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This week I'd like to kick off something a little bit different. Thus far The Anvil of Crom has been somewhat reactionary, meaning things happen in the Age of Conan game world that make for good discussion, or things happen in the community surrounding the game that do likewise. Aside from my semi-regular Hyborian travelogue series (and an occasional guide or two), the column has basically reflected the current game-related news.

Initially that was by design, as I didn't want it to be yet another gaming blog that talked about more of the same stuff you'd find at 100 other destinations. The problem is, Age of Conan doesn't feature a large internet presence, and every time I look for a guide, I'm reminded of the fact that I should write one.

Beginning today, I'm going to embark on a series of class guides designed to give newbs and vets alike the information they need to determine whether a particular archetype is right for them. My initial thought is to offer three guides per class: a 1 - 40 examination, a 40 - 80 synopsis, and a look at the class at endgame. Obviously this will be an ongoing experiment, since Age of Conan boasts a hefty complement of classes (12 as of this writing), each of them fairly unique from the others and their conventional MMORPG counterparts.

Join me after the break for a look at the life and times of a young Demonologist, as well as a brief gameplay video of the class in action.

Here's the hangup I have with writing guides: I like writing them so long as I'm fairly confident in my understanding of the game. Unfortunately, unlike many others who are reasonably sane, I have a definition of "understanding" that goes into theorycrafting and design space issues. I don't feel that I understand Dragoons just through knowing their abilities; I need to understand why they have those abilities instead of others, how those abilities work in concert with other parts of the game, and so on and so forth. That's the reason I haven't talked a whole lot about guides for Final Fantasy XIV, because I'm still figuring a good chunk of this out.

That having been said, there was no shortage of positive response (mixed with the usual omnidirectional vitriol) to the first guide-ish piece that I ran. So we're dipping back into that well with a look at the violence inherent in the system. It's time to get down and dirty with combat, and this time around we're going to look at the system as a whole, at tricks you can use that you might not be aware of, and at some useful low-level abilities to consider before you start picking "main" disciplines.

This week's Waging WAR catches a whiff of recent happenings on the internet and with Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Greg dives in face-first, grabs a fist-full of the news, and delivers a fast-ball rant on the issue.

Well, apparently the RMT has hit the fan, and the resulting spackle is starting to plaster the proverbial walls of the blogosphere and beyond. Recently, some information was released about what players can expect to buy at EA-Mythic's new store. Although only a few items are actually available now, there's a pretty extensive FAQ on the server transfer service, and we'll have to wait a little longer for the Progression and Personality packs, as they're set to be released along with patch 1.4. Naturally, the drama is building up some nice momentum, and it will be interesting to see how the whine will affect this particular cheese over at the Mythic official forum.

For now, you can read past the break and enjoy my rant.

Welcome to Betawatch, Massively's weekly report on the state of MMO betas. In each installment, we'll report everything from the latest open betas, closed betas and even alphas in one convenient place. Plus, we'll make sure to include as much info on each game's current status, including projected release dates (if known) and links to the sign-up forms to get yourself into that beta you've been seeking.

Dynasty Warriors Online entered open beta this week, complete with a contest -- this is a good time to check it out if you haven't yet.

War of Angels moved into open beta, and Massively's Beau Hindman took the opportunity to give the game a thorough test-drive on Rise and Shiny.

Finally, Gods and Heroes is back again, and the game is set for its first stress test this weekend. The developers are taking closed beta applications now.

Follow along after the break for the current Betawatch list.

Since the addition of the open world PvP flag to Fallen Earth, I haven't seen it being used often enough. There are only a handful of players, including me, who stay flagged for PvP 24/7. For a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Fallen Earth is a pretty safe and cozy place for most. The majority of the game takes place in relatively civilized areas where clones can't harm one another. PvP zones are optional, and many players simply avoid them. With the well-guarded towns, sporadic and weak mobs that are always right where you left them, and the resilience of player characters, there isn't a huge element of danger out there.

