MMO Week in Review: Popcorn

At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week, you've come to the right post.

NCsoft made headlines this week twiceover. First, the company confirmed that Guild Wars 2 will indeed be launching in 2012 and will see several periods of public (but not open) betas, though Amazon.de's June 30th launch date seems premature.

Second, NCsoft has lodged yet another lawsuit against En Masse Entertainment and Bluehole Studios, alleging that former employees now working for En Masse repurposed Lineage III assets for use in TERA, due out this May. En Masse has vowed to fight the suit. We have stocked up on popcorn.

The rest of this week's top MMO stories are tucked just behind the cut!

• Riding into Rohan: LotRO maps out 2012
  Lord of the Rings Online's Rohan-centered expansion is due out this year.
• BlizzCon skipping 2012 due to 'jam-packed schedule'
  See you in 2013!
• Activists target SWTOR's future same-gender romances
  Players are warned about "Star Warping."
• Blizzard yoinks Diablo III companion pets due to excessive cuteness
  Only dark, dreary, and depressing pets allowed.
• WildStar invites players to meet the Aurin
  Carbine introduces you to the bunnygirls.
• BioWare's Gabe Amatangelo speaks on faction imbalance, UI customization
  What will BioWare do now that everyone's playing Sith?
• Blizzard job listing mentions 'product placement' within its next MMO
  Prepare yourself for the new future of advertising.
• The Guild Counsel: Why you need these seven samurai in your guild
  Karen picks the perfect movie to illustrate guildmember archetypes.
• The Perfect Ten: Best MMO theme songs (part two)
  Ten more of the very best MMO musical pieces.
• City of Heroes' Matt Miller on the death of Statesman
  We interview Positron about CoH's newest plot hook.
• Sony, CCP 'negotiating PS3 virtual item policy' for DUST 514
  How much is that spaceship in the window?
• Flameseeker Chronicles: We don't need no stinkin' endgame
  Rubi explains why GW2 will be just fine without a traditional endgame.
• SWTOR pushes out ability delay improvements with promises of more to come
  BioWare finally patches the ability delay "feature."
• The Game Archaeologist's World of Warcraft confession
  You don't have to be a WoW-hater.
• RuneScape increasing subscription prices on February 1st
  Not many games raise their fees.
• Leaderboard: Battle of the Bards
  We polled readers on their favorite MMO bard class.
• Max Schaefer talks Torchlight II development, potential MMO plans
  The Torchlight MMO seems farther away than ever.
• Trion attempting virtual marriage world record in RIFT
  Get yourself hitched in Telara!
• Three hours and out: South Korea considers additional gaming ban for minors
  Politicians just can't stop trying to be your kids' parent.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Online footage sighted in the wild
  Did you know there was a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. MMO? We didn't either.

And from our sister site, WoW Insider...

• Bashiok on BlizzCon: "It makes sense to focus our efforts"
• Profanity filters, homophobic slurs, and Blizzard's shaky relationship with the LGBT community
• Rogers Communications violates Canadian net neutrality rules over WoW bandwidth throttling
• The aesthetic consequences of new character models
• Would removing legendaries be a benefit for the World of Warcraft?
• The man who gave away 1,000,000 gold