The July 17 Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures patch notes have been released and it looks to be the largest one yet. The patch drops the prices for basic mounts, has a ton of bug fixes, and much more. Head on over to the full article to check out the notes for yourself.

The ability for players to form guilds and maintain keeps is one of the main reasons that MMORPG players have been paying close attention to Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. EA Mythic associate producer Josh Drescher and designer Christian Bales recently gave out a couple of details regarding both these topics. Want to find out what they said? Check out the full article.

EA Mythic's Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is perhaps one of the most ambitious MMORPGs in recent years. The game seems so huge that players will probably be overwhelmed at the number of locations available to them. Well, for those who like to live dangerously, Mount Bloodhorn might be a good place to start. For more on this, check out the full article.

The legend of Conan the Barbarian, it may surprise you, didn't start with the movie that starred bodybuilder-turned robotic actor-turned slick California Governor Arnold S. The character was created by Robert E. Howard back in the 1930s. Some 40 years later, Conan appeared in Marvel Comics in 1970 followed by the movie franchise in the 80s.

Based on the original story, Conan is a Cimmerian and comes from the far north. Born on a battlefield, he became a noted warrior shortly after hitting puberty. Conan eventually became a rolling stone always looking for adventures. His path is often stained by blood and littered by severed body parts. His encounters were anything but boring: monsters, powerful evil wizards, beautiful wenches and princesses were part of  his social circle.

But he was never the typical hero guided by the same noble principles of say, Captain America. Conan may have performed feats worthy of heroes but his motives were highly questionable. Conan was a thief, an outlaw, a mercenary and a pirate. Despite his spotty resume, he became king in his forties.

Now, Conan is poised to conquer another world. Or make that another medium. The latest trailer for the upcoming MMORPG game Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures shows the dude hasn't mellowed one bit! Conan may be royalty but don't expect to see him drinking tea with one pinky in the air. But our hero is far too busy carving up his enemies like Thanksgiving Turkeys.

Download: [Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Trailer no.5]

We know the basics about Aventurine's fantasy online world Darkfall. We've been given a glimpse of the characters, the gameplay, what to expect from the game, while still leaving us wanting for more. Well, the information-drought seems to be over as we now have some new interesting updates about this PVP-enticing game.

So it is set in a world named Agon, where six playable races live together, though not always in harmony: Humans, Dwarves, the elven Mirdain, Orks, the wolf-like Mahirim, and the ethnocentric Alfar. Let's take a look at how you can start your own clan. According to Associate Producer Tasos Flamboras, it is fairly easy for anyone to jumpstart a clan in Darkfall. In fact, it is theoretically possible to have an all race clan. What the team primarily focused on is a "balance of good strategy and tactics, formations, missions, as well as logistics, supply and support roles [is] crucial to being successful in Darkfall's clan warfare."

Looking into the clan composition, compatible race and alignment make it possible for the clan to be at the same location and use the same NPC merchants and NPC guards, among other things. A caveat from Flamboras: there are NO CLASSES in Darkfall, only skills. And although the races are unique from each other, they all stand in an equal footing. So, you shouldn't confuse it with other games by arguing that Darkfall will be dominated by ARAC (all race all class).

As for the clan identity, they basically can build cities and own resource gathering locations, though not all will opt to build a city. As they are unique, you would encounter clans who are nomadic, opportunistic, seafaring and pirate clans, as well as mercenary ones. Clans control areas by occupying clanstones and bindstones.

The clans themselves follow an internal hierarchy which determines leadership by a ranking system. Expectedly, the clan leaders have the authority to promote and demote their clanmates. Interestingly enough, they won't usually do this on a whim as the system is made to be meritocratic. Meaning, the good performance and contributions of the members are measured and recorded accordingly for reference.

Learning from other MMORPGs, Darkfall has incorporated in its system a cap on how many characters can tie at clanstones and bindstones, fast transportation limitations, distance between cities, area of effect of spells and weapons, and more importantly, the full collision detection together with friendly fire. For these safeguards, Darkfall has coined the term "Zerg" to refer to the use of sheer numbers to dominate.

At present, many more gamers are signing up for clan beta and the Darkfall team will have further screenings of applicants to determine the clans selected for testing and the order in which they will be let in. Well, that's all the updates we have for now on this really intriguing game. Again, no date was mentioned as to the release of the game. But then, getting updates sure beats the hell out of nothing, right?

Just keep tuned here for more infos and breaking news about the game. We'll be sure to cover it for you.

To accommodate those whose busy schedules allow them only occasional casual gameplay, Square Enix is adding some new Assault Missions in Final Fantasy XI. Some adjustments to the Assault Points system for existing missions is also planned. These additions are in conjunction with the release of two new mercenary Ranks, Lance Corporal and full Corporal. Five new missions will be available at each rank, and will require new strategies.

These new Assault missions allow a wide range of options for raiding parties of different sizes and job compositions. The number of Assault points that can be earned will depend on the size of the party, and parties in which particular jobs predominate will be more suitable for some raids and not others.

So far, the specifics on point adjustments are as follows:

• Assault Point Adjustment 1: When participating in an Assault mission with 4 or more people, the penalty on the number of Assault Points earned per person will be decreased.
• Assault Point Adjustment 2: The number of Assault Points earned for each Assault mission will be adjusted to better reflect the level of difficulty.
  

A word of advice from the developers: these new Assaults will require players to stay sharp, so don't let those mercenary skills get rusty!