This week in our tour through MMO blog posts, we’re going to witness a lot of evaluations of recent update and expansion launches that have been gracing our corner of the world.
So let’s begin with a look at RIFT: Starfall Prophecy, shall we? “This expansion is gorgeous,” ECTmmo.com gushes. “I have to say logging in and heading to the new outpost in Starfall Prophecy was enchanting. The sky is full of stars, the whole place had that mysterious and cool vibe I have only seen in Guild War 2’s Rata Sum, which is one of my all time favorite MMO cities in any game. Starting off it gave a sense of wonder and excitement of what is yet to come.”
Tales of the Aggronaut has a lot of complimentary things to share as well: “I have to say this expansion is charming as hell so far, namely because of the two companions that follow you around at times… but also because it is a great example of environmental storytelling.”
Ravalation:Â LOTRO Update 19 review: Minas Tirith after the battle and North Ithilien
“North Ithilien is also a great place for lore fans. You get to meet the rangers of Ithilien and discover Faramir’s Hideout. Here I’m standing in the waterfall overlooking the Hidden Pool. There is also session play that shows you what happened to Frodo and Sam, and you are able to help out the rangers with various things.”
MMOBro: What The Secret World’s Rider has to teach us about social design
“I think there are a couple of things that made this so much more appealing than, say, a more traditional raid […] The event did somewhat necessitate people willing to take the responsibility of organizing things, but it only took a handful of organizers to keep the event running smoothly for hundreds of people. It was an event with a very low barrier to entry. You didn’t need to apply to a guild or even a group. You just had to pay attention to event chat and participate as needed.”
Inventory Full: A well-crafted introduction to Kunark
“Without giving too many spoilers, the tradeskill and adventure quests fit together like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. As far as I know, if you’re both an adventurer and a crafter, you can do the quest-lines in either order but I’m very glad I did Adventurer first.”
Healing the Masses: Entering the Secret World of Tokyo
“The next section takes us all the way back to the beginning of the game which was a rather nice touch. I really didn’t expect to see that same filth covered subway and to make my own way through and I guess this is why I’m now even more excited to start the Tokyo story. We know where the story ends to a certain extent. Well not an ending, more the beginning of another mystery, hidden by an enigma but still this is unwrapping at least one layer of the TSW onion.”
SparkoMarcoGaming: The EVE Online new player experience
“Now that I’ve got myself a brand new EVE Online alpha clone following the Ascension update, I’m going to go through the new player experience which has been added to the game on Ascension.”
The Ancient Gaming Noob: EverQuest launches Empires of Kunark
“This is a nostalgia play by Daybreak as it returns to setting of one of the most fondly remembered expansions, Ruins of Kunark. It has actually taken them a while to get back to Kunark, given that the first expansion came out back in April of 2000. I think they’ve done pirate themed expansions twice since then.”
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.
