the game for some time. We already knew the Dwarf Hammerer was out permanently; now it looks like anyone looking forward to the Orc Choppa or even the rumored Dwarven Slayer will be doing so for a while yet.

Said Josh Drescher, "We're not going to add things back in simply to say, 'hey, new crap'. If you see new careers in the future, it will be because we see it as new, useful content that improves on the experience the players are already enjoying."

Read on below the cut for our full discussion about the new careers and the future of content addition in the game.

Much has been said on the influence of World of Warcraft on the MMO industry, but comparisons between other games and WoW don't end with massively multiplayer online games. The multiplayer cooperative mode of Resistance 2, a Playstation 3 exclusive from Insomniac Games, bears some similarities in its design to the ubiquitous Blizzard fantasy title in terms of class interdependencies.

Insomniac Games co-op lead designer for Resistance 2, Jake Biegel, recently gave an interview with Christian Nutt from Gamasutra on the development of multiplayer cooperative gameplay, and the games that influenced its creation. Of course, the class-based Team Fortress 2 was cited as an influence, but Insomniac Games also looked to World of Warcraft for further inspiration. "We looked at experiences like Team Fortress 2, in which there are dependencies on classes, and games like World of Warcraft, in which there are large amounts of people working in tandem, creating this kind of epic synergy to overcome these encounters that wouldn't be overcomeable as an individual," Biegel says.

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"Why you should be playing ..." is a free form column from Massively.com intended to inform you about our favorite parts of our favorite games. We want you to know why we play what we do!

The Warden class in the Lord of the Rings Online (introduced with the new Mines of Moria expansion) is, all things considered, a blast to play. A capable jack-of-all-trades class, rich in tactical options. Not a class for those who prefer their combat to be a bit mindless, the Warden keeps you thinking.

The biggest downfall of the Warden is probably hubris.

You see, the Warden is capable. Very capable. Durable in a fight, with a mix of melee and range attacks, and a variety of support powers, when they come up against opponents without special attacks (poison, stunning and so forth) such as orcs or brigands, Wardens can quite comfortably take on foes up to five levels or so above their own. The downside of this is that it can often lead you into trouble.

Read on to find out why I love the kind of trouble the Warden offers.

A brand-new Producer's Letter from Chris Fields brightened this week for Star Wars Galaxies players. Coming sometime in the middle of the month is the newly revamped Life Day event. This year they've taken heavy cues from the Star Wars Christmas Special, that horrifying cultural relic from the 80s. You may wonder about the wisdom of doing so, but keep in mind that the special (despite its many flaws) is 100% canon content. The event will see players smashing presents, decorating trees, and getting awesome presents like a pocket aquarium, a holographic table, a proton chair, an in-home wroshyr tree ... and perhaps even a Kowakian monkey-lizard!

The letter also contains a lot of previews for upcoming patches, great-sounding content for players of all stripes. Game Update 6 will see the addition of an appearance tab, expanding the roleplaying-friendly game feature seen in other games like EverQuest II and Lord of the Rings Online. Make sure to thank AdeptStain if you like it! Update 7 will see the long awaited updates for Spies, and Update 8 will see major changes to Player Associations and Cities. There are a ton more holidays and goodies coming down the pipe ... check out the full letter for the details.

The Warhammer playerbase has been looking forward to new classes since the game launched, anticipating the return of the four classes that went MIA this summer in the push to release. Now the Knight of the Burning Sun and the Blackguard are in testing, available to the folks who completed the Heavy Metal event requirements, and first impressions are starting to surface from the players. Wizards and Wenches has a lengthy look at the Empire's stalwart Knight, breaking down everything from the way they look to how they hand in solo situations.

The author's conclusion is that it "feels polished and really useful." Despite the tanking role the Knight steps into, it offers a large amount of support from Auras and controlling elements like knockback. It's also apparently very solo-friendly ... enough to make the Warrior Priest-loving blogger reconsider which character to play as his 'main'.

Have you had a chance to play with the Knight yet? Let us know below in the comments.

Been feeling a bit exposed in combat since launch? Suffering from a bad case of DPS? Having problems repelling those hard-fighting swarms of Bright Wizards or Squig Herders? Worry no more! With new, IMPROVED Warhammer Online 1.1, you too can tank your way to victory. That's right, friend, coming today to a test server near you are the all new tanking classes the Knight of the Blazing Sun and Blackguard! Both classes come ready-to-use, with easy to understand mechanics based on the Ironbreaker and Chosen! Deploy with the pointy ends facing out for maximum impact!

Plus, Warhammer 1.1 comes with much, much more! Check out the Deathsword test server for fun and games such as item hyperlinking, 'Easy Mode' public quests, an Open RvR Influence system, Armor Set improvements, and tons of new content. Full patch notes are available on the Warhammer Herald site, and if you act now we'll even throw in a freebie: player statues in the main faction cities! This is a limited time offer, as all of this goodness will soon be coming to the live service. Check it out on test, today!

