game mechanics
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...
WoW Factor: A three million loss lesson
It's been a little while, hasn't it, friends? In the time since I last penned WoW Factor (which missed an installment purely due to...
Neverwinter outlines new and upcoming changes
When lead designer Scott Shicoff took point on Neverwinter, his first dispatch to the community was a statement that he and the rest of...
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...
Final Fantasy XIV nerfs the Steps of Faith in 2.57 patch
Are you stuck on the last part of Final Fantasy XIV's main scenario quest? The last trial introduced, Steps of Faith, is a pretty...
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s cross-class actions
This past week, I did what I needed to do before Final Fantasy XIV's expansion Heavensward launches: I finished the main scenario questline on...
Scope out the Guild Wars 2 Dragonhunter summary
You can't play a Dragonhunter Guardian in Guild Wars 2 right now no matter how much you might want to be wielding a bow...
MMO Mechanics: Three favourite action combat systems
Virtually every MMO contains dangerous places that are filled with other players or NPCs that will attack characters on site, and many also feature...
Trove previews the upcoming Boomeranger class
Another big patch is coming to Trove in the near future, and it's bringing along a new class. The class feels... familiar, somehow. We...
Guild Wars 2 unveils the Guardian elite spec: Dragonhunter
Here we are in the wilds of Guild Wars 2 once again, and you can see we've got a big old dragon right there....
ArcheAge outlines the battles in the Sea of Graves
So what sort of nautical nonsense can you get up to in the most recent ArcheAge update? How about beating back a leviathan of...
Everything you need to know about Crowfall’s combat testing
As nifty as Crowfall's mechanical goals are, they're not going to help the game much in the long run if the fundamental combat engine...
Wisdom of Nym: Benchmarks and lore for Final Fantasy XIV
Maybe it's just me, but with the steady drip of information that we've gotten about Final Fantasy XIV's first expansion, I find myself sometimes...
Pathfinder Online details the future of settlements
The War of Towers in Pathfinder Online was always a placeholder mechanic, something to hold players over before the full Settlement system was in...
WildStar outlines its PvP seasons as the first season ends
The next major patch for WildStar is bringing the end of a season of PvP. Did you know you were taking part in the...
A guide to building and using your kingdom in Crowfall
Crowfall's individual campaign worlds are intended to be reset over time. That's by design; each world will flourish, then wither, then die. But the...
City of Titans demos its first costume and combat prototypes
It's been a little quiet on the City of Titans development front for a while, but when you see the game's most recent video, you'll understand...
Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns’ first elite spec is the Chronomancer
Let's talk history for a moment. Before Guild Wars 2 was a thing, before it was even an idea, the team at ArenaNet was working...
Bungie reveals the Reef and more for Destiny’s House of Wolves
House of Wolves is the next big update for Destiny, and the team at Bungie is ready to start revealing what it's all about....
Neverwinter’s new lead designer takes a ‘hard look’ at Elemental Evil
Neverwinter's Elemental Evil update had some issues that extend beyond some ill-distributed reward codes. A letter to the community from new lead designer Scott...
