Speaking to developmag.com, Richard Garriott revealed that his keynote speech at the Brighton Develop Conference will be entitled "The Rapidly Maturing Genre of Online Gaming." Garriott said that in this speech, he will outline what he sees to be the future of MMORPGs, and what possibilities are there for game developers and gamers alike.

While talk about NCsoft's Tabula Rasa is unavoidable, since that game is Garriott's next baby, we'll give you all the revealed Tabula Rasa contributions to the MMO genre later. For now here's how Garriott sees the MMO genre the way it is now:

The MMO world is both the same and different. It is the same, in that I believe MMO game design has not evolved nearly as fast as it should have in my mind. Nearly every MMO to date is still built in the mold of Ultima Online and EverQuest, which laid the design foundations ten years ago. People still level grind in the constantly replenishing static respawn zones, carefully managing their D.O.T (Damage over Time)

Garriott also says that "community" is what makes MMOs different from so many other types of games. He says that in order to support the "community", one has to not only support the clans, guilds, and other player groups within the game, there must also be dedicated employees ready to support and represent the player community as directly as possible.

As for MMOs in consoles, Garriott notes that that is an ever increasing possibility as large hard drive space and online support is becoming more common on consoles. He says that MMOs on game consoles is something that he "will be watching keenly."

As for Tabula Rasa's contributions to the MMO genre, more of that when you click on the "Full Article" link below.

Not news but helpful to some. A common question game developers usually get from fans goes like this: " What kind of college classes should you take if you want to work at Blizzard? Like as a game designer, or whatever other positions there are. Help please!"

Phrix asked that in the World of Warcraft forums recently. What's noteworthy about this case though, aside from the expected comedic response from the community (they suggested Zoology, Fermentation, and Distillation) is the apt response by Blizzard Community Manager, Nethaera. More importantly, the community's responses to Nethaera's answer. Anyhow, Nethaera said the following:

It depends on the department you want to work in. Take a look at the jobopp page here- http://www.blizzard.com/jobopp/ and read up on the various positions then, start asking around. There are quite a few schools that offer game design specific courses, art courses, server technology, etc. It just depends on what you want to do. Some positions are a bit more ambiguous in nature in the game field and don't necessarily require one particular background in school, but more experience in your chosen field in one way or another.

Good luck!

This response, of course, was met with some dissent, as some folks have decided to craftily "translate" the requirements of becoming a Blizzard employee, and implied that it doesn't take much. Of course, others have discarded that as just plain general trolling. Still, it does seem indicative that some folks really just don't like the Community Managers (ah, that whole Tseric fiasco comes to mind).

To Nethaera's credit, the quick responses to the questions about whether or not one's credentials is enough to make it (there was this one guy who was curious about being a web designer) into Blizzard, won over other folks, and caused the thread to grow.

Aside from noting the usual, and prevailing "we don't like the CMs" sentiment on WoW Forums, we suggest you check out Phrix's job  thread yourself. If you're curious about being part of Blizzard that is. Of course, if that recent Penny-Arcade StarCraft 2 strip was accurate, if you do get in, you may have to learn to how to keep secrets.

Blizzard Community Manager Drysc recently announced on the World of Warcraft Forums that Blizzard will be merging the Cataclysm and Frenzy battlegroups sometime in the next month.

This merging means that the Shattered Halls, Azuremyst, The Underbog, Auchindoun, Coilfang, Blood Furnace, Terokkar, Exodar, Blade's Edge, Velen, Area 52, Zangarmarsh, and The Scryers realms will now all be placed into one single battlegroup.

Drysc notes that the merge is occurring in hopes of lowering queue times. He also says that this is to "increase the number and variety of opponents for those participating in cross-realm battlegrounds and arenas."

Drysc also added that more information regarding the merge would be announced as the implementation of this battlegroup joining nears. Rest assured that we'll keep you updated about it as soon as more info is made available.

Speaking to MMORPG.com, NCSoft's Richard Garriott revealed that Tabula Rasa is unlike other traditional RPGs. In TR, towns don't always stay the same. Garriott says that in traditional video games, players usually visit "level one towns, which send them on level one missions, to level one areas where they get level 1 gear." In NCSoft's game however, towns may change depending on enemy AI.

