https://massivelyop.com MMORPG news and opinions Wed, 26 Apr 2023 11:45:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/26/the-daily-grind-is-the-age-of-superhero-mmos-past/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/26/the-daily-grind-is-the-age-of-superhero-mmos-past/#comments Wed, 26 Apr 2023 12:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=436833 Is it just me, or does it seem like nobody is that hot to trot for superhero MMORPGs these days? A few years ago, it felt as though there was a lot more enthusiasm for plugging into the City of Heroes rogue server or lapping up any details of upcoming projects. Even DCUO was (and […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/26/the-daily-grind-is-the-age-of-superhero-mmos-past/feed/ 20 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/25/the-daily-grind-how-could-blizzard-make-world-of-warcraft-more-appealing-to-former-players/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/25/the-daily-grind-how-could-blizzard-make-world-of-warcraft-more-appealing-to-former-players/#comments Tue, 25 Apr 2023 12:00:09 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=436927 Eliot’s column about World of Warcraft feeling like a dead mall struck a chord with our commenters, many of whom agreed with the feels – and were pretty sad about the situation. In the comments of that article, some players even offered suggestions for how Blizzard could salvage the game and make it once again […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/25/the-daily-grind-how-could-blizzard-make-world-of-warcraft-more-appealing-to-former-players/feed/ 75 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/24/the-daily-grind-do-mmo-studios-manipulate-their-playerbases-with-trolling-and-tribalism/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/24/the-daily-grind-do-mmo-studios-manipulate-their-playerbases-with-trolling-and-tribalism/#comments Mon, 24 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433908 A few weeks ago, MOP Chris and I were discussing Star Citizen’s antics – remember the video with the coffee? – and it was so bizarre that I asked Chris whether he honestly thought Cloud Imperium is trolling everyone with these videos, doing it on purpose for hate clicks. “During the coffee machine demonstration, CIG’s […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/24/the-daily-grind-do-mmo-studios-manipulate-their-playerbases-with-trolling-and-tribalism/feed/ 42 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/23/the-daily-grind-how-often-do-you-change-guilds-in-your-mmos-of-choice/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/23/the-daily-grind-how-often-do-you-change-guilds-in-your-mmos-of-choice/#comments Sun, 23 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=436379 Some people joined up with a guild years ago, and since then that has been The Guild I Am In. No changes. But today we’re not talking about certain editor-in-chiefs that you might be familiar with, we’re talking about you and your own guild habits. Because there are a lot more people who drift from […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/23/the-daily-grind-how-often-do-you-change-guilds-in-your-mmos-of-choice/feed/ 19 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/22/the-daily-grind-does-cel-shading-help-or-hurt-an-mmos-appeal-and-reputation/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/22/the-daily-grind-does-cel-shading-help-or-hurt-an-mmos-appeal-and-reputation/#comments Sat, 22 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=435788 With titles like Tower of Fantasy on the market and Blue Protocol on its way for later this year, I thought it would be a good time to talk about cel shading as a graphical design choice. It’s a style that I’ve seen pop up in as widely diverse titles like Zelda, Borderlands, and even […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/22/the-daily-grind-does-cel-shading-help-or-hurt-an-mmos-appeal-and-reputation/feed/ 22 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/21/the-daily-grind-what-are-the-best-and-worst-horizontal-progression-systems-in-an-mmorpg/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/21/the-daily-grind-what-are-the-best-and-worst-horizontal-progression-systems-in-an-mmorpg/#comments Fri, 21 Apr 2023 12:00:47 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=431699 This morning, I want to talk about horizontal progression systems in MMOs, of which I am generally a fan! And I’m gonna start with the one I like least, which is rep grinds in every single MMO. Nobody likes rep grinds. Nobody cares if the NPCs like us. They aren’t even pretending to be advancement; […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/21/the-daily-grind-what-are-the-best-and-worst-horizontal-progression-systems-in-an-mmorpg/feed/ 28 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/20/the-daily-grind-whats-your-least-favorite-sort-of-thing-to-farm-in-an-mmo/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/20/the-daily-grind-whats-your-least-favorite-sort-of-thing-to-farm-in-an-mmo/#comments Thu, 20 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=436384 Some MMOs, as we all know, have actual farms. Literally, just a place where you put farm goods and you farm things. But that’s not really what we mean when we’re talking about farming; we’re talking about when you go out into the world and spend your time repeatedly gathering something, or killing something or […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/20/the-daily-grind-whats-your-least-favorite-sort-of-thing-to-farm-in-an-mmo/feed/ 