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Where the clouds pull apart, and the moon changes faces, In the quiet secret places are you there? If you play on the Iron Claw server, you'd likely have run into Snacky who sent us today's Warhammer Online One Shots. While running around, Snacky came across the following scene, and sent this screen to us along with the following note: As my Shaman (why not Shawoman?) was travelling in the land of the Dark Elves, I was overcome with emotion as I stood upon a cliff ledge and watched with fascination the swirling light-show in the sky.

If you've found a cool location on your daily travels, we'd love to see it! Just send it in to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name/server/guild and a quick description. We'll post it out here for the world to see -- and potentially add in pop-culture references, too!

Another step has been taken along the road for the dispute between Richard Minsky (registered owner of the SLART trademark), and Linden Lab (applicant for the SL trademark). The United States Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) has dealt something of a blow to Linden Lab's background effort to convincing the USPTO that Minsky committed fraud in registering the SLART trademark and that the SLART trademark should be cancelled.

In short, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) has suspended cancellation proceedings for now, so the Lab won't make any further progress on that front for the time being. Minsky asked the TTAB for the suspension of proceedings, and the Lab argued against it -- but the Lab's argument apparently didn't hold up on basic reasoning.

We realize that the suspension of a cancellation proceeding generates a little confusion. Just bear with us, okay? One part is the cancellation process by which the USPTO determines if the SLART trademark should be cancelled. Whatever happens, there's no guarantee that it will be cancelled, even if the process resumes. The process itself has been suspended however, based on the TTAB agreeing with Minsky's reasoning that the cancellation process should not proceed at this time. Suspension. Cancellation Process. Got it? Right, on with the show ...

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	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

From Tier 2 onwards, players of Warhammer Online have the option of mustering an army to go forth into the RvR lakes and capture keeps. There are numerous benefits to capturing a keep -- renown bonuses and set-piece loot await a victorious party, as well as a chance to claim the keep in their guild's name, and push the zone control meter forward for their realm. Of course, if the opposing realm has some backbone about them, a quick capture can turn into an all-out war, with siege weapons and countless casualties. One can only hope! Join us as we take an in-depth look at all of this, in our gallery guide to capturing and defending keeps.

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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!

Eurogamer is reporting that Turbine has revealed their plans for a Facebook-like social networking site centered around Lord of the Rings Online. The website would launch sometime in Q4 and basically track everything a player does across multiple characters by being directly connected to the game. It'll also feature the kinds of things we all expect from a social networking site such as friends lists, communication tools and even the ability to upload pictures and videos. Similar websites are said to be planned for Dungeons & Dragons Online and Asheron's Call sometime soon as well. Turbine also seems to be planning on advertising on these websites, which is a pretty clever way to introduce advertising into their games without ruining the experience.

Facebook and other sites like it can be a surprisingly strong tool for creating communities around just about anything. So we're admittedly excited about this announcement, because anything that can create a more tightly-knit community in an MMO is hugely important as far as we're concerned.

38 Studios, the Boston-based MMO development company started by Curt Schilling, is working on a brand new, highly-publicized MMO project, code-named Copernicus. What does this have to do with World of Warcraft and the Azeroth Advisor newsletter? That's what we're trying to figure out.

In a recent interview with WoW Insider, the company's CEO, Brett Close, discussed the reasoning behind 38 Studios' purchase of the Azeroth Advisor and how they plan to use it in the future. According to Close, it's not an elaborate scheme to close down their competition by buying out their fansites and tools, but instead, they realize that in order to let the genre thrive, they need to work together. WoW's success ultimately means 38 Studios' success, and the success of other MMO developers. Plus, they plan to use the proprietary technology behind the Azeroth Advisor for other unnamed future projects.

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!

Here we are once again, saying goodbye to yet another talented NCsoft employee as they pursue a greater opportunity outside the company. And once again, we're saddened by the news, yet excited for their broadened horizons. This time it's Amy "Critters" Crider, former Community Coordinator for Tabula Rasa.

Crider took over the community role earlier this year from April "CuppaJo" Burba, when she left for the Dungeon Runners team. Since that time, Crider has won the respect of the TR community through her work with in-game events, fansite interviews and more. Taking her place will be Dane Caruthers, who you may remember from our PAX08 interview earlier last month. We wish Dane all the best in his new role, and Amy continued success with her new venture.

With the recent redesign of Lord of the Rings Online's main website in anticipation of the upcoming Mines of Moria expansion, we get treated to more than just a pretty new blue theme. We get Moria pre-order information, The Treasures of Moria contest and an expansion to the Hero's Guides started just last month.

In this newest Hero's Guide, Moria's Flaming Deeps are explored and described in great detail, to give players a better idea of what they will face upon arrival. We get the backstory of how the area was settled first by Dwarves, and ultimately conquered by the Orcs. The ongoing struggle to win back this segment of the mines plays host to several exciting questlines that include rebuilding the bridges and armaments in preparation for the war with the Orcs and thinning out the Orc numbers to stop them from being a threat to the once-great Dwarven civilization. Check out the complete four-page article for more information, and look for more to come!

There exists a very close relationship between MMOs and table-top games.

