Now that some of the dust has settled since the BlizzCon announcement of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, we wanted to dig a little deeper into the mysteries that encompass the next expansion. Unfortunately, we didn't get much, but at this point, we take what we can get. Enjoy!

Every now and then there are games that come along in the industry that, by simply existing, manage to completely stretch, shake and re-define their genre. In this regard, there are games, like Metal Gear, that start as the launch point of an entirely new genre (stealth action shooters) or there are games, like Counter-Strike or World of Warcraft, that pack together many pre-existing ideas, but also manage to elevate and polish these concepts into something altogether remarkable.

Of course, there are many developers who try to create some of these afore-mentioned diamonds; churning away to make games that imitate and evolve a pre-existing concept that has experienced success, all the while adding their own ideas, to give a unique twist to their creations. In very rare cases, these 'spiritual successors' achieve something, but more often than not, these games fail to meet the standards set by their predecessors. Perhaps it was this fear of failure that has kept many developers from capitalizing upon the incredible success of the Warcraft III mod, Defence of the Ancients (DotA). But now, six years after DotA's initial creation, Riot Games' League of Legends has decided that the time is ripe for this underdeveloped genre to finally flex its wings and fly.

And boy does this game soar.

The cast of "The Guild" Web series was at BlizzCon to talk with fans, host a Q&A panel and premiere the first episode of season three, all while showing off the popular "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar" music video. We got the chance to speak with Felicia Day, the show's creator and writer who plays Codex, at the packed Guild booth on the BlizzCon floor. We discussed her thoughts on the Cataclysm expansion and the amount of work that goes into creating the hit low-budget show. She even gave us some details on the Guild comic she's writing for Dark Horse, which will feature the cast both in-game and in the real world.

Keep reading after the jump for our full interview. Be warned that it contains a major spoiler from the first episode of season three, so you may want to watch it first if you want the ending to be a surprise.

While at GamesCom last week we took some time to meet with Gala Networks in an attempt to squeeze some information out of the Dragonica Online European Producer, Max Stolberg about the upcoming "M1" update. Fortunately for our European readers, we received some great information and confirmation that the update is set to go live on European servers around the end of September.

ZAM: The Dragonica M1 update is conceptually planned for the end of September to early October. What all does that entail?

Max Stolberg: The M1 update entails the majority of the new Van Cliff dungeon. The new Van Cliff dungeon is a high end dungeon for groups of four level 60 players and it will be really, really tough. The other slight modifications are the interface and the mission map system and other small things as well.

ZAM: There's going to be four bosses; the Gargoyle, Rahnoff, Dracula and a Bone Dragon. Can you tell us a little bit about those individually?

By now you've seen dozens of interviews out of GamesCom that ask questions about how Final Fantasy XIV differs from XI. We had our fair share of those questions, but ultimately we wanted to know, "why was the decision made to make FFXIV so similar to FFXI?". During the interview we asked Hiromichi Tanaka that very question and the answer was intriguing. "FFXI has been out for about eight years now; the graphical engine we used is very old. In that sense, we wanted to have something that the FFXI players can smoothly move on to" said Tanaka.

Make sure to check out our round table style interview with Q&As from our friend Chris Morell from the PlayStation Blog.

Discuss this interview on the ZAM forums!

PlayStation Blog: You guys recently talked at E3 about how the game kind of closely relates to Final Fantasy XI. I was kind of wondering how the monsters and races have changed from XI to XIV.

Hiromichi Tanaka: Because we're using a new graphic engine, the graphics are really different from FFXI and you can see more details on both monsters and races. Regarding the races, to encourage people to shift smoothly from FFXI, you will see very similar types of classes. But if you actually make your own character, you'll be able to select your own colour of hair, skin, eye color, shape of your face, etc. There will be a wide range of variety to customize.

ZAM: Why would you stick so rigidly to the class / race balance in FFXI, and are there more races we haven't seen in XI?

