This site has been around a while. Not as long as some, but still a while. For today's Leaderboard, tell us how long you've been around Massively. Assuming it's more than a week or so, you already know that there's a poll just past the cut.

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Well, this pleases me like punch: One Shots' very first Shroud of the Avatar screenshot submission! I recall thinking that this indie MMO looked so much better than I previously thought when I got my hands on it last August, so I'm glad to see Massively readers going on a photo safari in it.

Reader JohnD is responsible for this unusual sight: "Here is a shot of Johanis Lolar, who is busy adventuring. I'm not sure his Santa cap helps him blend, but he's doing his best."

I always like to assume that Santa spends his off-season lurking in weeds and ambushing stray travelers with presents, so this picture plays into that fantasy. What? I'm normal; my parents had me tested.

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Players have long debated the importance, relevance, and quality of stories in MMOs. Some have called for an abolishment of dev-driven narrative entirely, some enjoy what's there, and some have pressed for better writing and storytelling techniques. This week we'll hear from one blogger who is struggling with "mediocre" stories in MMOs and what might be done with them.

But wait, that's not all! We'll also hear from writers about MMO inventory systems, aging games, and how pretty much nobody in the world was shocked when Elder Scrolls Online ditched its sub.

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You know what's awesome? Free stuff. Free stuff is awesome. And League of Legends is notable for giving away free goodies over the years, so we're not surprised to see that Riot's put the game's brand-new soundtrack album up on the site as a free download -- before it's going to be sold elsewhere.

So if you want to get 15 generally excellent tracks (we know; we've listened to it), then head on over and snag it now!

Das Tal's devs have released a new video and are currently adding player settlements, resource warfare, crafting, and progression to the PvP sandbox, according to a new press release.

The video runs for nearly 10 minutes and explains a good bit about the game's combat abilities. It also summarizes possible playstyles based on weapon and armor choices, as well as a high-level look at the game's "MOBA meets MMO" combat system.

Click past the cut to see for yourself!

[Source: Fairytale Distillery press release]

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Last night I re-upped my Final Fantasy XIV subscription. Naturally this made it an ideal time for Square to announce a free weekend for its fantasy MMORPG.

I haven't been in the game since late 2013, and given my dissatisfaction with pretty much everything at the moment, I figured why not return to a fun title that treats crafting (and fishing!) as more than a half-assed sideline activity.

So, yep. That's pretty much that. Free FFXIV weekend -- for inactive accounts -- from Friday, January 30th through Monday, February 2nd. Have fun!

[Source: Square press release]

There are few things more aggravating than long-running bugs that impact you daily and have never been fixed by the team. That picture right up there? That's one of the very few screenshots that Star Wars: The Old Republic has allowed me to take due to an inconsistent glitch that goes practically back to the launch of the game. Since it's been around for so long, I have severe doubts that it will ever be addressed at this point.

I'm sure that this is not the only long-running bug out there that annoys players, so let's give free rein to our petty gripes today! Which ones would you love to see fixed?

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!

It's back to bunny butchering for Massively's MJ -- if she can manage to do it! Albion Online has started its winter alpha test, and MJ excitedly jumped in to explore more of this game. And then she remembered: In order to make armor and weapons so she can explore, she's faced with having to participate in a few rounds of bunny punching. (Let's not even remind her of the skinning sounds!) Can she do it? Or can she find something a little less cuddly that will work? Or maybe she won't even worry about new clothes and just become a farmer instead! Join us live at 8:00 p.m. for a look at how far Albion has come since its summer test.

Game: Albion Online
Host: MJ Guthrie
Date: Tuesday, January 27th, 2015
Time: 8:00 p.m. EST

Enjoy our Stream Team video below.

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We've been wondering what's up with Shards Online, and today we're learning a little bit about that via its new producer's letter.

Looks like the team is "making progress on the first map and getting the server in the hands of early admins." Project lead Derek Brinkmann has also been "working to optimize the Lua script engine to make sure we have the ability to support enough servers" for those early admins.

There's much more to the report, but you'll need to visit the official Shards website to read it!

[Thanks Omedon!]

