Is Destiny a shooter with MMO elements or an MMO with a lot of shooting elements? According to a recent video interview with Chris Butcher, it's the former, and seeing as he's the Engineering Lead at Bungie he probably knows what he's talking about. But there's also some more nuance to the game which Butcher explains, and while it might not fall comfortably within the MMO header it's got a lot of persistent options.

Butcher explains in the video how the game's many public areas work -- there's no UI elements to let you know that you've entered a shared space, just the sudden sight of other players alongside the announcement of dynamic events in the area. It's certainly an interesting take on shared spaces, and it's more than you might expect from a straight shooter. If you're looking forward to the game, the video embedded past the cut is well worth your time.

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We've talked about weather systems and day/night cycles before, although generally MMOs and gamers seem to think of them mostly as cosmetic features that are fine to have as long as they don't get in the way. But what if they do get in the way? What if weather actually has an impact on your character and the game world?

What if a pass got snowed in so that you couldn't reach a certain area? What if whiteout conditions kept you from seeing that face-eating monster 10 feet away? What if wind gave your character an extra bounce in his or her step if it came from behind or actually slowed you down if you were facing into it? What if lakes dried up in drought or lightning could strike metal objects (like, um, your plate mail)? Would it be more immersive for you or just more annoying?

Seeing as most of the potential ways that weather could interact with us are negative, this might be a silly question. Still, I'm putting it out there: Should weather systems impact gameplay, and if so, how?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

WAKFU is pushing back its Haven Worlds update a week to June 25th as the team cites testing concerns. "Our forums and internal discussions, as well as the internal playtest, raised concerns on some of the main aspects of the Haven Worlds," Ankama posted. "Since our intention is to offer quality content that matches your expectations, we decided to take one more week to improve a few gameplay details."

The team decided not to implement tollbooths in the patch but created a more "malleable" system to fill the role. Several other small changes, including those to taxes and GvG features, are detailed in the delay post.

To fill the void between now and the 25th, Ankama has put up a new dev diary to show off Haven Worlds and all the goodness that is to come. Check it out after the break!

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SOE will be transferring it's EU EverQuest II services to ProSiebenSat.1 "on or around June 20," according to a news post on the EQII website.

The blurb says that European players will continue to be able to play on U.S. servers, and vice versa, and SOE has uploaded a list of FAQs to help ease the transition. SOE also says that Euro players will have their own localized forums and customer service, but players with existing SOE accounts will still be able to access the U.S. forums.

Hit the link to read the full announcement.

If you've been thinking that what Marvel Heroes really needs is another couple of costumes, well, the game's newest blog post is probably going to put a smile on your face. Gazillion's new title already boasts over 110 costumes, but the company says it's just getting started.

The newest update adds a pair of 1980s-era outfits, one for Ms. Marvel and one for Colossus. Both are available either via an in-game loot drop or the cash shop. Click through to the original post for more info and a couple of close-up images.

It can be hard to get close to someone. Especially in MechWarrior Online, where the people you want to get close to are riding walking battle tanks designed to vaporize you at long range. But the newly added Quickdraw is all about getting in close, at which point it can unleash the full might of its short-range missile launchers and medium lasers. Which is probably why people don't want to get close to one another in the first place, really.

Fortunately for Quickdraw pilots, the machine is quick, jump-capable, and generally very able to get in close and unleash its payload. This new 'Mech is available in three variants alongside the new Champion Hunchback, and you can take a look at the precise loadouts in the patch notes. Or you can take a gander at the preview video for the machine embedded just past the cut.

[Source: Piranha Games press release]

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Are you ready to start leveling in Star Wars: The Old Republic? More to the point, would you like to level a whole lot faster? That's good, because you're going to have the chance to do just that starting this weekend. Double experience weekends are back for the next three weekends, including an extra-long version during the fourth of July, so that all of your characters can enjoy the freedom to scream up in levels and possibly skip some of the more tedious planets.

The first weekend starts on June 21st at 2:00 p.m. EDT and runs until 3:00 a.m. EDT on June 24th, while the second weekend runs at the same hours from June 28th to July 1st. The third and final weekend starts at 7:00 a.m. EDT on July 4th and runs all the way until July 8th at 3:00 a.m. EDT, which should give you ample time over the holiday to buff up your levels.

