As part of the latest update, Microsoft is also introducing a new emote "so any player who wants to help another can alert players in a local area." Whether people will use it remains to be seen, but Microsoft is hoping the spirit of goodwill that drove players to become volunteers will continue, but at the grassroots level by individuals and allegiances. The satisfaction of helping people will have to be reward enough.

I understand that once you form a guild or faction the members receive some sort of bonus. Can you give us some details on this? Is there a choice of different options or is it based on what the faction/guild leader chooses? Is there different options for OmniTek and Rebel?

The system is built up around perks and upkeep. This means that a clan (not departments and factions) can have perks for skills but will have to pay extra upkeep each month. In addition the clans can add disadvantages that will lower the upkeep. E.g. no use of nano, firearms, unarmed etc. or even down to no Atrox, no male, no cash more than 10000 etc. We have some default advantages and disadvantages in place but will wait with the other ones to see how they are received and how we should proceed.

Dear user,
we recently had to run maintenance on our local server. Due to this, Funcom Support department is not able to give you as quick response as we should at the moment. We will get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you for your patience!

However, the Anarchy Online beta testing is unaffected by this maintenance.

Also similar to Diablo II is how addictive Redmoon can be. Even though it gets monotonous killing off gangsters for the first twenty levels, the game will grow on you. And you'll need that dedication just to get started with the real game -- you need to be at least level 100 to start the first quest. As you can guess, you can raise your character to levels higher than 100, which you'll need to in order to use better weapons. Weapons in Redmoon are purchased and require certain attributes to be at a set minimum. Items in the game will also become less effective as you gain levels, forcing you to move on from the one-dollar gold fish to the more expensive French fries.

You can catch the rest of the preview here.

 
 

You can see the rest of the feature here.

We wanted to let the player community know what was happening with HORIZONS, and now that HORIZONS is under full-scale development, we have made the decision to add another underwater race. The main reason for this was to balance the vast underwater expanse that will exist. While we are not yet prepared to announce the name of this race, we wanted to let the community know that we are going to evolve the underwater realms even more than originally anticipated. Having said that, the initial release of HORIZONS will not feature either of the underwater races. The main reason for this is so we can release the game in a timely fashion, and focus on the realms that the player base is most familiar with. However this does not mean that we will not have Lamurians in the game; as a matter of fact, we are planning on releasing the playable underwater races roughly 3-6 months after initial release so that we have ample time to balance them properly. It is not defined as of yet whether or not these two races will be blood enemies, but they will be distinctly different, and have open conflicts.

Another reason that we decided to choose this path was to show the versatility of the game and the evolution of game features without the need of purchasing an additional patch in order to receive large-scale game enhancements. We want the player community to be excited about how HORIZONS was designed to truly grow as time passes, and this approach will define just that.

The initial release of HORIZONS will feature plenty of underwater realms, creatures, and places of adventure for land-based players to enjoy. When the Lamurians and secondary underwater race are introduced into the game, the size of the underwater world will actually be much larger than originally designed, thus creating an even larger game world.

Our goal is to work with the players of the community in order to create the best MMOG on the market. We understand that many people may be disappointed by this announcement, but please understand that our goal is to get HORIZONS into the hands of the players as soon as it is ready, and the inclusion of Lamurians was not required to do so at this point. Lamurians, and any underwater races, are going to play a very important part in the world of Istaria - at the same time, this allows us to set some basis for adding future races as well; so we hope that this decision generates more excitement for the already established player base can look forward to.

Thank you to everyone for your support!

 

You can catch the rest of the shots at the RPG Dot Gallery.

3.11 Will I be able to become a stormtrooper?

Unfortunately, the constraints of the Imperial hierarchy prohibit us from allowing players to actually become stormtroopers in the initial launch product. Service in the Empire would be very difficult to enforce; if we did allow stormtroopers, players would constantly be AWOL as they explored other aspects of the game. Rest assured, however, that players will be able to serve the Empire in many other ways.

From the Recent Developer’s Boards

3.12 How many species will be available for me to play?

We will feature eight playable species for the release of the game. We whittled down the long list to eight finalists, which will provide a great deal of diversity and balance to the game. We hope to add additional playable species with future products in the Star Wars Galaxies line.

4.14 Can I have a title like “Jedi Knight” or “Jedi Master”?

We're planning to include Jedi titles, like "Jedi Knight" and "Jedi Master" in the game. Dark Jedi would likely have the same titles as the regular Jedi (Dark Jedi Knight, Dark Jedi Master).

5.07 Will enemies be able to attack me through walls?

No, enemies will not be able to attack you through walls.

The full FAQ page can be found here.

I think you already answered your own question. Anyone who buys a MMORPG has to ask themselves: "I am willing to shell out $60 + 12 * $10 = $180 + tax to play this game for a year?"

If they are, they are more than likely going to give up any other MMORPG they're playing. Why, for instance, would an average gamer have the time or money to spend $540 on 3 MMORPGs per year, let alone $900 for 5.

You can read the rest of the feature here.