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Instead of just rolling out a wall of text to discuss the changes and updates hitting League of Legends in the 3.7 patch, Riot Games offers players a video preview to get a glimpse of what's to come. And among the goodies is one of the most player-requested features -- Custom Item Sets.

Want to create a specific set of items, tailored to individual champions and/or maps before you get into a match and the fighting begins? Or how about just browse through the entire item shop on PVP.net just to see what's available? Both will be possible with the new Custom Item Sets feature. Initially, these custom builds will be stored on players' local machines only, but the devs plan on adding server-side storage in the future.

The video also discusses some balance changes to the champions Rumble, Twisted Fate, Caitlyn, and Nunu. Check out the specifics after the break.

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I'm always looking for things to teach players in the Summoner's Guidebook. We have, however, covered a lot of the low hanging fruit in one way or another. In League of Legends, and virtually every other asymmetric competitive game, matchup knowledge comprises the huge bulk of information that is truly useful to read about. This week was originally going to be a counter-Ryze guide, but then I decided to cover a broader topic to help reach more people.

I don't really like discussing specific character matchups largely because the character you're using matters almost as much as your opponent's. What does Ryze do against Kassadin in lane, for instance? The answer is not a whole lot if the Kassadin is decent. I could write a counter-Kassadin guide, but a lot of it wouldn't be usable by Ryze. Instead, this week we'll discuss how to think about the opponent's kit and develop a strategy to win on your own (or at least survive).

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You may be familiar with Wargaming through the development studio's wildly successful game World of Tanks, but did you know that the company has been around for 15 years and has developed almost a dozen other games?

To help celebrate this special 15th anniversary, Wargaming has announced a global World of Tanks tournament that will see winning teams from Europe, North America, Russia, South Korea, Southeast Asia, China, Vietnam, and more represent their regions with an all-expense-paid trip to the World of Tanks studio in Minsk, Belarus.

The tournament will be a traditional 7 v 7 format and will run from May until the end of June. Check out the Wargaming site for more info.

I have to begin this week's column with a disclaimer: I am not a fan of Facebook, and I'm even less a fan of Facebook games. The only one I found enjoyable was Ian Bogost's Cow Clicker because it was a giant middle finger to the bottom-feeding practices so commonly found in Facebook Villes.

But when I got a Google alert in my inbox about the world's first family-friendly 3-D MMO for Facebook, I had to head back to the blue-and-white wasteland of Facebook and see it firsthand. Could it be that the era of isometric views and mindless clicking is finally over? Have we finally moved on from agriculturally themed games? I decided to check out World of Trinketz to seek some answers.

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Remember A Mystical Land? Well, forget about it, at least under that name. Mad Otter and Neonga have sent out a press release announcing that the title is now called Villagers & Heroes in an effort to "better match the content and focus of the game."

The name change isn't the only change, either, as gameplay has been upgraded by the addition of player-created custom gear, new realms to explore, and new epic bosses.

Animal ranching is a thing now, too, so you can raise sheep, chicken, and pigs alongside those crops in your backyard. Additional improvements are planned for future updates, and Villagers & Heroes is also seeking your approval on Steam's Greenlight service.

[Source: Neonga press release]

Cryptic is pumping out the Star Trek Online dev blogs as the game's Legacy of Romulus expansion draws near. The latest comes to us from content designer Sean "Commander Ander" McCann, and it's all about the Nimbus adventure zone.

Nimbus is a crime-ridden locale currently lorded over by the Orion Syndicate. The new episode series Wasteland takes gamers all over the planet, from the run-down fugitive haven of Paradise City to a destroyed ship that doubles as an Orion stronghold to a Gorn-filled canyon that houses some sort of mysterious project.

Nimbus also boasts dailies, open missions, and accolade rewards for said missions and for exploration. More details are yours at the official STO website.

Ready for the latest SMITE character reveal? Isis is here, and Hi-Rez has published a blog post and a gameplay video heralding her arrival. The Goddess of Magic is a sceptre-wielding mage -- no surprise there -- who relies on her Funeral Rites passive ability and spiffy attacks like Wing Gust and Spirit Ball.

Hi-Rez has also tweaked SMITE's level system in the latest patch. God leveling earns you worshippers after every victory, which in turn translate to God Rank for a given avatar. The devs have also changed the old player level to something called Beta level. If you reach Beta level 30 prior to SMITE's official release, you'll get a free Ymir Cocadeamon skin. There's more info on all the changes at the SMITE website, and don't forget the Isis trailer after the cut.

[Thanks Don!]

