I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The Secret World just keeps getting better and better. While the horror-themed conspiracy game is obvious not perfect (heaven help the rest of the MMOverse if it were!), it is definitely traveling steadfastly along that long, dusty road of improvement. Every time Funcom delves deeper into the lives and plots of The Secret World's denizens by adding to the story, it gets better. Every time new experiences are offered through new missions or features, it gets better. Ditto every time more choice is added through new weapons or customization.

But for all the advancements and added content over the past year, there are a few issues that, when addressed, would get the game really trucking down that road and make for one heck of a ride. Luckily for fans, it just so happens that one of those very issues appears to be getting some attention come Issue #8: replayability. Behold the hope that is scenarios!

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If you're looking to do any World of Warcraft race changes, name changes, appearance changes, or server transfers, there's no time like the present. More specifically, Blizzard is running a 50% off sale this week for all of those services.

WoW Insider notes that realm transfers involve a bit of logistics and planning. You'll need to empty your mailbox and make sure you're not heading up any arena teams. Also be aware that some of your add-ons may require some rejiggering after the transfer is complete.

MechWarrior Online's latest update is burning up the charts (or really anything else it comes in contact with), as the game has introduced the Firebrand version of the JagerMech for players to try out. This new hero 'mech is all about dual weapons and long-range damage. It's also water-resistant -- or at least we assume from the video.

This patch includes several other little odds and ends, including a World War 2-themed Sherman tank pattern for 'mechs that want to hunker down and pretend that they're a totally innocent hill. Players also have an even larger library of trial 'mechs to test, including the Spider, Hunchback, and Atlas.

You can watch the Firebrand trailer after the jump!

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I am beginning to wonder whether I just don't like the leveling process in Star Wars: The Old Republic anymore. In Mike B's video The 12 days of Smack Talkin', Darnell called all the extra NPC talking "98 minutes of unnecessary commentary." The story definitely had an impact on me the first time I ran through it, but this was the third time I've run through the Balmorran storyline on the Republic side, and truth be told, I was never a huge fan of it. This time, on my free-to-play character, it was definitely 98 minutes of unnecessary commentary.

Of course, once I started the featured adventure through the tremendous story that was bugtown, I had to find a way around that compositional trainwreck. My character is a Smuggler, not an exterminator. Mind you, I've yet to actually smuggle anything, but that's beside the point! I figured the best way around that insect hole was to level through flashpoints. To my surprise, it actually worked.

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Are you singing the open beta blues when it comes to Neverwinter? Nasty bugs or class inconsistencies getting you down? Then cheer up, little soldier, for Cryptic has the cure for what ails you. The studio announced today that it's preparing a "major" update to address issues across the Neverwinter spectrum.

While the patch notes for this update will probably be a doozy, here's the gist of it. All five classes will be rebalanced with changes to mechanics, powers, "and pretty much everything else." In addition to all of the class tweaks, the devs have improvements for PvP, queuing, the auction house, the Gateway portal, the UI, game performance, quests, dungeons, and rewards.

Kitchen sink patches are a staple of beta and launch period MMOs, so we'll see if this one will shore up the title's weak spots.

Odyssey, the 19th free content expansion for sci-fi sandbox EVE Online, is now live. Like the EVE expansions that came before it, Odyssey brings a collection of changes, tweaks and major overhauls to EVE's existing universe, among them resource redistribution, deep modifications to the exploration career, a brand-new radial navigation tool, upgrades to player-owned stations, and a redesigned system scanner.

To mark the occasion, CCP has released no fewer than three videos covering Odyssey, including the expansion's final launch trailer. Check out all three after the break, and have a look at our Odyssey coverage for in-depth information on everything that's changing.

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Last week, the Last Stand at Southsun game update hit Guild Wars 2, and players were urged to infiltrate Canach's Lair to curtail the villainous Sylvari's latest scheme. While there may not be an official patch today, ArenaNet has offered up a guide previewing some new content that will be made available today.

