Liores

What happens when an MMO you enjoy makes decisions that go against your preferred playstyle? Do you rant and rave, or accept the new direction for what it is? We look at how one disappointed blogger processed news about raiding in Guild Wars 2.

The original launch version of Dragon Age: Inquisition had much of what fans of the franchise were looking for. There were the open zones and the interesting and chatty group of companions. Inquisition had huge plot-shaking fights with evil dragons, and small sweet moments with friends around the card table. There was one area, though, where the game fell short: Dwarves. Uh, no pun intended.

WildStar seemed to quickly fall out of favour after its launch last year, but suddenly the game is once again a hot topic for MMO bloggers. Are there second acts in the lifecycle of an MMO?

There are some weeks when I sit down to write this column and it takes me a while to find four or five really great links to share with you all. I have a number of considerations when selecting blogs to highlight, including making sure I don’t repeat the same sites too often and finding posts about “current” issues for MMO and RPG fans. Occasionally finding the perfect links can take longer than actually writing the column!

John Smedley, outspoken former CEO of Daybreak Games, stepped down this week. Although Smedley hasn’t officially stated the reason behind the change, the popular theory is that it has something to do with his on-going conflict with hacker group Lizard Squad. Lizard Squad is thought to be responsible for not only DDoS attacks on Daybreak’s servers, but also calling in a bomb threat last year on a plane that Smedley was about to board.

E3 is an exciting week for avid gamers for a variety of reasons. But aside from the announcements, reviews, and special events, E3 is exciting for another reason that’s closer to home: it’s a week where the feeling of community between gamers is at its strongest.

The recent debate over flying in Warlords of Draenor has the blogosphere considering an important question: how much of an MMO belongs to the players, and how much should be left in the hands of the developers?

On Wednesday, June 3, RPG fans were treated to their first official look at Fallout 4. There’s no feature list, in-game footage, or release date, but pre-orders are already open. Is pre-ordering now really a good idea?

The way we pay for games is the hot topic yet again in the blogosphere. Is “pay to win” a bad thing for MMOs, or should we just accept it as the future of the industry?

The Newbie Blogger Initiative has been continuing through the month of May. One of the weekly NBI events is called the “Talkback Challenge” and the question for this week is an interesting one: “What made you a gamer?”

One word that comes up over and over again in relation to MMOs is community. But does “community” mean much anymore to modern MMO players and developers?

May just started and it’s already shaping up to be an exciting month for game bloggers! This week we’re looking at posts about the aftermath of Valve’s mod-selling decisions, television executives who make jokes about eSports, and the start of the Newbie Blogger Initiative.

What’s the hot story this week? We’re highlighting posts from the blogosphere about SWTOR operations tuning, Blizzard’s eSports triumphs and WoW token adjustments, and, yes, Steam’s Mod Marketplace.

As any fan knows, part of loving video games is also being disappointed in them every now and then. This week on Tales from the Neighborhood we’re looking at four disappointed blog posts about Neverwinter, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy Record Keeper, and MMO communities in general, along with a couple of very positive posts about RIFT’s new wardrobe system.

Is FFXIV more fun than Warlords of Draenor? Are subreddits a good replacement for official forums? Is there anything for MMO players to watch on Twitch right now? We’ll learn what the blogosphere has to say on the topic of these questions and more!