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It's been a couple of years since we last heard about Kingdom Under Fire II, so it's good to check in with one of our neighborly MMOs to see... oh hey! You're launching! What are the odds that this would happen during a completely random house call?

OK, so the good news is that Kingdom Under Fire II has been scheduled for a 2013 launch. Unfortunately, the bad news is that so far this release will be limited to Southeast Asia at first. Apparently developer BlueSide wants to see the game in action in that region first before rolling it out elsewhere.

The title is a combination of action-RPG and real-time strategy, promises battlefields with "thousands" of soldiers fighting at once, and will be launching on the PC and PlayStation 3.

[Thanks to Steparu for the tip!]

It's hard to be a fan of Champions Online right now. The game has not been in a good state for pretty much any of its life cycle, but as I've discussed previously, its woes have really come into focus lately. It's been a long time since the game really sat down and advanced any sort of story, and it's been even longer since the game offered players something new in the endgame. When Cryptic has two other games with lots of ambition and promise, Champions Online is left looking like the unwanted sibling.

Part of the problem is the fact that CO currently has a skeleton crew working on it and a minimal budget. I suspect (without having hard numbers) that it's at the same sort of uneasy place as Vanguard was for a long while -- making just enough money to justify its continued operation while not making enough money for additional development staff. So with all of that in place, what can the game do to prop itself up a bit more without requiring a huge infusion of additional money? How can Champions Online get its act back together?

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Playing EVE on my couch is bizarre. I know, technically it's called DUST 514, but let's be serious. DUST is basically the beginnings of a massive EVE Online expansion if you subscribe to the notion that EVE is a virtual world as opposed to merely a strategy game featuring internet spaceships and internet drama.

I've played EVE in some strange places prior to this. In an airport terminal, for example. On my toilet, even (yes, nature occasionally calls in the middle of a fleet fight and thank God for laptops). But DUST marks the first -- OK, technically the second -- time I've ever played in New Eden with a controller.

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I've had a strange start with Neverwinter, to be honest. While I did get in on the 25th with the early-early crowd, shortly thereafter I had to boogie on off to a vacation that canceled out eight days of soft launch gaming time. So even though I got an early start, I'm probably behind many of you -- even those who started on the 30th.

That's OK; I'm not in a rush. I'm not the type to get into a speed race or feel the compulsion to become an instant expert by the end of week one. My experience so far has been feeling out what Neverwinter has to offer, mostly by going through the solo quest line, participating in skirmishes, and queuing up for dungeon runs when time permits. And I'm enjoying myself so far, although I still have that "slightly lost" feeling that comes with exploring a brand-new MMO. I need to learn how to create Foundry missions and I haven't even touched professions yet.

Maybe you're like me. Maybe you assume that everyone already knows the ins and outs of the game as though he's been playing it for years, while you're an ignorant noob wandering the streets. I don't think you're alone if that's the case, and to help both you and me out, I've done some research to find the top 14 most helpful threads, sites, and articles that all fledgling Neverwinter adventurers should at least skim over.

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Player-created content is coming to Allods Online in the form of a dungeon-building feature that will allow players to generate their own private islands called allods.

Launching June 5th of this year, the Path to Victory expansion opens up new private islands that act as customizable labyrinths for other players to explore. In addition to this dungeon-building tool, Gala Networks is also introducing the Weaponsmith tradeskill and several graphical updates with this patch.

Be sure to watch the Path to Victory trailer just after the jump.

[Source: Gala Networks press release]

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DC Universe Online's latest DLC, Origin Crisis, allows players to fill the shoes of some of their favorite -- and not so favorite -- heroes and villains and fight to keep reality as it is. Thanks to yesterday's update, players will actually be traveling through time in order to stop a chain of events that might result in entirely new universes and timelines. You'll be bamming and powing your way through content in the hopes that history remains intact.

We sat down with Jens Andersen, Creative Director of DC Universe Online, to discuss this special DLC, a pack that has been in planning since the game's conception.

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If you've already purchased the very expensive Legacy Pack for Star Trek Online's first expansion, there's good news to be had -- you just got more for your $125 investment. For one thing, you've got access to a new ship, the Haakona Advanced Warbird, an assault craft capable of separating into two units for maximum versatility. For another, you've got a set of uniforms based off of the Romulan outfits from the original series, if you want to really hit that "legacy" button as hard as you can.

Whether or not this entices you to drop some additional money, the latest development blog on the official site details the bonuses for slotting Romulan refit consoles together in Legacy of Romulus. These include buffs to turn rate, energy weapons, and defensive systems based on speed. The net result is that owners of both refit and retrofit versions of these vessels can access a new playstyle for the class, a new trick to surprise opponents of the Romulans. Which is apropos.