Listen up grunts, did you honestly think you'd live forever? Well, you won't. No sir, you're going to head back to the front lines of Firefall with its upcoming patch and probably die. Then we're going to drag your corpse back to the base, jolt it with enough juice to make you glow in the dark, and send your reanimated wimpering frame into even more harm.

But that's the fun, eh?

Firefall's posted a new video that highlights the big upcoming patch. Features incoming include the Amazon Warzone, the big game hunt, the reputation system, and improvements to loot and ranged weapon modules.

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Yes, I'm kind of nuts about the Lord of the Rings Online soundtrack. It could be because I've played this MMO more than most any other at this point, but I like to think that it's also due to a really well-done score that does more for world-building than most soundtracks.

Even though I've talked about the soundtrack as a whole, interviewed Composer Chance Thomas, discussed my favorite housing themes, and reviewed both the Riders of Rohan and Helm's Deep scores, there's still more that I wanted to cover.

Today, I want to share with you exactly why I love this soundtrack: for the quiet moments. There are a select few tracks that are nearly ambient but are also perfectly immersive. I can't help but get kicked in the feels every time one of these comes on, and I know that for years to come I'll have fond memories of LotRO whenever I play them. Let's get a little mellow and hear the whispers of Middle-earth today.

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Bungie made some mistakes with the first bit of Destiny DLC. That's not editorializing; that's a takeaway from a post that designer Luke Smith made regarding mistakes that will not be repeated for the game's second bit of downloaded content, House of Wolves. Smith explains the shard economy essentially functioned as a barrier to prevent people from actually equipping their shiny new pieces of kit, thus invalidating and minimizing the effort put forth by players.

Ultimately the goal is to make reaching level 32 with gear easier while giving players more incentive to keep tweaking their setup via new upgrades and better traits on items. Smith also states that the economy is not going to be adjusted this tier simply to ensure that the people who have already put this much work in will not find themselves invalidated again. It's a change to be made moving forward, one that will hopefully improve everyone's experience in the game once the second DLC update drops.

Today's a series of firsts for Crowfall reveals. It's the first glimpse of the game's second announced class, the Legionnaire. It's the first look at a character who is other than human -- and is in fact a Centaur. And it's the title's first in-game environment screenshot.

Crowfall has also posted a handy FAQ that goes into depth about the character creation process, teases Mac support, and eschews traditional MMO levels as a means of progression.

At the community cantina that Star Wars: The Old Republic held this past weekend at PAX South, community manager Eric Musco said that the community team was going to do something different in 2015 during the cantinas. He said that he wanted to reveal some tidbit at each and every event. And this cantina yielded us an early look at Producer Bruce Maclean's roadmap letter to the community.

In the letter, he talks about where the SWTOR story will take us, what's on the horizon for flashpoints, personal stories, planets, and the outfit designer. But what is all this new stuff, and should it get people excited about the coming year? Unfortunately, there is no easy answer for that. If you play for similar reasons as I do, then there is plenty to be excited about. However, there are certain players, like PvPers, who might be a little frustrated by what they are seeing and not seeing in the letter.

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Were you afraid that with the addition of Twitter support in the next World of Warcraft patch you would be deprived of the joy that is taking selfies in-game? Worry no longer. The addition of the S.E.L.F.I.E. camera in patch 6.1 ensures that you can indeed log in, find a nice view, and then duckface at the camera before shooting off a character picture for all of your devoted followers. It's the best thing in the expansion so far.

Grabbing the item requires nothing more than a rare follower mission with no significant bells or whistles, with another upgrade mission available to pick up a set of various filters for the camera. Our sister site has a guide to making use of the new device, along with the requisite speculation that it will tie more directly into the Twitter integration. That feature isn't currently enabled, but it can't be coincidence that the new camera arrived at the same time, can it?

Do you like the current unlocking system for traits in Guild Wars 2? If you don't, you're in good company; very few people actually like it. The good news, at least, is that it doesn't appear that it's going to be a problem in the near future. Game director Colin Johanson spoke out recently on the game's forums stating that the pending release of Heart of Thorns gave the team more freedom for discussing future plans and core gameplay changes.

