So if you don’t play a Star Wars Galaxies rogue server – and chances are that you don’t – you probably have no idea what the endless player fights on such servers are about. On SWG Legends, for example, the eternal struggle is over atmospheric flight. Readers might remember that after announcing SWG’s sunset but before it actually happened, SOE patched in atmo flight, which allowed players to land on the ground from space and fly in planetary atmosphere, something we’d never had before at that point (remember, it was 2011). Atmo flight was a little janky, but it was fun, and there’s been a constant demand from players to get devs to put it into the emulator, with equally constant pushback from devs. It’s to the point where just the words “atmo flight” now generates eyerolls because we all know what’s coming next in the convo.
This Massively Overthinking isn’t about Star Wars, but it is definitely about those endless fights in your own MMORPGs, the more granular and nonsensical to outsiders, the better. I’m asking our writers and readers this week to tell me about some long-term struggle in your favorite MMO – either between groups of players or between the playerbase and the devs – that is still going on to this day, an unmet demand or a persistent sense of injustice, ideally something obscure to folks who don’t play that game. Tell us about the eternal granular squabbles in your pet MMORPGs.
Ben Griggs (@braxwolf): In my prime days playing LOTRO, I can remember the players being very in-tune to Turbine’s use of the Tolkien intellectual property, including when the most recent contractual deal was reached and how long it lasted. Without fail, every time the renewal date approached, forum posters started to panic, demanding updates from the studio on how negotiations were going, despite numerous assurances that LOTRO would continue. From the players perspective, it was completely warranted to be concerned about the game that they loved, but I’m sure an outsider would have been surprised by the obsession with this one very specific topic.
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna.bsky.social, blog): If I can add a second squabble to the list, it’d be what I perceive as a constant struggle in City of Heroes Homecoming. I’d characterize it as a casuals vs. hardcores struggle, which honestly is pretty common in a lot of games. Maybe a normals vs. min-maxers struggle. And in Homecoming’s case, the squabble goes all the way up to the dev team, from what I’ve been able to glean, as some folks are clearly there to stomp a boot down on the fun-having and the fast-leveling alts and to make sure the maxers’s egos are properly fed and groomed, while others are… well, the type of devs who think it’s pretty gd funny to add a talking pigeon to Pocket D so you don’t have to grind to change your alignment.
I know which side I’m on!
Carlo Lacsina (@UltraMudkipEX, YouTube, Twitch): Black Desert Online: Most def the the crazy pop-in from this aging engine. A lot of people cant stand it and no word on any engine updates. Its getting really difficult to ignore because of how inherently beautiful the game is. The question comes up often enough from players and nonplayers alike.
Final Fantasy XIV: Best way to cook and eat a Lalafell.
Guild Wars 2: I don’t participate in the discussion, but balance always seems like it’s fudged, so as an outsider, anytime I hear anything related to balance in this game, I think, “Oh boy, here we go again.”
FFXI: “Isn’t this game in maintenance mode?”
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): Well, Ghostcrawler promised me a pony and never delivered. I’m still waiting and will be happy to receive one in whatever MMO he finally creates. Better be a pony-rich environment, is all I’m saying.
Sam Kash (@samkash@mastodon.social): I used to have all kinds of “discussions” with other players in Guild Wars 2 about enabling duels in the open world. I’ve always been a firm believer in allowing players to play. Open up systems, open up game modes, and let players just do their thing… or not and then you move on!
The amount of hate I would get back about all the ways allowing duels would ruin GW2 was astronomical. Essentially every form of straw man and logical fallacy was used, which ultimately amounted to, “I had a bad experience with PvP and I don’t want to see other people doing content I don’t like that also doesn’t affect me.” It still annoys me just thinking about it.
Tyler Edwards (blog): Back in the day in The Secret World, there was a never-ending debate over whether Funcom had broken its “no lockboxes” promise by adding the Deep Mystery Box and other paid boxes with randomized loot.
Personally I never really cared whether the game had lockboxes or not, but the “they’re totally not lockboxes because you don’t need a separate item to open them” always felt a bit disingenuous to me. I’d have respected them more if they just said, “Yes, we renegged on the promise, but we feel our model is less predatory because…”
Moving over to the world of MOBAs, Heroes of the Storm to this day has a lot of intense controversy over heroes that aren’t from Warcraft, StarCraft, or Diablo.
When it comes to original Heroes of the Storm characters, I agree with the criticism. Orphea and Qhira feel like a waste of resources when there’s so many pre-existing characters they could have done instead. I also think it was a mistake to start creating serious lore around Heroes of the Storm in the first place. It worked better when it was an intentionally ridiculous fourth wall breaking goof fest.
I’m somewhat puzzled by the hate over the inclusion of Overwatch characters, though, and that seems actually more prevalent than the criticism of Orphea and Qhira. Heroes is about collecting characters from all of Blizzard’s games, and Overwatch is a Blizzard game, so why shouldn’t it be eligible? It’s true some of the Overwatch characters are a bit frustrating to play against, but so are lots of characters that aren’t from Overwatch. It’s not like an it’s intrinsic quality of the IP. I don’t get why people are so adamant that bringing Overwatch into the fold ruined the game.
Of course, I’m a D.Va main these days, so I might be a little biased.
Every week, join the Massively OP staff for Massively Overthinking column, a multi-writer roundtable in which we discuss the MMO industry topics du jour – and then invite you to join the fray in the comments. Overthinking it is literally the whole point. Your turn!
