It’s a pretty common exercise in our circles to speculate on what a sequel to World of Warcraft would look like. Oh, it’ll never, ever happen, but can you imagine it? MMO blogger Kaylriene certainly can, and his design doc is pretty thoughtful and meticulous.
“I think that if I were a betting man, and we lived in a world where WoW 2 was an inevitability, I would place my bet on the main hook being an alternate universe,” he wrote. “Why? Well, my take is this — the Warlords of Draenor storyline, as iffy as it was, did set up a compelling idea that could ignite a new game altogether.”
Once you’re done checking that out, continue on to enjoy a tour of some of the most interesting MMORPG blog essays and rants from the passionate community that writes about these games!
Priest with a Cause: How successful will WoW Classic be?
“One of the biggest problems we run into right away when asking this question is that we still don’t really know what made the original World of Warcraft so successful in the first place. Sure, it was a good game, but it would be highly dubious to claim that the degree to which it was better than its competition was directly proportional to the size of its success.”
The EverQuest Show: Actors you probably didn’t realize were in EverQuest II
“The IMDB page for EverQuest II is a wonderfully joyful thing to dig through. Or maybe it’s just me? After our recent article on Lords of EverQuest, with some big names lending their voices to the characters in that game, we decided to see if there were any hidden gems in EverQuest II. Boy were we right.”
Going Commando: To skip or not to skip
“As much I’ve moaned in the past about KotFE and KotET in particular feeling like a bit of a drag (though actually, I already complained about Shadow of Revan and Ziost before that), I have not made use of the option to skip either so far.”
Endgame Variable: Snap judgment on Life is Feudal MMO
“Overall I would say it’s worth checking out for free. I might also cynically add that it might be your last chance to do so, because undoubtedly there’s a reason they’ve decided to try to get more people into the game by making it free.”
Tales of the Aggronaut: Early access IS your launch
“If game sales are based upon the amount of hype that you can generate for your game, doing early access means whatever hype you could have generated was spent on that. For me personally a game launches the moment you start taking money for access to it. I also feel like a game doesn’t get a pass for me while it has an alpha, beta, or whatever the next industry catch phrase for ‘unfinished’ is attached to it. Once you start accepting money to let players play your game, you have launched.”
Shards of Imagination: I am a Monster Hunter World tourist
“I am starting to feel my behavior with Monster Hunter World mimics that even though it hasn’t had any substantial update for a while. In my case it is more when an event is announced. I get back into the game with the full intention of checking the event out, and finally finishing the base game’s story, only for a few days later to completely forget about it and then play something else.”
Nerdy Bookahs: MMOs are weird virtual worlds — where’s the toilet?
“With the exception of very few MMOs, there are simply no toilets or just in general bathrooms in MMOs. Apparently, there is no need for hygiene? From the top of my head, I know that there are a few in World of Warcraft, but they’re mostly related to corresponding quests. I don’t remember the zone or name of the quest, but some dwarf had been in dire need of a roll of toilet paper?”
“It could be almost stressful at times, frantically zipping from one bossfight or ring event to the next, hoovering up tons of loot and reward-containers with even more loot, until the inventory was completely full and you had to take a break to manage all that stuff. But it was a lot of fun and felt pretty epic.”
Static Refresh: A leisurely pace
“That’s not to say that at times enjoyment and progress do not go hand in hand, but that my measure of enjoyment (especially in hindsight) has become dependent on the amount of ‘meaningful progress’ I make.”
Misdirections: Do we need another class in World of Warcraft?
“Anyway, a common thread I picked up on with this latest batch of detailed “visions” is the possible/wishlist introduction of the Tinker class in the next expansion. Such speculation is not new, it has been a running thread in the WoW guessing game for years now, but it does seem to have gathered some real momentum this time.”
Later Levels: Tales from the wasteland
“Considering the character of the game, which is generally humorous, I couldn’t help but be moved and saddened by this discovery. However, it stimulated my interest in exploring and finding more hidden narratives, adding greater depth to a game often criticised for lack of story.”
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.
