Global Chat: Blizzard’s war on flying

How is the MMO blogging community reacting to Blizzard’s proclamation that flying mounts are grounded — perhaps permanently — in World of Warcraft? In two words, not well.

In An Age gave 10 reasons flying was a great part of the game, Aspect of the Hare says that it felt like “a punch in the gut,” Murloc Parliament thinks that the game must move forward instead of backward, Tish Tosh Tesh considers the decision a strike against returning to the game, Cogitationes Astalnaris says that this is another example of how the studio has lost its mojo, Alternative Chat blames the studio for poor communication on the issue, and Heals n Heals speculates that it’s part of a larger probem. On the flip side of the issue, The Rykter Scale says that he won’t miss it and Tales of the Aggronaut agrees with the devs that flight is a “double-edged sword.”

With that out of the way, let’s look at some other excellent community posts from the past few weeks, including first steps in EverQuest’s progression server, a screenshot safari to City of Heroes, 10 reasons to play Trove, and a huge testimonial about the awesomeness of Marvel Heroes.

Why I Game: City of Heroes screenshot nostalgia trip (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6)

Jermomai is doing the superhero world a favor lately with his incredible trip back to City of Heroes via screenshots and stories. I’m loving every entry and kicking myself that I lost my screenshot folder along the way.

“Solo herding was also a good way for me to practice the then new-to-me concepts of using line of sight, corner-pulling, and experimenting with whatever scenery caught my eye to see if clever usage thereof would fool mob AI into doing what I wanted them to do,” he narrates.

Inventory Full: Common fluency in EverQuest

Bhagpuss returned to his very old stomping grounds of EverQuest with the new Ragefire progression server, and he makes some astute points about the difficulty and the neat design details of the older era of MMO gaming.

“It’s understanding the level of complexity involved that’s the key to survival when you set out to solo your way across Norrath,” he writes. “Compared to any modern MMO you care to name, EverQuest, even now in its much-simplified and ever-increasingly user-friendly form, offers a ferocious learning curve.”

A Goon’s Day Off: “What server are you on?” is a question that needs to go away

This isn’t a new argument, but it probably needs to keep being made until MMO studios stop segmenting their playerbases by separate servers.

Blogger Tridus expresses his frustration: “If the population grows, servers get overloaded. You can spin up new ones, but people will want to play on the busy ones, so to stop that overload you have to close new character creation there. This happens in FFXIV a fair bit, and it can stop someone from recruiting a new person to the game. Do you want to join a game to play with me if you can’t get onto my server? This was the best we could do 20 years ago.”

Spawn of the Dread Master: Galactic sightseeing

Want to take a gander at the five (actually six) most beautiful planets in Star Wars: The Old Republic? Calphaya has you covered with several screenshots and reasons to back up their inclusion. I have to agree with pretty much all of these; they’re quite gorgeous indeed.

Sometimes death and beauty goes hand-in-hand: “The Old Republic utilises its planets as levelling areas and hubs; each has their own ‘recommended’ level parameters, and each manages to maintain its own unique aspect, be it functionality or simplicity, or area of torturous death or serene beauty.”

Waiting for Rez: 10 reasons to play Trove

I love how much good word-of-mouth Trove is getting from people who actually play it. It’s a charming little game that may be overshadowed by the questionable policies of its studio, but it really does deserve more of a spotlight for what it’s doing right.

Ironweakness delivers 10 compelling reasons why you might want to check this sandbox out, including this one: “While playing Trove you will see characters wearing plungers, spoons, squirrels, and spatulas. You will conquer cupcakes in a pool of fudge, wrestle wraiths in an eerie crypt, and descend upon dragons in the belly of an active volcano. The game does not take itself too seriously, and you shouldn’t either. Trove’s themes evoke the limitless surrealism of childhood stories, games, and roleplay. It’s whimsical and ridiculous; I love it.”

Inside Yngwe’s Mind: Why I still play Marvel Heroes (parts 1, 2, and 3)

Here is another multi-article series that I think you should check out, particularly if you’re looking for a solid testimonial about Marvel Heroes’ strengths. As a person who is currently addicted to the game, I feel it’s my duty to echo these sentiments.

Yngwe gushes about the flexibility of the game: “Want to play an archer archetype, try Hawkeye. Like stealthy assassins, maybe Black Widow or the Winter Soldier. Like to have pets, try Luke Cage, Squirrel Girl, or Rocket Raccoon. Lasers and missiles, how about Iron Man? A tank with strong ranged aoe? Thor is your man. Crazy elemental powers? Why, that is Storm of course. Burn things? Human Torch. Freeze them solid? Iceman. Like some humor in your beatings? How about Deadpool or She-Hulk?”