Here's an example: A player may return to town after his quest only to discover that the town has been taken over by the enemy, and the player will only be able to finish his quest by helping friendly NPCs and other players recapture the town. Nice, huh? A large number of players going off on quests may leave towns undefended and open to attack from enemies - a decent dynamic right there.

Other differences in TR include the different structure of instances and missions. For instances, Garriott said that they plan to use that as more of a storytelling tool. Players will supposedly be able to influence instances in a dramatic way (rescue NPCs, change the environment, etc). As for missions, Garriott says that it is possible for missions to have multiple exclusive outcomes.

When it comes to that common MMO issue where players have to play multiple classes to see most of the class-exclusive content, there's also a workaround for that in Tabula Rasa. As the character progresses, "clones" of the character can be made. This means that while the original heads off on one branch of the class tree, the clone can head in another. Clones are almost perfect copies of the characters as skills, quests done, and logos found are copied. We say "almost perfect" because things like equipment don't get copied.

As for the worlds in the game, Garriott says that so far they've got Foreas and Arieki. However, they do have a third world planned.

Ryan C already gave you a decent dose of NCSoft's Tabula Rasa in the form of videos the other day, but just in case you need more, here's another batch of 20 screenshots featuring classes, weaponry, stages, and gameplay.

The screens are pretty random but they do give a good preview of the various classes/armor available in the game, and it does give a good look at some of the mecha you'll run into. one notable screenshot in the batch below includes a shot of a human squaring off against an oversized mech with red eyes and a lot of mean looking weaponry.

Anyhow, the images are below, click on each thumbnail to magnify. Enjoy!

   

Get the rest of the screens after the Jump!

Ben Miller of ArenaNet has a nice preview of the dungeon crawls in the Guild Wars expansion, Eye of the North up at IGN.

Notable details include his explanation of how the developers did their best to arrive at their unique take on one of the more prominent RPG conventions, the dreaded (and loved, blame the Mines of Moria) dungeon crawl. The methods at how they tried to make each dungeon feel alive and far from being plain dingy caves were also mentioned.

Details on how to travel from one dungeon to the next were also explained. Gameplay elements (bosses, allies, items, health) and the nature of consequence in these "chained instances" were also covered.

Apparently, consequence in these chained instances work in a way that when something happens in one dungeon, like your guide or party members die due to lava or some other occurrence, your guide will stay dead and you'll be on your own until you can manage to make it out of the dungeon and find a way to resurrect your fallen companions. Nice use of instancing, huh?

NCSoft's Guild Wars: Eye of the North is expected to be released around fall. The preview for dungeon crawls in Eye of the North is hidden behind the "read" link. Scan through it at your leisure.

For those of you who treat gold acquisition in MMORPGs as something similar to stock trading, Auction Reports can be an invaluable resource. The latest on Blizzard's World of Warcraft Auction reports for June 1st reveals that the following are the highest selling items of in their respective categories:

• Flask of Fortification - Global Value: 80G each
• Elixir of Major Firepower - Global Value: 160G per 20(8G each)
• Major Arcane Protection Potion - Global Value: 32G per 5(6G 40S each)
• Spicy Crawdad - Global Value: 40G per 20(2G each)
• Cobrahide Leg Armor - Global Value: 175G each
• Void Crystal - Global Value: 1000G per 20(50G each)
• Hardened Adamantite Bar - Global Value: 298G per 20(14G 90S each)
• Khorium Ore - Global Value: 40G per 20(2G each)
• Cobra Scales - Global Value: 365G per 20(18G 25S each)
• Runed Living Ruby - Global Value: 60G each
• Living Ruby - Global Value: 48G 79S 95C each
• Spellcloth - Global Value: 69G each
• Black Lotus - Global Value: 243G per 20(12G 15S each)
• Tome of Conjure Water IX - Global Value: 75G 25S
• Pattern: Thick Netherscale Breastplate - Global Value: 744G
• Pattern: Girdle of Ruination - Global Value: 632G 12S 50C
• Schematic: Healing Potion Injector - Global Value: 85G 36S 66C
• Plans: Hand of Eternity - Global Value: 1500G
• Recipe: Elixir of Major Mageblood - Global Value: 200G
• Formula: Enchant Weapon - Spellsurge - Global Value: 624G 99S 99C
• Design: Tenacious Earthstorm Diamond - Global Value: 400G 50S
• Primal Might - Global Value: 100G

Yes, virtual economies still need actual, real, pricing information. For the a more detailed look at item ricing and what's in demand at the Auctions, our "read" link below should solve your needs.

