For this month's volume of MMO Co-Opportunities, we'll be going back to classic format. I'll be taking a look at Neverwinter, the free-to-play MMO by Cryptic, and pulling out some unique aspects of the game that facilitate a co-op playstyle. Let's do it!

Neverwinter, a free-to-play MMO with some pretty strong cooperative elements (it is based on D&D after all!), goes into public open beta tomorrow. Just in time for the launch, I had the opportunity to do a Q&A with lead developer Zeke Sparkes from Cryptic. Many of my questions touched upon the cooperative aspects of the game as well as similarities and differences to the pen-and-paper game for all you tabletop nuts out there. Zeke really went above and beyond the call of duty here in the depth of his answers. So read on!

In this edition of MMO Co-Opportunities, we preview Wildstar from PAX East 2013. Of course, since this is MMO Co-Opportunities, we look at a couple of co-op specific aspects of the game and mull over their potential for the co-op MMO player.

Recently I've been checking out this Defiance game, which somehow totally slipped under my co-op radar. I remember seeing the booth at a few events last year. It had a cool giant space crab rocking the Golden Gate Bridge, but something always distracted me... I honestly thought the game was called "Trion" for a while. I kind of go off to my happy place whenever people mention things like MMO, PvP, or PC gaming in general.

Seems like all the MMOs are going Free-to-Play these days, whether they started as sub-based games, or they're just launching straight-up F2P. So perhaps it's unsurprising that this month our stories come from three F2P games: TERA, Neverwinter, and Wizardry Online.

We take a look at the Secret World dropping its subscription, Final Fantasy XIV preparing for its Realm Reborn relaunch, and Asheron's Call 2 being resurrected from the graveyard of dead MMOs.

Well this is sort of embarassing.  As the prime source for co-op gaming, you'd think we'd have a beat on things like this, but Defiance just sort of snuck up on us.  We've seen it on display at numerous shows like E3 and PAX, but just never paid much attention.  Sure most MMOs are natively cooperative in nature, but Defiance is doing something different - it's bringing the genre across the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, the PC and even...onto TV.    The latest trailer for the game showcases some insane co-op play where dozens upon dozens of players are working together to take out giant creatures in dynamic world events influenced not only by the community, but by the TV show, which is also influenced by the game.  Got that?  

A couple months back we looked at the MMO co-opportunities of the highly anticipated Guild Wars 2. In this month's installment we do a follow-up, focusing on the PVE end-game of the same game.

Guild Wars 2 is finally out! After all the hype, the question begs to be asked: what exactly does this game have to offer us co-op minded people? Let's take a look in a Guild Wars 2 focused edition of MMO Co-Opportunities!

The world is full of creatively bankrupt fantasy MMOs in the time-honored Everquest/World of Warcraft model. Throw a rock, and you’ll hit approximately a hundred Western/Asian fantasy games that all play alike. Swap art styles and network issues and you’ll have a hard time keeping track sometimes. Every now and again, a game comes along and successfully forges its own identity, and I’m happy to report that The Secret World is one of them.

Phantasy Star Online was probably the first online multiplayer action-RPG for consoles. Thousands of SEGA Dreamcast and GameCube players enjoyed teaming up as hunters on the harsh alien planet of Ragol. Phantasy Star Universe, Zero, and Portable have since followed, but a true sequel has long remained as elusive as a blue rappy... Until now. SEGA has officially confirmed Phantasy Star Online 2 will see a western release! Several variables - such as whether both the PC and Vita versions will be brought over - remain unknown, but we do have an announcement trailer and screenshots to share with you today.

It's been a pretty slow summer on the MMO front. The two biggest pieces of news that I've found have been the Secret World launching and Guild Wars 2 getting a release date. Let's unravel those now, shall we?

Ahh, the MMO expansion. That lovely thing that most MMO-players long for in their current MMO, or the thing that they were waiting for to entice them back to a past favorite MMO. This month we look at recently announced RIFT expansion, Storm Legion, and LOTRO's expansion Riders of Rohan.

This month's installment of MMOCO is a bit of a philosophical edition. Stuff has certainly gone down within the last month in the MMO department, but it's kind of a steady murmur. And as I sat here, trying to figure out what to focus on for this month's edition, it struck me that we MMO players are in the middle of a pretty great time of innovation and change of the genre.

This year at PAX East, the showfloor was bursting with MMOs, Free-to-Play (F2P) games, and F2P MMOs. We went hands-on with some and were shown the demo for others. If you missed our impressions of these games before, sit back and relax while I round them up for you and break them down.