WoW Factor is Eliot Lefebvre’s column on an MMO you’ve probably never heard of: World of Warcraft. [Follow this column’s RSS feed]
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WoW Factor: The strange diegetics of the Shadowlands
So hey, everyone may be totally immortal right now in World of Warcraft. That seems like a thing we should examine now, huh?
I freely admit...
WoW Factor: The five paths forward for WoW Classic
Throughout its lifespan, WoW Classic has had an interesting relationship with the future. Not just because it is and always was an explicitly back-looking piece...
First Impressions of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, part three: Influences and summation
One of the things that I generally like to avoid doing is comparing World of Warcraft to other MMOs on the market. Even as we've...
First impressions of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, part two: Endgame experience
Once you get to max level in World of Warcraft, the game changes. This should not be a surprise, as it has been the...
First Impressions of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, part one: Story and leveling
In a lot of ways, the problem with talking about World of Warcraft is the same problem when you try to talk about The...
WoW Factor: A wild theory for World of Warcraft’s Shadowlands
I don't have quite as much as I would have expected to say about Shadowlands so close to its launch. Part of that is, of...
WoW Factor: Does Blizzard even know what it wants World of Warcraft to be now?
Let's start by pre-empting someone who feels very clever. Yes, I hear you muttering "profitable" as an answer. That isn't accurate; that's answering what...
Why I Play: Exploring World of Warcraft as a free-to-play game
A few weeks back, the Massively OP staff discussed, among other things, whether World of Warcraft's leveling revamp coupled with its continued endless free...
WoW Factor: Ego, philosophy, and learning the right lessons in MMOs
Picture the scene, if you will. The year is 2006, and I am working in a library with a number of people whom I...
WoW Factor: Shadowlands has a release date… again
I really thought I had written a column when World of Warcraft properly announced the launch date for Shadowlands. Alas, I apparently did not. But I...
WoW Factor: The World of Warcraft leveling experiences ranked, part two
And we're back! Last time, we went through the four lower expansions in terms of ranking World of Warcraft's leveling experiences. This time, we're...
WoW Factor: The World of Warcraft leveling experiences ranked, part one
Now that the pre-patch is here, you can level through any World of Warcraft expansion you'd like in the order your heart desires! But that,...
Taking a look at World of Warcraft’s new starter experience, Exile’s Reach
While we are still in a holding pattern to know the launch date of Shadowlands, the good news is that you don't have to...
WoW Factor: The problem with World of Warcraft’s storytelling
Back a long while ago, when I reviewed the prequel novel for World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, I noted that my general policy has been to...
WoW Factor: Shadowlands’ delay is a genuinely good thing – for everyone
Well, this was a big old shocker for a Thursday night that's going to screw with a bunch of data! Also, it's a majorly...
WoW Factor: The stuff I’m genuinely excited for in World of Warcraft Shadowlands
For the first time in the past three expansions, I am not in the beta for World of Warcraft's next expansion. This is fine. It's...
WoW Factor: No, Shadowlands is probably not going to be terrible
I've noted many times at this point that World of Warcraft does not seem to have done a great job with Shadowlands, at least from what we've...
WoW Factor: Covenants have become a Shadowlands prison of Blizzard’s own making
If there was any remaining question about what stage of the expansion development we were at with World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, this week marked the...
First impressions: Small World of Warcraft is a fun boardgame with a touch of Azerothian flavor
One of the interesting things about this job is that I am pretty regularly presented with a new set of things to review and...
WoW Factor: World of Warcraft has no good excuses for not having housing
We are past 15 years on now, and World of Warcraft still lacks housing. This is, frankly, really dumb. And it comes up a...
