Millions of dollars changed hands this week as Blizzard fans emptied their wallets for another cash shop mount, while Perfect World paid roughly $50M to become the new majority owner of Cryptic Studios.

Winged Guardian Flies Off the Digital Shelves

When the Winged Guardian flying mount went on sale at the Blizzard Store a few days ago, a vocal few proclaimed the $25 ride to be a recycled hippogryph with a slightly better graphics skin.

But this diss didn’t stop World of Warcraft players from lining up in the thousands, making Blizzard some nice chump change. It was roughly a year ago when the company also began selling the Celestial Steed, which managed to bring in an estimated $2.5 million on its first sale day alone.

There’s been no word yet on how many lion-eagle rides have sold, but a casual stroll in the forums shows that the new cash shop exclusive is quite the roaring charmer. And of course, there’s the usual groaning on why WoW Gold-bought mounts can’t look half as awesome as the Winged Guardian.

Perfect World Now Made More Cryptic

Atari wasted no time unloading Cryptic Studios off its balance sheet, inking a roughly $50-million deal with Perfect World for all equity interest in the MMO developer.

It’s an East-meets-West takeover. China-based publisher Perfect World has said that it purchased the US-based Cryptic Studios to extend its presence in the US, Europe and other western markets.

But the biggest question now is whether the acquisition will push all Cryptic Studios games like Champions Online, Star Trek Online and City of Heroes to become free-to-play. Perfect World has a full stable of free-to-play MMOs with prominent cash shops, so there’s an expectation that the subscription model will be chucked out the window.

OK This Time, Let’s Make It More Than An Hour…

Trion Worlds takes the first crucial steps to testing RIFT Patch 1.3, with the world event now on the Public Test Shard for what seems to be a one-day run-through. You can still catch the testing event – and don’t worry about RIFT Platinum or hitting max level. All your needs will be provided by gearing and leveling merchants on site.

The Children of War, Emphasis on Children

EverQuest II brushed off the delay woes caused by the SOE server outage and launched The Children of War patch as (revised) planned. This marks the 60^th game update for the fantasy MMO, and focuses on sprawling PvP changes plus a few new instances and raids about supernatural kids with a serious case of the Bad Daddy complex.

E3 Showdown

And lastly, the big E3 conference commences next week, but there’s already been confirmation of who among the big guns are attending.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is sure to make a splash in the EA conference, while TERA and Guild Wars 2 are expected to blow people away with their preview reveals. RIFT is also opening a booth, although its big message might only be to try out the Ascend-a-Friend and Free Trial programs.

We’ll fill you in on what goes down there in LA as it happens. Till then, knock yourself out in the comments section. Did you buy the Winged Guardian? Why not? And did Cryptic Studios luck out with their new Perfect World owners?

MMOs from the Sony Online Entertainment family are back in business and throwing everything but the kitchen sink as freebies to appease their fans, while over at neighboring Cryptic Studios a big change is brewing as its parent company Atari announced plans to sell the developer off ASAP.

No Longer Offline

For two weeks, SOE endured the embarrassing moniker Sony Offline Entertainment as it underwent a cyber attack-related server shutdown, but no more.

The veteran MMO game maker has reopened the virtual worlds of its dozen or so games, from DC Universe Online to EverQuest II. Returning players will be glad to know that each title offers unique perks and rewards under its overarching Welcome Back Program. (See the full list of goodies here.)

Aside from these game-specific freebies, all Station Account holders “in good standing” will be given 45 days of game time for the shutdown inconvenience. You can claim this bonus game time by logging on to your account by August 31, 2011.

Lifetime subscribers who obviously won’t benefit from free game time will receive an equivalent game currency instead, while Station Access subscribers in good standing also get 500 Station Cash. I don’t know about you, but this pretty much covers the “We’re sorry!” part. Now about the “Please love us again!” we have to see how the new security features hold up.

Anyone Interested?

While SOE goes into fan service mode, it’s a huge wait-and-see at Cryptic Studios as the developer for Champions Online, City of Heroes and Star Trek Online readies to be sold at the auction block.

Parent company Atari announced plans to divest its interest in Cryptic Studios, basically saying that it will focus more on a smaller number of profitable titles and venturing more into mobile games.

Fans of the current titles and the in-development Neverwinter MMO need not worry. So far, the official statements from both Atari and Cryptic indicate that it’s business as usual for all MMO projects involved. Still, we can’t help but be jittery on how ownership switch plays out since it will surely come with major directional changes.