What does Superman -- sorry, Kal-El -- do when he's not punching General Zod out of the sky or making googly eyes at Lois Lane? Could be that he's playing World of Warcraft, possibly even in your PUG.

Man of Steel star Henry Cavill recently told GQ that he quite enjoys both Skyrim and World of Warcraft. Cavill's such a big fan of the latter, in fact, that he missed Man of Steel director Zack Snyder's telephone call offering him the role of Superman. "I saw it was him [calling]," Cavill told British GQ, "but the thing is, you can't save World of Warcraft, you can't pause it. It's live."

While most fathers were enjoying brand-new ties and meals out on the town this past Sunday, RIFT Lead Game Designer Bill Fisher decided that he'd be a papa to the PvP game community and take care of their needs. Fisher went into the office on his day off, asked players what they wanted added, and whipped up two new game modes for warfronts.

The Black Garden warfront got a domination mode added, which allows players to wrest for the control of two key points. Also sporting a new domination mode is the Karthan Ridge warfront, although this one is a little more complex. Players in Karthan Ridge have to fight over five control points; the control points on the enemy's side of the map award more score points than do those on the on the home team side.

The hotfix also reinstated the second dimension option to players which had been disabled after the 2.3 patch.

Jasmine is back from covering this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, and boy does she have stories! Cool stories, not just ones about bears that get their heads stuck in honeypots. What impressed each of us from E3? Listen and find out!

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Read below the cut for the full show notes.

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At SOE Live last year, fans were told that the EverQuest Next moniker was only a working title for the upcoming sandbox sequel to the Norrathian franchise. Most believed that the true name would not be revealed until the annual convention this year. However, one fan took to Twitter and point blank asked Dave Georgeson, the franchise director, about the impending title. And Georgeson answered! So the official title for EQ Next is -- *drum roll* -- EverQuest Next!

Yes folks, the working title has now been declared the official title. Surprise! OK, maybe it isn't really a surprise, but there were plenty of creative ideas floating around for possible names that could have been used, not to mention ones I'm sure we haven't even heard yet. But for now, EQN is set in stone... or is it? The game itself was totally blown up and redesigned from scratch, so it stands to reason the name could follow suit.

Tell us, Massively readers, what name would you slap on the side of this sandbox? Give us your best ideas in the comments below.

Amidst the critiques and patch reviews, the reasons I stick with Star Wars: The Old Republic sometimes get lost in the shuffle. Despite being irritated by the way BioWare handled specific parts of this Star Wars MMORPG, I still find the setting and the storytelling to be superb. These interwoven tales of adventure and chaos provide an incredible platform for my favorite thing to do in an MMO: roleplay.

I've covered several topics about roleplay in this column. From breaking into the community to an RP wishlist to resolving RP-related conflicts, I've might have covered everything except for one of the most basic of roleplay elements: How do you host a roleplay event in SWTOR? Although Star Wars: The Old Republic varies in its presentation and tools, the types of events you can throw are pretty similar to the ones you can throw in any other MMOs. The tiny details vary, but the three basic type of events can be narrowed down to social, PvE, and PvP.

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MMO players eagerly awaiting a taste of Black Desert Online will be waiting just a bit longer than expected; the closed beta phase has been delayed from sometime this summer to sometime this fall. Apparently, Pearl Abyss wanted a little bit of extra time to add some polish and shine to the beta, thus completely defying the point of having a beta in the first place.

This delay appears to apply to the Korean closed beta test, and there's no clear word on what's going on with any of the game's other localizations beyond rumors of a 2015 launch.

Earlier this month, Cryptic hinted at some big changes to fleet holding projects in Star Trek Online. Executive producer Daniel Stahl went on the record in the company's Ask Cryptic column and explained that the STO team had something planned involving "dilithium-based mechanics." Today's dev blog finally explained what all that means: Starting soon, fleets will have the option of working on the Dilithium Mine, a brand-new fleet outpost.

The Dilithium Mine features both indoor and outdoor environments and is accessible through the Beta Ursae Block or through an unlockable transwarp. If you play Star Trek Online, those are probably words that make sense to you. The mine's appearance will change as fleet members upgrade its facilities by following its three progression tracks.