Players bested the Ancient Karka during the November Lost Shores event, and now the Crazed Karka Queen has emerged to exact her sweet revenge. Unlike most of the Living Story content, however, this crabby boss encounter (and the event chains that accompany it) are permanent additions to the game.

If you're a fan of world boss encounters, map-wide event chains, and vendors with new loot, then you'll want to check out the special video edition of the Flameseeker Chronicles after the cut.

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Excited to fly around in a vintage military plane or practice your mid-air hi-5? Wargaming.net has announced the first open beta phase for the upcoming World of Warplanes. This beta will not only wipe the current closed beta achievements, planes, credits, and gold, but it will also come in two stages. Stage One will see the implementation of a new Token currency system, and Stage Two will convert all Tokens to Credits in yet another wipe.

If you're interested in testing out the game before release, head on over to the official site for more info.

This Friday, June 7, Firefall will have its final public beta test weekend before the game sets up for open beta on July 9.

Red 5 Studios states that this event will feature three days of free access to the game, a contest for high-end gear, and a special community unlock called the Infiltrator Nightvision Goggles.

The Founder's Pack deals will be retiring before open beta, so you have about a month to take advantage of those. Check out the game's newest trailer just after the cut for more wackiness.

[Source: Red 5 Studios press release]

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Suit up, Marvel Heroes! Today's the day you launch into the fight against evil, so grab your costume and join in on thwarting the dastardly plots of Doctor Doom. What's that, you say? You are stuck at work as your alter ego? Well don't let evil get the upper hand; use the time wisely to prepare for the upcoming battles.

To help, we've compiled a collection of videos, hands-on experiences, and even a series of motion comics here to brief you on what to expect when you can finally break free of those workplace fetters and fly into the fray. We've also included the game's just-posted opening cinematic!

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Even though it's fashionable to bash Warhammer Online these days (or every day since 2008, I guess), I still have a lot of affection for this particular game. It was the MMO that got me into blogging, connected me with many of my current online friends, and provided exciting experiences for well over a year. So when I hear the music, there's a rush of nostalgia that floods my brain and runs down to my extremities.

That's not to say it's a particularly terrific score. I'd probably classify Warhammer Online's soundtrack as slightly below average; it does the job it needed to do, but it doesn't provide any stellar breakout tracks that will endure long after I've logged out. Still, it's worth examining.

The score was handled by Mythic in-house composer Brad Derrick (who also helped to make an amusing Dwarf ballad while he was there). What did he come up with to represent this savagely twisted world? Let's find out!

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We've known for some time now that Aion's upcoming expansion, Dark Betrayal, is coming out this month. And thanks to this weekend's announcement, we even have the exact date the new classes and new lands will become available. But one bit of information has still eluded us: The details of this nefarious betrayal. Who exactly betrayed whom? The answer lies in this new 4.0 E3 launch trailer.

Dragon Lord Tiamat, defeated by Daevas, was betrayed by one of her own -- one who stole her dark secret to unlocking a powerful weapon for himself. And now that weapon is poised to bring forth a new era for the Balaur by eradicating Elyos and Asmodians alike. Get a glimpse of the newest threat to Daevas and watch the plot unfold in the launch trailer after the break.

[Source: NCsoft press release]

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If you're a fan of ArenaNet's parties (no, not those epic PAX parties -- in-game parties!) then we have a treat for you.

Starting June 11, Guild Wars 2 will be celebrating the Dragon Bash festival in game where players can build and destroy giant dragon effigies for candy and boosts, compete at mini-games like Dragon Ball and Moa Racing, win special rewards including exclusive weapon skins and holographic dragon wings, shoot off fireworks, and more. The grand finale will culminate in a lighting ceremony on June 18 in Lion's Arch.

To help kick off this year's event, ArenaNet sent around a few real-life piñatas for various gaming website staff to break open themselves and record on video. You can bet that we went a little... overboard with this one. Follow along in the gallery below for images from the festival and after the cut for some piñata bashing, Massively style.

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In preparation for next week's E3 showing, Wargaming.net has released a brand new cinematic for its naval MMO, World of Warships.

