Weekly MMO news round-up: Conan at PAX, LOTRO gets new jewelry, WoW expansion leaks

Loads of stuff happened this week with MMOs. Bethesda laughed off an Elder Scrolls MMO, APB started the Beta application process, Aion released pretty trailers, Star Wars will be playable at GamesCom and all other sorts of interesting things happened.

What we didn't tell you about was that Lord of the Rings Online got some new jewelry and bounty quests in Esteldin, Funcom will announce Conan stuff at PAX, and there were some rumored leaks on the upcoming WoW expansion posted all over God's green earth.

For all of this and more, read on past the break.

• When we contacted Erling Ellingsen regarding The Secret World at PAX, he was also kind enough to let us know that the firm will be discussing the future of Age of Conan during the even. Specifically, the very first expansion pack for the game. We're sure Funcom will also be discussing the new guild features, and other cool goodies, so you'll want to keep an eye out come September.

• Supposedly loads of new information on the "Cataclysm" expansion for World of Warcraft were leaked out before BlizzCon. We didn't post these because if true, the information is a major spoiler, and what fun is that? If however you don't like surprises and want to know what is is store, try out 1UP, Kotaku, and MMO Champion.

• Lord of the Rings got a bit of an update of sorts with new bounty quests in Esteldin. According to LotRo Life, the quest giver is "about 15 feet from the stable guy" and you have to be level 60 to partake. Also, over on Bullroarer, the test server, new craftable jewelry from the Lothlorien Vineyards show Glowing Aureate bobbles that are sure to be made available on the rest of the servers soon. Personally, we are gagging for the new armlet.

• Jeff Strain and David Reid departed NCsoft West for "unrelated reasons" - meaning neither left for the same reason. Strain was the President of Product Development for NCsoft West and Reid was President of Publishing. A press release was issued, and PR director Ryan James stated in it that: "These changes do not influence any other teams, development schedules or other launches." MMORPG has more.

• Blizzard has reportedly fixed the mistakenly suspended accounts thought to come from Payment One. "Those affected players who recently sent in payments have had their World of Warcraft accounts restored, and no further action is required. With regard to the account holders whose accounts still show missing payments, we will be contacting them directly to further address any outstanding issues." More over on Arstechnica.

• So what about Guild Wars 2? Where is development at on it? It was announced two years ago! Well, IncGamers came to the rescue by contacting ArenaNet co-founder Mike O'Brien who stated: "We have an amazing team here at ArenaNet, and we continue to work hard on Guild Wars 2, preparing for the day when we can first reveal it to the world. That day is coming very soon now. I'm confident that, when you see Guild Wars 2 for the first time, you're going to love what you see, and any worries you have about its development will fade away." Good to know.

• Hooray! A Teaser and Beta registration page have shown up for Mythos. Glad to know it's still plugging along. We were looking forward to this one a year or so ago. Hopefully, HanbitSoft has kept things pretty much intact, and not mucked with it too much. It had so much promise and a fantastic storyline. If it is ruined, blame it on the sad demise of Flagship Studios. Well no don't, that would be mean.

• Fallen Earth open Beta starts Monday, and developer Icarus Games says you can register over on Fileplanet. Also, preorders through Direct2Drive get access to the open Beta and a in-game mount called the Wasteland Runner along with a five-day head start on playtime. The game launches September 8. Eurogamer France has a sniper video for the MMO here and another video here.

• The Stygian Abyss pack for Ultima Online will hit September 8 as a digital download only. For $39.99 you also get 30-days free game time, or if you already have a subscription it will run you $29.99. To top things off, if you buy the expansion pack between September 8-29 you'll also get multiple Alteration Tokens to transform current characters into Gargoyles, an exclusive gargoyle craftable pet, and a decorative Stygian Abyss mob boss statue. Open Beta on the test server started Friday and will run until August 23.

• Global Agenda is currently at QuakeCon, and if you missed out on the festivities, or if it is just not your thing, the game will also be present at the following conventions:September 4 -Atlanta, DragonCon; September 4-6 -Seattle, PAX; October 22-24 -Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Games and Media Expo; January 7-10 -Las Vegas, Consumer Electronics Show.

• Craig Zinkievich, the executive producer for Star Trek Online's, was a special guest on the Hailing Frequency podcast during which he talked about all sorts of stuff related to the game. If you are itching for this game, then you should seriously have a listen.

• Paragon Studios and NCsoft are hosting the second annual Hero-Con event for City of Heroes October 24-25 in San Jose, California. There will be developer panels, live gaming events, food, contests and loads of goodies with real and in-game items. More information can be found through here. Also of interest to you may be the new dev diary discussing Issue 16:Power Proliferation.

• According to a press release from Vogster, CrimeCraft will feature Atticus Clothing designs to customize their characters in the most fashionable way possible. Some clothing is restricted to preorders, so that means the coolest ones obviously. There's loads more information on this via the official website, so go have a look.

• On September 15, Runes of Magic's next content update - The Eleven Prophecy goes live, and so does the boxed version of the game in France, Germany, and Spain for €9.90. Goodies inside include a Manticore pet, printed manual, a poster-sized world map of Taborea, and a time-limited mount: Thunder Wartiger. You will also get an experience potion so you can level faster and a pretty carpet to put inside your in-game house, along with materials for enhancing armor and weapon stats. Loads of goodies, there.

• Mythic and EA announced this week that expansions Darkness Rising and Labyrinth of the Minotaur are now free to all players of Dark Age of Camelot. If you already play and don't have the expansion, the content will automatically be added via the client. A 14 day free trial is that includes all five expansions is now available as well to those who have never played but wish to give it a try. If you quit and wanna come back, "The Come Back To Camelot" campaign will allow players who have been away for more than 90 days 10 days of free game-time. More through the link.