Guild Wars 2 fans have developed a cult following around the seasonal Super Adventure Box, but as much as some love it, others have been brought to tears by its tribulation mode. Jermai at Why I Game documented the personal suffering that this game mode evokes.
“There is a particular mental state with which to take on Tribulation Mode in Super Adventure Box,” Jeomai said. “It’s about three parts acceptance and one part perseverance. One has to acknowledge that things are unfair, life has its downs – many of which will smack you in the face and then kick you when you’re already down, regardless of whether you see it coming and that there’s no point getting upset or frustrated about it because that just makes a bad situation feel even worse.”
Parallel Context: The ‘multiple’ part of MMOs
“One thing I’ve noticed over my time in WoW Classic is that I’ve been able to connect with a wider group of people than I ever did in LOTRO, SWTOR, or ESO. Yes, there’s retail WoW, but outside of the guild(s) in my retail years, there’s a diminishing return on reaching out to people outside of your guild.”
“Translation: Blizz doesn’t like the fact that players — in groups or solo — can efficiently dispatch the ever-growing number of mobs the devs keep surrounding everything in the game with. They have stuffed every dungeon and raid with literally hundreds of trash mobs — some of them in nearly endless waves — and now are a bit annoyed that players  have had the temerity to use every AoE trick they have to zerg them down.”
24 Hours In: We’re not in Paragon City any more
“There’s so much more I could say about the Rogue Isles, and the ways in which the villain experience differs from its heroic counterpart, but for now I’ll just finish off by saying that, for me at least, having the villains of the game distinctly apart from the heroes works, and works well.”
Nerdy Bookahs: Jumping back into Trove
“What I still love is how many styles you can collect and how much I can customize my character that way. Of course, when other players are hopping by, I hardly see what they’re wearing, but that’s not the point! I know what I am wearing and I know that with all the styles unlocked already, I have countless of fun colourful outfits that fit to my silly class.”
Tales of the Aggronaut: Is grinding fun?
“Leveling a brand new character through questing and roaming around the world doing bite sized world quests for faction… those are both the sort of grind that sets my mind at ease and allows me to just go with the flow of the game ultimately relaxing me.”
Yeebo Fernbottom: Why I don’t play tanks anymore
“In modern PUGs if you are playing a tank you are basically a crappy DPS for most of an instance. Apart from boss fights, where at least some strategy is still the norm, the DPS are usually going to be tagging every mob in sight with their hardest hitting abilities like it’s last five seconds of the apocalypse.  The only thing you are good for as a tank through 90% of an instance is getting mobs off the healer in a pinch, and even then only when your snap aggro abilities happen to be off cool down.”
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.
