Carlo Lacsina
Teacher by day, Dark Knight by...... night. Huge (maybe even massive) MMO fan. Loves playing Black Desert Online, FFXIV, and GW2! Super social, really chatty, and always happy to talk about MMOs!
Four Winds: The early leveling experience in Amazon’s Throne & Liberty
In the last edition of Four Winds, I covered the opening hours of my journey through Throne and Liberty. Overall, the tutorial island did...
Four Winds: Looking back at the early Throne and Liberty journey from the vantage of endgame
In the last edition of Four Winds, I found myself cautiously enjoying Throne and Liberty. The game had its hooks in me. I found an engaging game...
Four Winds: Throne & Liberty’s opening hours were fun AF, but I’m still on my guard
After what feels like an absolute eternity, Throne and Liberty is finally here. In my younger, less jaded years, I'd feel excited and elated...
Four Winds: Wuthering Waves, Genshin Impact, and the burgeoning gacha gaming industry
In the early days of the pandemic, I spent a lot of time covering the then newly released Genshin Impact. The first piece was...
First Impressions: Corepunk’s MOBA-esque closed alpha was fun – with lots of room to grow
I've got a pretty good poker face, especially when nobody can see my face. So I've been pretty subtle about my excitement for Corepunk...
Desert Oasis: Black Desert has grown so much in its 3333 days of life
Black Desert is celebrating 3333 days of operation today. That's a little over nine years, with plenty more in store. The Scholar class just...
Four Winds: Phantasy Star Online 2 offers some of the best social features in MMORPGs
I don't know about everyone else, but a huge part of MMOs for me is the fashion. My characters need to absolutely slay the runway...
Phantasy Star Online 2’s latest update adds more story and raises the level cap as SEGA America begins layoffs
Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis players are in for a treat today, and they deserve it after waiting through a nine-hour maintenance with...
Four Winds: Catching up with Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis
I believe it was Napoleon Bonaparte that once said "SEGA better release Phantasy Star Online 2 stateside or I'm going to conquer France." Unfortunately,...
The Soapbox: Hearthstone is probably in for another boring year in 2024
I recently got a survey in my email on Hearthstone and its future. The last time a Hearthstone survey got sent out, the idea...
The Soapbox: Will Diablo IV’s Vessel of Hatred be a sufficient answer for Path of Exile 2?
Everyone loves a good enrage timer, right? It puts pressure on everyone involved in a raid or boss fight to pull their weight and...
Not So Massively: Diablo IV’s disastrous 1.1.0 patch – and Blizzard’s mea culpa
Diablo IV's last week has just been the drama gift that keeps on giving, and since Blizzard's latest toy is my favorite game right...
Desert Oasis: Black Desert’s Land of the Morning Light design makes perfect practical and aesthetic sense
In the last edition of Desert Oasis, I barely scratched the surface of Black Desert's Land of the Morning Light expansion. I've still got...
Desert Oasis: First impressions of Black Desert’s Land of the Morning Light
Long-time Black Desert players know about a little town on the northwest corner of the map. It's the city of Port Ratt, and for...
Four Winds: Swords of Legends Online was a wasted opportunity
MMOs are hard to make. But despite the difficulties, we've seen some real gems over the years. They're also difficult to run. But the...
Desert Oasis: Returning home to Black Desert Online
Back in October of 2020, I penned a column about the worst week I’ve ever had in Black Desert. The series of unfortunate events...
Four Winds: The Artist has become my favorite support class in Lost Ark
Here's a thought experiment: How would have Anakin Skywalker turned out if he had grown up on planet covered in paint rather than coarse,...
Why I Play: Diablo III – From Reaper of Souls to today
In the first part of this Why I Play retrospective on Diablo III, I discussed the early issues that accompanied the game's record-setting debut....
Why I Play: Diablo III – From pre-release to Reaper of Souls
It's hard for me to believe that Diablo III's May 15th, 2012, release was over a decade ago. And despite its reputation of being...
The Soapbox: Subscriptions might actually be the next big innovation in digital card games
What started earlier this week as a rant on how bad an idea a subscription model in Hearthstone would be evolved into something more:...