The small group gameplay in many of today's MMORPGs is about the interplay of several archetypes that each offer something different to the dynamic -- tanks absorb damage so weaker classes don't have to, DPS classes dish out massive damage in short amounts of time, healers reverse or prevent damage done to party members altogether, and then there are a myriad of other classes that fill various other roles like crowd control.

Seems a lot of folks fall comfortably into one role or another -- some even stick to just one through multiple games, always playing healers, for example. Do you have a strong preference for one particular group role, or do you try to vary your play experience? In either case, which role is most comfortable for you, and why? We're always interested to learn more about the psychology behind these games, so we're eager to see what you've got!

The Book of Grudges, a Warhammer Online blog, is taking an interesting look at World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online and Warhammer Online -- the big three, basically -- and the fact that each of them is currently adding classes to their game worlds. What's even more interesting is that each of these three games is handling their new classes in very different fashions. Death Knights are a big epic instanced experiences; Runekeepers and Wardens are designed to be solo-able and compliment each other well and Knights of the Blazing Sun and Black Guards are being integrated into the game the game via a special in-game event.

It's interesting that you could play each of the new class experiences in succession and none of them would operate in the same way. That's a surprisingly large amount of variety between three very-fantasy titles -- one of which is based in the origin of high-fantasy.

Ever wanted to take on monsters and swagger around, with nary a care for lesser landlubbers? Well Nexon's got just the thing for you in their newly created MapleStory player class - Pirates! Launching this month, the addition of the Pirate class adds a new facet on this already popular game. Players start with the Pirate, but can choose one of two job paths as their levels increase. At level 30, players can specialize in the fast melee attacks of the Brawler, or go for the ranged-attack prowess of the Gunslinger. Both job trees continue up to Buccaneer or Corsair at level 120, respectively. Additionally, pirates gain several fun new abilities like sneaking past monsters in barrels, the ability to summon sea creatures to help, and even transformative battle powers.

As if that weren't timber-shivering enough to give players an incentive for rolling a Pirate, MapleStory is also adding in a series of new maps and areas to experience aboard the Pirate ship Nautilus, just full of new adventures. They're also planning a series of contests based around the new class, including a costume contest, a user-generated content contest and even a competition for pirate-themed guilds. To top it all off, MapleStory is introducing a new server for people to play on - Demethos - which should give new players a chance to be on a more even footing as everyone levels up. Sounds like some serious sea fun to us. Yarr!

If you missed the news last week from the release of Dungeons and Dragons Online's new Module 8, we thought we should probably point you to the complete patch notes. These notes show everything that's been added to the game with this free content upgrade, including the highly-anticipated Hirelings and DirectX 10 support!

Also, you may want to check out our exclusive early coverage of Module 8 with a dev tour last month. This dev tour gave us the opportunity to get some early screenshots and video footage of the new content, as well as a feature article on the new player experience that has changed so drastically in Module 8. This is an enormous patch, containing many improvements that cater to both the hardcore, experienced DDO players, and those who may be looking to get into the game for the first time. Be sure to check out the complete patch notes after the cut below.

In this month's newsletter we get not one, but two production podcast videos from Mythic that discuss the Black Guard and Knight of the Blazing Sun careers. The downside is that they're not really the same type of animation-infused productions we've seen in the past. We're sure it's because everyone at Mythic is either working diligently on upcoming patches or taking a much needed break after launch. Either way, the videos do go into more detail about the returning tank classes than any of the recent text we've seen on the official Warhammer Online website. So if you're looking to learn more about things like mastery paths and how Paul Barnett interprets the classes, you should definitely give the videos a look.

We're looking forward to both the event and addition of two more tank careers to Warhammer Online. You can never have enough meat shields, after all.

Much sooner than many were expecting, two new careers - the Knight of the Blazing Sun and the Black Guard - are to be introduced to Warhammer Online. Rather than just slip them in with a patch, Mythic is making a festival of the event. The classes won't be available to everyone at first; instead, by completing certain tasks, players will be able to unlock them early.

From November 17th when the event launches, a new tab in the Tome of Knowledge will take players to the Live Events page. There will be a new daily task placed on the page each day, and completing those tasks earns influence, public quest style; the ultimate prize, which will require a login and task completion each day, will be the ability to play the new classes a week before general release.

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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!

Since Warhammer Online's launch, we haven't heard much out of the normally very vocal Creative Director for Mythic, Paul Barnett. Yet, in a recent interview at Ten Ton Hammer, Barnett speaks out about a few topics that are near and dear to his heart; most notably, the psychology of player races in WAR and how they pertain to appearance.

Barnett is usually full of witty metaphors and clever comparisons, and he certainly doesn't disappoint in this interview. On the topic of Dwarfs, Barnett muses on the people who play them and how "Most of the people I've met who like Dwarfs basically look like Dwarfs". He goes on to discuss the psychology of the Greenskins, Chaos players and finally the Elves. "I don't think people that play as Elves look like Elves either, because then I'd have to hunt them all down and kill them because they're too perfect. And if you did look like a Dark Elf or High Elf, you wouldn't be playing our game, you'd be walking around asking people to look at you because you're so beautiful."

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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!