Colossus Contest

RIFT swings into week two of Patch 1.2, and everything seems to be going smoothly for the second major patch, with hotfixes and minor updates going live every day to tweak the rolled-out content.

Just yesterday, deviantArt launched its Create a Colossus contest that asks players to submit original artworks depicting their idea of a Colossus from any of the six major elemental planes. Players are momentarily pausing from their RIFT Platinum farming duties to study the design of Colossi now plying Stillmoor and other zones.

Patch 4.2 Previews

In World of Warcraft, information about Patch 4.2 is slowly but surely leaking out into the general public. From Tier 12 armor sets to the on-proc ability of new legendary Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa’s Rest, the information floodgates are beginning to open wide for the fiery Firelands patch.

Players are still making their way into the troll dungeon heroics that launched with Patch 4.1 for those exotic mounts and large WoW Gold drops, but many see this as a tropical stopover to the next real challenge –  Ragnaros and the next Cataclysm raiding encounters in Patch 4.2.

Twin Events

Aion decided to rally in the second of May with two bonus events. From May 18 to 25, Daevas will experience an Increased Drop Rates event while from May 18 to June 1, the For War and Glory Abyss Points event will be activated.

While the Increased Drop Rates event is simple enough to understand, new players just about to experience their first AP event should know that Abyss Point loss will be reduced during PvP encounters in the Abyss and Silentera Canyon. Not only that, AP gains from killing monsters in both said areas will be upped.

So if you plan on farming for gear and Aion Kinah these coming weeks, you know where to head for maximum gains per hour.

Which MMO are you planning to focus on this week? Will you be busy taking advantage of the SOE rewards, queuing in the new LFG tool in RIFT, or maybe catching up on the latest reveals for Star Wars: the Old Republic?

Death in all its ghastly forms visited RIFT this week as the popular new game launched Patch 1.1: River of Souls, while in the jolly old realms of EverQuest II, players almost died of laughter—or at least roleplayed the part—in the full spirit of April Fools’.

Trial Key Frenzy

We don’t know if it was the sight of zombies or the promise of a rare undead horse mount, but everybody scrambled for free RIFT trial key codes over the weekend.

Trion Worlds released the trial key codes via e-mail and also seeded them across forums, blogs and game store websites. Each key code could be used five times to let friends into RIFT for free, just in time to see Alsbeth spread death and destruction in Patch 1.1.

If you weren’t able to secure free access for your friends, no worries! You can always join the guild contest, which rewards you with a 25-use trial key for a special preview event in the future. From our experience, having a great backstory and raiding achievements will make your guild stand out so gear up with RIFT Platinum and go clear the new 20-man River of Souls raid.

Bristlebane’s Day

In the merry lands of EverQuest II, pranks and laughs abound with the celebration of Bristlebane’s Day, the Norrathian version of April Fools’ Day. The annual joke-a-thon saw a few upgrades including a new quest and tradeskill recipes for purchase with your EQII Plat.

Aion in my WoW?

Speaking of jokes, popular datamining site MMO-Champion pulled a photoshopping prank to show us the evolution of WoW, should it decide to take a page from Aion’s winged fantasy designs.

Not too shabby at all. 100% guaranteed these wings would sell like hotcakes on the Blizzard store or command insane WoW Gold prices at the auction house—too bad they’re totally bogus.

Final Fantasy, Back on Track

Servers went back online in Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV almost two weeks ago due to the Japan quake, and both MMOs have used the time to quickly catch up to schedule.

FFXIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida confirmed that after a few compromises, Patch 1.17 will push through this month and will contain the Easter seasonal event. The follow-up Patch 1.17a will subsequently roll out with changes related to new mid-to-high level PvE content.

FFXI is also planning to upgrade fellows by raising their level cap from 70 to 85, with new limit break quests serving as a roadblock for level progression. Their duration as fellows has also been doubled to 90 minutes while their fighting capacity was also upped from 15 to 50 foes, making them more useful than ever in battle.

The Foundry, Now Live

Over on the other side of sector space, Star Trek Online activated their much-anticipated mission creator called The Foundry.

The Foundry provides tools for players to create missions, which can then be played by the entire Trekker community. Fans of the TV shows can also use The Foundry to recreate their favorite boob tube moments, although not all characters and planet locations are available.

Still, the customization options—from map and dialogue options to NPC selection—are all robust enough to keep budding mission designers busy for months to come.

