evergreen
Vague Patch Notes: Bro, do you even play your MMO?
So Guild Wars 2 had some problems with the process to unlock its siege turtle mount. As launched, it required players to take part in...
Perfect Ten: Favorite NPCs from my favorite MMOs
In a recent episode of the Massively OP Podcast, we had a terrific question winged our way asking about our personal favorite NPCs from...
LOTRO Legendarium: Why people bounce off Lord of the Rings Online
Any time that you are deeply invested in an MMORPG, it's perhaps one of the most disheartening and frustrating experiences to watch your friends...
Vague Patch Notes: So why do MMO developers gender lock?
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...
Vague Patch Notes: Lore is not an excuse for bad MMO design decisions
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...
Perfect Ten: 10 reasons MMO armor is completely ridiculous
This is probably a rant best saved for another day, but I want to know when it became completely acceptable not to demand that...
Into the Super-Verse: The joy of travel powers in superhero MMOs
I lived for level 14. Before level 14 was torture -- after was bliss.
I speak, of course, of City of Heroes "back in the...
Vague Patch Notes: The metaverse doesn’t exist and isn’t a good idea either
You can't swing your arms at this point without hearing about "the metaverse" in some capacity, which is supposedly the reason why Facebook changed...
The Game Archaeologist: Dark Eyes, a forgotten Japanese MMO from 1999
For a country that was the epicenter of video games (and, in many ways, still is), Japan never quite latched onto the MMORPG genre...
Perfect Ten: What I expect from MMO character cosmetics
There are many reasons to be deeply cynical about the sterile, lifeless morass that appears to be what people like Mark Zuckerberg see as...
Perfect Ten: Ten reasons your MMORPG creates a bad first impression
While MMOs may ask us to experience them for the long haul, first impressions still count. And if those impressions aren't favorable right out...
Perfect Ten: Ten things you need to understand about MMO healers
It's time for yet another column in Perfect Ten wherein we talk about a given player archetype, but this one's going to be a...
The Game Archaeologist: The history of Hi-Rez’s Global Agenda
This past week, former Global Agenda players woke up to a surprising reality: Their game, which went offline in 2018, suddenly was back. Hi-Rez...
Perfect Ten: Genuinely fun MMO minigames
Few people are without opinions on minigames in MMOs. Some love 'em, some hate 'em, and some just ignore 'em. Some even despise that...
Vague Patch Notes: Why play-to-earn is a garbage idea
Good afternoon, readers. Do you remember not so long ago when I talked about the fact that MMOs are perfectly fine as just games...
Tamriel Infinium: A look back at Elder Scrolls Online’s Greymoor
When Skyrim came out in 2011, everyone knew it was going to be big -- but even within the already massive Elder Scrolls fandom,...
Not So Massively: Making the case for Dungeon Siege IV
Dungeon Siege is not the biggest name in ARPG field, but the franchise has always been dear to my heart. It's now been more...
Vague Patch Notes: Star Citizen is not going to live up to your dreams
So the other day, we were reminded that Squadron 42 - which was supposed to be released back in 2014, if you can believe that...
A look back at the MMO and gaming science topics of 2021
It's now become a long-running tradition on Massively OP to track science stories that track with online gaming and MMOs - this is our...
Vague Patch Notes: The MMO term ‘pay-to-win’ is a red herring
It probably hasn't escaped anyone who has been reading my writing over the past several years that I have something of a vendetta against...
