Columns

Enjoy a run-down of our recent long-form pieces, both game-specific and more general. You might also be interested in our list of all of our columns and recurring articles. [Follow this category’s RSS feed]

EVE Evolved: What injecting chaos means for EVE Online

7
The past few weeks have been pretty transformative for EVE Online, with the global communications blackout across null-security space revitalising roaming gang PvP in...

Jukebox Heroes: The best of LOTRO’s Vales of Anduin score

0
With a reduced budget and a smaller team, Lord of the Rings Online can't afford to throw gobs of money at composers and orchestras...
It's a boss, and it is deadly.

The Daily Grind: How much does personal performance matter to you in an MMO?

42
As I've stated on many occasions, I have no interest in progression content in MMOs. I know from plenty of experience doing it that...
Ah, no.

LOTRO Legendarium: A timeline of Lord of the Rings Online from 1994 to 2019

2
When I wrapped up writing my previous LOTRO column on the game's first year of live operation, I felt that I had left this...
Neat!

Betawatch: Astellia has giveaways, features, and loyalty for its second beta

5
Gosh, Astellia is going hard on its beta testing, isn't it? Like, almost to a surprising degree. Sure, you sort of expect an overview...
Surprised? Really?

WoW Factor: Content rollouts and relevance in WoW Classic and live

41
Part of me was tempted to write this column chiefly about the rather baffling idea that Blizzard was surprised by the number of people...

Massively Overthinking: Thoughts and predictions on Guild Wars 2’s next big thing

15
Last week, Guild Wars 2 put an end to the whining about info droughts by promising a big reveal of living story season 5...
My God, it's full of nonsense.

Vague Patch Notes: Just stop pre-ordering video games

34
Look, you've probably heard this before, but it bears repeating now: Don't pre-order that game. Pre-ordering games is a bad idea. And this week,...
So many colors in the rainbow.

Perfect Ten: Why people create alts in MMOs

34
I have alts in Final Fantasy XIV. This is absurd for two reasons. First, the statement makes it clear that I have alternate characters...

The Survivalist Soapbox: Astroneer’s moon landing update is a time-limited online event done right

11
I could definitely write a Why I Play on Astroneer (and maybe I still will!) because there are so many reasons this game just...

Choose My Adventure: Help, the Going Rogue story of City of Heroes has a hold of me

2
The thing about being a superhero that almost nobody tells you is that there are personal stories involved. Sure, the big picture is what...

Fight or Kite: Exploring Crowfall’s banking, newbie, and God’s Reach update

12
This past week Crowfall patched in update 5.100 (that’s right - we’ve gone from 5.9 to 5.100, as one does), which wiped existing characters...
Toss me a cure, will you?

Wisdom of Nym: Story beats that I’d like to see explored in Final Fantasy XIV

11
There's a wide-open space for storytelling in Final Fantasy XIV with the conclusion of the 5.0 MSQ, a lot of different ways that the...

Tamriel Infinium: Everything we learned from Quakecon 2019’s Elder Scrolls Online panel

7
On Saturday, president of ZeniMax Online Studios Matt Firor and creative director of The Elder Scrolls Online Rich Lambert took the stage at Quakecon...
Here we go again.

Global Chat: Ranking World of Warcraft’s expansions

40
Have you ever tried your hand at ranking all of World of Warcraft's expansions from worst to best? Sure you have, because everyone's done...

One Shots: Dark beauties

32
I think that there's a lot of dark beauty to be found in MMORPGs, but hey, when I ask the One Shots community to...
Everyone remembers where we parked, right?

The Daily Grind: What would (or did) convince you to try an imported free-to-play MMO?

42
There's an interesting cycle with a lot of free-to-play imports which I dubbed "temports" many moons ago. Players stay away because they're sure that...

LOTRO Legendarium: The first year of LOTRO’s operation

13
It was April 24th, 2007. World of Warcraft players were deep into The Burning Crusade, SOE had just launched Vanguard, and the indie MMO...
Yes, this is ready.

Betawatch: Legends of Aria prepares for launch on August 6

5
It's finally happening. Legends of Aria is arriving in an actual launch state on August 6th, complete with a big patch to make it...

Lawful Neutral: Mr. Krabs’ Wacky Bucks and currency in online games

13
I used to watch Spongebob religiously. I loved the days when I could put on Nickelodeon and have Spongebob on for hours. One of...

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