How much of an MMO is button smashing and how much involves actual skill? This installment is an investigation of how armor choices and shield employment can yield more combat decisions.

I like stats as much as the next person (probably more), but when warfare is boiled down to raw probabilities, battlefield skill disappears. The building of the best stat base becomes much more important than any sort of tactical competency. Instead of seeking a skill based work-around, games come up with new statistical probabilities.

Korean MMO giant NCsoft released today its first quarter earning results for 2009, showing significant profit increases in the Asian market, while the North American figures are still spiraling down from 17% market share in 2006 to the current 8%. The report also noted Aion's upcoming Western market release and beta tests for new titles: Punch Monster, Dragonica, Steel Dog and Metal Black "within the year". Full report after the jump

In this installment, Jonathan Steinhauer looks at the last MMO class archetypes, the Healer, and why this role at least is solidly developed.

The gigantic content expansion for Lineage 2 is now live just in time for Lineage's fifth anniversary. Gracia features all sorts of new quests and improvements, as well as tweaks to the leveling system. Check out the official word by clicking below.

The developers at NCsoft West are busy putting the final touches to the free Lineage II expansion, Gracia Final, which will include some major clan updates. Check the Dev Diary detailing these changes along with 8 new screenshots after the jump!

Lineage 2 developers have released a detailed look at the combat changes introduced with the game update, Gracia. Included with the text description are several screenshots to put visuals to words. Click through to see it all.

The archetypal concept of the tank assumes that PvE opponents have the mental capacity of cattle. Instead of a monster intelligently attacking what would make his enemy most vulnerable (the Healer) or what is the greatest actual threat (the DPS), it attacks the one opponent that isthe smallest real threat and the hardest to kill: the Rodeo Clown... er Tank.

In this week's RoleCraft, Jim Moreno looks at the issue of player housing in MMOGs and how it can shape one's roleplay experience.