Weekly MMO news round-up: Rise of the Tomb Kings live, WoW on Flying Mounts, Aion pre-order bonus

By Stephany Nunneley

This week there is a bit more going on in MMOs than last week.

Seems quite a few got game updates, WoW’s Midsummer Fire Festival is in full swing, and City of Heroes is getting power customization.

Loads of stuff really. Read on past the break for the lot of it.

• Blizzard says that the reason flying mounts aren’t already in the game is do more to a technical issue than the developers not wanting to include them. “The old world was not designed to support flying (this is a technical issue currently, not an unwillingness to allow this on our part) and by having the level requirement for flying, it allows us to set a pace at which we feel content should be accessed. As you can see by the recent mount changes, this could be readdressed at a future point in time.” (Via IncGamers) Also, some changes are coming to the Paladin when 3.2 goes live. IncGamers has more on this, so go have a read.

• City of Heroes will get power customization with Issue 16. Not much else is known about it, but more is promised in July.

• Warhammer Online’s Rise of the Tomb Kings, the final live event in the Call to Arms live expansion, is live. From June 16 until June 22, the forces of Order and Destruction will race to construct giant airships that will soon transport players into the Land of the Dead. Neato. More through here.

• Deep Silver has released a new game client for 7Million. The free-to-play title is chock full of heists, thieves and lady larcenists. Paradise City has loads of missions, and in the game your goal is to be the biggest thief you can, apparently. GamersHell has the download.

• CitiesXL is a city builder slated for release on December 31. In it, you can trade with friends, build the economy, and connect cities to make them much bigger. The persistent online world is currently in beta, and FileFront has 500 keys. Go get one. While it is technically not an MMO, it is an online game. We thought we’d throw it in anyway.

• Silkroad Online is getting an update in July called Legend IV Plus. This will open the way to the peak of Roc Mountain and an all-new dungeon for players level 80 and above. Cool.

• Atlantica Online is getting a patch as well, and it includes several feature updates to “enhance the user experience and improve gameplay.” NDOORS says the new content will include a Jackpot System, new dungeon, improved arena betting, chatting emoticons and accessories crafting.

• NDOORS has added a wedding feature to Luminary: Rise of the GoonZu. Players now have the ability to get married in the game with their union officially recognized in-game. A marriage in Luminary will bestow benefits upon the couple, as some will marry for love and others will marry for political alliances. Isn’t that the way it is in real-life too?

• NCsoft has pre-order offers available for Aion. Pre-order the Collector’s Edition (limited to 35,000) and get in on the remaining betas for the game, plus a 48 hour head start when it goes live. The chance to enter a sweepstakes for your very own Alienware notebook is another one, and other bonuses include a Black Cloud Hat, Lodas’ Amulet, and Ancient Ring of Power. The game is due for release in the US this fall and the official website has more.

• eRepublik Labs has raised $2.8 million for eRepublik:The New World, and other upcoming titles.The Dublin-based developer’s game consists of players dabbling in “local and national politics, setting economic policy, starting businesses and waging wars with other countries.” It’s free-to-play and entirely dependent on gamer interaction as there is no AI involved. More through Gamasutra.

• Kotaku has loads of screens for Dungeon & Dragons’ online store. The game will go free-to-play sometime this summer. Take a gander.

• Guild Wars got an update that has fixed loads of bugs and the like. We know you are only interested in what those fixes are if you play, so we won’t bore the rest. Here’s the patch notes.

• Same for Ultima Online. A patch. It’s set to go live after Shard maintenance.

• We started with WoW and will end with Wow today. The Midsummer Fire Festival is back from now until July 5. Collect Burning Blossoms to get Fire Festival goodies. A new questline, Dancing Around the Ribbon Pole, Torch Tossing and Catching, and more are in store for you. Read up on it here.