This is the first time the game will be shown at E3, and attendees will have the opportunity to participate in "intense naval engagements and deadly aircraft strafing runs."

You can bet that Massively will be on hand to give our thoughts on this newest offering from Wargaming, so check back next week for more.

[Source: Wargaming press release]

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In-game marriages are largely a thing of the past. Outside of outliers like RIFT, MapleStory and Final Fantasy XIV, most games don't and won't feature the option to tie the knot inside your game of choice. Which might be seen as a bit sad, but it also raises the question of whether or not you'd use the feature even if it were available.

Maybe you enjoy roleplaying, maybe you want to have a tongue-in-cheek ceremony, or maybe you play with your spouse and want to be married on multiple levels. Or maybe you think the idea of being pretend married in a pretend game is kind of hopelessly silly to begin with. So today we ask -- if you had the option of getting married in your game of choice, would you take advantage of it? Or do you think it's more or less the apex of unnecessary fluff features in games?

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!

This last weekend saw RIFT account holders get their very own free weekend in preparation for the June 12th launch of the game as a converted free-to-play title. But Trion has decided to sweeten the pot a bit by extending the free weekend until that launch date.

RIFT's 2.3 patch, entitled Empyreal Assault, will still launch on June 12th, but current account owners won't have to pay a dime anymore.

If you're gearing up for the F2P conversion, be sure to check out our previous coverage for more information.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

While the news of State of Decay's release date was leaked out recently, today we have official confirmation. Undead Labs' maiden game will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade on Wednesday, June 5th.

Founder Jeff Strain took to the official blog a couple of days ago to talk about the process of deciding upon and cementing a release date. "After that, our job is not done," he wrote. "We have a PC build of the game to finish and deliver. We will certainly want to fix a few bugs that slipped through (we saw a few in the video streams today that we jumped on immediately). And we have super secret plans for a few other treats to roll out in the future that Sanya would shoot me for even mentioning."

So while it's not the MMO that will hopefully be forthcoming, it is set in the same world and it made a great showing at last year's PAX Prime.

The Star Citizen team has posted a tribute to Oculus Rift co-founder Andrew Reisse, who died last Thursday after being struck by a car that was fleeing a crime scene.

Here at Cloud Imperium Games, the moment we saw the Oculus Rift, there was no question that we had to support it. Here was technology that would allow the player to inhabit the game world like nothing before. Even better, it was another crowdfunding success story: like space sims, big publishers had decided VR was unprofitable, and here were gamers proving them wrong.

We are extremely gratified by the support Oculus has provided our project since our launch. Like us, Andrew and his team dreamed of letting gamers experience their worlds like never before. Now the device he made possible is going to let gamers explore distant star systems with a level of realism no one ever believed possible. We hope that's a fitting tribute.

The Oculus team has also posted a memorial and Reisse retrospective.

Star Citizen introduced new game designer Pete McKay in the latest episode of Wingman's Hangar, and mentioned plans for a planet-side module and an in-game social bar. Elite: Dangerous delved into the fiction of the Elite universe and confirmed that the entire Milky Way galaxy will be available for play and that humanity will have only explored a roughly 250 lightyear bubble around Earth.

Diablo III announced its new lore compendium, the Book of Tyrael, which tells the story of Sanctuary through the eyes of Tyrael himself and reveals unseen threats to humanity that may be part of the planned expansion. Path of Exile will open the doors on its new four-month-long Anarchy and Onslaught leagues this week, with a whole slew of challenges and a t-shirt prize for completing them.

In MOBA news, Valve clarified its stance on communication bans following accusations of false positives, and showed off stats highlighting the positive impact chat bans have had on the game. Warner Bros announced a live Infinite Crisis tournament to be hosted by Major League Gaming at E3, and fans of Cyborg got their wishes when the character was finally added to the beta. Finally, Heroes of Newerth released its new Stardust Aluna avatar for a character designed by US actress Paula Garces, and Sins of a Dark Age gave a sneak peek at its Realm Quest system.

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