I know a lot of these issues are being addressed with the combat changes, but today's wasteland isn't too frightening. I drive into PvP zones and almost breathe a sigh of relief, because everyone around me is on an even keel. When I roll into a crowded town, that is when I'm really on my guard. I appear to go about my business normally, but I'm looking over both shoulders. You never know who in the crowd might have it in for you or might just attack you on a whim. Truth be told, it's not so bad. Most people won't pay you any mind. After the cut, I'll take a look at the past month I've spent PvP-flagged and try to explain why I think it's the only way to play.

A long time ago in this column, back in an age of sweet innocence that I like to call "April 2010," I spent a bit of time commenting on the nine classes in Lord of the Rings Online and how they appeal to different playstyles. Today, as I sit here swaddled in a blanket, drinking tea and desperately trying to wish this cold away, I want to write the companion piece to that article, dealing with races.

LotRO is somewhat unique in the MMO landscape in that it is pretty confined to four and only four playable races outside of PvMP. As much as we love the Pale Folk, I highly doubt we'll ever be given another racial choice for the lifespan of the game -- at least, not without some fiddly logic on Turbine's part. Besides, the four races we're given -- Dwarf, Man, Hobbit and Elf -- are the iconic grouping of the books, and trying to add a gnome or giant or well-intentioned half-orc to the Quest would just come off as silly.

Anyway, if you're starting out in LotRO or mulling over an alt, there's a lot more to consider when picking a race than just "what looks good" (although I'm not going to tell you looks aren't important, no I am not). Races influence your starter zone, traits, special skills and class picks. Join us as we jump down the rabbit hole and emerge in a magical land full of words and screenshots!

After having heard about a small explosion of RP drama earlier this week (not within my immediate sphere, but relayed to me anyway), I was initially going to make this week's post all about that most hated of all interactions. Then I found myself thinking about it a bit more, and I realized that really, most RP drama has an easily identifiable source that's easy to change if you actually want the change. And the solution is so simple it's almost insulting.

Be flexible.

Seriously, it's that simple. It's so fundamental that I put it into the very first column I wrote for this franchise, which should tell you something. But even though -- or maybe because -- it's so obvious, it's also stunningly easy to overlook our own inflexibilities. It's one of those things that we all know on a conscious level and ignore in practice, and if that's not rant-worthy, boy, I don't know what is.

I've been looking forward to this week's column for a while now. I've been wanting to look at the intricacies of class and race selection and setup in Dungeons and Dragons Online for several weeks, but Halloween events and Update 7 took precedence for obvious reasons.

Now that it's settled down a bit, I can finally dive in. Over the next few weeks I'm going to do a series of overviews on getting started. DDO is a funny game when it comes to this sort of thing, because you can throw together pretty much anything (within reason) and get through the first five levels or so just fine. It's not until you get past that point that you start finding out the hard way that the selections you make at character creation are pretty important.

Much of the process is trial-and-error for many newer players. You roll a character, play it until things start getting more difficult than they should, figure out where you messed up, and either reincarnate or start another character. I hope to make this process a little less tedious and painful, so follow along after the jump and let's get started!

Assault on Balaurea has been a part of Aion for nearly two months now. Are you getting bored yet? If you feel like you've done all of the new content so much that it's a snooze, get ready for a new challenge.

Beshmundir Temple is going into hard mode. Aion developers have been hard at work on this for a long time, and they've prepared a huge guide for the PowerWiki. You'll find advice, walkthroughs, details on the named bosses, and much more.

The guide will be released next week, but Massively got an exclusive look at it ahead of time. We've formatted it all up into a handy overview for you, so follow along after the jump for a look at what Beshmundir Temple hard mode has to offer!

Welcome to another edition of Captain's Log, everybody. I hope y'all enjoyed the weekend's festivities, both in-game and real-world. I've only just woken up from my sugar coma to discover a bright new November Thursday, so I guess it's Star Trek Online time!

The folks at Cryptic Studios dropped a big ol' bomb last week. A free-to-play bomb! Sometime soon, Champions Online -- y'know, Cryptic's other MMO, the one about superheroes -- will adopt a fabulously free-ish payment model. What does that mean for the future of STO? Let's speculate!

