The MMO blogging community is a pretty tight-knit one. Most of us know each other (or of each other) and read each other’s blogs for years. So even if we haven’t met personally, it feels like we’re all part of a very extended family.
That’s why it’s terribly sad when we lose one of our own. This past week we learned that Stropp, of Stropp’s World, passed away from what sounds like a diabetes-related illness back in October. Stargrace of Nomadic Gamers said it best when she wrote, “Stropp. John. Your comments, blog posts, conversations, and friendship were felt by many, and you will be missed.”
Read on for plenty of new essays from this weird extended family, as they talk about Fallout 76, Final Fantasy XIV, World of Warcraft Classic, and more!
Inventory Full: Some things never change in EverQuest II
“With plenty of time on my hands and sucked in as I was by the best introduction to an expansion in many years, somehow I found myself playing in the way I used to play a decade ago. After putting in something like ten hours I have yet to consult the Wiki on anything at all, let alone to follow the intended storyline in logical order.”
“I started on Ithil this week and cannot believe how inspired I am to actually play LOTRO again! On the legendary server, the feeling is so different! So many people online, such a good economy for the low levels, and no cheating with a rich uncle toon. Everything has to be self-earned again, and that my friends, is extremely satisfying.”
Contains Moderate Peril: Pickup groups and MMOs
“The reason I’ve chosen to succinctly distil and reiterate their respective pros and cons is because I continuously come across gamers regularly lamenting the iniquities of PUGs, as if they’re supposed to function in a fashion that is contrary to their nature.”
In An Age: Fallout 76 is a survival game
“I begrudge no one for waiting 6+ months for the (ahem) fallout to settle before taking a second look. Fallout 76 is absolutely a game that will be in better shape a few patches from now. Stash size will be bigger, bugs/crashes will be reduced, some of the quests will actually be completable, there might be more of an endgame, Workshops might be worth something, and so on.”
Azerothian Life: Playing Classic thanks to a virtual ticket
“What I can say without a shadow of a doubt is that returning to Classic is both terrifying and awful at the same time. I am one of the lucky ones who remembers all the bad and can barely remember the good compared with how it is today. Our quality of in game life is so much better.”
Aywren Sojourner: Thoughts on FFXIV’s Blue Mage
“This is an interesting experiment that I’m curious to see play out. It feels like a mini-game rolled up into a job. BLU is not going to be your standard leveling job by any means. It’s going to be a job that takes time to develop… introduced in an age of MMOs where people want the fastest runs and the lowest downtime on everything.”
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.
