As the final pages turn on 2015, MMO bloggers engage in a favorite pastime of recalling their best and most notable gaming experiences of the year.
Light Falls Gracefully ranks the author’s eight most-played MMOs of the year, starting with a gloomy prediction about WildStar. “I am still in love with WildStar,” Mesmer posts. “With that said, it’s going to die in 2016 just as City of Heroes did in 2012.”
Meanwhile, Clean Casuals said that there was only one game that ruled them all this past year: Final Fantasy XIV. “FFXIV has demanded most of my online gaming time and staved away other MMOs,” Aywren wrote. “Part of this is due to the nature of the subscription game. Part of this is due to the efforts to foster a free company and a community that I wanted to be a part of.”
ECTmmo.com: Adventure Log 12/15
If you haven’t read one of Kaozz’s adventure logs, you’re in for a treat, as she always seems to play many MMOs that don’t get much coverage. Plus, she always ends with a screenshot dump of wallpaper-worthy shots.
Among the games she tried was the recently released Sphere 3. “It is very old school,” Kaozz reports. “The graphics are very reminiscent of Runes of Magic. It won’t appeal to everyone. While it sports action combat, it is still has a much more classic feel than most games you’ll see releasing these days.”
The Ancient Gaming Noob: My MMO outlook for 2016
Of course, you can’t end a year with just retrospectives; you must have some anticipation and prediction posts for the new year as well! Wilhelm discusses what MMOs he might be playing come 2016.
One of the titles that is catching his eye is Shroud of the Avatar: “Attraction: I have fond memories of the first half of the Ultima series. Seems like it might be an excellent place to explore. I backed it on Kickstarter. I already have it setup in Steam. Worries: Might be too cash shop focused and who knows what Mr. Garriott will glom onto as a good plan. He has had some odd ideas over the years.”
Ten Tentacles: Elite Dangerous — In space no one can hear you QQ
Tenten is entranced by space sims as of late, and in this post he recalls his initial days and weeks of playing Elite Dangerous. The takeaway? It’s not the most casual friendly game in the world, but it’s enjoyable even so.
“In all honestly, I flubbed a lot; for the first week I played I didn’t know what the hell I was doing and I was really just plugging along with no real sense of where I wanted to go or what I ultimately wanted to do with the game. All that directionless wandering, though, was teaching me a lot about the game’s mechanics,” he posted.
Inventory Full: What Landmark might tell us about EverQuest Next
If EverQuest Next is to become an actual released game (and let’s not start that flamewar in the comments, shall we?), one thing’s for certain. Landmark is going to be a major source of information as to what EQNext might be like.
So what does Bhagpuss think? “By the time EQNext eventually emerges, something no-one in their right mind would bet on happening next year, I should have a machine capable of running it efficiently. Judging by the reflections of Next that Landmark casts on the water I feel confident in predicting that, yes, come the day, I will return to Norrath once more. And enjoy it. ”
MMO Juggler: LOTRO — Beorning book 1
What’s it like leveling up a brand-new Beorning these days in Lord of the Rings Online? Aillas is finding out as he takes the axe-wielding, shape-shifting class through the first book of the epic storyline.
“I had a lot of fun playing this quest line,” Aillas writes. “I think the feel of fighting and the epic storyline is really good. Sure, many of the regular quests have you collecting stuff or killing 10 wandering mobs, but the epic quests are longer with more heroic feeling goals. The combat feels good too, as I square off against two or three enemies and defeat them.”
Ravven: Black Desert closed beta 1
Curious about Black Desert? So was Ravven, enough that she got into the first closed beta test and spent enough time to draw up a list of positives and trouble areas of the upcoming fantasy title.
“The game is beautiful,” she reports. “Environment and lighting is gorgeous, characters are beautiful and the character creation tool is wonderful, one of the best that I’ve seen.”
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.
