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"Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising" looks to be the first MMOG where the gods get involved with your character as a matter of routine. That is, more than there former deistic role of making certain NPCs avoid talking to you like you're the smelly, pimple-faced kid at the back of the school bus that likes to show off his collection of supposedly stolen junk.

One of the big points in the E3 demo was the various ways in which a character can be “leveled up.” One of the most interesting was earning favor with the gods. How can players earn the favor of the gods? And what can cause them to lose that favor?

Stieg: The gods are notoriously capricious and demand things of the player fairly regularly—if the player calls upon the gods too often those gods will become irritated with him; to please the gods the player must perform quests or render tribute at temples.

More Q&A about the very unique, upcoming MMOG Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising" at PC Game News.

These Druids don't just stand around in a stone circle.

Our Vanguard site's newest writer and class specialist- longtime gamer Karen a.k.a. "Shayalyn"- showcases the Vanguard: Saga of Heroes take on the Fantasy MMOG staple: the Druid. How does Vanguard's version of these nature boys and girls stack up against the EverQuest mold?

I started pondering and reading more about the druid class as Sigil Games Online has envisioned it. When it comes to healing, to my knowledge, no Vanguard developer has openly stated that druids will completely lose the ability to heal. While we know their primary role is damage-dealing, perhaps they will also retain the regenerative abilities, roots, snares and some of the other things we’ve come to associate with the classic EverQuest-style druid. (Keep in mind this is all just speculation on my part as nothing has been announced yet.) Time will tell, and it’s certain that Sigil has some surprises in store for their vision of the new and improved druid.

First impressions of the Vanguard: Saga of Heroes druid, live on TTH Vanguard!

Time to shake the wrinkles of your tights, cape, and cowl.

Cryptic Studios is gearing up for the City of Villains expansion, but that doesn't mean they won't take the time to throw a free expansion your way! The #5 "Dread Forest" expansion adds new zones, zone events, skill sets, and a decreased death penalty:

Issue 5's new zone, Croatoa is a resort community north of Paragon City where several new villain groups are clashing, requiring the intervention of super-powered heroes to stop the carnage. Villain groups running rampant in Croatoa include the Cabal, a coven of witches, and the Red Caps, an evil gang of goblins who are in a bitter struggle with the Cabal for control of the zone. Also stalking Croatoa are the monstrous Tuatha de Dannan and the Fir Bolg, which are easily identified by their fiery pumpkin heads. The Croatoa zone is meant to challenge players from levels 24 to 35.

Issue 5 also introduces highly-anticipated new power sets: archery and sonic. These consist of ranged archery powers for defenders and blasters; trick arrows for defenders and controllers, sonic blast powers for blasters and defenders, and sonic debuffs for defenders and controllers.

"Archery and sonic powers are classic comic book powers and I am excited that we are able to give our players more ways to subdue criminals," said Jack Emmert, lead designer of City of Heroes and creative director of Cryptic Studios. "The new Croatoa zone will also provide exciting adventures and storylines that will challenge any hero venturing into the area. But that is our goal, to continually provide new, interesting content free to our players so they can find action and challenge around every corner."

Additionally, Issue 5 brings new zone events to Paragon City, including the Hellion Arson event, in which Hellion gangs torch buildings in Paragon City. It is the job of heroes to douse the flames and bring the arsonists to justice. Also, at the Troll Rave event, Troll mobs hopped up on an overdose of Superadine transform into "super trolls" then run amok, endangering the surrounding populace.

The new expansion also includes a change in the debt systems incurred when a player is defeated. Players who haven't yet reached level 10 will no longer receive debt when defeated, and players, regardless of level, will only incur half debt if they are defeated while in a mission.

Pull your communicator out of your hero's toolbelt and zero in on this link for more info: City of Heroes Issue #5: Dread Forest.

A busy day in Auto Assault...

NetDevil's newest "prologue" feature on the Auto Assault site comes in the from of an fragmented event log from "Day 189."

I appreciate the art involved, but these logs gives me a headache. Parsing through these things brings back bad memories of long nights in Tijuana involving lots of tequila, nightmarish fletching sessions in EQLive, an female NPC named Aryclauwynn, and... well, you know too much already!

02.28.22 Disturbance reported at Enhancement Facility 5.
02.42.41 Second disturbance reported at Enhancement Facility 5 (Designated: PEC5). Camp Security Terminator Detachment A/11/51 to investigate.
02.43.10 Mastermind Agrellex Minor posits that if the disturbance is similar to disturbances on 188.02.55.10, 187.01.23.09 and 186.01.45.21 this would account for normal Pike behavior.
02.43.15 CSTD cautioned.
02.43.55 Consensus taken by Agrellex, Cantor, and Optimus order use of force to stop disruptive Pike behavior in PEC5.

08.00.85 Viewer visits the Auto Assault "Recon: Chapter 7" page.
08.00.86 Ethec moves on to the next news piece.