Agent missions are one of EVE Online's most popular pastimes. While EVE is most often lauded for its open-ended gameplay, player-determined markets and PvP action, a significant portion of the game's players use missions as their primary income source. There is something comforting about missions that seems to draw players in. For many, running missions and upgrading their ship with the ISK becomes the focus of their achievements and their primary measure of progress. The ability of mission-running to provide a direct translation of effort into a stable ISK income offers us a reassuringly linear work-to-reward scheme in a relatively risk-free environment. Missions and exploration are EVE's primary PvE experiences and new missions are released with each major expansion to help keep the game fresh for casual players. There are even several epic mission arcs planned for the future, long sequences of storyboarded missions much like the quest chains you might find in other MMOs.

In this multi-part guide, I will thoroughly examine the profession of mission-running, from the basics to ship fittings and finally some tips and tricks for maximising your performance. In this first part of the guide, I look at the basics of mission-running from mission types and rewards to agent standings and how to find the best agent for you.

Rohan: Blood Feud players can rejoice in the streets of Einhoren as the new crafting system has now been unveiled! For many players, this has always been a major gap in the game mechanics of this free-to-play MMO, but for others, it simply adds more to keep them in the game.

If you're interested in learning more about Rohan's crafting system, you can check out some extensive guides put together by the devs at YNK Interactive. There's one on Gathering, one on Producing, one on Upgrading and one on Extracting. From what we've been able to gather (see what we did there) since the announcement, these guides are extremely in-depth and explain just about everything you'd want to know to get started. From there you can check out the forums to see what players are saying about the advantages of crafted vs. dropped items, and how the new system will affect the economy. If you haven't played Rohan in awhile, this might also be a good time to take a look at our previous coverage and jump on in.

Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into? Comparing one of the largest and most popular MMOs with the current fastest-growing MMO? Do I have a deathwish? Well, it turns out World of Warcraft and Free Realms actually do have a few things in common, but a straight comparison isn't the point of this article. We at Massively have decided to compile a guide for World of Warcraft players who may be interested in checking out what Free Realms has to offer. Even better, for those WoW players out there with children, this guide could be valuable for some alternatives to your usual family gaming choices.

"But why would you want to play in a children's game? And isn't Free Realms all instanced anyway? I've heard it's not even really an MMO!"

These are the types of concerns and questions we hope to answer with this article, so follow along below as we take you through our WoW Player's Guide to Free Realms.

Anyone who's played Final Fantasy XI will be familiar with Fellowship Maneuvers in Lord of the Rings Online. For those of you who aren't, however, it's easiest to think of them like battle recipes where the ingredients are different player's attacks and the outcome are powerful spell-like effects. Of course, there's a lot more to pulling off these things off than hammer a few buttons in a particular order.

That's where Turbine comes in with their rather in-depth guide on the topic of Fellowship Maneuvers. It starts out explaining the basics of the mechanic, then moves into a more detailed analysis of the various sorts of maneuvers possible and what sorts of outcomes a player can expect. It's an interesting game mechanic, and thus a worthwhile read for any MMO player regardless of whether you actually play Lord of the Rings Online or not.

What's in a name? That's an interesting question. For some players, there's obviously not much in a name. For instance, how many VanHellsings, Grandalfs, or RougeKillas have you come across in your MMO travels? We're not quite sure if these people are trying to be clever, innocently paying homage to their favourite pop culture references, or simply don't care what others think.

For others, a lot of thought goes into a name. These players want to have unique, meaningful, and/or perhaps a wee bit pretentious names for their avatar. Maybe there's even a back story for how they got their name.

One thing is certain; developers usually put lots of thought into naming various cities, locations, and NPCs in their MMO worlds. Why? Jess Lebow, MMO storyteller for over a decade, believes players are smart and pay attention to detail. He also knows they're easily annoyed by things like too many consonants with too few vowels or oddly punctuated names. When naming one of the first cities in Guild Wars, he used a feature-based naming generation system that came up with Lagbourough for the city by a lake. This resulted in a few chuckles from testers and not-so-pleased programmers. That city name changed five times before releasing as Lion's Arch.

Codemasters have posted a Hero's guide to Forochel over on the European Lord of the Rings Online forum. Forochel was added to the game last year as part of book 13 of volume one and has content for players in their mid to late 40s. Although this zone has been around for a while now the changed leveling curve speeds up the rate at which players will encounter this content.

The guide details the major locations of the zone, the beasts and quests available to the player and includes the book itself, Doom of the Last King, which brings Angmars's attention to Forochel.

A new guide up on the WAR Herald takes a look at one of Warhammer Online's most notable features, the Tome of Knowledge (ToK). The Tome watches and records almost everything you do in the game from time spent online to beasts killed to achievements unlocked and so much more. The more you explore and achieve in the game world, the more informative it becomes. It can be a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy of sorts for your WAR journey.

The guide gives a brief overview of each chapter of the ToK:

• Quests
• War Story
• Achievements
• Rewards
• History and Lore - Noteworthy Persons
• Bestiary
• Armory
• Live Event

Each chapter contains a number of subsections that hold vast amounts of information. Not interested in RvR or dungeon raiding? Some players make it their personal mission to fill out as much of their Tome as humanly possible. They are rewarded for doing so with special Tome unlocks, including titles, vanity gear, trophies, and tactics. Did we forget to mention it's also a pretty good read when you want a break from slaying?

Hello adventurers! It's been a while, hasn't it? We've been put off track thanks to an anime convention and a certain holiday, but we're back and better than ever! Last time I said we were going to talk about the auction gouse, and that's exactly what we're going to learn about today!

