Global Chat: Doom and WAAAGH!
It's time for our second edition of Global Chat, the column that scours the blogosphere (or blogorama if you prefer) for engaging insights, intelligent essays, and whoopie cushion goofiness. We had a good response to our first column, so I'm glad you all want to hear more about what bloggers are saying regarding MMOs!
In this week's edition, we'll look at Warhammer Online's fatal flaw, adventure through Neverwinter's foundry missions, and speculate on the status of a certain Norrathian sandpark. Remember that it's not all doom and WAAAGH! in this community; it's excitement and cherished outings as well!
1. Mapjabbit Run: "A month later"
Mapjabbit delivers a one-month report for WildStar, and on the whole, she is glowing about the game. Right at the top of the six reasons why she's sticking with the game is the visible presence of female characters.
"Everywhere you turn, there are women NPCs doing something -- helping you train your tradeskills, giving you quests, keeping up with the daily life of your faction, and chattering away about some random topic to another NPC," Mapjabbit writes. "There's big names like Avra Darkos, Queen Myala, Artemis Zin, Belle Walker, and Sergeant Kara running the show, as well."
2. Werit: "Was WAR doomed from the start?"
Long-time Warhammer Online player and blogger Werit continues to dissect the rise and fall of this former MMO. While he liked the game overall, he points at a problematic campaign system as its fatal flaw: "The basic idea was that realms would lock zones, breach fortresses, and then invade the enemies city. Sounds cool right? Well, it never really worked out that way."
3. Distilled Willpower: "Five glaringly obvious omissions from Guild Wars 2"
OK, I'm a sucker for lists, especially ones that look at the pros and cons of any given thing. Sometimes big fans of MMOs are the best ones to be smartly critical of these games, and in the case of William, he's got five big beefs with Guild Wars 2. He is particularly perplexed with the lack of a first-person perspective: "You zoom and zoom and zoom until finally -- BUMP -- you hit the back of your head and can go no further. The screenshot takers amongst us are at a loss."
4. Kill Ten Rats: "Gates of Maguuma story and writing"
On the topic of Guild Wars 2, Ravious has a good write-up about the story of the first episode in the second season of the living world. Is it an improvement over season one? He thinks so, going so far as to call this season a "reboot" of the first.
"I feel like the medium of Guild Wars 2 is pretty constrained, and the writers are doing a very good job of writing within those constraints. That's it. I don't feel like I can compare it to any other medium because of those constraints," Ravious says.
5. Inventory Full: "Time will tell"
There is one question that's bubbling up all over the blogosphere, and that is, "What's going on with EverQuest Next, anyway?" Bhagpuss takes the reins of this conversation to recall how we've gone from being really hyped about EQN to being worried that the studio's still making it.
Bhagpuss does have hope that we'll learn more from SOE Live this month but argues that we've had too little news about it over the past year: "No more 'gameplay' footage of EverQuest Next appeared. Indeed there was precious little of anything. Have we even had a new screenshot since SOE Live last year? I don't believe we have."
6. West Karana: "Neverwinter: Through fire and flames foundry night"
I do not have the time to comb through player-created missions in MMOs that have them, and so I respect bloggers who take that bullet and report on the good ones that make the cut. Tipa's been enjoying Neverwinter's foundry system and has feedback after going through four player-made adventures.
"There are so many foundry missions out there that it can be hard to find any decent ones," Tipa says. "But you get a sense, after awhile, about the ones that will be worth the time."
Awesome MMO blog opinions abound all over the internet -- and Justin "Syp" Olivetti reads them all (or skims really, really fast)! Global Chat seeks to round up the most interesting and zany posts from the MMORPG blogosphere. Who knows? You might discover a new favorite blog this week!