18 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/19/the-daily-grind-do-you-stop-to-watch-player-performances/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/19/the-daily-grind-do-you-stop-to-watch-player-performances/#comments Wed, 19 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=435627 Especially when you have limited time to game, it’s hard to ignore that “go go go!” voice in your head that urges you to make every minute count toward your player progression. Yet it’s also important to stop and smell the roses (1/10 smelled) when the opportunity presents. I try to do this anytime I […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/19/the-daily-grind-do-you-stop-to-watch-player-performances/feed/ 13 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/18/the-daily-grind-what-are-some-demonstrably-wrong-things-about-old-mmos-that-people-insist-were-true-anyway/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/18/the-daily-grind-what-are-some-demonstrably-wrong-things-about-old-mmos-that-people-insist-were-true-anyway/#comments Tue, 18 Apr 2023 12:00:15 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=430928 A while back, there was a thread on the MMORPG subreddit arguing that “minmaxing an information abundance has ruined MMORPGs” and posited that devs had “stopped fighting it.” After the thread spiraled out of control, the mods probably wisely deleted it, though some of the conversation was intact. In a nutshell, the thread harkened back […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/18/the-daily-grind-what-are-some-demonstrably-wrong-things-about-old-mmos-that-people-insist-were-true-anyway/feed/ 36 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/17/the-daily-grind-whats-the-most-unique-weapon-in-an-mmo/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/17/the-daily-grind-whats-the-most-unique-weapon-in-an-mmo/#comments Mon, 17 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434885 I’m sure we’ve done pieces on unusual weapons in MMOs over the years – we’ve done thousands of Daily Grinds, after all – but one popped on my radar last week that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before! I’m talking about Tower of Fantasy’s new character Icarus, who literally wields a magical yo-yo. And […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/17/the-daily-grind-whats-the-most-unique-weapon-in-an-mmo/feed/ 16 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/16/the-daily-grind-whats-the-worst-mmo-music-from-an-mmo-where-you-like-the-music/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/16/the-daily-grind-whats-the-worst-mmo-music-from-an-mmo-where-you-like-the-music/#comments Sun, 16 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=435364 Music is important. Some MMOs do not have very good music, and as a result you don’t actually notice when one piece is bad or worse. But that is not universal. There are a lot of MMOs with amazing music, and sometimes those MMOs drop new tracks that are… just hot garbage. Just absolute anti-bangers. […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/16/the-daily-grind-whats-the-worst-mmo-music-from-an-mmo-where-you-like-the-music/feed/ 31 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/15/the-daily-grind-are-you-a-half-hearted-mmo-crafter/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/15/the-daily-grind-are-you-a-half-hearted-mmo-crafter/#comments Sat, 15 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434882 Whenever we talk about crafting, I feel that we’re too quick to divide all players into “crafters” and “non-crafters” without considering that there might be a third category. Call them the “half-hearted crafters,” the ones who dabble with the best of intentions but don’t usually go the distance because of the effort and difficulty involved. […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/15/the-daily-grind-are-you-a-half-hearted-mmo-crafter/feed/ 30 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/14/the-daily-grind-which-mmos-lore-makes-your-eyes-glaze-over/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/14/the-daily-grind-which-mmos-lore-makes-your-eyes-glaze-over/#comments Fri, 14 Apr 2023 12:00:46 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=435316 Earlier this week, Blizzard posted up a brief in-universe timeline of the Diablo IP’s storyline, and in spite of my having played these games, I realized the dates and plotpoints mean nothing to me. Blizzard could’ve made all of that up as a joke and I would not know. Unlike MOP’s Tyler, who knows the […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/14/the-daily-grind-which-mmos-lore-makes-your-eyes-glaze-over/feed/ 26 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/13/the-daily-grind-where-have-you-met-your-best-mmo-friends/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/13/the-daily-grind-where-have-you-met-your-best-mmo-friends/#comments Thu, 13 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=435336 Sometimes your MMO friends are good companions whose homes you visit and who you give gifts. Like holiday gifts, or parcels of lands, or four suckling pigs. (I don’t pretend to know how you live your life.) Other times your MMO friends are just… people you hang out with in a shared MMO and otherwise […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/13/the-daily-grind-where-have-you-met-your-best-mmo-friends/feed/ 19 