Yesterday saw the launch of Ethernauts, the fifth expansion to EverQuest-related collectible trading card game Legends of Norrath. LoN is digital, but gameplay-wise, it's totally a table-top game. World of Warcraft has an entirely material trading card game. Warhammer Online is of course based on the Warhammer miniatures game, and WoW is getting a miniatures game of its own. And of course, the RPG genre originated on the table-top with Dungeons & Dragons.

We're wondering: how much crossover is there between digital and table-top games? How many of our readers play them? Tell us! What do you think of table-top games?

It's been quite a long time since we've reported on a House of Commons dev chat with Lord of the Rings Online's Turbine and Codemasters devs, so this latest one should come as a special treat. In it, we get word of a few new features for the first expansion, Mines of Moria, which was just announced today to have a release date of November 18th! In order to paraphrase this long dev chat, we've bullet-pointed what we feel is the most interesting answers to player questions:

• No pre-Moria equipment will be part of the Legendary Items system.
• After Mines of Moria, they'll "most likely" be heading south with future expansions. Although there's word of fleshing out Eriador as well.
• Capstone skills are used in conjunction with Legendary Traits and Trait sets to make mega powerful skills. These capstones come in three different types: solo gameplay, small fellowship and 6-man instance gameplay.
• You will get access to another Legendary Trait slot at level 60
• Renown and Infamy will be changed to increase the amount gained in a full group and reduce the amount gained in raids.
• The Elves of Lothlorien will not have accessible reputation until the first book update after launch
• Suggested improvements to the kinship system include kinbank, plus stablemasters and crafting areas in the kinship house.
• The entire Book 1 of Volume 2 will act as an introduction to Legendary Items, so you will get them early on.
• Following the helpful dev diaries on the Hunter, Burglar and Lore-master, Turbine plans to release guides for the remaining classes from 50-60 as well.
• Inventory problems will be alleviated with quest tokens and key rings. Quest items will be stored in a quest journal, instead of the player's inventory. Key rings will hold important keys for certain doors.
• You will not need to finish Volume 1 to access Volume 2.
• No new hobbies releasing with Moria, but there are others in the works for future book patches.

Today marks the release of the fifth expansion to the Legends of Norrath digital trading card game -- Ethernauts. More than 280 cards join the existing arsenal, including four avatar cards, two new unit races, and 20 loot cards. They all play into a story that sets the stage for EverQuest II's upcoming The Shadow Odyssey expansion. In fact, there are even some scenarios based on never-before-seen TSO content.

In an attempt to give would-be newbies an incentive to buy in, SOE has also introduced the Legendary Starter Pack at the price of $19.99. If you're a vet, though, you can pick up Ethernauts booster packs for $2.99 each. Current EverQuest or EQ2 subscribers will get a free starter deck, 'cause, y'know -- you're not hooked on Norrath enough already, right?

Oh, and there are a bunch of special events all weekend celebrating the launch.

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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!

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!

Blizzcon starts tomorrow in Anaheim, CA, and WoW Insider and Massively are already on-site to provide the best coverage we can! If you're in town, we want to invite you to the WoW Insider meetup tonight at 8:00 PM Anaheim time. You'll have chances to win cool prizes and swag if you know your World of Warcraft trivia, and the WoW Insider podcast will be taped in front of a live audience, so you can be a part of that mayhem as well.

The meetup will be at The Lost Bar at 1150 W. Magic Way, near the Disneyland Hotel. The party will go on through much of the night, so even if you're not getting in until after 8:00, feel free to show up late and relax with the WoW Insider crew post-flight or drive.

From Chiba, Japan, AP reports on Sony and Microsoft's upcoming avatar-based offerings at the annual Tokyo Game Show. Associated Press goes to great lengths to avoid spooking what they seem to feel are a parochial and hidebound audience with gems like, 'In the so-called "metaverse" in cyberspace, players manipulate digital images called "avatars" that represent themselves, engaging in relationships, social gatherings and businesses.'

Of course, the notion of graphical avatars as a part of a wide variety of Internet services has persisted for most of the last two decades, but even the sense of this is backwards.To the casual and uninformed observer it might appear that the user manipulates this (ahem) 'digital image' to perform actions, but this is substantively not the case. The user moves or takes action through the virtual environment in relation to spaces and to other users, and the avatar represents the action to others.

It's just that sort of long-arm punditry that seems to make AP compare Sony's Home and Microsoft's Avatar service with Linden Lab's Second Life, despite Sony and Microsoft's respective services having about as much in common with Second Life, as they have with Mortal Kombat. 'The real-time interactive computer-graphic worlds are similar to Linden Lab's "Second Life,"' writes the AP correspondent, in a wondrously surreal moment.

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	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

The new Day Jobs feature coming with City of Heroes Issue 13: Power and Responsibility has caught the imagination of many of the roleplaying crew, but some other players are unsure what to make of it. Designer Phil Zeleski has provided some insight into how the feature works and what sorts of rewards players can get from using it.

Put simply, the CoX Day Job system allows players to log out from a specific location (like a hospital or vault) and when they return to play, after an extended log out period, they will gain a temporary power or some other benefit. With the exception of badges and accolades, the benefits either last for a limited time or have a limited number of uses before they are used up. However, you can replenish the benefit by logging out in the same area. Most rewards need 10 days of logged out time to hit the maximum benefit.