Do you scoff, chortle, or sneer when you hear the phrase “casual raiding” among the MMO community? You might be laughing at your own ignorance of modern trends, according to Frank at Overly Positive.
“Led by a movement in games like WoW and others who want to create more inclusive endgame, raids have gradually become more accessible to casual players,” Frank writes, “whether that is from reduction in the required number of raiding players, removal of difficult gated requirements, or the ease by which you find other people to do raids with. Some people might call this a perversion or a ruining of the idea of raiding, but I’d say that it’s more of an evolution of the practice in MMOs.”
Strap yourself in (we’re all about safety here at MOP), because we have a huge tour of the MMO blogosphere today, including a farewell to Chris Metzen, a roast of Angmar, and a visit to one of the most beautiful player homes in online games.
Dimension Gallery: Keren — featured dimensioneer
“I wanted it to be something I hoped would encourage others when they felt down, but when I hit a really hard time in my life a few months into building, I had no idea I would be the one who would be blessed by it or that I would learn so much about myself and my faith along the way.”
MMO Bro: Legion is off to a strong start, but I’m still worried
“So far, Legion is looking good. I’ve certainly been enjoying myself so far, and while there have been complaints here and there, the feedback from the community seems mostly positive so far. If nothing else I think we can say with certainty this will be a better expansion than the universally reviled Warlords of Draenor — not really a high bar to clear.”
Galactic Antics: KotFE retrospective — more to be desired for romance
“Fallen Empire romances are handled far too strictly. There’s the initial scene where the romance is locked-in, whether this is via reunion or a steady build-up of flirting, the possible break-up scene, and the scene where your romance option approaches you before you ride off to the final confrontation and shares a little moment with you.”
Occasional Hero: Three reasons I hate Angmar
“The zone is mostly desert with a little bit of swamp mixed in. Just look at the screenshot above; dead trees, scrub brush, and ruins. That pretty much sums up the scenery. And what’s up with the sky? It’s red all day long, with some kind of weird magical glow that I haven’t ever found an explanation for. Even the music is almost nonexistent here, replaced by some creepy ambient noises.”
Casual Aggro: Chasing the doomboard
“The worst part is, though, I don’t even *like* PvP. I’m not a competitive person and beating my fellow players isn’t something I would actively seek out. But then again, grouping up with them isn’t something I’ve necessarily enjoyed, either. I’ll do it periodically, just to check out some content I’ve never seen, but grouping for dungeons in MMOs I’ve found is just as competitive as PvP, if not more so.”
“Although most of the MMOs I play are firmly within the standard Fantasy fare, there is a tendency to introduce at least some aspect of technomagic or some steampunk inspired contraptions.”
Superior Realities: Chris Metzen is retiring
“I can’t overstate the influence Metzen has had on my life. I was about five when I first played Orcs and Humans. I didn’t know how to spell my own name yet, but I knew how to train footmen. I knew we couldn’t let Stormwind fall to the Horde.”
Tales of the Aggronaut: The horizon
“What I am finding however is that instead of looking forward to a new game coming to ride in on a white horse and save me from other MMOs, I am looking to games that I have loved in the past and the content that they are creating.”
The Ancient Gaming Noob: CCP and the elephant in the room
“Unfortunately, here is what you do not see after those free weekends: Any significant change in the PCU. This is the elephant in the room, Â the long time problem for the game, the failure to convert trial players into paying customers.”
Nerdy Bookahs: Otherland first impressions
“In its current state, I do not recommend the game. I think they need more time to smooth out the game, get rid of bugs and all of that. I had wanted to wait with writing about my impressions until I had gotten out of the tutorial area and had had a better look at the game behind it, but so far, this has not been possible.”
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.
