[SNIP]
Blizzard has had a strong reputation of bug free and well-coded games. I can not recall a game they have made that has had a major bug in it upon its release. Will Blizzard be one of the few companies who will release a MMORPG bug free, or will they fall into the trap of releasing a game six months before it’s ready? Given Blizzard’s history, the outlook appears to be a good one and history will be made, but there is only one problem: Blizzard is horrible when it comes to release dates and always pushes software back. If changing the release date means that Blizzard is taking the time to correct bugs and other issues with the game then that is time well spent.

One of Blizzard’s biggest flaws is their poor attempts at online games, which have been met with some rather poor results, if not outright game destroying problems. Many of Blizzards previous games were popular because they included a multi-player aspect, a strong story line and rewarding single player experiences. However, these multi-player experiences were plagued by hacks, cheats and players who lacked integrity, especially if you played them on Blizzard’s Battle.net service. When Blizzard introduced Diablo 2 to Battle.net, they added a set of safeguards that prevented hacking and cheating, and while it generally cut down the amount of hacking that went on by 95%, exploiting still continued to some degree. In MMORPGs, where online currency is often calculated in real world currency and one exploit can upset the economy, it is of paramount importance that cheating and exploiting is stamped out before the game goes live. Hopefully Blizzard will overcome this dark history with World of Warcraft.
[/SNIP]

Greetings friends!

As you may well be aware, our forums have appeared slow and sluggish on and off for some time now. This is primarily due to the sheer volume of traffic we do within our forums. We are very much aware of these slowdowns and are working hard to correct them. Just as with the slowdowns we'd experienced with our web servers, we are experiencing the same issues with our forum servers.

I am writing to tell you about two things we are planning to do in the coming weeks to correct this problem. First, we'll be upgrading our software to the latest (most efficient) version of the software. And second we'll be upgrading our database server hardware to match that of the web server we upgraded to a few weeks ago. The speed of our web pages has increased tremendously and we fully expect the same results with our forums once this additional upgrade has been completed.

I understand that many of you have been frustrated with the slow performance of the forums - the UO forums in particular. Trust me, I've been pretty frustrated with it too. However we ask that you be patient as we work to correct it. Once we get this upgrade in place the difference will be like night and day.

The new software upgrade will also bring you a bunch of terrific new
features. It comes with an advanced control panel and you'll have much better control over your forum experience. Tracking personal messages, monitoring your favorite forums and threads has never been easier. So please bear with us as we strive to improve our forums and get them up to speed - literally.

Warm regards,

Jhariden
Community Development

Stratics
http://www.stratics.com

The Massively Multiplayer Network]

Question of the Week occurs every sunday(except when Helmer forgets and posts it on a friday) and is meant to bring the community together to discuss our favorite upcoming MMORPG - World Of Warcraft

Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Here’s your chance to learn more about this great game! Westwood recently re-designed their Web site and published tons of information about the game to whet your appetite. You can learn about the different character classes, the various ship classes and how to navigate them, and can even learn about the various missions you can partake in. And much more!

All of this can be yours to discover. Earth and Beyond is still in beta, and there are tons of beta spots open. So don’t delay, sign up for beta today!

This evening I awoke by the cracking sounds of wood. I lay completely still, knowing that I could at any moment get noticed by the enormous moving trees not more than a few hundred yards away, moving across the open plains. They were elvish. I could see tiny ugly Night Elves running around them, climbing them while singing and chanting with their pathetic happy little voices. How I loathe these miserable little creatures. Almost as much as humans. They did not scare me, but those gigantic trees were another matter. Luckily I was not noticed, got up and went on my way.

"I think this one is alive!" cried a soldier, one of the men assigned to burial detail. "He's breathing, not hurt very badly, either, just knocked out. Give me a hand."

Assisting the soldier, four other men moved the rotting body of an undead creature off the unconscious knight and attempted to revive him. An older man removed the knight's helm and slapped his face, "Son, you there? Come on, wake up, this isn't the time for a nap."

Groaning in pain, the knight opened his eyes and, for a moment, appeared utterly terrified. Recognizing men from his own camp, he calmed and exhaled deeply, slowing closing and reopening his eyes. "What happened?" he asked.

"You tell us. The battle is over, and so far you're only the fourth person we've found alive in this mess,"

Blizzard announces the limited edition of its upcoming real-time strategy game.

Blizzard Entertainment has unveiled Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Collector's Edition, a limited edition of its upcoming 3D real-time strategy game. The Collector's Edition will be available only through some retail outlets, and it will include a coffee-table book that contains art from the game, the official Warcraft III cinematic DVD, the Warcraft III soundtrack CD, a signed Collector's Edition manual, and four limited-edition 8x10 prints featuring art from each of the four playable races in the game.
The Art of Warcraft coffee-table book will feature rare and never-before-seen images from the Warcraft universe. The book will contain art from every stage of the game's development, as well as commentary from the Blizzard development team.

The Warcraft III cinematic DVD will contain the complete set of in-game cinematics, digitally remastered in widescreen format for television viewing. It will also feature concept art, storyboards, original trailers, and audio commentary from the Blizzard cinematics team.

The Warcraft III Collector's Edition will be produced in a one-time limited run, and it will be available in the first half of 2002, coinciding with the launch of the basic retail edition of the game.

Only 2 months until E3. Surely some more info will come out about World of Warcraft then =)

•  Interview with Earth and Beyond Test Participants, Part I(Curmudgeon)


•  Interview with Earth and Beyond Test Participants, Part II (Saxifrage)


•  Interview with Earth and Beyond Test Participants, Part III (DrJones)

Gall screamed, "You stupid humans! Gall is different Orc! Gall know much! Gall kill you both!"

Gil replied, "You may have magic, and you may be skilled with an ax, but you are still nothing more then a dirty, filthy orc!"

Gil cast a spell of strength on Dimitri. Dimitri picked his sword from the ground and attacked Gall with renewed vigor. He struck at the orc with all his might, but Gall blocked every blow.

Gall brought his ax to the left and Dimitri took this chance to gash Gall across the chest twice. Gall brought the ax around and gashed Dimitri across the stomach. The ax tore right through the armor and into Dimitri's flesh, Gall struck again and cut across Dimitri's chest.

Gil stood back in frozen terror as Gall made short work of his body guard.. His friend.. Again, Gall was doing it again..

Ok, let’s mention a few of my personal favorites that were added to this triumph. First, I would have to say is auto casting. Nothing pissed me off more in Starcraft than taking 12 battle cruisers into a base only to have them all simultaneously locked down by the computer’s rapid-fire entourage of ghosts. Now many of the units have the ability to turn some of their spells onto an auto cast option that commands them to cast those spells whenever it is appropriate and most importantly without further interaction from you. So for those that played Warcraft II and tore their hair out because the computer could machine gun off blood lust on every one of its units while you were desperately trying to get one spell to stick, here is your chance.