It’s been a busy week for MMO’s all around, with content updates and news flying straight into our RSS feeds, from a no-show WoW patch to a feline addition in DCUO.

Maybe Next Maintenance
In World of Warcraft, players expected Patch 4.0.6—harbinger of class nerfs and dungeon changes—to drop last Tuesday, but were disappointed when all they got was the usual maintenance with token gnome pic.

Patch 4.0.6 will be the first major update to the Cataclysm expansion, so it should be expected that Ghostcrawler and his cadre of Excel number-crunchers, I mean game developers, are working very hard to get class changes and Heroic dungeon tweaks right.

Catwoman On the Prowl
Catwoman bares her claws in DC Universe Online, with a planned five-boss encounter this February. Known as Selina Kyle when not wearing her slinky leather costume, Catwoman is a prominent lust-hate fixture in the life of Batman, and she promises to make battles both racy and deadly for all DCUO players.

There’s been discussion among comic book fans as to why certain characters seem to get special treatment in DCUO. We happen to think it’s simple logic: The more movies made about a comic book character, the more content he or she is bound to get. Hence Catwoman > Harley Quinn. And no, it doesn’t matter if the movie bombed (I’m looking at you, Halle Berry).

Bonuses in Final Fantasies
Grouping is a bit pointless now in Final Fantasy XIV, what with soloing providing comparable xp and sp gains, so Square Enix rolled out Patch 1.15a that ups the rewards for mob gang-ups. There’s also a Patch 1.15b version coming out which will be more focused on content, which is a relief since some of the guild leves are starting to grate on us.

The older Square Enix MMO, Final Fantasy XI, is also planning a similar xp and sp boost. But instead of encouraging teamwork, the update is aimed more at getting players out of Abyssea, where they’ve holed up for optimal xp and sp farming. Knowing FFXI players though, it’s only a matter of time before they pin down which new area is tops for grinding and head there en masse.

Light a Birthday Candle for STO
Lastly, a big shout out to Star Trek Online, who just turned one this week. Trekkers got a cool 20% discount at the STO shop and a bunch of anniversary activities at each faction’s quest hubs. Executive producer Daniel Stahl even made a summary video that’s totally useless for existing players, but totally useful for new players wondering: “So that buggy and bare game at launch survived, huh?” D-Stahl enumerates the pretty impressive features that rolled out this past year, so be sure to recommend it to pilots you want to recruit in the future.

Share your thoughts on the MMO news this week! Do you like the content updates for your game? What’s your birthday wish for Star Trek Online?

Are you always the last to know about a new MMO patch? Do you stay quiet on Friday night guild chat because everyone else is talking about an obscure forum meme? Well, the Epic MMO Recap can change all that!

Every Thursday, we give you a rundown of the hottest MMO developments in the past week, so you’re kept in the loop without having to pore through dozens of websites and blogs. You might even find yourself breaking the news to your soon-to-be less informed friends.

This week, we talk about a digital push in EverQuest II, the plight of kitty druids in World of Warcraft, plus tidbits from Aion and DC Universe Online.

SOE Likes it Digital
SOE unleashed the charm offensive to convince EverQuest II players to purchase Destiny of Velious, the upcoming seventh expansion due out February 22. And it’s obvious from the freebies that digital is being pushed hard.

The three signs? One, only digital versions can be pre-ordered. Two, the Loyal Snow Hound pet that comes with digital versions compared to the Standard of the Dain cloak (pets always trump gear, let alone a cloak). Three, the Collector’s Edition is digital-only.

If you haven’t figured out why SOE would want you to purchase a digital copy instead of a retail copy, here’s the deal: Digital games cost less to make (no box) and promote (no store launches) and thus gives better profit margins. Of course there’s resistance from new players who don’t want to download all the content. Imagine downloading the original game, all seven expansions and three adventure packs in one go.

Better for veterans to go digital, and still have the retail for new recruits who can just plop in the DVD, and flip through a book while waiting for everything to install in a few hours.

Tasty Tears from Kitty Druids
Meanwhile, in World of Warcraft there’s a mass outcrying of kitties. No, LOLcats haven’t invaded Azeroth. It’s the feral cat druids who are whimpering a lot this week because of a proposed change to shapeshifting. If Blizzard gets its way, the normally mobile spec can no longer remove roots by shapeshifting between forms.

While all druids are mourning the nerf, it’s the veteran ferals who are most outraged, claiming they might as well roll dead when fighting frost mages. Some have even taken a proactive stance and presented alternatives for the great Ghostcrawler to consider, like a possible cooldown-based replacement to their on-demand root immunity.

