Welcome to Betawatch, Massively's weekly report on the state of MMO betas. In each installment, we'll report everything from the latest open betas, closed betas and even alphas in one convenient place. Plus, we'll make sure to include as much info on each game's current status, including projected release dates (if known) and links to the sign-up forms to get yourself into that beta you've been seeking.

Several changes on Betawatch this week: Alganon made the leap to the open beta list, Dragon's Call and Allods Online (EU) began their closed beta, and Star Trek Online announced their open beta dates. (January 12th through the 26th)

Karos Online publisher NHN Corporation has announced that open beta for the fantasy MMO will kick off on Friday, December 4th. The official site's link for CBT sign-ups is still active, so this may be worth a shot. Those gamers already in the Karos Online closed beta will have some things to look forward to in the final CBT event running from November 27th - 28th. Characters will be given gear and items for high-level play with rapid experience gain. NHN says players will reach a level cap of 44 "almost immediately". There will also be new monsters, weapons, and Holy Creatures to tear into.

In addition, players in the CBT will be able to reserve their character names for when Karos Online's open beta doors swing wide to the masses. The English version of Karos Online is scheduled to launch in Q4 2009, with German and Turkish versions to follow in 2010.

Allods Online, the new free-to-play MMO from gPotato, has been getting some attention from the Massively staff lately, so we're excited to hear that European players are getting a shot at it too.

Phase one of the EU closed beta starts this Thursday. Beta testers can experience the game up to level 19, as opposed to the level ten cap that current US beta testers are experiencing. Both League and Empire factions are available for play, and there are no class or race restrictions. They'll be playing on the "Isa" server, named after the Gibberlings homeland.

While the beta is currently only available in English, upcoming beta phases will include French and German servers and clients as well. If you are interested in participating in any of the closed beta phases, there are a couple of ways to pursue a beta key. You can register on the official site, and beta keys will be made available on the Allods Online Facebook and Twitter pages.

Allods Online is scheduled for release in early 2010.

Today marks the official NDA (non disclosure agreement) lift on Lord of the Rings Online's newest expansion: Siege of Mirkwood. The latest addition to virtual Middle-earth is set to release on December 1st, but many players have already been enjoying the new content on the Bullroarer test server these last few months.

If you haven't had a chance to see Turbine's latest creation, check out our video tour of the expansion just after the jump below. Also, be sure to watch Massively for more coverage on Siege of Mirkwood from now to December 1st and beyond!

Welcome to Betawatch, Massively's weekly report on the state of MMO betas. In each installment, we'll report everything from the latest open betas, closed betas and even alphas in one convenient place. Plus, we'll make sure to include as much info on each game's current status, including projected release dates (if known) and links to the sign-up forms to get yourself into that beta you've been seeking.

We bid farewell and good luck to Bright Shadow -- they launched on Wednesday. Alganon makes the jump to the open beta list, and Allods Online and APB move to the closed beta list. (Check out our First Impressions of Allods Online!)

Follow along after the jump for the complete list.

There's a lot of interesting material coming with the Siege of Mirkwood expansion for Lord of the Rings Online, not to mention a large number of player questions and curiosity about where the game is headed. Luckily for the playerbase, WarCry was recently lucky enough to get a chance to chat with the developers, with a full transcript now available for all who missed the live chat. As is par for the course for developer chats, there's the occasional question that seems rather out-of-place or unnecessary, but on the whole it's full of tidbits that should excite the game's fans.

The discussion ranges from the tangible issues with the upcoming expansion such as class upgrades (each class will get one new skill upgrade at level 62), meta-issues (there will be a Skirmish sneak peek coming soon to let players try the new format), and some wholly random bits (the developers will not add your farm on Facebook as a neighbor). It's a weighty and lengthy chat that can't be summarized easily, so it's best to take a look, digest, and start thinking about the first thing you want to do in Lord of the Rings Online when the expansion goes live.

It's no secret that a lot of people in the MMO blogosphere are excited about Star Trek Online, considering that it's more or less a built-in home run from many of the same people who play MMOs. But there are certainly questions to be asked about any MMO due out soon, especially one with three more months before it hits launch day. Bio Break asks the question in simplest terms: will the game really be all set for a February release?

As Syp mentions, the game's videos and screenshots have pushed combat heavily in a series renowned for protagonists talking through their problems instead of shooting first. With the currently allotted time for beta, if something major does crop up, there's not much to be done to fix it in the short span of time without resorting to a launch day patch. There's a definite question of readiness when Champions Online had a launch that was somewhat stormy, and it certainly did some damage to Cryptic in the eyes of a lot of players. That doesn't mean that Star Trek Online won't be excellent, of course, but it does mean a healthy does of skepticism might be in order.

