As we close in on the launch of Ether Saga Odyssey's upcoming content update, Future's End, Perfect World Entertainment has sent us some lovely new screenshots as well as a bit of new information on what players can expect. First off, there's the titular Future's End, which is a new zone for players level 106 or higher. Future's End is inhabited by a variety of high-level monsters that provide lots of experience and plenty of valuable item drops.

Also included in the update are two new types of equipment, known as Dragon Lord and Genesis equipment. What truly makes this new equipment worth fighting for is the new Glyph system, which is used exclusively to enchant Dragon Lord and Genesis equipment, raising the gear to new levels of power. If players inscribe their gear with the right combination of glyphs, they can enable Mantras, which grant attribute bonuses. The update also brings new world bosses, new adventures, and new Signets and skills for Mogui classes. And lastly, for those of you who want to play even when you're out in the treacherous real world, PWE is introducing the Mobile Forge, which allows players to access the Ancestral Forge on the go. For some lovely screenshots to whet your appetites for the upcoming update, click on through the gallery below.

Today's MMO Report, sadly, suffers from a distinct lack of Casey Schreiner. But all is well, as G4's Morgan Webb has stepped up to the plate to cover for Casey as he celebrates his 30th birthday.

The first order of business is the announcement that NCSoft will be shutting down the North American Lineage servers on June 29th. All inactive accounts for the 13-year-old game have been reactivated, and the game will be free-to-play until the servers go dark.

Secondly, we move on to the much-anticipated Guild Wars 2 and the confirmation that Lion's Arch, a social hub featured in the first game, would be making its return in Guild Wars 2. Be sure to check out our coverage of the unveiling of the fly-through video and some analytical commentary from our own Rubi Bayer.

Next up is some screen-time for Minecraft. While the game is not strictly an MMO, there's no doubt that the indie title has gained immense popularity in the gaming community. Morgan reports that Minecraft creator Notch is contemplating holding a Las Vegas launch party... err, convention tentatively dated for November 11th.

Star Wars: The Old Republic's Sith Inquisitor made its trailer debut earlier this week. Being described by Morgan as "the one player character you really don't want to meet in a dark alley," the class incorporates elements of both spellcasters and stealth classes into one mean, Force-fueled combination.

Lastly, we have a fly-through video of the starting zones of Perfect World Entertainment's Ether Saga Odyssey. The free-to-play MMO launched late last month.

For the full Casey-and-mailbag-deprived video, scuttle on past the cut.

Letting fans design mounts is always an interesting idea, but here's a mount that really leaves a burning mark on the land -- Ether Saga Online's new "Dark Noturno" mount.

Dark Noturno, originally named Nocturne, is the fan-made creation of ESO player Monaka. She submitted her designs for Nocturne during their "create a mount" contest and her designs made it to the official ESO artists in China. After a few tweaks here and there to her designs, Dark Noturno finally came to life and Monaka was the first player to recieve the devilish new mount.

Perfect World recently caught up with Monaka to ask her about the experience, so check out their interview with her over at their official company blog. Nice mount, Monaka!