vanilla
The Soapbox: Powercreep in MMOs sucks – so how do we solve it?
We all love multiplayer, persistent world online games, don’t we? Players stay for the familiarity, nostalgia, and potential for years of enjoyment. Studios love...
WoW Classic trumpets the start of the Ahn’Qiraj war effort
It may be strange to consider, but the 2020 opening of Ahn'Qiraj in WoW Classic may actually be a bigger deal than it was...
Desert Oasis: How should Black Desert handle class balance?
Last week, I wrote about how the recent tamer changes in Black Desert resulted in a write-in campaign. Ever since then, I've had game...
The Game Archaeologist: When World of Warcraft opened Ahn’Qiraj’s gates
This past month, Blizzard has been testing what might well be the milestone moment for World of Warcraft Classic: The Ahn'Qiraj gates event. In...
See where you fall in the obscure World of Warcraft iceberg of knowledge
Oh, you know about obscure World of Warcraft things? That's great. But do you really know about it? Sure, you might think you know lots of...
World of Warcraft’s Ion Hazzikostas suggests MMO social bonds are formed over ‘friction’
The debate over whether World of Warcraft was more social "back in the day" than now has some more fuel for the fire. In...
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...
Choose My Adventure: Seriously, the Roblox community is pretty impressive
Over the course of my time in Roblox for this round of Choose My Adventure, I've come to appreciate the value of community creativity....
Flameseeker Chronicles: Reviewing ArenaNet’s Complete Art of Guild Wars 20th anniversary edition book
Talk long enough to Guild Wars fans about their favorite franchise, and chances are that sooner or later, they will start gushing about the...
The Daily Grind: Are you on board for Burning Crusade Classic?
It seems all but one official announcement short of certainty that Blizzard is going to be rolling out a Burning Crusade Classic server for...
Blizzard sends out a Burning Crusade Classic survey, says farewell to Diablo III’s community manager
It's time to throw a whole armful of kindling onto the smoldering fire that is rumors of a WoW Classic Burning Crusade server. Wowhead...
Interview: Saga of Lucimia on themepark design, SWG inspiration, and the MMO genre
Last week, we ran an interview with Stormhaven Studios' Tim Anderson, the boss behind upcoming MMORPG Saga of Lucimia. That interview was focused on...
The Daily Grind: Do old MMOs perform so much better now than at launch that they’re actually easier?
MMO blogger Wilhelm of The Ancient Gaming Noob fame recently posed us a question about old vs. new MMOs. "Our WoW Classic group has been...
Was J. Allen Brack right about fans not wanting WoW Classic?
It was back in 2013 that now-Blizzard President J. Allen Brack issued his infamously condescending line of "You think you do, but you don't"...
WoW Factor: The World of Warcraft expansion tour – The Burning Crusade
So it seems pretty likely at this point that we are going to keep going through the various World of Warcraft expansions with Classic servers...
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...
Global Chat: Do you binge-play MMOs?
With TV streaming services that dump entire seasons of shows on us at once, we have become a society that is used to binging...
Nexon exec Jon Jelinek reminisces about WildStar and World of Warcraft
Previous web designer on World of Warcraft and executive producer on WildStar (and now Nexon OC general manager) Jon Jelinek recently sat down for...
YouTuber examines why vanilla World of Warcraft dungeons were so long
For the old and grizzled World of Warcraft vets, dungeon delves were a longer process than they are nowadays. Why was that, exactly? A...
WoW Factor: Where WoW Vanilla’s and WoW Classic’s communities diverge
I want to talk about the community in WoW Classic because I think it's interesting and it's been on my mind ever since the story we...
