The latest in the "Ask Us Anything" series of articles by the Elder Scrolls Online team has been published on the official site. This time, players asked questions and received answers all about gathering and exploration. 

Which crafting professions will be in ESO and what do they allow me to create? – By Jara Schlemm

In The Elder Scrolls Online, you can choose from five crafting professions which allow you to make a variety of useful items, enhancements, and equipment. Each of the crafting professions are reminiscent of ones you’ve seen in previous Elder Scrolls games. They are:

• Weaponsmith – Weapons of all types
• Armorsmith – Armors of all types
• Enchantments – Staffs, Jewelry and Glyphs (enchantments)
• Alchemist – Potions
• Provisioner – Food and Drink

Read the full Q&A on the Elder Scrolls Online site.

Now that the Guild Wars 2 Live Story is moving on with the arrival of The Secret of Southsun, we wanted to give the new content an in depth look. See what we think before leaving your impressions of Southsun in the comments.

Dynamic events have always littered the island of Southsun Cove.  But new ones have been added to help expand on the new event’s story.  You’ll see some riots break out, and things get pretty crazy.  You’ll have to hold refugees back from causing mischief.  I felt bad beating them up.  These new events are far too few.  While Crab Toss will add some life to the event, I felt like the refugees and consortium would butt heads way more than what we see. The build it made it sound like things were way worse than they are. 

Read more of David North's Guild Wars 2: Uncovering the Secret of Southsun.

If nothing else, your character might enjoy relaxing on the beach.

The next World of Warcraft patch is looming large on the horizon with tons of new information released about it recently. In our latest WoW Factor, we take a deeper look at what v5.3: Escalation will mean for players. Check it out and then leave us your thoughts about the next update in the comments.

Whether you fight for the Alliance or the Horde the objective for both factions remains the same: Remove Garrosh from his seat of power in Orgrimmar. The Barrens in Kalimdor serve as the focus of a new set of daily and weekly quests where those who have not sided with Garrosh will make preparations for the inevitable assault on the heavily fortified Horde city. In the Northern Barrens, a weekly quest will have players hunting for four different resources: oil, wood, meat and stone. These resources can be found in various locations including the Caravan Escort missions that I discussed in my last 5.3 preview article. 

Read more of Reza Lackey's The WoW Factor: A Deep Look at Patch 5.3.

Welcome to another episode of Game On: Epic Slant Press Edition! This week we’re joined by Liore of RIFT Junkies, the Herding Cats blog, and Cat Context podcast for our RIFT F2P Special! Each of the hosts has a long history with the game and an extensive knowledge of the community that loves it. Join us as we talk about the big announcement and what it might mean for the future of the game!

Check it out on our Game On page!

One of the most popular of any MMO's features is the dungeon system. In our latest Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn column, we take a look at a dungeon run through the eyes of a beta tester. Check it out before leaving your thoughts in the comments.

Tam Tara Deepcroft is the first dungeon available to beta players.  It is located in the central shroud, just south of Bentbranch Meadows.  The dungeon is designed for a “light party” of four players (full parties are eight players) and is tuned for players in the 15-19 level range.  At least for the present, entry into dungeons requires at least one player to run out to the dungeon entrance to talk to a gatekeeper NPC.  The remainder of the party need only be in the same zone as the instance.

Read more of Ryahl Smith's Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn - Dungeons in Final Fantasy XIV.

Conquer Online developers are beginning the tenth anniversary celebration for the game that originally launched in 2003. The team has released a brand new video to give players a look ahead at the next ten years. Enjoy!

CO’s 10th Anniversary celebration will last from May to mid-June. In addition to the WFL contest, there will be a number of other events, as well as generous bonuses and gifts to be had! To accommodate new players, Conquer Online has also opened two new servers, “Reminiscence” and “Reunion_EU”, giving away special Starter’s Packs to boost their journey into ancient China, while all returning veterans can receive a “Welcome Home” gift when logging into their original servers.

Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios worked feverishly through Sunday to close an exploit that allowed some Neverwinter players to obtain millions of Astral Diamonds that were then sold for Zen in the Exchange. The team took servers down and rolled back servers to 5:20 a.m. PDT, returning all Zen and Astral Diamonds to their original owners. Players taking advantage of the exploit have been banned.

Q: What about ZEN I spent/transferred after 5:20 AM PDT?

A: You'll have any and all ZEN that you transferred to Neverwinter -- we tracked all transfers during that time and made sure players have the ZEN they should have. If you spent ZEN on items during that time, you'll need to re-buy the items, but you'll have all of that ZEN. No one will lose any money they spent on Neverwinter because of this fix. If you have any issue, please see the customer and billing support contacts below.

Read the full FAQ on the Neverwinter forum. Also check out the official announcement.

Redbana is releasing new content for Granado Espada at a fast rate during the month of May. Players can look forward to new quests, new weapons, and the new Bloody Navy Mission raid.

New 35 AR Weapons

Breaking the attack rating (AR) plateau with the new 3 new 35 AR weapons, this May update will introduce these highly coveted items as craftable items - a must for all harcore gamers. Players can now prowl the maps of Kielce for new recipes and materials to produce the new and powerful Masterpiece Series.

Find out more on the Granado Espada Online site.

ArenaNet has announced that after eight years, active development on its flagship title, Guild Wars, has officially ended. From here on out, the Automated Tournament System will kick in, as well as an automated map rotation system.

You've already seen changes to support automation rolled out to our festival content, but to recap, major festivals now use tokens that players can redeem for one of the special items the event offers. Players are only allowed to choose one, but the choice allows newer players a chance to get items they otherwise never would have been able to and allows longtime players the opportunity to complete their collections. We'll be making changes along these lines to our remaining celebrations, so that the entire year's worth of festivals will run seamlessly.

