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Vague Patch Notes: How to read games industry investor reports as a player
The old adage goes that diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggy" until you can find a rock. By extension, marketing is the...
The Daily Grind: Do survival sandboxes and/or battle royale games have a future?
We saw the end of REND. I'm sad about that. I liked REND, I thought it had neat ideas, but it had a problem wherein it...
Desert Oasis: Finding the plot in Black Desert’s story
In our preview of Black Desert's new Guardian class, one of the more surprising conversations to come out of the comments was the opinion...
Perfect Ten: MMOs I’m optimistic about in 2020
I didn't actually plan to make this an annual feature or anything; I thought of it last year as a fun list, and then...
The Daily Grind: Which MMO puts on the best Valentine’s Day?
Valentine's Day tends to be one of the stranger holidays for MMO developers to try to shoehorn into their game worlds. It can be...
Choose My Adventure: Nearing a point of Lahn mastery in Black Desert
In the last Choose My Adventure column, I mentioned how the Lahn in Black Desert felt an awful lot like a fighting game character...
The Daily Grind: What’s the best MMORPG endgame for people who like to PUG?
A few months ago on Reddit, a player popped up with a neat question about MMO endgames. Essentially, Redditor TooEarlyForMe wanted to participate in...
Wisdom of Nym: Our last preview of Final Fantasy XIV patch 5.2
For a lot of people, patch 5.1 felt sort of like a breather. Obviously, it had a bunch of new stuff in it, but...
Fight or Kite: Examining the state of Guild Wars 2 PvP ahead of the big balance patch
About two weeks ago, ArenaNet dropped one of the largest - maybe the largest - balance patch previews for Guild Wars 2 to date....
The Daily Grind: Is there a thing you secretly love in an MMO you hate?
Let's give credit where credit is due: Just because we dislike a game doesn't mean we dislike every last thing in it. Most of...
Jukebox Heroes: Elder Scrolls Online’s Elsweyr soundtrack and music boxes
While I wasn't that impressed with Elder Scrolls Online's launch soundtrack, the scores for both Morrowind and Summerset did much to win me over....
The Daily Grind: Do you enjoy speculating about the future of your favorite MMOs?
It blows my mind just a little bit when it runs out people really dislike speculating about games, but I also sort of get it....
The Game Archaeologist: The legacy of Guild Wars
Last week on The Game Archaeologist, we examined the exciting beginnings of Guild Wars, thanks to a trio of ex-Blizzard developers who wanted to...
The Daily Grind: What’s your favorite sci-fi MMO?
Generally, but not always, I like to have a science fiction (or science fantasy, if we're being pedantic) MMORPG in my gaming rotation for...
WoW Factor: So why did people love WoW’s Wrath of the Lich King so damn much?
Sometimes, when I write something and note it would require an additional column, it is a preview of coming attractions and something I actually...
Vague Patch Notes: If people aren’t raiding in an MMO, it’s not because it’s too hard
The start of the year, at least from my perspective, was dominated by Blizzard doing lots of dumb things. So it's kind of nice,...
The Daily Grind: Which MMO is just far too slow to be playable?
When you first start playing Final Fantasy XI, you are given a short cutscene and then... nothing. You are standing in a city and left...
Perfect Ten: When celebs crossed paths with MMOs
Even as the world continues to turn to and normalize gaming as a respectable hobby, there's still a lingering stigma of playing online titles...
The Daily Grind: Which MMOs deserve fresh spiritual successors?
A lot of time whenever the subject of MMORPG sequels arise, the thought is for the same studio to make a proper successor with...
Choose My Adventure: Falling in love with the Lahn in Black Desert
As much as I was hoping for some time with the Guardian that I pre-made ahead of the class’ arrival, the Choose My Adventure...