Krystalle Voecks

@Nef

Thanks for the heads up on the Steam sale!

@Lolzor69

He happened to be lurking around when I snapped the screenshot, and he looked cool, so I used that one. :)

@Itoao

Still no MegaServers as yet. Trust me, as soon as that goes live, I think you'll be able to hear me cheering. :D

@Furdinand

Whoops! That's a typo. It is indeed the Misgiving Tree. Thanks for the catch!

@Locus

Actually, there is quite a bit more to this than what is listed in the article. As someone who has both worked and gamed with Jay, and counts him among my very dear friends, I wanted to add in a bit more background.

Jay has been part of the Dragon*Con MMO track pretty much since before it even became an official track at the convention. Jay has directly helped Massively and our sister-site WoW Insider by volunteering enormous amounts of time creating WoW-themed games (Family Feud, Punt-A-Gnome, etc.), hand-made giveaway items, as well as assisting with crowd control and security at MMO track events at Dragon*Con. He's an incredibly hard-working guy, and truly exemplifies the "will give you the shirt off of his back" adage -- I've seen it happen, literally.

The idea of a WoW-a-thon was spun off from both the Desert Bus for Hope marathon (http://desertbus.org/) and the Extra Life marathon for charity held in the past. (http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/10/17/blogger-plays-games-and-heals-kids/) Additionally, as this is being run by many of us involved with the Dragon*Con MMO track, it seemed only fitting that we play Jay's favorite MMO -- the one where most of the Dragon*Con MMO staff have been in a guild together over the years -- World of Warcraft.

So, yes, there's a bit more significance to the marathon's choice of game and venue (Battle & Brew are friends and track sponsors), as well as for the group of us involved in organizing this.

I hope this helps.

@jslim419

I'm sorry if you felt I was being patronizing. That wasn't how it was intended at all. I'm merely basing the statement I made on my experience with MMOs, single-player titles, and as a hardcore raider and soloist within MMOs.

Really, it comes down to this: When you purchase a single-player only game, you pay for the box copy. In return, all of the content for the game is open to you without any restriction. There might be eventual DLC, depending on the title, but it's all content you can experience solo.

For subscription-based MMOs like DC Universe Online, there's the initial cost of the box and then an additional monthly payment, as we all know. The problem for soloists in MMOs is that you're effectively paying a great deal more versus a single-player title simply to be denied a lot of the game's content.

Now, that's not saying you can't have fun doing the solo content in DCUO, nor that you aren't welcome to do so. That's *your* gaming dollar, and I'm not pretentious enough to tell you that you're wrong to spend it wherever you feel you'll enjoy it most. For me, I expect to be able to see all the content in a game I purchase. Since I like grouping, MMOs are a good value for me. If I hated grouping, I wouldn't purchase MMOs because I know I'd be blocked from seeing all the Arenas, Legends, and raid content. It wouldn't be a good value for my gaming dollar.

So, please don't take it as my saying that you're not welcome to play whatever you'd like to, however you'd like. That's a choice only you and your wallet can make. I wrote that because I think there are some better (and more cost-effective) choices out there for solo-only players versus having to be excluded from large chunks of the overall storyline while paying a subscription to continue being able to access the solo content.

@DarkWalker: I saw the posting. That's one of the problems with columns: This was written and set before RadarX's post on the new servers was posted. Still, it's very good news! Not only will we be seeing some type of consolidations, but a test server. Those are both fabulous additions to the game. Still, a good league is something worth hunting for -- it just might require a little less server research in future!

@Budokan There are a number of titles based on DC comics. While they're not all gritty comic-style, or even story-driven, there are options.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_based_on_DC_Comics

Personally, I really liked LEGO Batman. ;)

@Fakeassname

Yeah, I figured it was a joke, but better safe than sorry just in case anyone else gets the wrong idea. ^.^

@Space Cobra

Not sure why you'd think that posting a screenshot from a beta that isn't under an NDA any longer is trying "to get [you] in trouble." I'm going to assume there's some April Fool's type joke here that I'm not getting since the NDA on Black Prophecy has been down for a while now.

http://blackprophecy.gamigo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8577

That said, I DO get screenshots when games aren't out from under NDA -- quite often, actually. I also check to make sure that the NDA is lifted before publishing. If it's not, you won't see those screenshots until the NDA drops; at which point I publish them.

Hopefully that clears it up for anyone curious. :)