There I said it… It had to be said and now I’ve gone and done it. No matter how many times Blizzard tries to adjust, tweak, alter, or change the druid class it will always be broken. Why? Because the fundamental principles on which the class is based are broken as well. In an MMORPG you simply can’t have a un-hybrid class such as the druid.

Before all you druid fanatics jump down my throat, allow me to say this: I played as a druid for nearly the entirety of my WoW career. I leveled him all the way to 70 (my one and only character above level 20) before I was done with the game for good (Naturehooves whoo!). I am not a hater of the class, but rather a critic of the way the class was mis-managed during the early stages of the development of the game.

There are many successful druids out there. By saying the class is broken I am not implying that it is also unplayable. However, that said the class also can’t ever be fully realized in the structure that Blizzard created for it. Created upon the theory that you can play as either a rogue, warrior, healer, or mage depending on what talent tree you decide to sink your points into, the druid arguably became one of the weakest classes in the game very early on in the development. While Blizzard decided to give the druid a bunch of “off-abilities” to make it mime a certain class they could never fully allow the class to become as powerful as any of those same classes. As such, druids are usually relegated to being an off-tank, off-healer, or off-dps.

Of course, this all sounds fine to an average MMO gamer. Sure it sucks that the druid won’t ever be as powerful as one of the mimed classes but it makes up for it in the fact that it can technically play as any of the mimed classes through its various shape shifting forms. This is what most players would logically think… they are wrong.

The druid is not a hybrid class, but rather, a class that can assume the role of whatever the person/party needs for the time. This all largely depends on two things: gear, and talents. Without the right combination of each you aren’t going to do a very good job at whatever class you decide to mime. Hell, even with the best equipment and perfect talent spec you’ll only be as good as an average person of the mimed classes. Of course, if you gear/talent up for one specific off-class you are also completely and totally gimping yourself for all of the others. Afterall, bear druids do not make good moonkins…

I haven’t played the game in a while. In fact it’s been many a month since I have wandered the green pastures outside of ThunderBluff. Having said this I do not know exactly how the druid class plays anymore. I keep up with the updates and haven’t noticed any spectacular alterations that would change this fundamental flaw, but maybe there is something you only notice when you are actually playing the game. In anycase, I stand by what I said: World of Warcraft’s druid class is broken.

Oh… please, for the love of god, no “learn2play” type of comments. I was probably one of the most successful druids on my server and when I played the game I knew the class better than the back of my own hand.

There is a little known MMORPG in the works over at Funcom. As I am sure everybody knows at this point, they are the same company who is currently developing the extremely hyped Age of Conan MMO, which in all fairness does look absolutely awesome. So what about their other project?

Announced last May, The Secret World is planned to be an action-packed MMO filled with mystery, intrigue, and horror. No telling yet what kind of horror, but one could assume, based off the concept art above, that it will be the same type of horror that can be found the famous Arkham Horror board game. That is to say: other worldly monsters, Cthulu, possibly vampires and lycan.

Unfortunately, there is no additional information on the game and any concept art is buried deep within a bunch of websites and puzzles. Not really worth the effort, if you ask me. I’ll be waiting for the real deal screenshots. However, for those who absolutely can’t  wait to hear about more of this MMO, they do have a forum set up, which includes a post about some very interesting articles, such as:

• Mention of the “Illuminati”
• Has something to do with the Knights Templar
• Possibility this has something to do with the infamous year 2012
• London, New York, and Shanghai are all destroyed?

It’s all very fascinating stuff and it gives me hope that we will soon be enjoying an occult MMORPG. Of course, as there is still a lot of mystery shrouding this game anything could change. We will definitely be keeping an eye on this one.

Puzzle can be found HERE.

Concept art can be found HERE. (Don’t click if you want to solve the puzzles yourself)

Forum can be found HERE.

Be careful fellow MMO gamers, Blizzard is on the prowl for some gullibles again this morning. Every year, on April Fool’s Day, Blizzard comes out with some awesome announcement of what they are implementing in this game, or that game. Does nobody remember the wisps?!

Of course, today, being April Fool’s Day, is no different and, as such, they have come out with a few awesome announcements in the hopes of suckering one of you faithfuls out there. Fear not though! We at MMOCrunch are here to keep you from straying to far and to keep your feet firmly on the ground. No developer will best us! Here are Blizzard’s “announcements” for today:

1. The Bard Hero Class. I almost wish this one was true, considering the lander page is so awesome. Who doesn’t want a talent tree titled “Punk Rock” after all? I loves me some Bad Religion. But alas, this one is a very obvious joke.There won’t actually be a bard class in WoW.
2. World of Warcraft Molten Core Console Edition. Are you console gamers ready to get your game on with some WoW? Well you had best keep waiting because there is nothing coming from Blizzard anytime now. Another April Fool’s Joke from Blizzard strikes again! I must admit, it’d be more convincing if they didn’t make any 8-bit graphics.
3. Tauren Marines in Starcraft 2. I think… this one actually might be real. Seriously… Are you kidding me of course it’s not real! Blizzard is a LIAR! As cool as the lander page, and even the shiny graphics and gameplay videos are this one is most definitely a joke to be played on you. Shame on you Blizzard, shame on you! We bovine-aficionados bid you good day sir!
4. Diablo 2 Loot Pinata. Are you ready to have a portable, lootable Lord of Terror? Well get ready because this holiday season Blizzard is NOT going to actually be selling this. As cool and hilarious as my next birthday party would be with it Blizzard is just trying to pull a nasty prank on my expense. Never again!

Well that’s it… this year. Remember Blizzard looks for new prey each and every year. Gullibles travel in packs so make sure if you find any to inform them of Blizzard’s evil ways. Also, while Blizzard is one of the kings of April Fool’s Day be wary of other smaller companies attempting to pull the same shenanigans.

Heed my warning…

What would it take to take a game like Civilization, Starcraft or Sim City and turn it into a MMO, but keep the God like power one has it these games? Instead of controlling one character you control an entire civilization in a MMO style game. All the same features you find in RTS games and MMOs would be there. Leveling up your civilization, controlling your army and civilians, researching, epic large scale battles and complete customization.

There are text based games around the internet that are similar to this, but usually these games are played in rounds of 1 to 3 months long, then the game resets and everyone starts all over. Could this work for a graphical MMO? Playing rounds that only last a month?

To take a RTS game and turn it into a MMO is no small feat as there are many things to consider.

• What happens if your civilization is destroyed? Do you start over or do you have to wait for the next round?
• Can you be Switzerland and be neutral? Perhaps an economic power and not a military power.
• How many players per player universe? Can you have 1000 civilizations in one world or does a limit need to be imposed? Can servers handle that kind of processing load?
• What happens when you log off? Can your civilization be attacked?

Some hurdles definetely need to be resolved before a game like this could be made. What do you guys think? Would this be something that you would consider playing or does this sound like a very very long RTS game?