Final Fantasy XI's auction house isn't your standard ebay-esque system. While there is bidding, there is no such thing as a buyout, and you can't actually buy from a specific person. Items are put into the auction house, you can see if there are any of a certain item in-stock, and you can choose to place an amount of gil for that item. This type of auction is a variant on the silent auction, where there is no auctioneer and rising bidding price. Interested? Keep on reading and we'll get into the specifics of how this system works -- it's a little tricky at first.

One of the big features in Runes of Magic is its dual class system. You choose two classes, swapping either as your primary or secondary class. You level each class independantly (only primary classes gain XP), however, you will have access to some of your secondary class abilities as well. With six class options to choose from, it begs the question: What class combo is the best for me!?

"The best" and "the best for your gaming preferences and goals" should be treated as two completely different things because everyone enjoys a unique style of play and recommendations of "the best" will always be subjective. Saylah of Mystic Worlds shows us her own unique thought process that went in to making the decision of primary and secondary class choices.

There are several questions you should ask yourself before choosing primary and secondary classes because you can't change your mind once you've picked them. Do you enjoy soloing or grouping? If grouping is your thing, what role do you wish to play in the "holy trinity?" Do you prefer high survivability with low DPS or moderate survivability with moderate DPS? Do you feel the best defense is a good offense? Perhaps the biggest thing you should ask yourself is what will provide the best fun-factor?

Hola mi amigos! Hoy es la dia de Vana'diel! *clears throat* Ahem, sorry about that. Hello adventurers, and welcome to another edition of Starting out in Vana'diel! Today's topic is actually one that I find quite cool about Final Fantasy XI, especially when you compare it to other MMOs. It's the mechanic that puts the fear of Promathia into every adventurer's step.

Today's column is all about the different monster aggro types -- yes, there are different types. You want to find out more? Come, follow me, and let's find out more!

Hello again adventurers! Ready to go on another tour of Vana'diel? So, ok, you're in Valkurm Dunes. You're enjoying the luxurious beaches, the warm weather, the beautiful sandstorms, the nasty crabs that use defense buffs, and fish that fly in the air and attempt to impale you. It's all par for the course down here at Valkurm.

Yet, I know what you're saying to yourself. You're saying, "Well Brennan, when are you going to tell me how to get that sub-job, so I don't look stupid around the other players?" Perhaps you're not putting it so nicely in your head, but you get the drift.

For those of you who have thought that, then you'll be pleased to know that today's topic is getting your sub-job. Sure, the quest is pretty straightforward, but I have a couple of tips that may help you get through it that much faster. This way, when you get to level 18, you'll have a second job next to your name before your house moogle can say "Kupo~!"

Hello again adventurers! Today's topic is once again back on hard gaming ground instead of community theory as I introduce quests and their purpose.

Questing in Final Fantasy XI is not like questing in other games. Quests exist, but they don't jump out at you with bright yellow exclamation points. NPCs don't scream, "I have things for you to do for me!" Quests don't hold your hand as you pursue their goals. Also, most importantly, quests don't reward experience.

So why bother, right? If you're only going to get come cruddy gold and maybe an item, why should you spend your time doing the quest? Beautiful question, and a very accurate one. Let's take a look at the quest system, what it has to offer you, and how to find some quests at your level with ease.

A major strength of the sci-fi massively multiplayer online game EVE Online is that there are no classes and certainly no professions that a player is locked into. EVE's professions are freeform, but this can lead to new players being unsure about what to do (or be) in the game. The title's developer CCP Games is attempting to remedy this. One of the resources that complements EVE Online's New Player Experience in the Apocrypha expansion is the "EVE Careers Guide", which introduces new players to the gameplay possibilities in New Eden. It's largely put together by Benilopax of Warp Drive Active: Industry podcast fame and Richie Shoemaker (aka "Zapatero"), the Editor of E-ON -- the official magazine of EVE Online -- who we've interviewed at Massively in the past. The EVE Careers Guide is a PDF file with interactive links throughout to navigate between sections, providing a comprehensive look at the game for rookie pilots.

Zapatero welcomes new players to EVE Online, explaining the game in broad terms: "Many have found their own path in EVE by taking turns that are wildly divergent from what its makers envisaged. EVE is about relationships, prejudices, trust, greed and creativity more than it's about spaceships, trade and combat. New Eden is a very human universe, and with almost 300,000 people making up the population, it's a very dynamic one. Yes, it's harsh and uncompromising, frustrating and callous, but it's also illuminating in scope, vast in stature and utterly unique."

Hello there adventurers! It's Thursday, and that means more tips for those of you who are new to Vana'diel.

This time around we have some less documented topics to talk about -- the controls of Final Fantasy XI, how to get into groups and how to run groups, and answer one of the questions presented by reader Green Armadillo in last column's comment area.

I know these topics may seem weird for a recurring feature that is suppose to be a guide to starting out in Final Fantasy XI. You would think I would be tackling more game play issues or tips on how to level. However, these topics play right into getting the most out of your FFXI experience. Knowing these things is going to help you tremendously in Vana'diel, so let's stop talking about it and get down into it.

Hello again adventurers! Welcome back to Starting out in Vana'diel! Last time I promised that I would talk about getting levels 1-10 done and what you should do once you're done. While this probably won't be the most exciting column that will ever be written in this series, it is one of the most essential.

While not everything in Final Fantasy XI comes down to levels, they seem to be the main drive for any gamer who picks this game up. Plus, I know people really don't like grinds, but that's what levels 1-10 are going to be. I'm not going to sugar coat it -- these are the most painful levels of the game.

But, thanks to Fields of Valor and the exp bonus ring that you should have in your possession, things should go very smooth. (You didn't lose it since our first column, right?) Join me after the break, so we can get started on getting you to the magical level 10.