The current version of Final Fantasy XIV is redefining the term "lame duck." This is a duck that is so lame it can no longer move under its own power, relying instead on a specially trained squad of ducklings to occasionally move its head toward food. How it trained the ducklings, I don't know; that's not really the point. It's not a perfect analogy.

We're very close to a final character copy and a server shutdown, at which point... the servers get turned back on again, I guess. Naoki Yoshida quite openly stated that if there is a large enough chunk of players who wanted the servers back on, he will make that happen, even though nothing more would get saved. This raises a variety of questions -- chiefly, why anyone would want to keep playing the game with the explicit understanding that the whole game is getting rolled back before too much longer, but I'm not one of the ones who voted for the reactivation.

But as we enter the final phase -- which is basically just through early next week, if you're not keeping track -- it seems as if it's worth discussing the servers going down and then coming back on. Really, what else do we have to occupy our minds regarding Final Fantasy XIV right now?

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If there's one word that perfectly sums up the spirit of SOE Live, it's family. I don't know how, but SOE always manages to deliver a big gaming event and make it feel like a casual, intimate get-together at the same time. The picture above epitomizes that, and I'll explain the story behind it below.

There was a lot to cover this time around, and I would argue that this year's convention included more titles than ever before and brought more game news than it ever has. It was a hectic pace, but we all survived in one piece. Well, actually, there was that one guy at the pool (a Ranger), but he turned out to be OK too. You've probably seen the many articles that MJ Guthrie and I put together over the past few days, but I'd like to use this week's column to do one final wrap-up of things that weren't covered but deserve a look. Read on for my final wrap-up of a very busy SOE Live.

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I don't know about you, but Riders of Rohan has genuinely made me excited to log into Lord of the Rings Online once more. Don't get me wrong; I always like the game, but some days are more of the "same old, same old" than others. This expansion, however, is like a fresh spring wind sweeping away the stale memories of yesterday. This is good stuff.

I'm sure many of you are already level 85 and masters of the horse, whereas I am but a lowly level 77 and am cursing at my war-steed because it handles like a drunken garbage scow. I don't fly through expansions uber-quickly, but in this case I don't feel the need to. I want to savor all of this.

I want to save a more intricate discussion of mounted combat until next time, so for today I would like to look at the initial stages of the Rohan story and how Turbine is handling the franchise as it moves deeper into The Two Towers territory.

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Those of you who read my bizarre introductions to articles have done very well. You have learned almost all of what I have to teach you. Now, as your final test, you have to turn into a duck. Just... you know, go over into the corner and turn into a duck. Then you will be ready to learn the secret of making electric guitar sounds with nothing more than a drinking glass and a nasal congestion problem.

Wait, that's not what you were here for? Oh. You probably were just looking for WRUP, which is where the Massively staff talks about what they're planning for the weekend. Also, this week we talk about our most hated zones. Yeah, that's much more interesting to those of you not interested in the duck thing, you can just jump on past the break and share your weekend plans in the comments. The rest of you, though, had better be making with the duck transformations pronto.

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I'm a fairly open guy. As far as I'm concerned, my job makes me something of a public figure, and that means a certain amount of transparency is implied. So I don't shy away from letting people know who I am, and while I'm frequently roleplaying, I make an effort to get to know the people behind the characters. I like to get to know the people behind the characters to see who it is I'm playing with.

Not everyone else feels the same way. For some people, logging in to play EVE Online means that it's EVE Online time, not time to play the game while talking about television in chat. That can lead to fewer long-term friendships that transcend the game, but it also means that you have a more immersive experience. So what about you? Do you get to know your in-game friends as people, or do you stick to just knowing them as characters?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

Forge is currently in closed testing, meaning that even if you're interested in the game you're not able to try it out. But we were lucky enough to get our hands on the current game, and you can take a look at our first impressions to get an idea of where it stands at the moment.

If you're more interested in RIFT's first expansion, Storm Legion, you've got a bit more luck. The expansion is still in closed testing, but it opens for a weekend on November 2nd for current subscribers. RaiderZ, meanwhile, threw open the gates and went fully into open beta this week. City of Steam joined the party with a full outline of its beta schedule, which expanded beyond the vague "November" we knew from before. Last but not least, MechWarrior Online's delayed open testing will kick off on Monday.

