WoW Factor: Examining Shadowlands’ Shaman, Monk, and Druid ability changes
So, here's something you might find funny: My greatest struggle with this particular ongoing World of Warcraft column was deciding the best possible order...
Vague Patch Notes: Maintaining MMO anonymity in the age of parasocial bonding
In an author's note at the end of the novel The Dark Tower, Stephen King writes frankly that some people will not like how...
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV patch 5.25 and the new weapons of choice
I have to admit, part of my reaction to patch 5.25 was simple relief that finally, finally, I had something to spend Poetics on...
The Daily Grind: Which MMOs do a great job *and* a terrible job of communicating with players?
On the one hand, the staff running the Phantasy Star Online 2 community right now are doing everything right. Responses on social media are...
Betawatch: WoW’s Shadowlands hits alpha, Virtuverse moves to public testing
Yes, after all the waiting, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands was announced to be going into alpha testing and then finally did so. If you...
WoW Factor: The World of Warcraft expansion tour in review
All right. I've now been on this expansion tour for... well, seven weeks, but it feels like years. Partly because it meant covering a...
WoW Factor: A quick first impression of Shadowlands class changes
Every so often, we wind up in a lull of information or exhaustion with World of Warcraft that leads readers to speculating in the...
The Daily Grind: What’s the most coveted MMO alpha or beta you’ve ever gotten into?
At the time I write this, we do not yet know who will get into the first test phase for World of Warcraft's upcoming...
Perfect Ten: How World of Warcraft is like professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is not my thing. I say that with absolutely no ill will or judgment; much like the Lord of the Rings, the...
Our interview with Final Fantasy XIV’s Naoki Yoshida and Yusuke Mogi
Health concerns kept the staff from Final Fantasy XIV away from this year's PAX East in Boston back at the end of February. This...
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s schedule in the wake of pandemic
We have an official statement from Square-Enix now. We have a whole lot of panicky Final Fantasy XIV players who want to believe that...
The Daily Grind: Are you re-exploring old MMO content during isolation?
These days, a lot of people are sitting at home without necessarily much to do. We are many of us content locusts now, swarming...
Betawatch: Ascent Infinite Realm rebranded to Elyon during beta
Rebranding is one of those things that always feels like a bigger deal than it might be but also easy to under-sell by accident....
WoW Factor: The World of Warcraft expansion tour – Battle for Azeroth
Oh no.
I'd ask how this happened, but I know how it happened. It happened because I am a gigantic idiot. This expansion tour seemed...
Vague Patch Notes: Chronicles of Elyria’s road to nowhere
I honestly cannot stop thinking about Chronicles of Elyria. Not in the sense of surprise, mind you; this was pretty much one of the...
The Daily Grind: What’s your favorite place to just hang out in an MMO?
Either we all wind up with time spent in MMOs wherein you're just hanging out or I am singularly bad at managing my time,...
The Daily Grind: What old inventory items in MMOs do you keep around even though they’re dead weight?
I should really get rid of my beast tribe currency from Final Fantasy XIV version 1.0, but part of me still holds on to...
Betawatch: Shadow Arena announces its final beta in April
Is there any arena more shadow-filled than Shadow Arena? It might need to change its name if there were, but you can evaluate for...
WoW Factor: The World of Warcraft expansion tour – Legion
Ah, good. This one is more fun than last week. As much as the latter half of World of Warcraft expansions heads into more...
Perfect Ten: The stages of the MMO life cycle
To this day, no one has a quote as useful on the subject of life and death as E. B. White: "We're born, we...
