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EVE, hands down. Everything in this game is crafted by the players. You just can't beat that!

Actually, you'll probably be able to run it fairly well on a low-end machine, if not at super-high graphics. CryEngine2 was built around making it more efficient than just pushing graphic boundaries the the original CryEngine was designed to do.

It'll be interesting to see what people can do with this engine.

I used to be adament about threat-generation on many of my characters in many games, but World of Warcraft ran into a... how would you say... threat inflation problem. I'd have to do maybe two or three cycles of four moves, and I'd have so much threat I could really AFK for the boss fight, make a sandwich, and come back. The damage dealers can't do that, the healers can't do that (barring heroics), so I think there needs to be a change in the way threat is handled. I personally believe it SHOULD be an active thing, or tanks will become lazy and then suddenly complain when it gets 'hard'.

Finally, someone is taking a good step back and looking over this Holy Trinity archetype we've put ourselves in. I'm glad it's gone from "Aggro Maker with a Healer, then everyone else DPS" to controlling a mob (not its attention or threat meter) and supporting your allies. I've said it once before and every other article that comes out about Guild Wars 2: This game is shaping up to be my dream MMO.

Little do we know, but Barrens chat is actually across all realms at all times. It was the test grounds for the RDF functionality, and is currently being used to test the new Cross-Battlegroup battleground system.

Chuck Norris may well be to blame for this.

Why do you think there's such a lack of Sandbox-type MMOs in the recent years of the MMO Industry? That used to be the promise of MMORPGs: A wide-open, persistent world where the player could be anything he wanted, do anything he wanted, with thousands of players online. But it seems like so many games are theme-park styled.

My question is: Why is there such a lack of the sandbox-type of MMO, and is there hope of that type of theme returning?

I'm actually rather pleased to see the Battleboars looking like they've got a nice, high-res texture now!

I can see poor Warhammer tanking if, as mentioned above, it doesn't make a shift towards F2P. If it DOES go F2P, though, I may well download it as I've really gotten into the PvP side of this genre recently.

Star Wars Galaxies... not sure how that's still even afloat.

But as far as the far future... As soon as Blizzard drops their all-new IP and their all-new MMO, I believe the behemoth that is World of Warcraft will finally be laid to rest.

A game like Mass Effect 2 can get away with its storyline pacing and after-thought leveling because it features a very distinct and easy to follow progression. You progress by completing missions and moving the storyline forward.

Grinding is the way of measuring progress in MMOs today. Sure, it's decade old thinking, but it's been working for a long time. You grind out experience and your level goes up. In EVE, you grind out money as your skills increase, and as your money goes up, so does your ability to buy things. It is, honestly, repetitive and starts to draw away from the fun. Grind grind grind, reach your goal, then grind grind grind some more to reach the next goal, even at end-game. Take WoW for example. Grind to level 80. Then, grind gear to hit heroics. Grind heroics for gear to hit raids. Grind raids to get gear to down the final boss. Then? Do it all over again. Alternatively, grind Battlegrounds for honor to get PvP gear to do what? Hit Arena and grind out Arena points for better gear to grind out an MMR.

To get AWAY from that grind, a developer needs to think outside of the progression box. Progression is what brings players into the game, honestly. It's what makes an RPG an RPG (mechanically). But what are some ways to measure progression without using a number or implementing a grind? What about an evolving world where the player has control over events? Maybe the grind there would be defeating a particular faction that's been assaulting a village. And with that faction defeated, you can work on rebuilding the city. Then helping the city expand. Etc etc.

It's my personal opinion that progression needs to be less numbers, less grind, and more progression through the game world itself. If we keep up this grinding numbers thing, the genre will become stagnant, and eventually will die.

Hey, more comments from the writers would be fantastic! One of my favorite things here at Massively is being able to reply to opinions posted by them. One of my less favorite things is not getting much of a response. I'm excited to see how this turns out!