Weekly MMO news round-up: Runes of Magic gets elves, FFXI adjustments, no Anarchy Online 2 just yet

By Stephany Nunneley

Not loads to tell you this week in the MMO update.  Most news surrounding the genre was big enough for its very own post on the site.

However, to keep things the same, we have thrown all the rest into your usual Saturday post.

Final Fantasy XI players will have jobs adjusted, Runes of Magic has new playable classes, the EVE Online thief speaks out, and Funcom has no plans right now for an Anarchy Online 2.

All this and more through the jump.

• Funcom has told Videogamer that it has no plans to create a sequel to Anarchy Online at this time because the original is doing just fine and still bringing in the cash. Good to hear.

• Players participating in the Fallen Earth Beta today will get a chance to win a Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 video card, Razer Death Adder gaming mouse or lovely in-game items. If you are not part of the Beta, like us, you’re out of luck. Damn it.

• CrimeCraft’s box art was revealed today and you can take a look at it over on Massively. Looks thuggish. Anyone else think the guy in the middle looks a bit like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson”?

• Frogster has introduced two new Elf classes to Runes of Magic. Wardens and Druids. Both are playable, and part of the Elven Prophecy content expected to launch soon. The Wardens have the power to call upon the power of nature spirits and can connect with the woodland plants. Druids are like a Mage, but can both defend and heal. Cool.

• Looks like the guy who ran off with player funds in EVE Online’s user bank used the money to put a down payment on a house and pay medical bills. Ricdic, as he was called in-game, did this by selling the in-game currency for $5000. Subsequently he was banned from the game, but not because of the theft, but because it is against the user terms of agreement that you don’t sell fake currency for real cash. Jesus. More over on ArsTehcnica.

• The rate at which combat and magic skills increase during low and middle job levels is set to be given a boost with the next update for Final Fantasy XI. Different effects for Circle-type Abilities and two new blue magic spells are scheduled to be added. Cool beans.

• Paragon Studios has announced the sale of additional Mission Architect slots for City of Heroes. You can now add up to five extra slots ranging in price from $5.99 to $19.99. More through the link.

• Tome of Cold Weather Flight is a new heirloom item planned to go into patch 3.2 for World of Warcraft. At level 80 players can buy this heirloom item from the Cold Weather Flying Trainer in Dalaran for 1,000 gold and send it to an alt of the same realm, faction and account. The tome can be used to learn Cold Weather Flying at level 68, consuming the tome in the process. Very cool, no pun intended.

• Sword of the New World has turned two. To celebrate, a new content update called Nocturnal Sonata will add a new player character named Claire who can hold a two handed weapon with one hand, and her specialty is cannons. A new raid instance called The Secret Tower will be included as well, along with a new purchasable dungeon. More through here.