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/12/the-daily-grind-what-isnt-explained-well-enough-in-your-mmo/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/12/the-daily-grind-what-isnt-explained-well-enough-in-your-mmo/#comments Wed, 12 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433988 Your MMO can have the best, most flexible systems and the most robust options — but if nobody but your devs and elite players can understand them, then they do few people any good. All too often in our online games there are features and parts of the game that simply aren’t explained very well […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/12/the-daily-grind-what-isnt-explained-well-enough-in-your-mmo/feed/ 25 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/11/the-daily-grind-which-mmos-have-the-least-fair-regional-pricing/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/11/the-daily-grind-which-mmos-have-the-least-fair-regional-pricing/#comments Tue, 11 Apr 2023 12:00:47 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434887 Last week, we got a letter from a gamer in Türkiye (hiya kaickul!) who was frustrated with Blizzard’s regional pricing for Diablo II Resurrected and Diablo IV. Apparently, Blizzard ran a Diablo sale in early April that appeared to specifically exclude players in some countries with problematic economies, including Türkiye, which some players have perceived […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/11/the-daily-grind-which-mmos-have-the-least-fair-regional-pricing/feed/ 10 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/10/the-daily-grind-does-it-bug-you-when-mmo-cash-shops-rotate-out-their-buyables/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/10/the-daily-grind-does-it-bug-you-when-mmo-cash-shops-rotate-out-their-buyables/#comments Mon, 10 Apr 2023 12:00:29 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=428946 One of my few pet peeves with Guild Wars 2 has been the design of its cash shop, which traditionally has rotated through its back catalogue, meaning that most of the things you could want to buy aren’t available when you are ready to buy them. The addition of the Black Lion Statuette vendor helped […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/10/the-daily-grind-does-it-bug-you-when-mmo-cash-shops-rotate-out-their-buyables/feed/ 15 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/09/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-had-an-mmo-that-serves-as-your-guilty-pleasure/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/09/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-had-an-mmo-that-serves-as-your-guilty-pleasure/#comments Sun, 09 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434360 As a rule, I don’t do guilty pleasures. It’s not something that I personally believe in. Not in the sense that I’m unfamiliar with it, but I generally feel like if I’m guilty about something that I’m playing that’s probably a sign I shouldn’t be playing it in the first place. But, you know… the […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/09/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-had-an-mmo-that-serves-as-your-guilty-pleasure/feed/ 15 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/08/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-played-an-r-rated-mmo/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/08/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-played-an-r-rated-mmo/#comments Sat, 08 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433784 If we were to transfer MMOs over to the realm of movies and give each an MPAA rating, we’d most likely see a lopsided number of PG and PG-13 titles, with a handful of G games… and an even smaller handful of R-rated entries. There simply aren’t that many MMOs willing to alienate part of […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/08/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-played-an-r-rated-mmo/feed/ 32 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/07/the-daily-grind-would-you-play-an-mmo-with-a-premade-character/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/07/the-daily-grind-would-you-play-an-mmo-with-a-premade-character/#comments Fri, 07 Apr 2023 12:00:41 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=432101 I tend to think that if I were trying to come up with a list of mechanics and concepts and features that pretty much all MMORPGs need, the ability to create your own character would be pretty high up on the list. And indeed, it’s one of the things that worries me about Wayfinder. Of […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/07/the-daily-grind-would-you-play-an-mmo-with-a-premade-character/feed/ 38 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/the-daily-grind-whats-your-self-admitted-dumbest-reason-for-not-playing-an-mmo/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/the-daily-grind-whats-your-self-admitted-dumbest-reason-for-not-playing-an-mmo/#comments Thu, 06 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434362 There are a lot of super valid reasons to not play an MMO. It’s an open PvP game and you don’t like that, for example. You don’t have time for another game and all of your friends play something else. The monetization is predatory. You don’t care about the IP. The gameplay loop isn’t what […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/the-daily-grind-whats-your-self-admitted-dumbest-reason-for-not-playing-an-mmo/feed/ 39 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/05/the-daily-grind-how-do-you-handle-online-gacha-games/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/05/the-daily-grind-how-do-you-handle-online-gacha-games/#comments