Several games released screenshots this week; firstly, a batch of Star Trek Online images were beamed down to us including some Klingon battle shots, plenty of away team action and there's even a Cardassian thrown in.

The tremendously successful free to play MMO, Runes of Magic, celebrated the release of yet another content patch (the game must almost be twice the size it was when it launched by now!) entitled 'Storming of the Acropolis ' by releasing some images of the zone and encounters therein. Groups of high end players must make their way through bands of Naga to reach their goal, King Sharleedah. RoM's Pumpkin festival also kicked off with the release of the patch, read more about that here.

Lastly, Turbine unveiled more screenshots of the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Siege of Mirkwood. The pics are of the Scuttledells area, and show a Hobbit making his way past a number of nasties.

Members of the US Army got some relatively good news this week, when developers of the MMO 'Pirates of the Burning Sea' announced that, for a limited time, anyone who is a part of the US armed services can get the game for free. A further six months of free subscription to the game, which usually sets players back by $14.95 USD per month, is also up for grabs, to new and existing players.

Age of Conan's highly anticipated Update 5.6 went live on Tuesday, introducing the new Veteran System, the new high-level Iron Tower dungeon, the seasonal event 'Nights of the Lost Souls' and more. Along with this release came the news that long-term subscription costs have been reduced, saving players up to 45% on the cost of the regular monthly subscription fee.

Finally, it's been a big week for Champions Online news. We secured an interview with the man himself, Bill Roper, to talk about the launch of Champions, how it went and what they could've done better. During the chat, he mentioned that after the winter in-game event, Cryptic has “something amazing” planned for Champions, which we're all keen to find out more about. In the mean time, we'll make do with the current in-game event that launched during the week, Blood Moon

With the kick off of the werewolf/zombie themed event, players were also granted another free power retcon to compensate for some downtime at the weekend. However, many fans were less concerned about their existing powers and more interested in the new Celestial powerset that arrived with Blood Moon. The powerset, which focusses on healing your allies while damaging nearby enemies, is currently unlockable by saving all 13 undead heroes in the event, but it will become selectable at creation after 10 November.

More news on upcoming features was revealed in Bill Roper's State of the Game report, where he talked about a free Retcon and extra character slot becoming available when characters hit level 40, and a new system called Flashbacks. This will allow players to go back and re-do missions they have already completed. A new repeatable lair with special villains and a particularly cool boss is also in the works. He also points out that a number of new features have ben introduced to the game recently as a direct result of feedback from players; Crossover missions allow team members to share missions with each other, regardless of whether they have completed them already, or are not eligible for them yet. As mentioned in our interview, the Celestial powerset was also designed based on player feedback.

Cryptic is always asking players their opinion on the game in the aim of improving it further, and this is reflected by the poll it put up recently, asking which level bracket needs new content the most. The results have remained almost the same throughout the time the poll has been up, and as it currently stands, over half the people that voted want there to be more end game content, or for the level cap to be raised.

Our Champions Online review, which looks at the first 20 levels of the game, went up yesterday. If you're yet to try out the game or perhaps you want to see what others think of it, check it out here.

You can watch the trailer for the Blood Moon event, which features the developers talking about what players can expect to experience during this period, over on IncGamers TV.  Also, there is a nice selection of spooky screenshots, which include images of the Celestial powerset in action, in our Champions Online gallery.

That's all I can squeeze in this time, but be sure to check back throughout the week to catch up on all your gaming news. Until next Friday, I bid you farewell. I'm off to crush more pumpkins and slay some zombies.

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