Piggy-backing on our column on World of Warcraft’s lack of housing, MMO blog GamingSF argued that the game actually has a lot of the components for housing in place already.
“WoW has so much lavish detail in its interiors and so many different architectural styles across all these years; art assets that are already in game and that could be leveraged to fill up the housing system,” Telwyn writes.
Continue on for more MMO essays, including a look at RuneScape nostalgia, LOTRO’s mini-expansion blues, and why The Division 2 is a bit of a hidden gem.
Going Commando: The nameplate dilemma
“I get that characters having their name float above their head isn’t in any way ‘realistic,’ but it enables the player to recognise familiar faces out in the wild, something that their character should reasonably be able to do in-universe as well, but that could be hard from a player point of view when all you see is a generic character model in the distance.”
Many Welps: My five nostalgic spots in RuneScape
“For some reason I have a very vivid memory of spending a Thanksgiving morning here fishing for lobsters. I couldn’t be bothered to run all the way back to Draynor Village to bank raw lobsters so I’d wait for someone to start a fire and I’d cook them until I had a full inventory. Then I’d take the ship back to Port Sarim and sell them to the fish shop. It would net me a thousand gold or so and I’d rinse and repeat this to train fishing and make some cash. There’s now a bank deposit box in Port Sarim but I still used the old method for nostalgia’s sake and made me just enough money when I needed it.”
Contains Moderate Peril: LOTRO’s ‘mini-expansion’
“I most certainly don’t want to see LOTRO wane and fall into decline but I feel that the tide is turning against them. I don’t think I’m the only one who seems somewhat underwhelmed by this announcement and what is on offer.”
Tales of the Aggronaut: Revisiting The Division 2
“I found it odd just how easy it was to slide back into the game. I had some significant issues with the first game that I have never really been able to put my finger on. The moment to moment gameplay did not feel near as fun as it does in Division 2, and I am guessing maybe it is just because I feel like I have a significantly stronger solo kit in the form of a turret and a healing drone.”
Chasing Dings: What makes an MMO an MMO?
“I absolutely agree that MMOs can offer much more, and all the great ones do. But I think it’s important to remember that MMOs are the way they are — nowadays, quest hubs that provide a focus point for each new area — because that’s what players want.”
Yeebo Fernbottom: What do we want of MMOs in the future?
“However, I find myself skeptical that this kind of utopic virtual dawn is really all that simple, or so close. Certainly we could take the Free Realms model, where you create one avatar and then use to to play lots of different styles of game, to the next level. But I personally am not all too sure I want that.”
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.
