Have you ever tried your hand at ranking all of World of Warcraft’s expansions from worst to best? Sure you have, because everyone’s done that at one point or another. MMO blog Amateur Azerothian took a stab at it himself, and I guarantee you that you won’t agree with 100% of it. But it’s interesting!
“Cataclysm brought a lot to Azeroth, more than most expansions and that’s why it’s ranked higher than the others. It’s not like it wasn’t without it’s faults. They were there,” he wrote. “But I feel as though the expansion had enough positives that outweighed the numerous shortcomings.”
Cataclysm at number three? Hey, that kind of perspective is why it’s always a wild experience to read MMO blogs — not everyone agrees with you, and that’s OK!
Contains Moderate Peril: The pros and cons of complex lore in LOTRO
“Over the past twelve years Turbine and now Standing Stone Games have tapped into this vast wealth of lore and extrapolated it when writing the various narratives for their MMORPG. They have incorporated both the well know and the obscure. Broadly they have done this in a clever and respectful fashion.”
Altar of Gaming: The best gold farming methods in Guild Wars 2
“So obviously there are many ways to obtain gold, but everyone wants the most effective ones! This is the main purpose of this article; checking the most efficient ways of gold farming, how to do it and what does it require. We will try to make this guide as newb-friendly as possible, in order to be easy to apply for new players!”
Endgame Variable: Can I trust the trust system in FFXIV?
“If they had called it what it is, which is apparently ‘AI Party Members For Completing Main Scenario Quest Dungeons Solo,’ then boy would my ears have pricked up fast. I might have even bought the Shadowbringers expansion and played it. Alas, it’s too late now, as the launch wave of hype and the FOMO danger zone is pretty much over. Everyone has already finished the story and maxed out their mains and stopped talking about it. But I might pick it up later, when it goes on sale.”
Swordroll’s Blog: First time user experience and Wizard101’s audience
“After the release of Grizzleheim and Celestia, which were delayed for some time beyond their originally planned dates, players wondered if old worlds would get an overhaul. Developers found that fitting together their puzzle pieces for the streets was taking as long as it would to simply build a unique environment from scratch, so that’s what they started doing with those two worlds.”
Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah: Great ways for EVE Online to branch out
“The modern casino games you find online incorporate all sorts of existing franchises and themes and infuse them with gambling practices (Battlestar Galactica has its own digital slot game, for instance). This would seemingly be a fairly straightforward initiative for those behind the EVE Online franchise. It doesn’t need to be a big new game or a foray into a new medium, so much as permission for licensed material to be used in a standard slot game.”
Inventory Full: You’re not going out dressed like that in Project Gorgon
“If you browse through the Steam reviews for Project Gorgon, one thing comes up over and over again: the graphics. Comments range from the extremely negative to the grudgingly accepting. No one says they are good. Which is strange, because the game really doesn’t look bad at all, or not to my eyes. The colors are harmonious, the aesthetic is consistent and appropriate, you can tell what everything is just by looking at it. What more do people want?”
Mailvatar: Looking forward to Lost Ark
“Lifeskills! OMG, the game has lifeskills. There’s a whole talent tree that’s separate from combat stuff and solely dedicated to six different forms of gathering: herbing, fishing, mining, archaeology, woodcutting and hunting. Apparently each character can learn all of them, but I assume that if you want to get really good at one you need to specialize.”
Shards of Imagination: Shadowbringers finished!
“There were also a few things I didn’t feel like the story addressed but maybe they will explain in the patches. It is a minor thing though and I am completely fine with doing some headcanon if they never touch on the subject. Oh, and that end felt so epic and deserved after the journey we went through. Again, nothing in Final Fantasy XIV that came before felt as good as this.”
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.
