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]

Well, let's give this a shot.

Betawatch: Embers Adrift kicks off its backer beta

2
Want to test out Embers Adrift and see how it holds up after everything the developers have hyped up over the years? You can do...
Unseen.

WoW Factor: Beyond the Spires, a speculative WoW expansion exercise

8
Let's get something weird going here for the last of these speculative exercises. I could keep doing this for a while now, if we're being...

MMO Cartographer: Exploring ‘tiny MMO’ Book of Travels

4
On its website, Might and Delight describes Book of Travels as a "Tiny Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game," but that is an inadequate description of this...

The Daily Grind: What’s your favorite MMO that you’re not playing?

41
The reality of the MMORPG genre is that even when the genre was small, there weren't enough hours in the day to play everything....

Massively Overthinking: Initial thoughts on Guild Wars 2’s End of Dragons

21
We're just a few days into the launch of Guild Wars 2's End of Dragons, one of the highlights of the year and sandwiched...
Lock'd

Vague Patch Notes: So why do MMO developers gender lock?

47
Last week's Vague Patch Notes on MMO lore and its impact on design decisions produced a lot of good comments along with a smattering...
Ooh, it's meat time.

The Daily Grind: Have you ever bought something in an MMO cash shop you regret?

26
Ah, buyer's remorse, how sweet you taste. That moment when you've put down your money, you're examining your purchase, and that thought runs through...

Choose My Adventure: Experiencing Zenith’s Blademaster and the overall sensation of VR MMO gaming

0
So, the Blademaster's way more fun. Rolling a new character in Zenith ended up being a great decision all in all because the Blademaster class...

Flameseeker Chronicles: Spoiler-free first impressions of Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons

26
Remember when "Cantha confirmed" was a Guild Wars 2 meme? I, along with many other players, never thought we'd actually see Cantha in the...
Alas and alack.

Wisdom of Nym: Speculating on Final Fantasy XIV beyond the live letter’s scope

0
Here's something that's important to note about Final Fantasy XIV's Naoki Yoshida: The man tends to say exactly what he means and not a...

Flameseeker Chronicles: What to do first in Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons

3
Happy launch day! Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons is finally here! A big, meaty chunk of content the likes of which we haven't...

Not So Massively: Lost Ark is junk food gaming (in a good way)

18
Having originally played the alpha and the beta, I thought my plan for Lost Ark would be to play other things for the first...

One Shots: So far from the jungle right now

14
Jared the Tiger grew up in the lush jungles of Tyria -- up to the day that he stepped into that trapped and found...
Hea

The Daily Grind: What was the MMO shutdown that hurt you the most?

77
You probably know this if you've been here long enough, but there was a time when I was known as "the City of Heroes guy"...

Global Chat: How is the actual story of SWTOR’s Legacy of the Sith?

0
To kick off this week's parade of MMO essays by bloggers in the virtual trenches, SWTOR site Going Commando gave us an honest review...
One convenient location.

Betawatch: The Wagadu Chronicles enters alpha

2
Look, I'm not going to mince words: I'm pretty psyched about The Wagadu Chronicles and would like to see it do well. There's probably...

From the Depths: Checking up on World of Warships’ community promises

1
Wargaming’s World of Warships had its share of controversies in 2021, some of which led to the resignation of many of its most prolific...
Curb Your Enthusiasm theme plays

WoW Factor: Shards of Azeroth, a speculative WoW expansion exercise

4
Our story this time starts in a fight we don't yet know about, so I freely admit that there is the possibility that this...

LOTRO Legendarium: Exploring LOTRO Update 32’s Angle of Mitheithel

3
Even after a decade-and-a-half of constant expansion, Lord of the Rings Online's Middle-earth has more left to show us than is currently on the...
Long long gun

Vague Patch Notes: Lore is not an excuse for bad MMO design decisions

43
In a previous column, I wrote about how gender-locking classes is bad. This is because it is bad. It is bad in all conceivable...

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