Pathfinder Online might not be completely dead, but hope for it has certainly gone down the drain following the announcement of the studio’s mass layoffs and the game’s financial straits.
Blogger Lord Tridus argues that the project never really stood a chance the way that it was made: “The core problem here? This is not Pathfinder. This is an open world PvP sandbox MMO that happens to have the Pathfinder name. It’s not going to attract many people interested in Pathfinder, because the game is so far afield of what Pathfinder is about. It also won’t attract many other people based on the name, because Pathfinder as a brand doesn’t have tons of appeal outside of its playerbase.”
We’re getting our downer discussion out of the way early for this week’s roundup of interesting blogosphere posts, so stay tuned as we look more at Asheron’s Call, favorite MMO memories, and another look at Dragon’s Nest!
Strap in for the second part of a look back at Asheron’s Call in which Mylex examines how carebears were necessary and influential to the game’s PvP server.
“Whilst Asheron’s Call had an economy (based around cash and loot and player trades for rare items), on Darktide the currency was carebears,” Melex recalled. “Available in thousands, carebears were the worker bees that powered the XP chains and the cannon fodder that won or lost wars.”
Stropp’s World: Nine years of rambling about games
Some MMO bloggers have been around for a very long time now, such as good ol’ Stropp, who just celebrated his ninth anniversary of blogging. A hearty congratulation to you! As part of his personal celebration, Stropp takes us down gaming memory lane.
“Opening day of Warhammer Online in the Orc starting area,” he recalled. “It was so electric and alive. PCs running back and forward. NPC orcs banging on drums. The atmosphere was memorable. It’s a pity that game didn’t succeed.”
MMO Gypsy: First impressions of Dragon’s Nest Europe
“Better than expected” is the verdict from Syl’s first look at Dragon’s Nest, which she notes as having a decent free-to-play model while also dabbling in annoying areas such as gender-locked classes.
Syl did break down to spend money on outfits: “I’ve decided to spend some more time with Dragon Nest in the future (I hear there are expansions), so I’d rather not keep looking at a half-naked character that looks just like everybody else. Cartoony or not, this MMO is still very Asian at its core which means a lot of silly gear and emotes for the ladies.”
Pretty Little Sith: How to be a better guild member
Ever feel that you’re not quite contributing all that you could be to your guild? It might behoove you to read this post, then, and see which of Heather’s suggestions you could take to heart.
“It doesn’t bother me to stop what I’m doing to help someone, because you are building a community and making your guild a more pleasant environment to be in, especially when your guildies know that they can count on each other. Also, you never know when you might need some help with something in-game, and guildies are more likely to help those who help and play with others,” she writes.
Tyrannodorkus: My top 10 MMO memories
OK, I’ll admit it: I’m a sucker for lists and memories post, so forgive me for linking to another! So what was Tyrannodorkus’ first MMO character ever? For that, we have to turn back the calendar pages to an earlier era.
“That would be my little blue bard from EverQuest,” he writes. “Some people called him the blue streak. Bards in EQ have songs that give them very fast run speed. Pair that with a drum equipped and you get a bonus to it, so my bard was on par with some of the fastest mounts in the game. I’m not sure if that is still true now, since I haven’t gone back to EQ in years. I still have urges once in awhile to visit — maybe one day I’ll act on them.”
Every day there are tons of terrific, insightful, and unusual articles posted across the MMO gaming blogosphere — and every day, Justin reads as many as he can. Global Chat is a sampling of noteworthy essays, rants, and guides from the past few weeks of MMO discourse.