Wed, 05 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=431805 With titles like Genshin Impact and Tower of Fantasy making inroads with the online RPG genre, it’s probably best that we had a discussion about everyone’s favorite word: Captcha. Wait, no, I meant “gacha.” Two different things. Both of the aforementioned titles utilize gacha mechanics to tease players with elite characters and a “gotta collect […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/05/the-daily-grind-how-do-you-handle-online-gacha-games/feed/ 34 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/04/the-daily-grind-whats-the-mark-of-a-bad-player-in-your-mmo-of-choice/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/04/the-daily-grind-whats-the-mark-of-a-bad-player-in-your-mmo-of-choice/#comments Tue, 04 Apr 2023 12:00:05 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=432670 Before we start this Daily Grind, I need to point out that good players make bad plays all the time, and I bet everybody reading has done most of these things before. The important thing is that we learn from them and try to avoid them in the future – that’s how bad players become […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/04/the-daily-grind-whats-the-mark-of-a-bad-player-in-your-mmo-of-choice/feed/ 21 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/the-daily-grind-does-the-death-of-e3-mark-the-end-of-an-era-or-a-welcome-revolution/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/the-daily-grind-does-the-death-of-e3-mark-the-end-of-an-era-or-a-welcome-revolution/#comments Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:00:41 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433484 When all the rest of the big companies dropped out of E3 last week, I mused in work chat that surely the ESA wouldn’t actually cancel it – surely it wouldn’t want to lose the massive deposit for the LA venue, and this would be the last one. But as it turned out, I was […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/the-daily-grind-does-the-death-of-e3-mark-the-end-of-an-era-or-a-welcome-revolution/feed/ 40 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/02/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-made-an-mmo-character-based-on-a-celeb-or-pop-culture-icon/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/02/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-made-an-mmo-character-based-on-a-celeb-or-pop-culture-icon/#comments Sun, 02 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=432722 Sometimes the faucet of character inspiration runs dry, leaving us to either hammer on that “randomize” button in desperation — or to draw from an external source of inspiration. Yes, sometimes we do, in fact, model our characters based on other people. Maybe it’s a top chef celeb you admire, a famous character from history, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/02/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-made-an-mmo-character-based-on-a-celeb-or-pop-culture-icon/feed/ 35 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/01/the-daily-grind-whats-your-fondest-mmo-memory-from-last-month/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/01/the-daily-grind-whats-your-fondest-mmo-memory-from-last-month/#comments Sat, 01 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433195 Welcome to the very first Massively Overpowered Throwback Weekend! You know, we’ve been reporting on the news here for a long time now, something like eight whole years, and we’re tired. Reporting on the news is a sucker’s game to lose money and time. From now on, we’re going to be running our special throwback […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/01/the-daily-grind-whats-your-fondest-mmo-memory-from-last-month/feed/ 13 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/the-daily-grind-would-you-play-a-my-little-pony-mmo/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/the-daily-grind-would-you-play-a-my-little-pony-mmo/#comments Fri, 31 Mar 2023 12:00:57 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=427555 A few weeks back, MOP’s Carlo related the tale of how his friends were debating whether they’d rather have a My Little Pony or a Carebears MMORPG. For me, the choice is obvious: MLP all the way. Nothing against the Carebears, but MLP would honestly be perfect as an MMO setting. The ponies are infinitely […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/the-daily-grind-would-you-play-a-my-little-pony-mmo/feed/ 64 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-been-inclined-to-try-out-a-survival-sandbox-game/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-been-inclined-to-try-out-a-survival-sandbox-game/#comments Thu, 30 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433193 Over the past few years we’ve seen the trend of a lot of survival sandbox games ebb and flow. These games are smaller than a full MMO, with the emphasis being on everyone getting put into a small world together to mine, build structures, tame things, and so forth in order to not starve. Or […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-been-inclined-to-try-out-a-survival-sandbox-game/feed/ 30 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/29/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-sold-your-mmo-account/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/29/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-sold-your-mmo-account/#comments Wed, 29 