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Massively columnist Larry Everett has informed me that despite having sent in a different response for this week's WRUP, he will spend this weekend staring at chest hair. Why will he be staring at chest hair? I don't know, exactly. Perhaps he's captured by the primal energy it offers, the sense of a fundamental connection with mankind's somewhat savage roots. Perhaps he just really doesn't feel like logging into a game. Whatever the reason, he dared me to share this with the world, and now I'm doing precisely that.

Where were we? Oh, right, WRUP. This week's edition is... well, like every other edition, with the Massively staffers letting you all know what they'll be up to over the weekend. We're also talking about the maximum fee we'd pay for a subscription to an MMO. So jump on past the break to check out our gaming plans, then let us know yours down in the comments!

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Massively Speaking Episode 185 marks the debut of the Justin and Bree show as the microphone is passed on to a new generation. Many Bothans died to bring you this broadcast, so show some respect, you scruffy-looking nerfherder! Today we talk about RIFT's new trial, MMO anniversaries, and why Star Wars: The Old Republic may not be dying fast enough for everyone's taste.

Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air!

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to Massively Speaking directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.
Listen here on the page:



Read below the cut for the full show notes.

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MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV.

Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.)

Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule!

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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 column. If you missed a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week?, you've come to the right post.

This week, classic EverQuest announced it will soon go fully free-to-play; meanwhile, RIFT boldly announced a lite version that will see its first 20 levels free as well.

In more meta news, Massively bids a fond farewell to Community Manager Rubi Bayer as she migrates to a job with ArenaNet. Think you're the perfect person to take over her role as our Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 columnist? We're accepting applications for this paid position through Monday.

Enjoy the rest of the week's top MMO stories after the break.

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Welcome to Previously on MV TV! Our livestreaming schedule has picked up a lot over the past few weeks, and our readers have busy lives, so we know it's impossible to watch every single streaming event live. Fortunately for you, we save all of our streams all for posterity on Massively's Twitch TV channel, so you can view them at your leisure. Even better, we've got a roundup of a few of last week's MV TV highlights from the livestream team. Follow along after the jump for the best of the best!

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It's official: After more than two years here at Massively, our beloved Community Manager Rubi Bayer is departing for, well, exactly the pastures we all expected. (It's nice to be able to actually discuss that, if you've been waiting to hear about that since Monday's column.) She's been a wonderful co-worker, a spectacular friend, and a sterling columnist through all of it. We are richer for having had her as long as we did, and we can only hope that she won't forget about us while knee-deep in community management for ArenaNet. She certainly deserves it.

Beyond the bittersweet, this week's installment of WRUP is here, with the remaining Massively staffers discussing our plans over the weekend. We're also talking about whether or not we could make a great game with $30 million, albeit with the understanding that we're mostly working from speculation. Check out our weekend plans just after the break, and let us know what sort of trouble you'll be getting into down in the comments.

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Massively Speaking Episode 184 returns this week with Justin and Rubi being joined by Senior Editor Bree Royce to discuss the week's news. Topics include NCsoft's newest lawsuit with En Masse, RuneScape's sub fee increase, no BlizzCon this year, and much more. Plus, this is Rubi's last time on the show, so wish her a fond farewell!

Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air!

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to Massively Speaking directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.
Listen here on the page:



Read below the cut for the full show notes.

Continue Reading

ArenaNet's Guild Wars is a fascinating MMO. The original released almost seven years ago, with the sequel set to release later this year. There's no doubt that Guild Wars 2 tops the list of the most anticipated MMO for 2012, which makes writing about it all the more fun and exciting.

That's where you come in. After learning that our own Rubi Bayer will be whisked away by an as-yet unnamable job offer, we're in desperate need of someone to fill her weekly Guild Wars/Guild Wars 2 columnist spot on the site*.

Follow along after the jump for the full details!

*Keeping us in line and making "that's what she said" jokes optional.

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To say last week was exciting for Guild Wars 2 fans is a bit of an understatement. Mike O'Brien gave the community the news it's been dying to hear, Ree Soesbee told us all about the Jotun (no, seriously, I hate those guys and their stupid KDs), and... well, some other things happened too.

We've got lots to talk about, so hit the jump and let's dive right in.

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MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV.

Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.)

Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule!

Continue Reading

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!

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Welcome to Previously on MV TV! Our livestreaming schedule has picked up a lot over the past few weeks, and our readers have busy lives, so we know it's impossible to watch every single streaming event live. Fortunately for you, we save all of our streams all for posterity on Massively's Twitch TV channel, so you can view them at your leisure. Even better, we've got a roundup of a few of last week's MV TV highlights from the livestream team. Follow along after the jump for the best of the best, and check out our full library of videos for the other games we've streamed last week as we begin to ramp up our streaming even more in February!

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The last several weeks have pretty much had at least one or two major stories about a certain game that launched recently. So, apropos of nothing, here's a picture of Star Trek Online, which is not the game in question. It recently went free-to-play, also, which is pretty noteworthy if you haven't tried it despite wanting to see what it's like. As for me, I'm not playing it right now, but I did enjoy it when I tried!

I know -- you'd expect random cute animals from me instead. I like to break expectations.

Apropos for the end of the week, it's time for another installment of WRUP, in which we, the Massively staff members, talk about our plans for the weekend. We're also talking about what games have been out the longest before we played them. So jump on past the cut to see what we're up to over the weekend, and let us know your plans in the comments!

Continue Reading

MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV.

Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.)

Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule!

Continue Reading

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.

Star Wars: The Old Republic continued to dominate Massively's headlines this week. We were kept on the edge of our seats at the latest zombie-related patch drama, PR videos, cosmetic pets, ability delay tweaks, and subscription bugs, nevermind the prophecies of analysts whose predictions and estimations of TOR's costs sent EA's stock on a rollercoaster ride over the week. And to those of you visiting a galaxy far, far away from Azeroth, we presented our definitive guide to SWTOR for World of Warcraft players.

Enjoy the rest of this week's top MMO stories past the cut.

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