We think Blizzard will back down on this one, especially when even classes that will benefit from the nerf like said frost mages don’t want a part of the kitty gimping.

Easier Crafting in Aion

NCSoft rolled out the second part of the Aion 2.1 Update, which reduced the crafting requirements for weapons armor and accessories for level 45 to 55 Daevas. And if that wasn’t enough, there was also an increase in drop rates for Balic materials and other Balaur-related ingredient loot. Even the resource nodes now have a higher chance of producing rare materials. To recap, crafting holidays for everyone!

DC Universe Online Tries to Fix the Dreaded Voice Chat

With their new-found superpowers, players in DC Universe Online have been having a grand time exploring Metropolis and Gotham City–only silently because of a host of problems plaguing the voice chat features in the game. After much clamoring from fans, SOE has finally introduced the first batch of hardware upgrades that will hopefully improve performance to raid-quality level. And of course, let you shout your superpowers while pummeling the opposing faction during PvP just like in the comics.

Share your thoughts on the MMO news this week! Will you be purchasing a digital Destiny of Velious? Do you think the kitties are just being big wusses? Sound off on the comments below and see you next week for another Epic MMO Recap!

As if inspired by the multi-episode arcs in its namesake shows, Star Trek Online announced today the arrival of Feature Episodes, which are inter-connected missions added on a weekly basis.

The first three Feature Episodes (collectively known as a Series, yeah, just like a TV series) will feature the Breen as antagonists set on invading the planet Defera.

Both factions will have access to the episodes, with the Klingons harboring a deeper animosity for the armor-clad Breen. Cryptic Studios didn’t say for how long the Breen series will run, but the initial Feature Episodes below sound packed with world-saving drama:

I wouldn’t cross my fingers for a final boss reveal–the Breen have been a notorious tease in the Star Trek franchise, never showing what’s under those cumbersome fridge-suits. So just be contented with the loot and bonus STO energy credits that’s sure to come from defeating them.

This week, Jedi Knights showed how valuable mastering The Force is in Star Wars: the Old Republic. Harness it long enough against the Dark Side and you upgrade to one of two advanced classes: Guardian or Sentinel.

It was months ago when BioWare revealed the Advanced Class system and its goal of providing specialization options to players, but the Guardian and Sentinel previews are our first peek of this system at work.

Based on their description above, Guardians will act as tanks who protect the innocent from the destructive mayhem of the Republic enemies. Their use of heavy armor will serve well for this job and the use of the phrase “inspiring allies to amazing feats” is fancy wording for buff-type auras.

Meanwhile, Sentinels are trained for more offense by wielding dual lightsabers. I wouldn’t want to anger one of these skilled duelers and end up being sliced to fine meat. It’s also suggested that Sentinels will be able to take advantage of enemy weaknesses, but exactly how hasn’t been revealed yet.

This first salvo is a teaser really, a way to excite us into rolling a new toon and fulfill our fantasy of becoming the next Luke Skywalker or Obi Wan Kenobi. I have higher expectations for the next installment though–several skill descriptions and vid demos will help seal the deal not only for me, but for you ET fans as well.

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While the rest of the Galactic Republic ogles the new Jedi Knight advanced classes, Federation and Klingon captains are giving their farewell salutes to Chief Creative Officer Bill Roper, who announced this week his departure from Cryptic Studios.

After a two-year stint molding Star Trek Online and game brethren Champions Online, Mr. Roper said it’s time to move on to other pursuits. “Over the past few months my entrepreneurial spirit has become restless, and I’ve made the difficult decision to move on and look for new opportunities,” Mr. Roper said in a short farewell announcement posted at the official STO website.

The veteran developer thanked the Cryptic staff and the gamers who have given “both the support and the kicks in the ass that have pushed me to constantly evaluate and grow.” Mr. Roper was mum on his immediate plans but some insiders believe he could plan to start his own company again, which after the Flagship Studios bomb, deserves a phaser gun salute if only for sheer chutzpah.

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Hey EpicToon fans, we’ve been busy migrating the blog from its old address to the new address http://www.epictoon.com/blog.

It should be easier now for you to remember the blog URL and visit the ET store for some cheap Aion Kinah, Final Fantasy XI Gil, and many other virtual currencies.

Star Trek Online is packing some heat with its upcoming Season 2 update, with new ships becoming available to Vice Admirals and an ancient rivalry rearing its ugly head for the Klingon faction.

