design
The Daily Grind: What MMO has the most user-unfriendly interface?
Here's the stunning secret about Final Fantasy XI's interface: It gets passed off as being horrible because it was designed for a console, but...
WoW Factor: The problem with Garrisons isn’t Garrisons
When World of Warcraft rolls away from the inexplicable inclusion of alternate Draenor for good, it will also mean bidding farewell to the elements...
Final Fantasy XIV posts its third video diary on visual design
Final Fantasy XIV is a very pretty game. Even if you don't play it, you can see that a lot of care has been...
Take a first look at the art and animations of Crowfall’s Ranger
It's no secret that you want your characters to look good. Everyone does; that's why very few games consider it an acceptable compromise to...
Here’s how castles are built in Crowfall
According to the old adage, a man's home is his castle. But you know what's really a castle? An actual castle. And you can...
MMORPG science in 2015
Better not scoff at academic research: From Superdata to in-house economists, from feminist theory to Bartle, and from education applications to NASA mapping, science is...
World of Warcraft outlines the Death Knight changes coming in Legion
The next World of Warcraft expansion is adding the game's second hero class to the lineup, but that doesn't mean the first one has...
Worlds Adrift previews its creature-based ecology
The developers of Worlds Adrift currently have three types of creature in the game. Yes, just three. If that sounds like a rather small...
Star Trek Online enters the final round of ship design votes
So what do you want for your next Federation ship in Star Trek Online? If your answer was something about red and blue nacelles...
Wisdom of Nym: Coordination, aetherial gear, and Final Fantasy XIV’s next patch
How many times a day do you think about aetherial gear in Final Fantasy XIV? If the answer is more than "zero," I'm honestly...
Worlds Adrift shows some real emotion
The developers behind Worlds Adrift want the game to have a lot of customization options, but that doesn't mean much if the characters aren't...
Camelot Unchained newsletter discusses combat philosophy and developer status
The Camelot Unchained test phases had to be delayed, and that means that the latest newsletter for the game is in an odd place,...
EverQuest Next challenges players to design buildings for Halas
One of the cooler parts of the EverQuest Next development process is that it's not happening behind closed doors; players have already had the...
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s expansion endgame, three weeks in
As of this writing, I haven't yet cleared Alexander. I've had other things to do, and while it might mean I'm ultimately one week...
How Neverwinter designs the critters that wreck you
Neverwinter has an advantage in terms of enemy design, since years of Dungeons & Dragons have given it huge amounts of material to work...
Skyforge will finalize open beta after this week’s test
Skyforge has entered its final beta test, which means that open beta and soft launch is just around the corner. If you've been watching...
WoW Factor: What the flight changes portend for WoW’s future
Did anyone else get flashbacks to the Xbox One launch with World of Warcraft's flying announcement? I pictured a lot of arm-folding and sulking...
Das Tal demos skill-based combat and posts Kickstarter FAQ
What does skill-based combat mean to you? We can't tell you that, but we can tell you what it means to the makers of...
Heroes of the Storm devs talk Kael’Thas and character design
Wondering how Blizzard's developers choose from the studio's incredible roster of characters and then crafted those selections into Heroes of the Storm's champions? Then...
How Star Trek Online constructs its new pilot ships
The newest ships in Star Trek Online are all based around making players feel like that piloting specialization was a good expenditure of time...