World of Warcraft's Death and Taxes guild are turning heads because they have apparently found a way to take advantage of the PvP arena 3v3 brackets current rule system.

The story is that members of the top ranked teams are sharing their skill with lower ranked PvP players. This way standings are raised and Armored Netherdrake and titles are easily acquired. This, of course, has lead to rampant success for many teams, and consequently, to a lot of protests in Blizzard's WoW Forums.

Death and Taxes' defense is that they are simply using the rules and the tools that are given to them in order to succeed in the game. As for the selling of titles, WoW Insider reports that this is what was said in defense:

... we're not TRYING to screw anyone. If we were annoyed enough at the casuals in this thread we'd make 10 more teams in the next week and fill up the top of the ladder. At this point all we're doing is providing a service to some guild members who are willing to pay for it. It's simple.

While a lot of folks can't argue with the guild's resourcefulness at finding ways to succeed, a lot are concerned that they might be breaking the World of Warcraft TOS by selling the titles. While we can't really judge them for their actions at the moment, we're sure you folks have a lot to say on the topic. Feel free to let your opinions be heard in the comments.

It has been noted time and again in the World of Warcraft Forums that there isn't such a thing as a class CM (Community Manager) - at least "officially." However, WoW Forum Member Tanque posts an argument on the Forums saying that there are Class CMs, and that their existence matter because CMs who "play the class know how to identify important issues in the community and insure that it gets the proper attention."

Tanque cites an old thread in which Community Manager Nethaera wrote:

As some of you know, I run a Discipline/Holy priest myself and this bug affects me the same as anyone else. I would love to have it fixed sooner as well, but realize that there are many other issues that are being worked on at the same time and being fixed concurrent to these bugs. In the meantime I'll make due.

Tanque notes that this is a nice moment where a CM was representative of a class in World of Warcraft. Tanque goes on to assert that Blizzard should hire Class CMs, and give up this no Class CM status quo, as Class specific CMs would be better equipped to enter class related threads in the forums, and thus be better able to address player concerns.

Blizzard Community Manager Nethaera, of course, was quick to respond with this (brace yourself, it's a long one):

We don't have class specific CMs because it would actually hinder our ability to share information with a class we weren't seen as being "in touch" with should we have information to share. Our credibility as being capable messengers for that class is questioned when we are bringing valid and important information. If one of us isn't available to share the information, another can step in easily and relay the information. If we had a specific person dedicated only to that class and someone else stepped in, people would say they didn't believe it and wouldn't until "x" person said it. This is not how we want to relay information. We are all equally given the ability to relay information to anyone as it's made available to us and that's an important part of our jobs.

Many perceptions of us not understanding the "plight" of a class come from when we have to say "no" or have an answer for people that isn't particularly popular.

Yes, sometimes we share what we play on occasion when relaying information for the sake of letting people know we're right there with them playing and seeing the issues, but we don't want that to pigeon-hole us in the eyes of the community to only being able to communicate on those particular issues.

Ah, the many plights of being a Community Manager. Well what's your take on this folks? Will Class CMs indeed allow Blizzard to better communicate with their players, or will it only "pigeon-hole" the CMs and place them in a position where they're alien to a whole group of players? Feel free to discuss this in our comments below.

The World of Warcraft and Warcraft III U.S. Regional finals will be held this weekend (June 2 and June 3) at San Diego, California at the Dan Aykroyd-powered musical venue, the House of Blues.

Not much info on Blizzard's official World of Warcraft site on the individual teams, but as far as their names go, the upper bracket for the World of Warcraft U.S. Regionals is comprised of: Power Trip vs. Hells Ham Basket, Eminence vs. We lose cuz Daorok sux, The HUKHUK HUKHUKs vs. Conqueredm, and The Fighting Mongooses vs. PvE Clickers.

A chance to attend the global finals at BlizzCon 2007 is up for grabs, not to mention some cash prizes, so the competition should be fierce.

The event should begin at 11am and admission (if in case you just want to pass by, watch, and scream "For the HORDE!") is free. More info on the House of Blues is to be had using our "read" link below. You may want to check it out if you need to plan your visit or something.