During our first day at GamesCom in Cologne, Germany -- we had the opportunity to talk with Age of Conan Executive Producer, Craig Morrison and Lead Expansion Designer, Joel Bylos. During the interview we went into detail about the first expansion for Age of Conan, Rise of the Godslayer. In addition to new mounts, an alternate advancement system and a handful of different NPC factions to sway, players can also look forward to zones with as much as 30 percent more playable space. Check out our full interview and stay tuned for our first look at Rise of the Godslayer.

ZAM: What were the biggest goals with the first Age of Conan expansion?

Craig Morrison: I think the key goals are two-fold. One is to add a lot more content and story-driven, dynamic content that the players can really invest in and have a lot of fun playing through. It's a content-driven expansion. The second is the system-side; adding the additional character depth that we discussed in the presentation of the 'alternate advancement system,' and giving players the ability to further specialize and train their characters and make them more powerful [via] the alternate advancement system.

ZAM: Let's talk about the alternate advancement system. Is it more of an advancement system or a specialization system, in which players would choose different paths?

Last month at the Sony Online Entertainment Fan Faire, the EverQuest team announced that they've been hard at work on the 16th expansion simply titled "Underfoot". Curiosity got the best of us, so we sat down with our old friend Ryan Barker from the EverQuest development team to find out what we can expect in the next expansion.

ZAM: Hey Ryan, it's great to talk with you again. Are you ready to talk about the Underfoot?

Ryan Barker:  Sure thing, ready if you are!

ZAM: First of all, it's hard not notice that this is the first EverQuest expansion with a singular name, making it nearly impossible for players to create an acronym. Is this intended or is the EverQuest team running out of ideas?

Ryan: Well, the acronym issue was definitely brought up, but we just came to the conclusion that it didn't really need a multipart name.  The Underfoot title makes it pretty clear what the premise for the expansion is, and it's always been referenced that way in lore up to this point.  It was definitely a conscious decision.

It's no secret that I'm a huge Star Wars: The Old Republic fanboi. In fact, it's the first MMORPG in many years that's been at the top of my personal "Most Anticipated Game" list. This made the chance to sit down with Producer, Jake Neri and Senior Writer Hall Hood at Comic Con particularly exciting. Join us for an interview with some personality where we talk about The Old Republics story, features you can expect and even what George Lucas thinks of the project.

ZAM: Can you give us a re-cap of what the Comic Con panel was about, and what information was given out?

Jake Neri: The panel was called "Behind the Scenes, Star Wars: The Old Republic." We're in a phase of talking about where we're at in the game—[we want to] get the fans in touch with some of the guys actually making the game; let the fans feel [them out] and ask questions. We covered the process of writing—these guys are doing a tremendous amount of work. We talked about art creation, some of the production goals and overall, what the game is and what we've achieved.

ZAM: Let's talk about some of those achievements. This is the world's first fully-voiced MMO, for example. At E3, we were told you started this project five years ago.

Last week we featured an editorial about Warhammer Online, speculating about the ways in which the game's developer, Mythic Entertainment, might have hindered the MMO's long-term success. Was WAR released too early? Was it the endless gameplay and client bugs that drove subscribers away, or the fact that WoW's Wrath of the Lich King dominated the market last winter? What could Mythic have done differently? More importantly, what is the company doing today in order to retain current subscribers and lure back old ones?

As fate would have it, the timing couldn't have been any better. This week, at Comic Con in San Diego, CA, ZAM had the chance to sit down with James Nichols, Community Manager for Mythic Entertainment and talk about WAR. We brought up many of the player issues and concerns circulating the community forums these days, including the lag in large-scale battles and the fundamental design problems facing ORvR. We're also interested about the hotly-debated combat and career issues brought up by the community, as well as the lifespan of the Land of the Dead event, and the future of WAR in general.

Make sure to read the interview transcription after the jump!