If you take some weird, outlandish, or out-of-the-ordinary item and then saturate your life with it, sooner or later the bizarre becomes the accepted norm. So much so, in fact, that you'd cease to even think about it. I mean, do we ever question those magic boxes known as "microwaves" that mysteriously heat up our foods? Does anyone blink twice anymore when small computers tell us how to drive instead of nagging spouses? What about Carrot Top?

Likewise, fantasy MMORPGs have erected trope after trope that we no longer question -- or even notice. Actually, the only time we'd notice one of these is if a game failed to include it. No matter how illogical and sometimes silly these MMO staples are when you think about them, we've been around them so long that we would no more notice them as we would the individual keyboard buttons that we type on daily.

Still... you're thinking about them right now, aren't you? Those keys, cruelly dominated by your pecking fingers, pushing them back into place. What a techno-bully you are! In any case, come with us as we count down 10 weird staples that every fantasy MMO seems to include.

It gets absolutely crazy around here once November 2nd rolls around. You'd think that another year of operation was something that only came around once every 9,000 hours or so. Of course, this means an opportunity for me to gorge myself on so much cake that I can't walk under my own power any longer without its just being arbitrary gluttony, and who can say no to that? I certainly can't. I'm still unable to walk two days later.

This week, in honor of our anniversary, I've pulled a few questions straight from our anniversary edition of The Daily Grind, so that readers who missed the answers before can see the answers again... and questions unanswered can get a response. So click on past the break for our offerings, and as always, you can leave a question right here or send it along to ask@massively.com. Hopefully by next week I will be able to walk again.

One of the common criticisms of Champions Online is that it has an incredibly shallow endgame. If true, this will be a very significant problem when the game goes F2P. When a large number of people with lots of time on their hands and only two character slots dive into a game without a deep endgame, the results will most likely be less than ideal.

This week on Behind the Mask, we'll look at what CO has and where it can possibly improve. There are some silver linings as always, but this week we're going to be pretty critical of the Champions endgame.

This week, I wanted to cover something that must be discussed before I move any further into my career as "The Only Guy Who Liked That Game." Before I worked here at Massively, I used to work for Ablegamers.com, a site for disabled gamers. Although my job was a volunteer position, I learned enough to make it very much worth my while. One of the most interesting facts I learned was that many, many Americans are disabled, to varying degrees. Technically, my poor eyesight qualifies me as disabled, as do my chronic wrist issues due to 20 some-odd years of drumming and art.

I've learned my limits but will never apologize for them. I do not expect every developer or game to allow for some of my special (yet common) circumstances, although I think that some of the fixes are so minor that they should have been in the game in the first place. Still, I have to find games that work for my particular set of issues. As I have begun to test and play more and more games, I have had to start enforcing a certain set of rules to pre-judge the games by, otherwise I am stuck with a game that I simply refuse to play. If not, the reviews at the end of the week would simply read: "I couldn't play this game because it asked me to hold down right-click the entire damn time."

See whether any of these issues sound familiar. The fact is, if you're an average human being, at some point in your life you will have the same issues I am having. You might as well recognize them now in order to avoid the games that will cause you trouble.

Alright, places everyone. Cue the John Williams music. I'm about to embark on my life-long dream of being an adventurer for hire. That's right folks, you've got a new host puppet to play around with (or stick pins in, if you prefer) when it comes to Massively's Choose My Adventure. Now's your chance to pick my poison in terms of the lands I'll be pillaging, plowing, or otherwise partaking of for the next six weeks.

Now, I know what you're thinking (because it's the same thing I'm thinking): how in the heck is he going to play Age of Conan, report on community and customer service, bring us the news, and do justice to the CMA title of everyone's choosing? Honestly I don't know, but I'm betting it will involve truck loads of caffeinated beverages.

So what'll it be, dear readers? WAAAGHing it up in Warhammer? Running for our lives as Deathwing singes our back hair? Fretting over interfaces and leves in Final Fantasy XIV? Dodging Darkfall's PvP fanatics? These are but a few of our options this week. Anyway, before I end up with a preamble that's as over-the-top as a side of chilled monkey brains, flip past the cut to get to the polls and pick our next great adventure.

Also, make sure you cast your vote prior to 11:59 pm Eastern on Tuesday, November 9th.