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=432719 The other day a random line in an otherwise forgettable article reminded me that, once upon a time, it was a lot more common for people to sell their MMO accounts. They’d work hard to build up characters, stockpiles of gold, huge unlocks — and then wing that over to eBay or some other third-party […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/29/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-sold-your-mmo-account/feed/ 34 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/28/the-daily-grind-do-you-have-any-dealbreakers-when-it-comes-to-trying-new-mmos/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/28/the-daily-grind-do-you-have-any-dealbreakers-when-it-comes-to-trying-new-mmos/#comments Tue, 28 Mar 2023 12:00:52 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=430615 So I have a thing about MMO cameras: I pretty much will not play an MMORPG that doesn’t let me center my camera and my viewpoint. I absolutely can’t stand having my character be shunted off to the side so my weapon and targeting are in the center of my world. To be honest, it […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/28/the-daily-grind-do-you-have-any-dealbreakers-when-it-comes-to-trying-new-mmos/feed/ 49 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/27/the-daily-grind-what-brands-do-you-actually-wish-mmos-would-partner-with/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/27/the-daily-grind-what-brands-do-you-actually-wish-mmos-would-partner-with/#comments Mon, 27 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=430612 Earlier this month, the MOP community had a little giggle over Blizzard’s rather random (or maybe depressingly on point) collab with KFC that urged would-be Diablo IV players to eat chicken. Actually, just to buy some chicken. They don’t care if you eat it! Either way, people were a bit bummed about the message behind […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/27/the-daily-grind-what-brands-do-you-actually-wish-mmos-would-partner-with/feed/ 29 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/26/the-daily-grind-which-mmo-has-the-most-cringeworthy-social-media-presence/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/26/the-daily-grind-which-mmo-has-the-most-cringeworthy-social-media-presence/#comments Sun, 26 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=432148 Social media is tricky for any MMO. Realistically, we all know that every social media presence is managed by people who know what they’re doing; the people in charge of a professional product aren’t just giving the keys to the kingdom to anyone who happens to work there, much less an intern. (It’s not like […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/26/the-daily-grind-which-mmo-has-the-most-cringeworthy-social-media-presence/feed/ 11 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/25/the-daily-grind-whats-one-change-that-would-make-an-mmo-infinitely-better/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/25/the-daily-grind-whats-one-change-that-would-make-an-mmo-infinitely-better/#comments Sat, 25 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=431685 Since most of us moonlight as armchair developers, it’s certainly crossed our minds that any particular MMO has a vital flaw or two. The exhaust port to the MMO’s Death Star reactor, if you will. So while the Empire nails a screen door on that puppy, I thought it’d be fun to talk about shoring […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/25/the-daily-grind-whats-one-change-that-would-make-an-mmo-infinitely-better/feed/ 46 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/24/the-daily-grind-do-you-still-have-hope-for-a-blossoming-of-mmorpgs-in-vr/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/24/the-daily-grind-do-you-still-have-hope-for-a-blossoming-of-mmorpgs-in-vr/#comments Fri, 24 Mar 2023 12:00:02 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=428594 Every month or so, someone will ask about MMORPGs in the VR space, and every month or so, we have to nod toward a mere handful of games, the most recent and shiny of which is Zenith, which is… still a relatively small indie MMO (and one that was funded in part by PC players […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/24/the-daily-grind-do-you-still-have-hope-for-a-blossoming-of-mmorpgs-in-vr/feed/ 33 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/23/the-daily-grind-which-mmos-make-it-too-easy-to-fail-something-long-before-youre-done/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/23/the-daily-grind-which-mmos-make-it-too-easy-to-fail-something-long-before-youre-done/#comments Thu, 23 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=432150 Nobody likes queueing up for an instanced PvP match to lose. But what sucks way worse is when you queue up and get into the match, and you can tell that you are going to lose immediately… and yet you still have to play out the whole thing. If there’s one thing worse than losing, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/23/the-daily-grind-which-mmos-make-it-too-easy-to-fail-something-long-before-youre-done/feed/ 12 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/22/the-daily-grind-which-mmo-boasts-the-best-space-combat/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/22/the-daily-grind-which-mmo-boasts-the-best-space-combat/#comments Wed, 22 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=431681 When you get tired of your iron-plated boots being stuck to a giant gravity ball, you may yearn to take