That wasn't a negative statement. I'm really thankful they're investing enough time and effort in making Guild Wars better for players (even though sometimes their bug fixes come in a bit too late).

The latest updates included the following:

• Fixed a bug that occasionally prevented the victory chest located in the Hall of Heroes from dropping items.
  
• Added Priests of Balthazar to all Alliance Battle outposts.
• Added 4 new maps to the Random Arena and the Team Arena.
• Fixed a bug that caused the caravan to stop moving in Gyala Hatchery.
• Fixed bugs and made improvements to the following quest: The Shadow Blade.
• Fixed the descriptions of several Ranger skills, which were displaying incorrect values after the last update.
• Fixed a bug that caused henchmen to drop gold when they died.
• Fixed a bug that caused monsters to drop loot even if your party had no part in killing them.
• Fixed a bug in PvP that caused dead players to receive morale boosts for the deaths of opposing team members.

We'll keep you posted on other Guild Wars client updates.

With a Conan movie in the works, Age of Conan - Hyborian Adventures (AoC) is way up in the MMO buzz meter. David Craddock of Shacknews caught up with AoC Game Director Gaute Godager to learn more about Conan's latest adventure.

AoC is set in the time after the novel "Hour of the Dragon", and the story begins in a Stygian slave galley ship where you take on the role of a slave whose memory has been wiped and has an ugly mark on the chest bearing a cruelly burnt-in hand. As you progress through the game, you gradually remember who you were. You regain your skills and knowledge via solving quests and gaining levels. Those who are familiar with the novel, would know that Conan is the king of Aquillonia – the pinnacle of Hyborian civilization, and he is betrayed, and dethroned for some time by a conspiracy of enemies. In AoC, newlywed Conan is back on the throne but with unrest brewing in the land. Your fate is tied to that of the King. You find yourself interacting more with him in order to save his kingship, your life, and ultimately, the world.

It has been revealed that AoC is part single-player and part MMO game. The first 20 levels of the game are a single-player campaign and should take 10 to 15 hours to complete. Playing the MMO part requires a credit card to gain access to a full month of free play time. The MMO starts at level 21 where you can choose your specialized class. If you're the loner type, you can play the solo campaign as long as you want, and as many times, as long as you have a valid CD key and a credit card.

There are three playable races in the game: Aquilonian (Roman-like race), Cimmerian (Germanic, Celtic race – Conan's race) or Stygian (as I mentioned – Egyptian). There is a limit to the classes, so if you want to become a soldier, better not choose Stygians. Each race has different abilities based on amount of out-of-combat health, mana and stamina regain.

Adding more realism to the game, the need system is established in Conan AI, which is loosely based on American psychologist Abraham Maslow's pyramid of needs. The NPC AI is categorized into several distinct categories – like the need to eat, sleep, survive, fulfill your dreams and so on. Each of the levels of the pyramid contains a steady grow in need, and will need to be fulfilled by the AI.

Godager revealed more info on combat AI, unique weapons, PvP and PvE. The full interview awaits after the jump.

Texas game developer Cornered Rat Software has announced its "Welcome Back, Soldier" promotion for World War II Online, a first-person shooter MMO that recreates the battlefields of Western Europe between 1940-1942. (Historical notes: most ground fighting by U.S. and British forces outside the Pacific was confined to North Africa until the invasion of Italy in 1943, and the fiercest ground fighting during the period of the game was between German and Soviet forces, culminating in the Battle of Stalingrad during the winter of 1941-42. Poland, France and the Czechoslovakia fell rather quickly during 1939 and 1940, while the Battle of Britain was primarily an air war. Outside of those, I'm not exactly sure which battlefields they're referring to...)

The WBS promotion starts on 22 June, at which point 300,000 accounts will be re-activated over a two-week period. The  original game was released in 2001 as World War II Online: Blitzkrieg. Later, the game was updated and released in Europe as Battlefield Europe.

"Its been a roller-coaster ride beginning with one of the earliest MMOG launches to growing and supporting a fiercely-loyal player community all the while trying to continue the innovative and unique approach to development that's seen WWII Online stand alone as the ultimate PvP MMOG available",  says Al Corey, Executive Producer for publisher Playnet. "We're so proud to stand up and say that we're still here and thriving after 5 years. This promo is just a small way for us to say thank you to the thousands of players, past and present, who helped make it possible."

In an interview with Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach (DDO) Executive Producer James Jones has revealed that a PvP feature is in the works and will likely coincide with the Houses of Stormreach tournaments lined up for the MMO.

One curious Arthineous (a DDO forum member) has questioned the sudden change of heart on the PvP feature. Fully 85% of DDO forum members have expressed their disapproval of PvP. Obviously the move on the part of DDO developers is not based on player votes.

DDO Community Relations Manager Sporkfire (aka Victor Wachter) has joined the DDO forum discussion to shed some light, albeit minimal, on the issue of PvP.

Without going into specifics, Sporkfire has assured players that PvP will not impact regular gameplay. He added, We won't balance dungeon combat for the sake of PvP. Any necessary balance changes will be in the PvP Arenas themselves, and not in the PVE game. Also, you will never be in a situation where you were happy doing your own thing, when somebody comes along and ganks you to steal all your gear. That's only fun for one person in the encounter, and we all agree that it sucks.

Sporkfire got into a bit of a "justifying" mode when he said that one of the cool things about PvP is that it can be used with Eberron setting as another means to gain favor of the different houses. PvP rankings will serve as another metric for achievements, in addition to experience, loot, and currency.

In an effort to convince the forum that PvP is A-OK, he said, It's also another activity to do between adventures, and if you have been following our discussions on future plans, you know we have a lot of those kinds of things in development. PvP, crafting, tavern games, social tools and all that are all part of the plan to provide lots of reasons to visit and live in Stormreach.

As part of QJ's continuing coverage of the martial arts epic Hero Online, we managed to snag an exclusive interview with the guys behind the magic, Netgame. We're also teaming up with publishers mGame to  offer QJ readers beta keys to try out Hero Online's current beta program. If you are interested in getting in on the Hero Online beta, just do the following:

1. Email QJ.NET for a Beta Activation Key
2. Register at Netgame for your free account*
3. After registering, Activate your Digital Key
4. Stay tuned to QJ.NET and NetGame for news on when the Client will be available for download!
5. Discuss the Hero Online beta in the QJ.NET Forums!

*Note: Some browsers such as FireFox may not be supported

Now feast your eyes on the exclusive interview with the makers of Hero Online by checking out the Full Article!

Can't get enough of the game? Feast your eyes on this new wallpaper from Guild Wars: Factions. This features a female Assassin with the Jade Quarry in the background.

Guild Wars: Factions is so far the newest expansion of Guild Wars for this year (though we're still waiting for "Nightfall" to be announced officially) where existing characters from the original game can explore the world of Cantha. Guild Wars: Factions has been giving players new adventures through coop quests and PvP battles.