And there's still more! Namely, there's the list of games in testing just past the break. If we missed something, by all means, let us know in the comments!

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Location-based MMOs have a long way to go. I can only imagine how the genre will appear in 10 or 15 years and how common it will be to load up a virtual world on our mobile devices. Even with the advances that still need to be made, location-based gaming is pretty darned impressive. Think about it: These are games that use the real world as a playing field. While most do not employ the literal square mileage of the Earth in exact scale, most of these games can boast a very large map. These titles can also utilize the weather and other events that happen on it at any given time, blending them with our real world so that it appears there is a secret, veiled world right beside us.

I wanted to recap some of my favorite location-based MMOs for those who might need some advice on which ones to try. My favorites are marked with a "latest update" marker, but all of them are worth checking out. So pull out your phone or tablet and get to it!

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While WildStar has been offering a lot of previews to eager fans, that hasn't stymied player questions. It's been known for some time that the game aims at being a sandpark-style game, midway between themepark and sandbox principles, but what does that mean in execution? Executive producer Jeremy Gaffney penned a piece today responding to player discussion on the topic and explaining how the team at Carbine Studios is trying to offer something for everyone.

Gaffney explains that the team wants to ensure that players aren't lost or unsure of what to do next while at the same time not keeping the entire game on rails. The main method of doing this is by having coherent quests and missions coupled with more spontaneous content dependent on the state of the zone -- so while there might always be a quest hub to the north, more dynamic events are roaming to the south that you won't always encounter. Read the full article for more on the game's content layout and the importance of zone-by-zone player feedback.

There are a lot of times in life when you're expected to figure out the mechanics of something by jumping in facefirst. Your first time roleplaying is among them. You know about all of the groundwork you need to do before you start roleplaying, and you know about what happens when you are roleplaying, but the first time you roleplay is going to be filled with a lot of awkward half-starts and confusion over what you're supposed to do at any given moment. So it's a lot like the first time you learned how to ride a bicycle.

Yes, I was building up to the bicycle analogy; what did you think I was going for?

Part of this is because most people have The Friend Who Roleplays, who introduces you by example; you don't need to find out how it's done because someone who already knows is showing you. But maybe you don't have a roleplaying buddy or anything beyond a desire to see what all the fuss is about. Rather than discussing anything more abstract, I'm going to talk about the bare mechanics of roleplaying -- stuff to do when you start, stuff to keep in mind, and the pure mechanical aspects of conveying a character through text and a few model animations.

This is both easier and harder than it sounds.

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After a bit of a delay last week, MechWarrior Online has announced that it will be entering open beta -- for real this time -- on October 29th.

The delay decision was made after beta player feedback presented concerns for the studio. Lag issues, new player tutorials, balance tweaks, and more have been improved for this open beta launch. To help boost the game's production, over $5M was raised through the game's pre-order Founder's program since July.

MechWarrior Online is set to launch in Q1 2013.

[Source: Infinite Game Publishing press release]

Earlier this week, 38 Studios' former headquarters in Providence, Rhode Island played host to a public auction that brought in approximately $650,000 through over 1,000 bidders. If you combine this number with last week's auction at the studio's Big Huge Games division, the total recouped through auctions came to $830,000. This is unfortunately only a fraction of the estimated $150.7 million owed in bankruptcy filings, but the best part hasn't been put up on the block yet.

The Kingdoms of Amalur intellectual property is said to be "sold in a negotiated transaction over the next three to six months," according to Joystiq. The total from that sale doesn't expect to cover the entire amount owed, which leaves the remainder up to the Rhode Island taxpayers.

Still having a hard time trying to decide what you're going to roll when Darkfall: Unholy Wars releases next month? Well, here's another candidate for your approval: the Deadeye.

The Deadeye is a sub-class in the Skirmisher role that focuses on ranged damage. A trusty bow is all the Deadeye needs to bring the pain to single and multiple targets. Some of the class' skills include an unstoppable arrow, a ranged debuff, a salvage of arrows, an exploding arrow, and a dead-on Trueshot attack.

Check out the Deadeye in action after the break!

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They say a picture is worth a thousand words, which means the following Age of Wushu gallery is worth 145,000 of them. The upcoming PvP game is heavy on gorgeous visuals, so your time won't be wasted by checking out these screenshots while you wait for the sandbox's February 2013 release.

