William Murphy

This week’s HiRez Bugle focuses on the new hotness coming to Paladins, just in time for Halloween. We’ve also got notes about the SMITE 2018 Odyssey, Bruce Buffer getting his own announcer pack, the addition of the Hindu pantheon to Hand of the Gods, and a special giveaway too!

During the run-up to Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire’s launch, players were teased about the four mounts being added to the game. But secretly, ArenaNet hid a fifth mount - the Griffon - in the deserts of Elona. Read on to find out how to get it, and what it’s all about. Beware, non-story spoilers ahead!

PVP in MMOs is a hotly contested topic. Some folks want all or nothing, some want it casually, some don’t ever touch the competitive player versus player side of games. But one thing’s for sure... PVP is huge part of what makes an MMORPG thrive or die on the vine. In this week’s list we’re looking at the ten best PVP-centric MMOs of all time.

Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire is almost a complete 180 from the game’s first expansion, Heart of Thorns. It’s still early, but from the sound of players’ enthusiasm and my own first impressions, Path of Fire is everything we wanted from the first expansion to Tyria and then some. We’ll need more time to make a final review, but as first impressions go Path of Fire is making a great one.

In a new weekly column that we’re calling the HiRez Bugle, we’ve partnered with HiRez Studios to bring you a look at all the things going on in the Georgia-based studio’s games, along with sweet giveaways, occasional Q&A’s, and other inside looks at the company’s happenings. Read on to get in the know on all things SMITE, Paladins, Hand of the Gods, and more.

MMOs are supposed to last forever, or as long as possible. EverQuest is nearing 20 years old, and the lesser known Meridian 59 is over two decades old. But due to circumstance, poor decisions, or otherwise, some of the best and most loved games in our genre don’t last nearly as long as they should. In today’s list we’re celebrating the very best of the games that have been cancelled, shut down, or outright murdered by poor decisions.

The Leviathan raid is here, you want to do it… but first you need to bump your light level (item level, basically). How do you do that without going mad? We’re here to help. Read on for our quick guide to the activities you should be doing to raise your Destiny 2 Light Level over the hump and to 265 and beyond.

One of the driving forces behind your time in Destiny 2 will be getting exotic weapons and armor in order to take on the game’s highest-level content (like the new Leviathan Raid that launched today). But to do that, you’re going to need to stumble across tons of Exotic Engrams, and that’s no small task. Where do I get Exotic Engrams in Destiny 2? What content do you do for the best chance at getting an exotic engram? Read on, Guardian.

It feels like this is a list we should revisit every so often, especially as games change, games launch, and games die in the world of MMORPGs. The following is a list we compiled using something we like to call “our hearts and minds and asses”. Our Top 10 Great MMOs of All Time list is merely our own thoughts, put to paper. We absolutely welcome your own insight, and soon we’ll begin a poll of our users to catalog the Players’ Choice for 2017 too. Now, let’s get on with it!

Players might have realized early on in the Destiny 2 beta, and now that it’s launched on PS4 and XBOX – the Sparrow, that handy little Star Wars-esque air bike? It’s nowhere to be found. Enemies often ride them, but where is my Sparrow in Destiny 2? How do you get a Sparrow in Destiny 2? Why is my Guardian so fat and slow? We answer these questions and more beyond the break.

I’ve Played Destiny 2’s live version for about an hour so far, maybe more. And I can already tell you all it’s far better than the original was. Is it “Just More Destiny”? Yes, but it’s also got more heart, more story, a better explorable “world” and tons of quality of live improvements. It’s making the wait for the PC (and in my opinion better) version feel that much longer.

Scott Brown should be familiar to you all – as the former founder of NetDevil, he’s responsible for some of my own favorite games: Auto Assault and Jumpgate. After NCSOFT’s partnership and the subsequent closure of NetDevil’s games, Scott Brown and some of his colleagues left to found their own indie studio and make their own games once more – Wyrmbyte was born. The five-man studio is now making the open world RPG Nightmarchers, and it’s sounding like a game to watch.

Elder Scrolls Online's Horns of the Reach DLC is out already on PC, and launches today for XBOX and PS4. To celebrate, we caught up with Zenimax's own Rich Lambert (Creative Director) to chat about the latest DLC and the new dungeons.

Absolver is a solid blend of Action RPG, Kung Fu fest, and mysterious Souls-like journey. Its real legs come in the form of PVP and sharing/creating Schools of combat, but the short-lived story campaign is nothing to be sneezed at either. Read on for our review of Sloclap’s online combat-fueled ARPG, Absolver.

It's been an insane year for non-MMO releases. There have been more "Game of the Year" candidates in the first 8 months than any year I can remember. But it's been decidedly slower in the MMO and "almost" MMO world. We've had some bright spots, but the bulk of what I'm personally waiting for is coming in the next three months. So let's hear it... what games are on your must play list for the remainder of 2017?