In the latest Ask Cryptic post, the devs revealed that three new additional ships will be docking soon in Federation space: Galaxy with Saucer Separation, Intrepid with Ablative Armor, and Defiant with Cloak. Meanwhile, Klingon Dahar Masters will be able to control a Fek’ihri carrier.

While Klingons will have less new ships to pilot, they will receive a more exciting storyline with the emergence of a major nemesis: the fek’ihri. With these confirmed features, Season 2 is shaping up to be an exciting one especially with plans for missions to venture beyond the Galactic Barrier.

The rest of the Q&A also confirms the activation of “social features similar to what we have in Champions Online” when Season 2 goes live this month, which means optional Facebook interactivity. More non-combat missions are also rolling out under the Federation Diplomatic Corps system, progress in which will unlock ranks and accolades–and their corresponding titles and rewards.

When I signed up for Star Trek Online all I wanted was to explore the galaxy and act all bossy to a crew who would follow my every order, no matter how tactically stupid these were. But now it seems the galactic playground will get even bigger–multi-dimensional even!–once the Season 2 Update rolls around this July, according to new Q&A released at the official website.

Federation and Klingon captains alike will discover another dimension and get to peek behind the forbidding Galactic Barrier, which as you may remember, has caused nothing but misery and havoc to all those foolish enough to go pass through it.

It’s all right to forgo the Galactic Barrier exploration. Past Trekkers have suffered gruesome deaths due to exploring this mysterious energy field, some burning to a radioactive crisp and others suffering from psychotic breakdowns. If this is too dangerous for your taste, then explore instead social areas like Vulcan which could get new missions in Season 2.

The big mystery though is what the dimension-crossing storyline will be, given that The Q will take a backseat in Season 2 (It sucks, I know!). Will the dimensional rip be accidental or some evil plot from an evil Andromeda race? Whatever it is, it should at least match the sheer awesomeness of recent Q missions.

But not all’s good news for Season 2. Sadly, no Tier 6 ships will be introduced next month despite the level cap increase; only additional Tier 5 ships are planned for release. Development for Tier 6 though is gaining traction:

“We have been kicking around ideas for what Tier 6 ships could be and how they would work in the STO universe already. Will they be retrofits of existing ships, “Super Defiants”? Will they need entire Fleets to pool their resources to create? We’ll continue to listen to the community’s feedback and decide as the time gets closer how exactly we will implement the next Tier of starships.”

The Q&A also sealed the coffin for customized missions matching our bridge officer composition. Cryptic reasoned that logistical constraints prevent them from implementing this much-requested feature, and a half-hearted attempt would only end up “so generic it would feel a little forced and hollow.” I personally think this isn’t such a big deal, especially if try to make up for it by fast-tracking the Open PvP and dueling options in game.

Season 2 has a lot more features to offer, including a Fleet Logo System, so read here for the complete STO Season 2 developer Q&A.

It’s great when MMO developers go out of their way to inform subscribers of possible game upgrades. But it was a bit disappointing to get a checklist of maybes in the latest Ask Cryptic newsletter.The Star Trek Online developer just ho-hummed on timelines for future PvP features that most current titles have.

On the much-requested open world PvP, Cryptic said plans are underway but “at this point, we have no ETA when you can expect this.” The developer is also eager to offer 1-on-1 dueling, but they are first focused on creating a “better queue and matchmaking experience, along with new, more interesting instanced PvP games.”

Recent interviews with STO executive producer Craig Zinkievich also suggest that expanded PvP features will be put in the backburner. What’s more important to Cryptic these days than letting us trade phaser fire wherever and with whoever we want? Well, Mr. Zinkievich said their top priority is to work on “big issues” and develop the Season Two update set for July.

“Over the next few months there are big issues that we want to address… Things like difficulty slider, death penalty, being able to trade and do more training with your Bridge Officers, working on Memory Alpha and expanding that as the players want to see that expanded, and, of course, more Special Task Forces coming,” Mr. Zinkievich said in an interview with videogamer.com.

The STO producer said the Season Two update, which follows the just released Season One: Common Ground update, will have new episodes and tons of non-combat content–think crime investigation and diplomatic intervention missions similar to what we see in Star Trek TV episodes.

Now even I have to admit that sounds super cool. The thought of channeling Jean Luc-Picard almost made me forget about my urgent need to pew-pew fellow Federation captains and pillage them of their hard-earned STO energy credits. Almost.