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!
The Soapbox: Comparing the monetization of physical and digital card games
Earlier this week, we reported on the recent Blizzard survey about a possible Hearthstone sub. When I read the news, I almost choked on...
Desert Oasis: Black Desert’s Jaehee Kim and Jesse Joo on accessibility, community, and playing their own game
Attending the first Calpheon Ball in the US was an awesome experience. Getting to see fellow Black Desert fans, watching the joy in peoples' faces...
Desert Oasis: The Woosa, the Maegu, and new lands – the highlights from Black Desert’s 2022 Calpheon Ball
Black Desert had a pretty quiet 2022. It might be a good thing considering how much bad press some of its peers have been...
Four Winds: Lost Ark and the refinement of MMO item enhance systems
In the last edition of Four Winds, I promised I'd cover how three MMOs utilized item enhance systems to facilitate progression, and then I...
Four Winds: The refinement of item enhance systems in MMOs, from Granado Espada to Black Desert
Itemization is a foundational system in many modern MMOs. After players reach the level cap, item levels largely drive the measurable progression of a...
Four Winds: What made Lost Ark so successful where Elyon failed?
I'm sad about it, but I have to eat my words about Elyon and its place in this decade's pantheon of MMOs. I honestly...
Black Desert Online new 3v3 PvP mode Arena of Solare releases today along with its inaugural season
Did you know Pearl Abyss founder Kim Dae-il took inspiration from fighting games when he and his team developed Black Desert's MMO combat system?...
Why I Play: Returning to Diablo III in 2022
I don't know if there's a marketing term for this phenomenon, but Diablo Immortal did an excellent job selling Diablo III.
Popular streamers all caught...
Blizzard concludes Diablo III season 27 testing, gives season 26 end date
Diablo III picked up quite a bit of momentum this year with the release of Diablo Immortal's totally un-bodacious monetization: Its gameplay aged better...
Lost Ark’s powerpass is still inexplicably disabled after 10 days offline
If you're a fan of paid boosts in MMOs, then you'll be disappointed to know that the system is currently disabled in Lost Ark...
Perfect Ten: 10 things you can spend money on instead of Diablo Immortal
So how about that Diablo Immortal eh? Sure is a lot of "weeping and gnashing of teeth" surrounding its release, huh? But hey, it's for a...
The Soapbox: Are modern games more disposable than ever?
Atlas Rogues went out not with a bang but a whimper. I forgot it even existed. And after it closes July 5th, it's gone....
MMO Burnout: Miss Heroes of Might and Magic? Try Songs of Conquest
If I were president of video games™, I'd make sure every computer has a copy of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 installed in it. And...
Four Winds: Remembering TERA’s wild start and in-game politics
Well, the TERA sunset thing caught me off guard. I don't play TERA, but I was always under the impression that the game was...
Desert Oasis: Black Desert Mobile has a little something for every playstyle
It's amazing how fast two years flies by. It didn't seem that long ago that I was doing my first impressions piece of Black...
Desert Oasis: ‘Jumping’ into Black Desert’s new Drakania class
Everything gets better when a dragon knight is involved as far as I'm concerned. Kain Highwind made Final Fantasy IV the single best Final...
Desert Oasis: Hands-on with Black Desert’s Eternal Winter expansion, launching April 6
I needed to take a sabbatical. Not just from Black Desert, but the whole genre. The pandemic gave me a lot of computer time, and...
Desert Oasis: Unearthing the origin story of Black Desert studio Pearl Abyss
On our side of the pond, the exploits of various popular video game companies and their founding are well documented. But when it comes...
Riot Games on video game anti-cheat measures: ‘It’s a continual arms race’
Remember last year when folks lost their minds over Valorant's kernel-level anti-cheat? Well, it's here to stay, and moving forward it might be a...
Blizzard pins Diablo II Resurrected’s server issues partly on 2001 netcode from the classic game
While Diablo and brothers never really had much trouble returning to Sanctuary over and over again, the heroes who seek to slay them (over...