In addition to this Q&A -- found after the jump below -- Alganon is also announcing their open beta that kicks off today. So if you find David's answers interesting and think you might want to try the game out for yourself, head on over to this link and check it out for yourself.

Thanksgiving, for those of us in the US, is still a couple of weeks away. But beta testers of Global Agenda will have something to be thankful about earlier than that, as this weekend promises to host another beta event for the game. The testing will be running between 11 AM to midnight PST, and the event spans both Saturday and Sunday, each one testing another aspect of the game's growing combat systems.

Saturday will be focused on PvE content, including a new mission type that promises to offer some interesting new dynamics to the gameplay. The "Double Agent" mission type, which is limited to regular subscribers at launch, puts one player amidst of a horde of NPC allies and pits them against a four-person squad of players, thereby mixing PvE and PvP combat into a single arena. Sunday's testing, by contrast, is a pure PvP slugfest. 10v10 matches will be run, allowing people to queue up in groups of up to four to help establish allies for coming events. The developers are also teasing at new maps being dropped into the mix during this testing.

The bad news is that only a small number of new testers will be added for the event -- this party will mostly be confined to existing beta testers. Watch your mail closely, either in hopes that they let you in or for the preparation mails Hi-Rez Studios is forewarning testers about, and keep an eye open for a chance at some early testing starting on Friday.

As MMOs become more and more complex, there's an increasing need for information regarding the game at a player's fingertips. Especially since most of them are being played while on the computer, so a quick search of information is just an alt-tab away, no matter what the situation. Champions Online has stepped up to the plate with their own official offering: the Champedia, a database of every superpower, mission, super group, and character currently in the game. It's fully searchable at this point, although it's still in beta.

There have been debates in the community about adding on currently-played characters into a publicly accessible database, but Champions Online also includes the feature for guild masters to manage their organization directly from the site. A quick log-in allows the group leader to do everything from changing the message of the day to handling promotions without ever having to enter the game. It's not perfect yet, of course -- the Mission section, for instance, includes nothing but the basic mission text -- but if properly managed it could be a great asset to the community looking for information straight from the official source. Now if only it included wiki functionality...

Back, just before Halloween, a Linden Lab staffer accidentally sent an email intended for internal circulation to a mailing list containing quite a number of Second Life users. We were sent a copy a few minutes later, and the email was widely circulated among developers of third-party Second Life viewers by Halloween.

What caught people's eye about the email was how harsh it was when it came to describing aspects of the upcoming Second Life Viewer 2.0 user-interface (the key feature of that software). It certainly didn't pull many punches leveling criticism at various design choices that were obviously in evidence in the evaluation version that had come up for testing.

And for just that reason we are, after a little thought, rather heartened by it.

Last week, we announced an upcoming closed beta test for Allods Online, with 500 keys to give out to the Massively readers. Since that went so well (the keys were gone in less than two hours!), we've been given 1k more to kick off the official CBT1, which starts at 2pm ET today. This first stage of closed beta covers levels 1-10 for both League and Empire sides, including all races, classes, and relevant zones. The beta test will run from November 10th through November 24th.

To grab your key, head on over to our giveaway page and follow the directions there. Remember, it doesn't start until 2pm ET today, so you have plenty of time to download and be ready!

You can argue the specifics about whether or not MAG qualifies as an MMO, but the game certainly fits the "massive" portion of the bill -- 128 characters to a side in battle, customized and developed characters, persistent world based on the performance in the skirmishes. The game's release is only a couple months away, and there's still a great deal more to learn about it if you haven't yet opted in to the preorder beta. Luckily for all of us, Giant Bomb has an interview with Seth Luisi which sheds more light on how the game will play and progress.

The interview is quite substantial, covering everything from MAG's skill progression to leadership roles in the game. Among the more interesting tidbits is the system for squad leaders and further command posts. In order to give some incentive to follow a commander's orders, the objectives they set give a bonus to experience when fulfilled, and as the objectives are fulfilled the leader gets points to help improve their character. It's an interesting dual-reward system that should help lead to people being a bit more inclined to give and take orders in a setting notorious for just the opposite.

But that's hardly the entirety of the interview -- it's only a tiny slice of a talk that ranges to the state of the world affecting map play, character specialization, and some of the problems that the team is facing and working on improving. Take a look at the full interview, which clocks in at around eight minutes long, and you might be inspired to place a pre-order and get your hands on the beta early.

North American Closed Beta Test 1 is beginning on November 10th for Allods Online, and we're happy to throw a few keys out to our loyal readers. We have 500 to give out, thanks to our friends at gPotato, so they may go quickly. Simply head on over to our giveaway page and follow the directions there.

You can download the game from this link, but it won't be available until 2pm EDT today. You can also take a look at their main website to find out some interesting tidbits about the expansiveness of the game and its award-winning development team.

[Update: Make sure to only enter the numbers after the comma in the beta code you receive. Thanks!]