The time for launch scale testing is complete and the time for pre-order bonus play time is now. Aion 2 has officially opened its doors for real today for Steam and NCsoft’s bespoke Purple launcher, albeit to those who bought a founder’s pack to get the privilege of head start. As one might expect, this […]

Whether it’s PvP or PvE, if there is some cheesing to be done with an MMORPG’s systems, players will find it. That kind of shenaniganry appears to have been happening within Embers Adrift, as players were utilizing the combat recovery timer — the system that determines the time between when a character is fighting enemies […]

In a tumultuous year for the Xbox division, in which thousands of employees are being laid off and Xbox Game Studios is being broken up, the new CEO of Microsoft's gaming group is resolute on one thing: Despite rumors and speculation to the contrary, Xbox is not for sale. The company has slimmed down its portfolio this year, divesting from four studios and canceling projects.

World of Warcraft: Forever is looking to keep its secrets, as over 12,500 items in the game's files have been kept hidden from dataminers.

The WoW: Forever beta is currently in full swing, and in addition to new dungeons, abilities, and even a whole new playable race, players are quickly discovering there are tons of new items that will completely change how this old-school version of WoW is played. Whether it's items with far more spellpower at early levels or gear tailored towards professions, Blizzard is definitely mixing things up so that the game's leveling journey, and its endgame, are going to feel all new.

As broken down in detail by Icy Veins, part of how Blizzard looks to be accomplishing this is by keeping almost 40% of the game's nearly 32,000 items a secret. Dataminers can technically see that these 12,000 plus items exist and even where many of them potentially come from, but can't see what their stats are. Many of these items are assumed to be all-new, though some are likely variants or modified version of items from WoW Classic.

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Players have already taken a bite out of that 12,500 item total, having discovered over 4,400 "hidden" items in the Forever beta. Once an item has been discovered, it's then revealed in the game's backend. Icy Veins notes that not all the items datamined might actually exist in Forever, as it lists a number of items that were part of WoW Classic's Season of Discovery and might not make it into Blizzard's new version of the MMO.

Many of the hidden items come from raids and dungeons, including tier sets. So far, players have uncovered a few different sets, such as some low-level dungeon item sets, as well as full loot tables for early-game dungeons like Wailing Caverns, Ragefire Chasm, Shadowfang Keep, and the Deadmines. The beta's level cap is currently 20 (but will be raised to 30 before the beta's end), meaning players will likely uncover even more dungeon loot ahead of launch. 

The aura of discovery and mystery players are experiencing as they explore Azeroth once more is just one of the reasons Forever's beta looks to be wildly popular. Multiple WoW devs, including Blizzard VP Holly Longdale, have commented that the beta is breaking player-number records, and Blizzard has had to raise the beta's population cap as a result. However, the beta hasn't been without controversy, as a recent streamer scandal involving gold trading has players demanding Blizzard do more to combat real-money transactions and gold buying. 

WoW: Forever's beta ends October 21, with the game's full launch set for November 4. Blizzard's third version of its MMO will add over 1,000 new quests to classic Azeroth, as well as new zones and endgame content. Though there won't be a new class at launch, a recent Blizzard survey revealed 11 new potential WoW: Forever classes that could come to the MMO in the future.

We touched on it briefly yesterday as DC Universe Online was kicking off an event to wrap up its current story chapter, but now we’ve got a little more information and context for the superheroic MMORPG’s next update, Wrath of the Worldkillers, which is landing to fans on Tuesday, October 6th. “Titans Bay has gone dark, […]

Ernest Cline’s 2011 novel Ready Player One was an enormous hit, engrossing readers with a dystopian adventure filled with nerdy ‘80s references. A prominent early example of the LitRPG boom, it’s set in a near future where humans spend most of their time in a virtual world called the OASIS. The simulation began as an MMORPG, and its brilliant creator, James Donovan Halliday, bequeathed control of the OASIS to whoever can find a set of keys to pass through various gates. The quest that requires an encyclopedic knowledge of Gen X music, movies, and games.