Completing the main progression track for the Dilithium Mine will reward fleets with discounts on project dilithium input costs, new construction projects, daily missions, and a daily repeatable that allows fleet members to refine ore beyond their normal cap. The sub tracks offer a variety of bonuses, mostly related to discounts on fleet projects.

Fleets will have access to the Dilithium Mine the moment it goes live but will need to reach the first tier of its main track before being granted access to the physical space.

Neverwinter formally launches in just two days, but it appears as though the folks at Cryptic aren't quite done adding features to the game. The company has just announced that an entirely new profession, alchemy, will go live at the same time as the game's official launch. This brings the total number of professions in Neverwinter up to six.

Alchemy works in the way you might expect: You use resources gathered from the environment to make potions that enhance your abilities or restore your health. There are also unstable concoctions that provide random buff or debuff effects depending on your luck. Alchemists will be able to create dyes that can be used for color customization.

Alchemy joins endgame PvE and PvP dungeon Gauntlgrym as day-one new content for Neverwinter players. Neverwinter is set for officially official release on June 20th.

All this week from June 19 to 26, MapleStory is holding a special World Transfer event where anyone who wants to move characters over to a new world can do so for only one meso. But the best part is the free stuff! For any new players that sign up for a MapleStory account through June 30, a Blue Dragon Adventure Pack is waiting in the game.

This adventure pack includes customization coupons for face, hair, eye color, and style, as well as a set of Maple items that boosts your character's stats. Pet accessories are also included, as well as the coveted Blue Dragon pet.

Check out the videos and run-down of the Blue Dragon Pack features after the cut for more information.

[Source: Nexon press release]

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A new story is unfolding in the land of Iria in the fantasy free-to-play game Mabinogi and we've got the teaser trailer to kick things off. It all begins when Shamala, who has been imprisoned in Cor Village and purifying the demons, suddenly and mysteriously disappears, leaving players to help defend the village from the demons. In the midst of this, players meet up with Milia, a girl bent on punishing Shamala for the death of her father at the hands of the demons.

What's the full story behind it all? Perhaps players will find out in the new series of quests that will accompany the story when the new episodes begin next week. Until then, check out the teaser trailer after the break.

[Source: Nexon press release]

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With a name meaning the center, you'd expect City of Steam's Nexus to be a happening place even in beta, right? That means plenty of events for folks to get in on. Well, it just so happens that there are two general events already in game and a third on the way, and Mechanist Games gives players the lowdown on how to get in on the action in the latest dev journal.

Unlike temporary in-game events, events in CoS are permanent instances you queue for. Of course, victory promises reward. Of the two current events, the Arena is all about survival of the soloist as waves of mobs crash into you whereas Tesla Defense is a five-man tower defense. When patch 1.3 releases, the PvP-based Siege of the Spire will join the event lineup as a MOBA-inspired arena that includes mobs, turrets, and team bases. Players can join the regular events as well as daily and weekly events with larger rewards. For more details, check out the official site.

It's a well-known fact that the ghost of Tabula Rasa haunts the Massively offices. I think it's because Shawn keeps feeding it ectopellets because he's not quite ready to let his beloved MMO go. The ghost is driving the rest of us crazy because it's constantly switching the labels on our lunchboxes and whistling the Tabula Rasa theme through the air ducts while we're trying to get honest work done.

So while the MMO no longer exists outside of a few forlorn collector's editions picking up dust on store shelves, the music persists. Tabula Rasa boasted a strong score thanks to the work of Tracy W. Bush. Bush is a name you should know when it comes to MMO soundtracks: He had a huge hand in the World of Warcraft score and contributed to several NCsoft titles (which are all dead, but that's probably not his fault). [Edit: Several readers wrote in to let me know that Curse Mackey, Stacie Cline, Chris Vrenna, and Clint Walsh also contributed to the score. Thanks!]

I find that sci-fi MMOs, particularly shooter-based ones, tend to elicit heavier tracks and more synth work than orchestral, and they are sometimes relentlessly grim. All of the above certainly can be applied to Tabula Rasa, up to and including its final surprising track.

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