With the inclusions of specializations and account-wide masteries, the existing trait system is going to be replaced by a simpler system to ensure that progress and advancement is where the development team wants it for all Guild Wars 2 characters. More updates on how the system will work are promised as the release draws closer, but if you don't like the existing system, you can at least take heart that it's going to be gone before too much longer.

Frontier Developments has axed 15 positions from its Halifax studio somewhat unexpectedly, leaving this branch of the overall studio with a somewhat hazy future. According to investor reports, the move is the result of a refocusing of the company's business plan around its two major games, and with all of the expertise on Elite: Dangerous and the upcoming Coaster Park Tycoon concentrated in Cambridge, it simply made more sense to reduce staff in the satellite studio.

No word on what this means for the long-term health of the Halifax location, which may very well be facing the axe as well. Our deep consolation goes to all employees affected by the layoffs.

You know what I don't think MMOs need more of? Dailies. I think most core MMO gamers are tired of a mechanic that exists, transparently and unashamedly, to keep us completing repetitive tasks on a daily basis and keep us logging in, and in some cases, paying our subs. Even a well-constructed daily achievement system and totally benign daily login rewards can be irritating.

But out on the fringes of the MMO space, gamers are just discovering the allure of the daily. VG247 pubbed an editorial last week arguing that GTA Online ought to copy -- wait for it -- Destiny's "intrinsic" dailies and rewards; without them, the writer opined, players are "reminded that the grind is most certainly real."

Call me jaded, but I say themepark dailies are usually just as grindy as whatever formless grind they're meant to replace, and I suspect the players who need something to do at the "end" of online co-op shooters would probably be happier with a sandboxier MMORPG to begin with. But surely there's some sort of dailies that we do like. Are there any MMO dailies that don't make you cringe? Which game can boast the best? (And can we tell GTA Online to copy those, please?)

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!

Welcome back to No So Massively, where every Monday we round up the highlights from the past week in the world of MOBAs, roguelikes, MMOTCGs, and other games that aren't quite MMOs.

This past weekend was PAX South 2015, the first PAX held in San Antonio, and our reporters covered not-so-massive online games in addition to MMORPGs, including Star Citizen, Elite: Dangerous, Shroud of the Avatar, Gigantic, Moonrise and State of Decay, Pox Nora, and TUG. Here's what else the week brought not-so-massive fans.

• Jef took a look at sandbox Space Engineers for MMO Burnout.
• League of Legends' 2015 World Championship will be held in Europe.
• Marvel Heroes kicked off a cow-themed promotion and opened pre-orders for the Winter Soldier.
• DayZ has now sold over 3 million early access copies.
• Elite: Dangerous' February patch will focus on "new type of story-driven collaborative content."
• Heroes of Newerth is adding a new quest system and game mode.
• Path of Exile threatened cheaters with the banhammer.
• The Crew announced a new three-car DLC bundle.
• TUG implemented multiplayer.
• World of Warships now has aircraft carriers.
• Borderlands Online posted a trailer in time for its Chinese technical test.
• My.com released a new World of Speed trailer (it's after the cut).
• Heroes in the Sky is yet another WWII arcade battler.
• Shards of War introduced a new playable sentinel named Patches.
• League of Legends new Nemesis Draft mode is not going well.
• Destiny's getting a new PvP mode.
• Hearthstone's January 2015 ranked play season is drawing to a close.
• The "Wyrmius" minigame arrived in Warframe.
• Nosgoth landed in open beta.
• MOBA The Witcher: Battle Arena launched on mobile.
• A town in the Philippines banned Dota following a fatal stabbing over the game.

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Anyone who has played Marvel Heroes for more than 30 minutes knows that this game is big on events because there is always an event going on! And the latest event has really gone to the cows. That's right, cows: many, many cows. Having never been to Bovenheim before, Massively's MJ ventured forth this weekend with other Minions to see what all the heifer hoopla was about. It's no joke when the first explamation heard upon entering was, 'Holy cow!" You seriously have to see this place to believe it. So join MJ and the Minions at 8:00 p.m. for their second trip into the land of moo, moo, quack?

Game: Marvel Heroes
Host: MJ Guthrie
Date: Monday, January 26th, 2015
Time: 8:00 p.m. EST

Enjoy our Stream Team video below.

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