Massively^™

Recent discussions in the official World of Warcraft UI forums might be of interest to folks that like to tweak their user interface. Which, we think, is pretty well everyone. There's a lengthy post from 'blue' poster Iriel there all about changes to the UI elements coming in Wrath of the Lich King. Tech-savvy UI tweakers will find a lot to love there, with new unit functions and plenty of tweaks to how old ones worked, Even better, it sounds like a ton of our user-created information will be stored on the Blizzard servers, from Macros key bindings to UI settings.

It's all 'Beta' information until the expansion launches, of course, so some of these listed items may change between now and the game's release date. Head on over to the official forums to check out the full details, and be sure to stop by WoW Insider for more on the game's changing UI.

---

	One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!

Blizzard is making it easy for you to start planning for the launch of World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King expansion. The official WoW website's talent tree calculator now represents the current WotLK build's talent trees for all classes, including the new Death Knight prestige class.

You can try on all sorts of new specs taking into account the talent tree changes and new abilities coming in the expansion, which is due out later this year.

The most interesting aspect to this is the ability to really explore in detail what kinds of abilities are available to the Death Knight. The information has been public for a while but if you haven't been following every single interview, it's cool to be able to go to one place and interact with what's there.

The latest Blizzcast is live! This fifth outing is the post-Worldwide Invitational episode. The bulk of its running time is dedicated to Diablo 3. If you're interested in that pseudo-MMO, action-RPG goodness, then there is a ton of information in there. Diablo 3 Community Manager Bashiok interviews Lead Designer Jay Wilson about the game. It's detailed stuff (e.g., several minutes dedicated to Blizzard's reasons for abandoning the grid-like inventory management of the earlier Diablo games), so Blizzard fans should check it out.

Of course, here at Massively we have a special interest in World of Warcraft. We're sad to report that Blizzcast #5 is a little light on WoW or Wrath of the Lich King discussion. Community Manager Nethaera participates in the first half of the podcast, and she talks a little bit about WotLK, but she mostly shares in the post-Diablo 3 announcement glee.

---

	One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!

The first day of the Penny Arcade Expo is behind us and we have a few tidbits to report for those who weren't able to attend. In the MMO world, the heavy hitters of the show seem to be the usual suspects: Warhammer Online and Wrath of the Lich King. Yet, there were some surprising underdogs shining through to grab the attention of many attendees. One of the largest of these is NCsoft's Aion. With the NCsoft booth occupying some precious real estate in the middle of the exhibition floor, the Aion side of that booth faced the entrance, which worked well in their favor. Even the buzz around the booth and from passersby seemed very positive during the first ever public hands-on of this fantasy/flight MMO.

Generally, this year's PAX is not only more populated than last year's event, but the booths seem more open, allowing attendees the opportunity to take in more at once. Be sure to check out our ever-growing PAX08 gallery below, and follow along with our ongoing coverage of PAX08 including exclusive interviews and more throughout the weekend into next week.

Throughout this year there hasn't really been an MMO released that's became a stand-in for my main game, which I actually don't even have as of right now. So with the summer's end nearing, I thought a look six or so months into the future releases would be an interesting topic. I know what some people may be thinking, Age of Conan did indeed come out just as summer was starting. While Funcom's newest game did hit rather recently, it just wasn't what I was looking for in a game overall. So if you're in the same boat as me, or just want to read about some of the upcoming MMOs worth playing, feel free to click the image above to start reading.

With the Age of Conan launch not far behind us, and the release dates of Warhammer Online and Wrath of the Lich King coming up soon, The Lord of the Rings Online hasn't been getting much attention as of late. That's a pity, really, since it's just hitting its stride, with the Mines of Moria expansion coming out this fall as well.

Turbine has been shy about releasing subscription numbers, but an educated guess could place LotRO in the #2 spot as far as subscription-based, western MMOs go. So to give LotRO a little much-deserved attention, we decided to ask you: how's LotRO treating you these days? Turbine has had over a year to polish the game. How's it coming? And if you're a LotRO player now, will WAR or WotLK draw you away? Or do you expect Mines of Moria satisfy all your MMO cravings this year?

In addition to offering game-related downloads, our sister site Big Download covers PC news in general -- not just MMOs. But when it put together a list of the most anticipated games of the coming season, two MMOs figured prominently: Warhammer Online and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

In addition to simply listing the games, Big Download rates each release's chance of success. Of WotLK it says "near-perfect ... as close to a slam dunk as you're likely to get." On the other hand, it's a bit more skeptical about Warhammer Online. The article says that WAR's chances of success are "in question" because new MMOs in general usually have a rough time of it.

Check out the feature for more details, and to see what the other games on the list are if you're into more than just MMOs.

