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]

Sparky!

Into the Super-Verse: Rediscoveries I made diving headlong into City of Heroes Homecoming

44
Last week, I wrote about how my game came back. It was a big deal to me to know that City of Heroes was...
It ain't 2001 any more.

The Daily Grind: Do you take a break from an MMO before an expansion?

17
There is always a period for any MMO between an upcoming expansion (or major update, in some cases) and the last major update where...
Forever and ever.

End-of-Year Eleven: The MMOs with the most uncertain futures in 2024

55
As I say every single year and several people ignore every single year: This is not a column about the games that are most...

Casually Classic: 12 quality-of-life improvements coming with Cataclysm Classic

10
I'm in a very strange place in relation to the upcoming Cataclysm Classic. I kind of didn't want this expansion to happen at all for...

Choose My Adventure: Villagers and Heroes starts to click and become routine at the same time

2
Now I should point out before we begin that a game becoming routine isn't really a bad thing - I'd argue that it's precisely...

The Daily Grind: Which game, studio, or idea was the biggest contributor to killing the MMORPG genre in 2023?

27
When we first started running this annual Daily Grind, MMO players were most likely to point to the likes of Blizzard and Tencent. Then...

The Soapbox: Hearthstone is probably in for another boring year in 2024

1
I recently got a survey in my email on Hearthstone and its future. The last time a Hearthstone survey got sent out, the idea...
Trans rights city.

Wisdom of Nym: The highs and lows of Final Fantasy XIV’s 2024 Tokyo fan festival

20
There's a certain dramatic irony in the idea that as the Tokyo fan festival started winding up the Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail hype, the...

The Daily Grind: What’s the most expensive MMO to play at the start of 2024?

15
I realize that "expensive" is a subjective term, but that's what Daily Grinds are all about, right? If a game is charging $100 for...

One Shots: A beacon for a new year

16
Welcome to 2024 everyone! Please put your carry-ons safely underneath your seats, secure your kobold companions, and don't hesitate to light a big ball...
Tales of loss, and fire, and faith.

The Daily Grind: What is your favorite piece of MMO memorabilia?

13
Square-Enix always offers some swag to media when we do our preview tour of the next Final Fantasy XIV expansion, but the Endwalker one...

Global Chat: What’s the best Wrath of the Lich King zone?

8
With Wrath Classic starting to wrap up, The Ancient Gaming Noob figured that this was the perfect time to rank the famous expansion's zones....

The Game Archaeologist: The Sims Bustin’ Out, the online Sims game nobody remembers

1
Many gamers who complete that Venn diagram of being fans of both MMOs and The Sims no doubt will be familiar with the tragically...
great

Betawatch: The Quinfall wants you to pay money for its beta

2
The Quinfall - so named to apparently distinguish itself from the other, lesser quinfalls - made news during a slow beta cycle by deciding...

Not So Massively: It’s okay that Redfall is just okay

10
I rarely let myself get too hyped for unreleased games, but I was keeping one eye on the vampire-hunting online FPS Redfall. When it...
Shields

Into the Super-Verse: Reflecting on City of Heroes, back officially at long last

16
As a dedicated fan of superheroes, I have to be honest that yesterday's news feels downright poetic. City of Heroes died in November of...
Moisturized.

The Daily Grind: Now that NCsoft has licensed City of Heroes servers, will you go back to play?

41
When the City of Heroes rogue servers first went public back in 2019, a lot of MMO players were very vocal about not wanting...

Massively Overthinking: Hopes and fears for MMOs in 2024

10
For our first Massively Overthinking of the year, we're drawing a hard line between what we think will happen, what we mean to make...
are you saying i'm not special

Casually Classic: Analyzing WoW Classic’s 2024 roadmap

9
With another year debuting this week, Blizzard was more on the ball than some MMO studios by already publishing its roadmap for 2024. Two...
The look.

Vague Patch Notes: MMOs are still just games you rent

8
When I was a teenager, I accidentally stole a few games from a video rental place. You might wonder how you accidentally steal something,...