flight into the sky — or beyond. While we haven’t seen as many MMORPGs blast into outer space, there have been quite a few. And wherever our online journeys take us, we know that combat […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/22/the-daily-grind-which-mmo-boasts-the-best-space-combat/feed/ 26 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/21/the-daily-grind-do-you-still-craft-in-mmos-where-crafting-is-pointless/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/21/the-daily-grind-do-you-still-craft-in-mmos-where-crafting-is-pointless/#comments Tue, 21 Mar 2023 12:00:04 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=429674 I could swap out the words “craft” and “crafting” in the question in today’s Daily Grind topic and I think the same point would be made: What you do when you’re not being extrinsically rewarded for it by a game is who you really are as a gamer. If you PvP even though the rewards […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/21/the-daily-grind-do-you-still-craft-in-mmos-where-crafting-is-pointless/feed/ 30 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/20/the-daily-grind-should-mmo-servers-use-linked-or-independent-auction-halls/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/20/the-daily-grind-should-mmo-servers-use-linked-or-independent-auction-halls/#comments Mon, 20 Mar 2023 12:00:59 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=427588 I’m of two minds on this one. I really like server-linked auction halls! I like when there’s just one shared economy for everyone, so you know you’re not getting screwed because you landed on the biggest server (or the smallest server), and you can always see the best price. It’s got to be easier to […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/20/the-daily-grind-should-mmo-servers-use-linked-or-independent-auction-halls/feed/ 26 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/19/the-daily-grind-what-terrible-mmo-story-moment-will-never-leave-your-mind/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/19/the-daily-grind-what-terrible-mmo-story-moment-will-never-leave-your-mind/#comments Sun, 19 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=431090 I know I can almost always make Bree giggle by talking about how my father trifles with doors. It’s a Guild Wars thing. And yes, that line was kind of awful, a lot of the original story in the game wasn’t great, but I still love it and will never forget it. But part of […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/19/the-daily-grind-what-terrible-mmo-story-moment-will-never-leave-your-mind/feed/ 37 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/18/the-daily-grind-which-mmo-boasts-your-greatest-number-of-account-unlocks/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/18/the-daily-grind-which-mmo-boasts-your-greatest-number-of-account-unlocks/#comments Sat, 18 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=430527 MMO account unlocks: You know they’re one of the most powerful legal narcotics of the video game age. By pre-ordering this title, snapping up a collector’s edition of that, winning a contest, participating in an event, or doing any number of other things, players can build up quite the collection of permanent account unlocks for […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/18/the-daily-grind-which-mmo-boasts-your-greatest-number-of-account-unlocks/feed/ 16 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/17/the-daily-grind-when-do-you-consider-an-mmo-to-be-truly-dead/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/17/the-daily-grind-when-do-you-consider-an-mmo-to-be-truly-dead/#comments Fri, 17 Mar 2023 12:00:45 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=427303 Back in February, MOP’s Eliot penned a piece about the different types of MMO sunsets. I want to follow this thinking further and talk about what we even mean when we’re talking about MMO death. Maybe it’s because I play a lot of rogue servers, but I’ve stopped thinking about MMO sunsets as being the […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/17/the-daily-grind-when-do-you-consider-an-mmo-to-be-truly-dead/feed/ 23 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/16/the-daily-grind-are-there-any-mmos-you-regret-not-playing-again-when-you-could/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/16/the-daily-grind-are-there-any-mmos-you-regret-not-playing-again-when-you-could/#comments Thu, 16 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=431088 Game shut down. It’s sad, but it happens. And more often than not when I can see an MMO is going to wave farewell, I make my peace with it in advance. It’s rare for me to get a shutdown notice for a game that I haven’t been back to in a while but that […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/16/the-daily-grind-are-there-any-mmos-you-regret-not-playing-again-when-you-could/feed/ 24 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/15/the-daily-grind-which-mmo-micro-dev-team-has-your-full-respect/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/15/the-daily-grind-which-mmo-micro-dev-team-has-your-full-respect/#comments Wed, 15 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=430529 Not every MMO has the same sized dev team. Some are massive, spreading across multiple departments. Some are modest but flexible. Some games have no devs at all, existing in maintenance mode. And then there are the micro-teams: squads of a dozen or fewer designers, engineers, and community managers who nevertheless wrangle