Last week, members of the press were invited to attend a huge Mists of Pandaria information session, and with the NDA dropping today, you'll probably be spending most of your day reading up on all of the previously unrevealed changes coming. The biggest topics covered include the reveal of Female Pandarens, the fact that Garrosh Hellscream will be the final boss of the expansion, players will be able to have their own in-game farms, and much more.

All of the above and more can be read in Wowhead's extensive coverage piece! Not only do they have pages and pages of new information for you to devour in point format, but there are also exclusive videos detailing the new MoP zones, dozens of screenshots to see, and four exclusive interviews with Blizzard devs Cory Stockton, Tom Chilton, J Allen Brack, and Greg Street.

• Blizzard's Official Event FAQ.

• An overview of Pandaria, including factions, zones, a bestiary, and lore.

• New content in Mists of Pandaria, including professions, PvP, challenge modes, scenarios, pet battles, and questing.

• An in-depth look at the Monk class and its unique specializations.

• Dungeons and Raids in Mists of Pandaria, including Scholomance, Stormstout Brewery, and Temple of the Jade Serpent.

• All of Wowhead & Tankspot's exclusive interviews with Cory Stockton, Tom Chilton, J Allen Brack, and Greg Street (with transcriptions!).

Trion Worlds is approaching its one-year anniversary with the incredibly popular game Rift; but the company isn't sitting back and just enjoying success. They've teamed up with Petroglyph (creator of the original Command and Conquer game) to create an MMORTS: a real-time strategy game with a massive and persistent world. Is it strong enough to knock the current RTS king, Blizzard's Starcraft series, out of its top spot? I had the chance to play an Alpha version in San Francisco last week and what I saw looked promising!

A week ago, I flew to the Funcom Studios in Montreal to get my second dose of hands-on time with The Secret World. Initially, the press embargo was set to drop on Tuesday, but Funcom pushed it back to today, so I've had time to marinate in my experiences for over a week. At this point, if you haven't heard much about The Secret World, I'd like to refer you to my first hands-on preview with The Secret World, as this month's event was all about delving deeper than ever before.

So let's get started.

During the Press Beta Weekend, Guild Wars 2 revealed itself as a complex game made up of several simple systems all working together. From the wholesale change to the way skills and abilities are gained and used, to the overlaid Trait system and augmentations brought through Crafting, there's a whole lot going on under the surface.

One of the most radical MMO innovations brought by Guild Wars 2 is in the area of character skills and abilities. Instead of opening up a sea of action bars that cover most of the screen, ArenaNet has focused on limiting players to ten active skills during combat. The great news is that there's a whole range of choice and complexity lurking under the hood just waiting to be tapped.

As part of our Guild Wars 2 coverage week, we'll be leading off with some initial impressions from ZAM Staff Writer Gareth "Gazimoff" Harmer and Editor-in-Chief Chris "Pwyff" Tom. Following that, we'll lead into more in-depth pieces on the game mechanics of GW2, as well as instanced PvP, World vs. World PvP, and GW2's first dungeon: The Ascalon Catacombs!

When Chris asked me if I'd write about the Guild Wars 2 press event I was dumb struck. I'd never played the original Guild Wars and only managed to snatch some limited time with the game back at the Eurogamer Expo, and here he was offering me the MMO equivalent of the Golden Ticket.

I thought it was all a cruel joke to get my hopes up before dashing them on the ground. 

In the works for years, NHN’s Continent of the Ninth Seal (C9) has finally entered a Beta with VIP access… but many Western players may be shrugging and saying “So what? Another Korean F2P… been there, done that.” But NHN, now merged with Webzen, is truly looking to release a competitive title in the F2P market; and C9 looks to be just the product to shake up the industry. Sound too good to be true? Read on and I’ll spell out exactly what the game can offer that makes it unique.

TERA was always going to have trouble trying to win me over. After trying out a series of Asian MMOs in the past without success I was beginning to give up on this unique facet of online gaming. But then discovered that En Masse was attempting a "westernization" of TERA, Bluehole Studio's first MMO. Would this be the holy grail of an eastern MMO finding success with a western audience, or would it flounder like others before it? 

During the TERA Europe Sneak Preview Beta, I spent the weekend digging into the game with the aid of a Human Sorcerer. What I found surprised me; among the rough edges of an unfinished beta were some interesting ideas, including a radical take on MMO combat. Combine that with gorgeous graphics that had me hammering the screenshot button, and you have the recipe for an interesting few days.

Futuristic FPS fans unite! The newest addition to the family, Aeria Games' Repulse has finally entered closed beta testing, although it seems as though anyone that registers on the website can access the game, so it's really an open beta test.

Regardless, for those of you who want to jump right into Repulse with some phat loot, you might want to pick up ZAM's awesome 7-day Engineer Starter Pack to kick off your first-person adventures! Once you've grabbed your key, mosey on over to the Repulse Pack redemption page to get your account credited. But hurry! You have just 15 more days left in this beta test period!

Tomorrow marks the official launch day of Star Wars: The Old Republic, but chances are high that many of you have already had your invites come during early access, which ran from December 13th to the 20th. While I did manage to write extensively about my SWTOR closed beta experiences here and here, some of you might still be hesitant about committing to another MMORPG. So, with those of you in mind, ZAM Staff Writer Mike "Krelumian" Schaffnit and I decided to hop into SWTOR's early game access to document our "official" preview experiences with SWTOR's launch day client.

Mead, mounts, and merriment! The Fae Yule Celebration is in full swing right now in Rift, and News Writer Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland has been playing around with the festive fun for weeks. Read on to see his reactions, and check out our wikibase guide to cover all your bases in the newest world event!