Late last month, the classic Guild Wars transcended its 10th birthday and prompted a flood of nostalgic posts and shared stories. A few MMO bloggers tore their attention away from the current crop of games to talk about what they loved about their initial foray into Tyria.
“Not only did GW1 revitalize MMOs in general for me, but it gave me a mission and story-based online game that I could play with [my friend],” said Aywren. “I remembered the music, I remembered the world, the Jade Sea. The colours! Oh, how I had loved the look of the world,” Paeroka gushed.
Tasha had perhaps one of the best testimonials: “Getting involved in something like Guild Wars to the extent I did seeps into every part of your life. Over the years I’ve treated the game as an excuse to learn new skills and open doors into new experiences I might not have had.”
Buckle up for an exciting Global Chat, as we hear a rant on double-jumping, a return to Champions Online, a player vouching for World of Warcraft’s virtues, and more!
Superior Realities: Cheating on WoW with Champions Online
Champions Online a ghost town? Hardly, says blogger Tyler, who took a break from his main game to fiddle around with the superhero MMO. He delivers a fair summation of the game’s strengths and weaknesses, along with a scathing inditement of Champions’ brutal business model.
“What I found was a game with serious issues, but which is nonetheless a lot better than the negative buzz led me to believe,” Tyler wrote. “There’s a lot about Champions Online that’s very endearing. But the free to play model pretty much forces you to pay early and often, and you could get a better experience for less money from DC Universe Online.”
The Errant Penman: Crowfalling with style
“Worse yet is the confirmed fact that Crowfall will also include double-jumping, a feature so ludicrously over the top it’s basically the will.i.am of movement,” Isarii complains in this tongue-in-cheek rant.
It isn’t that Isarii is against double-jumping but that this and other exaggerated movement abilities don’t seem to fit with the tone and world that Crowfall is attempting to create. Maybe it’s a little quibble, but I agree that there’s a time and a place for Metroid jumps, and not every game needs to have them.
Rambling Thoughts About WoW: A long time ago…
Is 2009 a long time ago? It seems like just yesterday. Anyway, Marathal hops back to an earlier era of World of Warcraft to provide several illustrations of the best — and worst — that the community had to offer. His desire to help cultivate a great environment is one that I share in all MMOs.
“While I may grumble from time to time about my personal issues with WoW, at the heart of it all, I just want to make the entire game, every server world wide, a great place for people of all walks of life, to meet others, to make friends, to have fun, playing one of the most diverse games I have ever played,” Marathal said.
Let’s get off of fluffy topics to talk about serious gaming business for a minute, shall we? Beards. Why can’t every game provide the fluffy, lush, flowing facial locks that players like Ironweakness deserve?
“Any chance I get I slap a beard on the face of a dwarf, human, orc, or elf because it is my chance to live the dream,” he blogs. “It’s one of the joys of creating a character in an MMO, right? To design a look without limitations? Except even in this world of possibility I find myself limited. Too often MMOs have let me down with their poor facial hair selections.”
If you want a quick-and-dirty primer on the UK party system, look no further than this guide. KIASA couches British politics in the language of MMOs. I walked away from this post feeling full of newfound wisdom about a political system that often leaves me mystified.
Of course, there are always outliers according to the writers: “There is one politician with no MMO analogue, though, Independent candidate for Salisbury Arthur Uther Pendragon. I mean, some bloke in robes waving a sword around? That’s just silly.”
May marks the return of the Newbie Blogger Initiative (NBI) for its fourth year. The NBI is a month-long blogging event in which veteran gaming bloggers encourage new writers to try their hand at the craft. Advice is given, multi-blog discussions ensue, and great new voices join the conversation.
Tales of the Aggronaut has a great summation of the NBI and how to get involved. There’s also several community events occurring, including a poetry slam, a screenshot safari, and a talkback challenge.
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.