full-fledged MMOs and […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/15/the-daily-grind-which-mmo-micro-dev-team-has-your-full-respect/feed/ 8 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/14/the-daily-grind-which-holiday-deserves-more-mmorpg-events/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/14/the-daily-grind-which-holiday-deserves-more-mmorpg-events/#comments Tue, 14 Mar 2023 12:00:06 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=430731 My friends, today is March 14th, aka 3/14, aka π day, aka pi day, aka pie day, and as such, it provides the perfect opportunity to complain about holidays in MMORPGs. A mere handful of MMOs will acknowledge on social media this holiest of holy days for devotees of math and/or pies, and almost none […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/14/the-daily-grind-which-holiday-deserves-more-mmorpg-events/feed/ 32 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/13/the-daily-grind-what-could-mmo-studios-do-to-add-value-to-their-subscriptions/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/13/the-daily-grind-what-could-mmo-studios-do-to-add-value-to-their-subscriptions/#comments Mon, 13 Mar 2023 12:00:52 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=427556 When Blizzard first announced World of Warcraft’s trading post and yet didn’t actually include anything particularly objectionable, pay-to-win, or RMT, I thought it seemed like a reasonable addition to the game, provided it’s not a prelude to a future sub hike. As it stands, however, it adds a lot of value to the existing subscription, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/13/the-daily-grind-what-could-mmo-studios-do-to-add-value-to-their-subscriptions/feed/ 31 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/12/the-daily-grind-what-consistent-mmo-bugs-push-you-out-of-a-game/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/12/the-daily-grind-what-consistent-mmo-bugs-push-you-out-of-a-game/#comments Sun, 12 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=430068 Games crash. Seriously, it happens. Computers crash in general, games crash, and it’s not exactly fun or something you want to experience, but it is going to happen every so often. But especially with MMOs, if the game is crashing on a semi-regular basis, I’m just going to uninstall and stop trying. If it feels […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/12/the-daily-grind-what-consistent-mmo-bugs-push-you-out-of-a-game/feed/ 20 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/11/the-daily-grind-what-overlooked-mmo-do-you-champion-to-others/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/11/the-daily-grind-what-overlooked-mmo-do-you-champion-to-others/#comments Sat, 11 Mar 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=429692 It’s a frustrating feeling when you see people grouse about how they’re bored with the same big MMOs that everyone else is playing and that there’s “nothing else out there.” Frustrating, yes, but also an opportunity to don your cape and swoop to their rescue with a testimony of an underrated or overlooked MMO that […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/11/the-daily-grind-what-overlooked-mmo-do-you-champion-to-others/feed/ 17 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/10/the-daily-grind-which-mmos-have-characters-that-dont-quite-match-the-gameworld-theyre-in/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/10/the-daily-grind-which-mmos-have-characters-that-dont-quite-match-the-gameworld-theyre-in/#comments Fri, 10 Mar 2023 13:00:30 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=426595 A while back, the MOP team was chatting about Chris’ foray into house ownership in Final Fantasy XIV. I was actually kind of surprised by his screenshots because I don’t play the game at all and most of the screenshots I see are of the characters themselves – and the houses looked super cute! Much […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/10/the-daily-grind-which-mmos-have-characters-that-dont-quite-match-the-gameworld-theyre-in/feed/ 17 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/09/the-daily-grind-how-active-is-your-friend-list-in-an-mmo/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/09/the-daily-grind-how-active-is-your-friend-list-in-an-mmo/#comments Thu, 09 Mar 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=430070 My friend list in World of Warcraft is a virtual graveyard. No, most of the people on it are not dead (to my knowledge), but they’re gone and they’re not coming back. The people I befriended liked a style of game the developers don’t want to cater to, and we’ve lost touch ages ago. I […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/09/the-daily-grind-how-active-is-your-friend-list-in-an-mmo/feed/ 16 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/08/the-daily-grind-do-you-push-through-hard-mmo-content-or-walk-away/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/08/the-daily-grind-do-you-push-through-hard-mmo-content-or-walk-away/#comments Wed, 08 Mar 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=429885 Sooner or later it happens. It always does. You’re moving along in your MMO at a fair clip, spending just the right amount of time in each area, being drip-fed enough rewards to be satisfied, feeling generally accomplished… and then you hit THE WALL. THE WALL never looks the same, but you know it when […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/08/the-daily-grind-do-you-push-through-hard-mmo-content-or-walk-away/feed/ 38