evergreen
Storyboard: Making fights matter in MMOs (and in roleplay)
You know what's fascinating about the original Guild Wars release, later redubbed as Guild Wars: Prophecies? The Prince Rurik fight works.
Yes, these are spoilers for a...
LOTRO Legendarium: Are LOTRO’s new PvP servers a good idea?
If you haven't been tracking this, you should be aware that Lord of the Rings Online has been running the new "Tournament of the...
Perfect Ten: An entirely accurate and unassailable history of pet classes in MMORPGs
Pet classes! They're a very important part of MMORPGs, the opportunity to not just go into combat alone but to march in alongside a...
Desert Oasis: Rethinking the Black Desert grindspot debate
Almost a year ago, I penned a column on grindspot etiquette in MMORPGs. Specifically, I wrote about the commonly accepted etiquette when it comes...
Perfect Ten: Unconventional MMORPG magic classes
Earth. Fire. Air. Water. These elements are all well and good if you want to summon Captain Planet for some reason, but they make...
The Game Archaeologist: McDonalds’ McWorld MMO is a thing that existed
If you thought that it was strange for MTV to create its own virtual world, then you probably are forgetting how desperate companies always...
Vague Patch Notes: The endless allure of the games we never got
It's kind of weird for me to see the intensely positive reaction people have had to the concept art for the original version of Diablo...
Perfect Ten: World of Warcraft’s multicolored troll rainbow
Trolls have been a part of World of Warcraft since it launched. No, I'm not talking about the jerks who make playing the game far...
LOTRO Legendarium: What I want from Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO
While my primary interest and focus in this column continues to be Lord of the Rings Online, I'm not so stubborn as to refuse...
WoW Factor: Why I genuinely miss World of Warcraft’s old janky Retribution Paladin
So now we've gone through all of the ability unpruning and changing coming with World of Warcraft's next expansion. We know what it's going...
Massively Overthinking: Do MMOs need ‘adult’ character customization?
A Random MMO Fan recently wrote to us with a fun topic, linking to an article about Cyberpunk 2077's ESRB rating, which is apparently...
Desert Oasis: Exploring Black Desert’s guild system, from contracts to drama
Guilds: one of the quintessential social features of an MMO. Along with grinding, crafting, and partying up, guilds are just one of those things...
Vague Patch Notes: Player vs. class in Final Fantasy XI
I had finally hit level 41 on Red Mage in Final Fantasy XI. That was when the world changed, and if you played the game,...
Working as Intended: The big list of City of Heroes rogue servers, 2020 edition
It's been a weird and wonderful year for City of Heroes fans. In April of 2019, the expose of a secret City of Heroes...
Perfect Ten: Actually useful World of Warcraft toys
Pretty much since its inception, World of Warcraft has made a point to include just-for-fun items that were more about personal expression and enjoyment....
WoW Factor: World of Warcraft’s class and race restrictions have never made any sense
There are some things that exist in games because they make sense in-universe, and there are some things that exist solely as a game...
Not So Massively: Kind Words is one of the most intense games I’ve ever played
In these trying times, I think we're all dealing with a certain degree of anxiety and loneliness. For some of us, feeling worried and...
The Game Archaeologist: The rise and fall of Landmark and EverQuest Next
The year was 2013. Sony Online Entertainment was still a functioning and seemingly robust MMORPG studio, and its yearly SOE Live convention was a...
Massively Overthinking: The oldest MMORPGs we still play
When I was still a teenager in my earliest MMOs, the trend in the communities I ran in was to play MMOs sequentially, due...
Working as Intended: Sparking joy in MMOs
On this week's podcast, I mentioned that I'd just finished off Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, something that superficially seems unrelated...