In a sea of Wrath of the Lich King beta reviews, it's nice to occasionally get some that aren't aimed towards the hardest of the hardcore, consisting of flavor-of-the-week buzzwords and catchy acronyms. Over at the MTV Multiplayer blog, we get treated to a casual review of the Wrath beta, focusing on the Death Knight and the character carry-over experience.

In this review, we're told of this player's thoughts on how WotLK is "more of the same - but better." They're particularly happy with how the Death Knight isn't just a new class thrown into the mix, but it has its own storyline and unique set of skills that combine elements of the other classes. The achievement system is also discussed (and praised) in detail, but just enough to interest people who may be looking at World of Warcraft for the first time. Yes, there are people like that out there somewhere.

---

	One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!

With Wrath of the Lich King coming out very soon, and four years of the game's history behind us, it's nice to just sit back and read something about the basic fundamentals of World of Warcraft. In a recent article over at GameSetWatch, they've dissected what WoW means to the average person and why it has become so popular.

As the article admits itself, yes, this is in fact another World of Warcraft article. However, it approaches the game from a slightly different angle as the author realizes what the game is all about retrospectively. It's not a beginner's guide to the game, but more like a beginner's guide to what to expect from the people who play the game, and what to expect from yourself if you're getting into the game for the first time. It's certainly worth a read.

---

	One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!

In one of the more unexpected moves in World of Warcraft's upcoming expansion Wrath of the Lich King, Lady Sylvanas, leader of the Forsaken, has finally gotten a new look. Lore purists have argued about why she was modeled on the Night Elf model when Sylvanas was originally one of the High Elves. (Thus her look should have more closely resembled Blood Elves from the Burning Crusade expansion) There's now an equally loud contingent who are complaining that Sylvanas' new look is perhaps a little too... valley elf.

To see things for ourselves, we jumped into the Wrath of the Lich King beta and went through the Lady's Necklace quest arc that triggers off her singing Lament of the Highborne. We were curious as to just how the new model would play out in this player favorite arc. If you've never seen the event, are curious about how it looks with the new model, or just like to listen to the song -- join us after the break for an updated look at Sylvanas' Lament!

As the Wrath of the Lich King expansion gets closer to release, World of Warcraft players have a number of questions about how the game experience is going to change for them as the title moves forward. Co-lead designer Tom Chilton and producer J. Allen Brack spoke with Oli Welsh from Eurogamer at the Games Convention in Leipzig, about where the Blizzard title is now, and where it's heading.

The interview touched on how Blizzard will handle instances in the Death Knight starting zone in Wrath of the Lich King, with Brack stating that instances won't actually be used. Rather, a player's environment will shift between different world states dependent upon quest progression. Other highlights of their talk include the design aspects of the hero class, faster leveling, and whether new players can really have the same experience that drew so many gamers to World of Warcraft years ago. Be sure to check out the Eurogamer interview for the full story on Wrath of the Lich King, particularly the Achievement system and how Blizzard feels about its growing competition.

---

	One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!

Welcome to another week of Ask Massively, where we don't just buy into hype, we devour it with the kind of intensity usually reserved for stoners and Doritos. Since we're a couple of weeks away from the launch of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, I thought it would be good to answer the biggest question on everyone's mind these days.

Dear Massively,

Can Warhammer Online:Age of Reckoning be the "World of Warcraft killer"?

-- (about 600 emails in the past month)

It seems like we've been here before, but as long as folks keep asking, it's up to us to answer.

If you're a World of Warcraft player and you're born to be wild (I mean seriously, who isn't), you may be excited about the latest mount confirmation coming in Wrath of the Lich King. "The Hog" is a new mount that is currently in the Wrath beta, and is said to launch when the expansion goes retail later this year.

Of course with most Wrath gear and mounts, there are stipulations on level and availability. From what we know right now, The Hog is not a temporary quest item, it is used just like any other mount. It can also only be used in Northrend and Outland. Previous rumors slated this mount for Engineers only, but it is said to have no Engineer restriction, so anyone can use it. Grab your fellow one-percenters and riiiiiide!

---

	One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!

If you're looking to get a head start on the new World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, you might be a bit overwhelmed on where to start. Should you hoard mats, and if so, which ones? Since everyone and their grandmother will be making a Death Knight, should you be making some twink gear to sell and make mega gold before that bubble bursts?

In Tobold's most recent blog post, he gives us some insight into his own pre-launch plans. Stocking up on mid-level herbs and Runecloth for the Death Knight, who will start their First Aid at 270 automatically, might be a good plan. This is certainly an exciting time for you MMO economic strategists out there, so we're wondering what your plans are for the WotLK preparation. Let us know!

---

	One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!