The future of MMOs weighs heavily on some minds in the community, but contrary to some Chicken Littles out there, the sky is not falling and all is not lost. In a two-part piece, bloggers Weakness and Mersault look at the future of the genre… and find it strangely inviting.
“I can see over the next decade a renewed interest in the genre due to the success of console ports that draw on tropes familiar to that marketplace colliding with the experimental playground of indie development and producing an entirely new generation of massively multiplayer games,” Weakness wrote. “We’ll continue to get new MMORPGs, and if the current crop doesn’t meet your preferences, chances are the next wave will, because for once, after 10 years, we’ll be getting games that do something new or concentrate on a particular part that made MMORPGs great in the first place,” Mersault concurs.
We’ve got a great round-up of blogosphere articles for you today, including suggestions on how to fix EverQuest II, Black Desert starter tips, and a countdown of the best player races in World of Warcraft.
Tales of the Aggronaut: Fixing EverQuest II
“Now that EverQuest Next is no longer a thing… I would love to see them pour some of those resources into producing a graphical upgrade to EverQuest II.  The big problem with the game are just how dated the models and the animations look, and going back there is always an adjustment period and largely just hand waving off a bunch of details that get under my skin because the content itself is so amazingly rich.”
Grimoires of Ikralla: The official best races in World of Warcraft list!
“Poundshopwig and his resplendent beard have really made me fall in love with the diminutive Dwarven race! Being able to turn into stone every so often is pretty damn cool too. But that beard. THAT BEARD. It demands respect and inspires fear. I envy the lushness and fullness, when all I can grow are smoky wisps of nothing. He oils it every day so that it may inspire all who come into contact with it.”
Shards of Imagination: Why I don’t like voice chat
“Reading and writing always felt more natural to me. It is like when I am expressing through writing it is the “real me” that is talking while when I have to actually, physically talk to someone else, the words just come out of my mouth without even giving the courtesy to my brain of asking about their purpose. This means that I often will just talk only realizing what I said until it is too late.”
Occasional Hero: When massively multiplayer becomes less massive
“Every game needs money to stay alive, and the smaller the MMO, the more vital it is that each player contributes something so they can stay afloat. Subscribe, buy cash shop fluff, click some ads, whatever you can afford to do to help the game. It’s strange that, in this free-to-play-centric genre, so many players seem to take pride in the fact that they’ve never paid a dime for hours upon hours of entertainment in one of their favorite games.”
The Ancient Gaming Noob: EverQuest on the edge of seventeen
“A year later, things look good. Daybreak hasn’t fumbled the progression server idea the way SOE used to, embracing it and keeping people up to date on things like unlock votes. Expansions are back, because how can you pass up something that allows these sorts of price points?”
Inventory Full: A little knowledge — Black Desert
“The world is not as vast nor as overwhelming as you think it is. MMO worlds never are, sadly. The trip from Velia to Heidel, which looked so epic and daunting on your second or third session, will soon feel like a stroll to the corner store. Distances that seem outrageous become manageable and then trivial in disturbingly short order. And that’s at regular foot speed.”
Herding Cats: Factions are old-fashioned
“In the vast majority of MMOs, factions are just artificial barriers between players, dividing potential friends and limiting the player pool for group content. They also require excellent story-telling, the likes of which is hard to maintain over years of a game. Honestly, at this point, are the Horde and Alliance still enemies after working together for so long?”
Through Wolfy’s Eyes: The Landmark chronicle — a mission statement
“A feeling I shared that I always seem to have towards games that people ‘hate,’ be it Landmark or WildStar or Blade and Soul. I always have had this aggravating habit of enjoying something about MMOs no matter how I felt about them overall, and I always seem to have this need to flock towards a game that draws ire and see if it’s really worth it.”
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.
