When it comes to the subject of raiding, one might get the impression that there are only two factions involved: those who are hardcore raiders and those who couldn’t care less about raiding. Yet that would overlook those who have latched on to casual raiding for fun and profit.
Neri at Mama Needs Mana is one such player, and in a recent article she makes a case for why casual raiding is important in MMORPGs: “Casual raids can provide guilds a great opportunity to introduce new blood into the group without throwing off the synergy of the progression group if they’re a bad egg. They can serve as the perfect training for players completely new to raiding, while also providing veteran players an opportunity to gain both experience and gear on an alternative character.”
We’ve got more great articles from the MMO blogging community to highlight this week, including a look at Landmark pre-launch, the joys of Lord of the Rings Online, playing against one’s nature, and more!
The Ancient Gaming Noob: What is vanilla WoW in any case?
“And then there is Mark Kern, who is trying to elbow his way into this affair in the hope that if he walks in front of the parade people will think he is leading it, to deliver a printed copy of an online petition. Â Not an ally I would choose, as I would put the odds of him making things worse at about 50-50.”
The Errant Penman: The increasingly troubling monetization of The Elder Scrolls Online
“It needs to be stated outright that nothing The Elder Scrolls Online is doing is a deal-breaker. While there are minor elements of competitive pay-to-win, they have literally zero impact on veteran, endgame players, functioning merely as catch-up mechanisms for those willing to shell out the cash. I still don’t like it, but these sales aren’t doing anything to negatively impact anyone’s play, either.”
MMOBro: The most stable MMORPGs
“RuneScape is one of those interesting cases of a game that almost everyone seems to ignore, yet it remains incredibly popular and successful. You will rarely see MMO sites give it much coverage, and it gets even less discussion in the greater community, yet it’s quietly become of the genre’s bigger success stories.”
GamerLady: Playing game characters against my nature
“I enjoy games that make me stretch outside my comfort zone every once in a while. It does make me wonder about the kind of person who actually expects to play characters that way all the time. I wonder if the things that make me cringe bother them, and if not, yikes!”
Inventory Full: Ready or not, here we come, Landmark
“Screenshots of Landmark look better than the game itself and always have done. It’s hard to be sure, even looking back at pictures I’ve taken over years of development, but I can’t help feeling that, although the game now runs far more smoothly and comfortably than ever before, it looks worse.”
Kitty Kitty Boom Boom: LOTRO mired in gloom (and so is the market)
“Over and over you hear people mired in Moria, tired of the dark. Just last night a kinmate expressed enormous relief at emerging from Moria, and another kinmate echoed him. This is on top of LOTRO being 50% dark just from the day/night cycles. Sometimes I log out when it’s night, or take a break.”
Parallel Context: Happy hour at the Prancing Pony
“What stood out the most to me about Shadows of Angmar was that the LOTRO development team wasn’t afraid to make one of the big baddies a woman, and a clever, cunning, yet complex woman at that. It is something that you’d not see in Tolkien’s work itself, outside of perhaps Ungoliant or Shelob, but in a game designed for the 21st Century it worked very well.”
Want to become an MMO blogger? Join up with the Newbie Blogger Initiative!
It’s once again time for the Newbie Blogger Initiative (NBI), a yearly event in which MMO bloggers encourage others to take up the pen and start their own blog. During the month of June, bloggers will offer support via advice and lots of links, so if you’ve ever thought about getting your passion for MMOs out there, this is a good time to do it!
Here are the relevant links for the NBI:
- Newbie Blogger Forums
- Newbie Blogger Twitter
- Discord Invite Code:Â https://t.co/bZLA0YGZSk
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.
