Year in Review – July 2021 (editorials) By Bree Royce - November 11, 2021 5:52 PM 0 Vague Patch Notes: MMO players are a bad substitute for professional testers Massively Overthinking: What’s your favorite MMO house of all time? WoW Factor: Why Blizzard’s line about story beats is so frustrating Desert Oasis: The key takeaways from Black Desert’s Heidel Ball 2021 LOTRO Legendarium: A tale of two progression servers Not So Massively: Magic Legends had all the right ideas and all the wrong choices Wisdom of Nym: What will Final Fantasy XIV add to its tanks? Launch impressions: Crowfall won me over, but it’s not for everyone Choose My Adventure: Space combat is yet another vast and interesting layer to Star Wars Galaxies Tamriel Infinium: Companions are the star of Elder Scrolls Online’s Blackwood Perfect Ten: Worst MMO expansion names of all time Vague Patch Notes: Playerbase size doesn’t have to be everything in MMOs First impressions: Monster Hunter Stories 2’s demo raises new multiplayer questions Massively Overthinking: Which of the summer MMO launches captured your time and attention? The Game Archaeologist: Why 2008 was one of the wildest years for MMORPGs Lawful Neutral: Defining toxicity in the MMO industry Four Winds: MassivelyOP’s guide to getting started in Swords of Legends Online Make My MMO: Crowfall is one of the biggest crowdfunded MMOs to ever fully launch Fight or Kite: Crowfall’s launch is a struggle, but I’m ready to play Hands-on with Monster Hunter Stories 2: Teasing out the multiplayer content Wisdom of Nym: Looking at lost actions as a key to more job customization in Final Fantasy XIV Casually Classic: WoW Classic’s Burning Crusade entry ditch Perfect Ten: The 10 most huggable boss monsters in multiplayer online hunting RPGs The Daily Grind: What expectations do you have for Amazon’s New World? WoW Factor: The Blizzard ‘leak’ is probably fake, but it’s still valuable Perfect Ten: MMOs with the noisiest fanbases Massively Overthinking: The curious cycle of MMO refunds, tutorials, and reviews Vague Patch Notes: Hating an MMO isn’t the same as having a personality Massively on the Go: How Jackbox Games helped gamers stay social through COVID PAX East 2021: Gaming streamers are frontline workers, not mental health experts LOTRO Legendarium: What returning to LOTRO feels like PAX East 2021: MMO community building – on a budget Hands-on with New World’s 20v20 PvPvE battleground and its newest dungeon Wisdom of Nym: What will Final Fantasy XIV add to its ranged damage dealers? Massively on the Go: Pokemon GO Fest 2021 might be the last great GO Fest Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2’s outage analysis, simplified Not So Massively: Wolcen’s roadmap is missing some important things Choose My Adventure: Wakfu may not be my cup of tea GDC 2021: Research on online video game voice chat has come a long way The Daily Grind: So what do we all think of New World so far? Casually Classic: Why it’s so good to Zangarmarsh and chill in WoW Classic GDC 2021: Navigating player behaviors and cheating in online video games Massively Overthinking: Load-bearing playerbases in MMORPGs WoW Factor: No king rules forever LOTRO Legendarium: Six suggestions to improve LOTRO’s business model Wisdom of Nym: Guessing at the next jobs of Final Fantasy XIV beyond Endwalker GDC 2021: Accessibility in gaming means innovation for everyone Casually Classic: Making the call to quit WoW or not Choose My Adventure: Wakfu definitely isn’t my cup of tea (and that’s OK) Stick and Rudder: Trying EVE Online as a new player in 2021 WoW Factor: Why does this latest Blizzard scandal feel so different? Massively on the Go: The Witcher Monster Slayer shows why Pokemon Go is still the best The Daily Grind: Rename your favorite MMO, only worse Massively Overthinking: Has Blizzard’s sexism lawsuit changed your gaming plans? Massively on the Go: Pokemon Unite is genuinely fun – for new and casual MOBA players LOTRO Legendarium: 10 features that would make LOTRO even more fun