We also wouldn't be doing our jobs right if we didn't encourage you to read up on our Age of Wushu interview from GDC Online earlier this month!

[Source: Snail Games press release]

Thus far I've managed to keep my nose out of Massively's MMO Blender column. This is primarily because I don't need 1000 words to describe the ideal MMORPG when a short phrase like "Star Wars Galaxies minus the IP" basically sums everything up.

That said, something happened a couple of weeks ago that caused me to expand on this idea. Chris Roberts returned to the ranks of gamemakers, and when he announced his Star Citizen multiplayer title (which I desperately hope he renames, incidentally), it set in motion an MMO flight of fancy that I would love to experience.

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The time is neigh to gear up and test the heck out of City of Steam! Mechanist Games' steampunk MMO is nearing its closed beta phase and has posted a schedule for testing through the remainder of the year.

The team breaks down the closed beta cycle into four "seasons": Springtide (November 16th to the 20th), Summercrest (November 30th to the December 4th), Autumnwane (December 14th to the 18th), and Winter Festival (December 23rd to the 28th).

For those of you looking for a way to guarantee a beta invite or would like to support the game, the devs also announced several beta collaborator packs to purchase. Each pack includes a beta key, name reservation, and other goodies. Mechanist Games is also posting a "Steam-o-Meter" that will trigger additional development on the game once certain support goals are met.

SOE Live might be over and done, but it wouldn't be complete without news from one of SOE's kid-friendly titles, Free Realms! The game's been around for three years, but it hasn't showed any signs of slowing down. In fact, over the past year, the game has seen new areas, new minigames, and even a special world event in Shrouded Glade.

The dust is still settling in Sunstone Valley, yet the team announced even more new additions coming to the game in the near future. Along with it is a new philosophy aimed at making Free Realms more social and designed around what the players wish to see in game. Free Realms Producer Clint Worley sat down with Massively to give us all the details. Grab a slice of vampire cake and check out the highlights below!

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While I can't exactly say that the best report was saved for last (there was so much awesome at SOE Live 2012), I will say the Dragon's Prophet announcement was the most unexpected exciting news of the weekend. A new sandbox game, with dragons!

I'll admit -- I should have seen the writing on the breakfast table. When I sat down for the meal that first day, my table-mate John Smedley, CEO of Sony Online Entertainment, mentioned that the others seated with us were making a dragon game. He then introduced them as developers of Runes of Magic. It was only later when the press learned a new game would be introduced that evening that the connection clicked!

After the official announcement, I looked forward to learning even more about the new dragon-laced world. I was pleased to sit down with Smedley and those members of the Runewaker team again -- namely, CEO John Tang and VP of Business Development Tony Tang -- this time to discuss the new partnership and the upcoming free-to-play game.

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The 30th edition of the Golden Joystick Awards is in the books. Yep, the venerable video game awards ceremony really has been around since 1982, and this year's event at London's Westminster Park Plaza hotel featured some big names from across the gaming spectrum.

Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim opus walked away with the ultimate game of the year trophy, while best MMO went to Wargaming.net's World of Tanks.

Perfect World's Swordsman Online is gearing up for a Chinese focus group test on November 17th. MMO Culture reports that the test will feature 10 playable clans and a focus on combat, instanced scenarios, and PvP.

The site also mentions a "self-created skill function," and a stealth disguise feature, both of which will make their first appearance in a Swordsman test client. The aforementioned instances will boast "traps, dynamic events, and high AI mobs." Perfect World has also released a new batch of Swordsman Online screenshots, but it hasn't offered any sort of release window nor has it confirmed whether or not the title will appear in the West.

"If you look at the MMOs out there, they're delivering the same content over and over again. So are we. We need to change that," said Sony Online Entertainment CEO John Smedley to a packed house at last week's SOE Live keynote.

And just like that, the genre became exciting again.

Now, there's a long way to go, of course. And while Smedley's announcement set the hearts of emergent content fans aflame, it also requires a leap of faith from those same fans. After all, there was no gameplay footage accompanying the grandiose talking points. There were no concept art shots or game-related assets of any kind. There was only a promise of hands-on time a year from now. Still, hearing the words (and more crucially, hearing them from a major company) was quite like a long drink of water after an eight-year trek through the desert.

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