In conjunction with this, we've also changed the distribution of birthday presents. Characters celebrating eight or more years in Tyria now get a token that they can then trade in for one of the gift boxes from any of the previous years. The distribution rates for the miniatures remain the same, but players can now target their favorite era every time a new year rolls around.

With these changes, Guild Wars will be more streamlined and self-supporting than ever, traits that will enable the game to be enjoyed for years to come.             

Read the full post on the Guild Wars site.

ArenaNet has released a brand new Guild Wars 2 video that features and in-depth look at The Consortium and how its own brand of licentiousness will lead to big trouble on Southsun Cove later this month. Enjoy!

UPDATE: According to information we have received from Trion Worlds, no employees were "escorted out" of the building and all executives are receiving severance packages.

Update from IGN: Trion tells us these numbers are "exaggerated," and we've reached out for more information regarding the extent of the layoffs.)

IGN is reporting that Trion employees have been laid off, primarily from the Defiance San Diego team. 

A Trion representative confirmed the layoffs and provided the following statement to IGN:

"To best position Trion in a rapidly changing industry, we have reorganized our teams and are expanding our free to play offering. With Defiance, we delivered a great game that more than one million gamers registered to play and continue to enjoy. As we progress from launch to ongoing development of the game, we are adjusting our staffing levels to deliver new content and improved features. RIFT, and our other titles in development, were unaffected by these changes. We are very much looking forward to the free to play release of RIFT and are excited by the other new titles currently in development."

Read more at IGN.

Mail.ru and Obsidian Entertainment have announced that they have signed a development agreement to bring the Skyforge MMO to life. According to the announcement, the team that created Allods Online will work with Obsidian to bring Skyforge to release in 2014.

"Skyforge is very interesting and promising project and I am glad that Obsidian Entertainment is involved in working on this game." Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart said, "I am confident that the cooperation with the Allods Team will be a great experience for all of us."

The Skyforge site is online.

Gazillion Entertainment has released the first episode in a four-part motion comic that will usher in the release of Marvel Heroes Online. The comic lets players in on the backstory behind Dr. Doom's rise to power.

WeGame USA has updated Lost Saga with a huge new patch that includes new a premium character, game map, and game mode. In additon, the Free Pass Community Event has been announced.

Currently in progress, the Free Pass event gives players GP, useful items, and an Event Ticket to claim Legendary Gear from the Event Shop. Logging in on certain days will gain bonus items, and weekend play on the weekends of May 18 and May 25 will garner a 50% boost to GP and EXP.

Find out more at the link above.

The Final Fantasy XIV blog has been updated with a bunch of new screenshots showing off changes in the character customization / creation process based on feedback from the last beta test. 

We've received a two-tonze truckload of feedback on character creation since the alpha test, and from what I saw in today's build, much has changed since then. If you thought there were a lot of options before, wait until you see all the new ways to customize your avatar, including...

An extended hair color palette, plus a plethora of playful tattoos.

Check them all out on the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

In this week's Devil's Advocate, Victor takes a look at the recent F2P announcement from Trion Worlds' Rift and why it's a good thing all around for everyone.

Trion Worlds has to be one of the most outstanding companies in the MMO world today in terms of treating customers right, however, so while I expected RIFT to shift its revenue model eventually due to market forces and feedback, I didn't expect the degree of clarity to which they maintained a particular vision for their revenue model shift.

Read the rest of Victor's The Devil's Advocate: Loving RIFT's Shift.

In this week's Fair Game, Lisa Jonte takes a look at the relationship between someone who games and loves the pasttime and someone who just doesn't get it. Read her tips for survival in that sort of scenario, and be sure to offer your own thoughts in the comments.

You’ve heard it all before, the complaints, the concerns, the dismissal of your preferred pastime as a pointless waste of time. Despite the rise on casual gaming, both online and via consoles, there are still plenty of people out there who are convinced that gaming is at best, childish, and at worst, a rabbit hole from which you might never escape. The fact that many of those detractors are friends and family just makes it that much harder.

Read the rest of Fair Game: Gamer vs. Non-Gamer.

For the past several weeks, we've been delving into Darkfall: Unholy Wars, and after along week spent experiencing the clan warfare, and more "hardcore" aspects of DFUW, we're ready to put a final stamp on our critique.  Read on to see what conclusion we've come to in our official review.

Read the rest of our official Darkfall: Unholy Wars Review.

MapleStory is a colorful 2-D role-playing experience that gives players access to wild adventures in a growing world filled with distinctive lands, dangerous monsters and a setting where players easily socialize and grow their circle of in-game friends.

During the life of the game, Nexon has added large chunks of content, including this year’s addition of Japanese-themed characters, Kanna and Hayato. The feature-packed content updates and nearly limitless character customization options have contributed to the creation of a faithful fan base where nearly ten percent of the North American gamers playing the game for six years or more.

“We have a dedicated and engaged group of players, and we appreciate the loyalty and passion they have for MapleStory,” said Teddy Kim, Nexon America’s producer of MapleStory. “We are committed to continuing to deliver the best content to our players to keep the adventures rolling.”

To celebrate its eighth anniversary, MapleStory will host events giving players the opportunity to earn special eighth anniversary celebration boxes dropping from defeated monsters, which include valuable in-game items. Players level 10 and above can collect eighth anniversary coin giveaways every day, while all players can count on hot-days and EXP bonus events throughout the month.

Check out Maplestory here.