It’s not quite over yet, but 2011 was not a banner year for the MMOG genre. There was no massive success, no breakaway hit. Players did receive their handful of expansions and new content patches, but with the exception of the just-released Star Wars: The Old Republic – a title which may become that massive success – most events were a blip on the radar.

Perhaps 2011 will be remembered not for its lack of breathtaking releases in the genre. No, no, the Year of the Rabbit may go down in history for a paradigm shift in the genre itself. Yeah, you guessed it, a continued aggressive shift to the free-to-play model.

What started with a last-ditch effort by Turbine Entertainment to save Dungeons & Dragons Online has continued to spread through the industry like wildfire. From dieing titles to titles that would have surely been paid-to-play years ago to upcoming AAA games, escapisms from every subgenre, every part of the world and catering to every type of game were released, entered beta or teased during the year. It’s getting to the point that drawing the line between what is an MMOG and what isn’t is becoming increasingly difficult.

Below you’ll find the titles that have us here at LoreHound.com the most excited. There’s a little bit of everything, AAA to F2P, MMORTS to MMORPG, casual to hardcore. An exhaustive list of expansions, content patches and releases? No, but the post is choke full of excitement, previews and information.

We’ll kick it off with the prediction for Star Wars: The Old Republic’s seemingly bright future. More after the cut.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: BioWare has definitely set themselves on the right track with this game, going full blown into production. They have stated that they have a years worth of content already in back log before launch, giving them a year’s head start worth of content as they still work on more to come. Add to the fire the fact they’ve watched every MMO that was released in 2011, and took notes, along with everything the head megabeast, World of Warcraft, has done for the last 5 years. The game is only just over a week old (officially), and besides the hiccups with a launch of any new game, the game is going pretty solid with 1 million subscriptions already created on December 22nd (before people who got it for Christmas could subscribe).

Is the game perfect right now? No. Give it a few months, and all the kinks will be found and ironed out, with some new content. Yes, yes, that statement could be recycled for almost every MMOG release in modern history. That doesn’t make it any less true. The fully voiced story gives a very cinematic feel. Check out the Lore Cast Episode 5 in the coming days to hear how Mordil, Beararms, and perhaps a few others are feeling about the game.

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I’m back with more Minecraft goodness! Today’s episode covers my highway system that links all the projects and server “official” content together in a safe, quick travel system, and the Lore Hound Logo made from wool.

Check out the full video below.

As always you can download the latest textures from here (HD) and here (SD). Make sure to have MC Patcher and patch in “HD Textures” before trying to use them! That can be downloaded here (PC), and here (Mac OS X).

It took me awhile to notice, but a bit of swag I scored at PAX 2011 had a nice little touch to it. The black zip-up hoodie “earned” at the Perfect World booth not only has a patch donning the left shoulder, but it’s attached by the noisiest form of fashion, velcro.

Why do you care? Well, if PWE would sell the hoodie, which is an awesome one, the company could easily extend its microtransaction model to the flesh universe, expanding the knowledge of Blacklight Retribution even further.

Check out the video for more details.

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Rusty Hearts, currently in Open Beta, is being crafted by Stairway Games in conjunction with Perfect World Entertainment. PWE should sound familiar. The growing Chinese company is responsible for publishing multiple titles on this side of the pond, including Perfect World and Forsaken World. Rusty Hearts is a massive multi-player, fast paced brawling game.

Confused? Check out iTZKooPA’s introductory video from a few weeks back.

Who’s got large breasts, carries two loaded revolvers and had one hell of a Halloween costume? Natasha, the newest addition to the growing list of playable characters for Rusty Hearts, and the first that is focused on ranged fighting. Naturally, I had to give her a spin and see if she is as good as I really hoped her to be.

Stick with me and together we go down the road and discover how she works.

The first thing I noticed when I played her was that she is definitely a divergence from the other character’s gameplay. It took some getting used to, but then I noticed the gun play felt familiar. She shoots like a certain demon hunter, but then the female version of him. What makes it more outstanding from the rest of the characters is that she has to reload every time she has emptied her clips, and her abilities include stationary turrets. Making her versatile in a support role, as well as direct damage. Continue Reading