WoW: Realizing When it’s Time to Quit
Once you progress to 25 person raids -- WoW becomes a virtual job. Many guilds start off as "casual, family style" guilds but soon end up becoming hardcore raiding guilds. …
MMO Developers: Community Should be Your Most Valued Commodity
It was in that moment that I made a value judgement about EverQuest2 as a whole. Instead of using the quality of the game play, the graphics, the quests as …
WoW: Thoughts on PVP, Tribalism and Marshall McLuhan
For a time WoW had both elements of right brain tribalism as it’s main underlying premise for being. Community driven game play was the cohesive element that made WoW really …
WoW: Blizzard’s Epic Arms Race
It's one thing to talk about this problem and hear anecdotal stories from players. It's another thing entirely when you see hard evidence that proves conclusively that Blizzard is literally …
WoW: Heroism For Sale
The bizzare way that Blizzard seems to be giving everything away lately is a real cause for concern. It's like they are dismantling WoW one feature at a time in …
WoW: Could Deathtards Be the Worst MMO Blunder of All Time?
Those that have read my previous article about hero classes in WoW will not be surprised that I'm appalled at this ill-conceived decision. Frankly, in it's current incarnation hero classes …
WoW: Stealth Changes to Naming Policy
Given that we have no server GM’s in WoW, I like to take time out of my busy play schedule to do unpaid volunteer customer service work for Blizzard. As paying …
Is World of Warcraft 2 in the Works?
About a week ago, I started pondering the question: is Blizzard working on WoW 2 yet? Sure enough, Tobold the resident Nostradamus of the MMO world just posted a thought provoking article on that very subject. …
WoW: Impressions of Sunwell Isle
Surely one of the long awaited features of the latest patch from Blizzard has been the introduction of the Sunwell Isle. This area just north of the Blood Elf capital of Silvermoon …
Game Design 101: Prepare Your Players For the Challenges Ahead
This week Tobold penned an excellent article about an impending crisis in WoW: the shortage of skilled players. This was not always the case. Back in 2004 when WoW was …
WoW: The Battle for the Future of Azeroth
Many people who play WoW these days simply ignore the official Blizzard forums. Unfortunately the forums are usually seething with bitterness and hostility. Too often those posters indulge in the “forum” meta game …
WoW: The Problem with Hero Classes
As the release of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft new expansion Wrath of the Lich King looms ever nearer, I’m starting to feel unease at the prospect of a hero class emerging from …
Are MMO’s in Danger of Becoming a Spectator Sport?
Don’t have time to play WoW? Not enough time to raid? Blizzard has never made it easier to feel connected to Azeroth without actually playing. Case in point: in …
Bushnell’s Theorem: Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master
Anyone who’s analyzed the success of Blizzard’s insanely popular World of Warcraft can not help but have heard the mantra: “easy to learn, hard to master”. Their designers have lovingly …
MMO Design Pitfalls
For years I have held the original creators of EverQuest in high esteem. I was always fascinated with the work of Brad McQuaid and Jeff Butler. Long had they been at the helm …
My Thoughts on WoW Two Years Later
Massively multi-player online games all share a problem: there’s a finite amount of content. When a player exhausts all of the quests and adventures in MMO and there is nothing …
Blizzard Slaughters a Sacred Cow
Today Blizzard announced that previously restricted classes such as paladins and shamen would finally be allowed to be played by the opposite faction for the upcoming expansion The Burning Crusade. …
The EverQuest Paradox Revealed
Sometimes the best observations about life are made when one is away from the familiar -- be it people, jobs, hobbies or past-times. A recent autumn drive through the scenic …
A Class Balance Manifesto for Virtual Worlds
After playing traditional fantasy MMORPG's for over 6 years, I have come to believe that a class system is an important foundation for how we classify and organize the players …
Vanguard Forums: The Importance of Immersion
Immersion is very important to me. The suspension of disbelief is critical into buying into a virtual world. I’m a big fan of details, polish and the little things that …
The Day the Loot Stopped Dropping
What would happen if suddenly all the loot stopped dropping in your favorite MMORPG? Would there be widespread panic in the streets? Would your online world come to a grinding …
Fanguard Beta Report: Keepers of the Flame
For the past few years something has been amiss in the world of fantasy online gaming. Like Galadriel of the Lord of the Rings, we can sense the world has …
Vanguard Forums: Realism vs. Immersion
Realism is really just consistent, believable sets of laws and conditions that govern the particular virtual world that you are inhabiting. Let’s say you are playing a game that is …