1) Has any game in MMO history redesigned more core systems then WAR? Amazing to think what could have been added these last two years if Mythic could stop ‘fixing’ things every patch. 2) Adding a third, PLAYABLE faction would actually fix much of what troubles WAR. Good thing Mythic is strongly against actually doing [...]

As previously mentioned I picked up Tropico 3 for $6 thanks to the current Direct2Drive sale, and I’m very glad I did. The game is a very lighthearted and comical take on the SimCity genre, and made for a great second game to League of Legends over the long weekend. I’ll get the ‘required’ review [...]

The world has officially gone mad, as on a Friday, typically the day for a good blog war, I’m just linking to Tobold to comment on a post (and also because his post above, about blog roll drama, is hilarious). Anyway, the post in question here is about player freedom, or whether a game’s rules [...]

Direct2Drive is having another sale, this time offering various games for $6 to celebrate the site’s sixth anniversary. Now when the cost of entry is $6, it’s kind of hard to argue ‘value’ here. I mean I’ve spend more than that on a single League of Legends skin, so the real question is “would I [...]

League of Legends continues to dominate my gaming time, and my account is now midway through level 25 while Aria is at 15. Her current two favorite champions are Garren and Blitzcrank, while I tend to favor Amumu, Katarina, Poppy, and Master Yi (for 3v3 matches only). There is just nothing quite as satisfying as [...]

My post from yesterday was not as clear as I had hoped (that’s what happens when you rush posts at the end of the day I guess), so here we go for round two. What I wanted to express yesterday was not that any one feature can mark a game for failure (because it can [...]

On the one hand, having a thread asking Riot to ban everyone from Brazil might seem a bit extreme. On the other, when that thread gets 260+ ‘thumbs up’ votes and many of the comments more or less mirror my general experience with such players, maybe there is something behind it? And how is it [...]

It’s funny how we (myself firmly included in this) react when an MMO fails. We always ask why, and break down what went wrong based on that specific title, focusing on key bullet points (haha, good one self). APB is the latest MMO in trouble, and Tobold believes it failed because of ganking, specifically the [...]

I’m starting to get a little worried here. First Tobold starts playing (and enjoying) a hardcore niche MMO, then he agrees that used game buyers are thieving parasites (not his words), and now we find ourselves again on the same side of the latest ‘issue’ in MMO land; the FFXIV xp cap. The hell ice-skating [...]

Sending out the league invites tomorrow, so if you have not yet commented that you are in, do so now or miss out.

Seems quite a few feathers got ruffled yesterday. Funny how quick people jump to defend something when called out, and how far they will go to rationalize their behavior. I’ll restate my main point from yesterday right up front, so you can read the rest of the entry with it firmly in your mind: If [...]

Great post over at Penny Arcade today about used games = stealing (via Tobold) that has really struck a cord with me. As readers here know, one of the things I hate most about this industry is that so many customers reward mediocrity (or worse), reward rehashing (or worse), and then turn right around and [...]

One thing that I love about League of Legends is how rage-inducing it can get. It’s more or less a nightly occurrence on vent that one or more individuals will reach the breaking point after some horrible loss, and a busy night of playing LoL means vent is full of random rage outbursts. Paragus, fearless [...]

While I know it may be very dangerous to mix gaming (nerds) with sports (jocks), here goes: Anyone interested in playing in a Fantasy Football league? I figured since we have a solid group that follows this blog, perhaps we can get a league together and have yet another venue to troll at? I’m thinking [...]

I can’t say I understand the angst OR buzz for the new Neverwinter game. First, it’s not an MMO. Second, it’s being made by Cryptic. Third, little real detail has been revealed and the game is a ways off. Could the concept of an online RPG work? Sure. I mean an online action RPG worked [...]

At what point did “I’m just trolling” replace “I was wrong” in the English language? I mean we have had to deal with a lot of stupid internet fads/memes/whatever before, but is “haha trolled” not the dumbest one yet? Oh you have shown that my five comments above are in fact completely wrong, asinine, and [...]

I totally agree with Lum. Just get it out already and state that WAR40k will: Kill WoW. Will have 20m users. Won’t have a single issue at launch. And then make version 2.0 of the “bears bears bears” video making some even more absurd claim. Bonus Chuck: Not even Chuck Norris could kill the WAR40k [...]

This post by ‘I played WAR before anyone else did’ Richard Bartle (via KTR) brings up some interesting points, with the big take-away for me being that the MMO genre would be a lot cooler right now if Ultima Online had been more popular than EverQuest way back in the day. SOE: ruining the genre [...]

I came across a rather shocking thread on the League of Legends board a few days ago, one where the author was arguing that LoL is not really ‘free’ to play, because in order to play at the highest level you have to have access to dozens of heroes, and the only way to have [...]

TAGN is wondering about the aftermath of the Blizzard vs Private server issue, and while he covers some interesting points, I think he (and as far as I’ve seen, everyone else) is missing a major, major bit of info here: some random person running a WoW server with an item shop made 3 million dollars. [...]

In my glorious return to podcasts, I was a guest on MMOSmackTalk with Ryan. He grilled me about my visit to Aventurine, along with some more general discussion about the game and certain features. What was planned as a 15 minute interview went a LITTLE bit longer, but hopefully everyone enjoys it. Head on over [...]

I found this entertaining enough to make an entire post about it (saw it on the LoL boards). “Your Mom is like a free to play game. You can unlock her with effort, but it’s a lot quicker just to pay $5.” Chuck approves the above insult.

I always get a chuckle when people misuse the “80% of EVE pilots never leave Empire” stat from CCP as some sort of indicator that even the majority of EVE players don’t like PvP. As anyone who has actually played EVE knows, not only does PvP happen in Empire (be it FW, Corp vs Corp, [...]

Which list is longer: The differences between LotRO, WAR, and Aion, or the similarities between UO, EQ1, and AC1? It’s a rhetorical question of course, but highlights a point I was getting at yesterday, and relates to a post over at Don’t Fear the Mutant that I commented on. How is it that the first [...]

Anyone else seeing the irony of SOE making their next EQ game a WoW clone? My my how quickly things change, and am I the only one thinking SOE is going to find a new and creative way to screw this one up as well? But warm SOE thoughts aside, the EQ franchise going in [...]