Massively^™

[Via WoW Insider]

Picking locks is one of those RPG features that has allured players for a long time. Not all MMOs have adopted this skill for their default rogue/thief/burglar class, but we certainly think WoW has done a fine job with it. The only problem is, many Rogues don't concentrate on this skill as much as they should, so Ten Ton Hammer has developed this intensive guide on the art of Lockpicking.

In this guide, you're shown which areas to use most effectively to begin the skill development up to a certain point, and then progressively, where to turn for further training. This covers multiple locations for both factions. To get your skill higher than 300, this guide suggests Feralfen Village in Zangarmarsh where the wicker chests are plentiful and the monsters are easily-avoidable.

Somehow, since we last covered the class updates from Warrior Epic, not one, but two new classes have been revealed! The first is the Vanisher, clearly the stealth/rogue warrior of the title. Sporting a look decidedly alien and intricate at the same time, this is easily one of the more stylish warriors available from WE.

The second new type is the Dreadnaught, obviously the tank's tank. These guys are built like sumo wrestlers and outfitted like ... well, like a dreadnought!

Though the Warriors page seems to have filled up, looking at the bottom of each individual warrior's page reveals a bar with warrior face icons, and there's a final space with a question mark in it. Could there be one final mystery warrior approaching?

[Thanks, Brice!]

We don't know if we've heard a term that's lit up playerbase of a game quite as fast as the term "welfare epics" did with the WoW players. PvPers didn't take kindly to it considering many of them think that PvP is the most challenging part of the game. Now that it's being applied to badge gear from heroics and raiding, PvErs don't like it much either. Of course, some people don't really give a flying rodent's 4th point of contact about it, either way. Now what does that blurb have to do with the above? Well, the above One Shot was sent in to us by Grohm, the level 70 Blood Elf Rogue. He pretty well summed it up in one line: "Season 1 welfare epics FTW." Shiny!

If you have a cool set of armor, a neat achievement, or just something you want to show off, don't be shy! Send a screenshot with whatever information you'd like to add to oneshots@massively.com! Your screenshot and story could be next!

For today, I thought I'd show off a screen I snapped some time back. You see, for all the time many of WoW players spend in Karazhan, generally there's very little time to look around. I just happened to accidentally knock the mouse around at the correct moment, and noticed this bit of MC Escher/Labyrinth inspired backdrop. And yes, that's my beloved Troll Rogue with a mohawk (not to be confused with a Night Elf Mohawk) front and center. It just goes to show you that no matter how much time you've spent in a place, there's sometimes still more to see.

One Shots lives on a steady diet of your screenshots! Snapped a good screenshot lately? Tired of seeing the same old games featured? Send us shots from your favorite game! It's easy to be part of the fun -- just send your screenshots and stories to oneshots@massively.com. Yours could be up here next!

IGN's TRVault has the first part up of a new series covering the major classes of Tabula Rasa, and first up is the Spy. It's reasonably concise, as primers go. For those who don't know, Spies are TR's version of the rogue class. They're stealth armored, blade wielding killing machines that can do everything from polymorphing into an enemy soldier, to causing hostile foes to turn traitor, to calling in bombing runs.

Currently, Spies are not only the most popular class in the final tier, but arguably the most powerful too. Spies are the only class that can tank, heal, resurrect, and DPS as the situation requires -- though some of these may change if Polymorph gets the rumored bug-fix in 1.4. Spies are great for experience multipliers when played properly, too.

Spies are amazing at PvP as things stand, so I can see the temptation to level one built for PvP. But unless you're in a very active PvP clan, the better option is to level yourself as PvE, gather as many clone tokens as possible from Targets of Opportunity, then clone yourself a pure PvP Spy when relevant updates are implemented. Tabula Rasa Capture The Flag, anyone?

Ten Ton Hammer has published the fourth in its series of "class interviews" with Funcom. Previously it spoke with the Age of Conan devs about the Dark Templar, the Guardian, and the Conqueror. This time it's the Assassin.

You can read the interview for all the details, but the gist of it is: Asassins use stealth and quick bursts of high damage melee attacks in tandem with poison and debuffs to fell opponents quickly. As a counter-balance to their extraordinary offensive capabilities, they are very weak in terms of defenses. They wear thin silk armor because it allows them to move freely and silently.

So the class is about 90% the same as the Rogue class in games like World of Warcraft. Unfortunately, "Assassins do it from behind" just doesn't have the same ring to it.