One Shots: The storm has passed

"Here is a picture from my days playing Warhammer Online," reader John submitted. "It will be missed."

You know what, John? It really will be. Heaven knows it's been kicked around enough in the larger MMO community, but people doing that oh-so-conveniently forget the great times that were had. In a sea of fantasy games, it's still hard to find Witch Hunters battling mutated madmen or suicidal punk Dwarves getting swallowed by a giant squig. Except for here, of course.

So take in that lightning and be kind to those who will go through the grieving process this month when WAR is shuttered. Do it for me, will ya? The Gipper. And as you're doing that, also check out our other player screenshots from this past week!

Dragons! In an MMO! Who would have thought it even possible? Only the most imaginative developer, reaching deep into the mindwell of creative concepts could pull out a... OK, I can't do this any more. I'm so, so very tired of dragons. Has anyone considered that they're basically giant cockroaches? You step on one and a hundred show up in their place. They're annoying pests that can flatten a city with atomic fire breath or somesuch, yet they can be defeated by something 1/75th their size on a routine basis.

But don't let that discourage you from checking out this awesome pic sent by my good friend Roger. I don't know Roger, but I'm just assuming we'd be good friends. He sets the scene: "I was running around in Antonica in EverQuest II and had jumped up to the top of the mountain range and happened to look at Qeynos to see the dragon attack and thought it would make a great screenshot. Hope you guys like it."

I love it when you guys and gals rise to meet my screenshot challenges. So a violet star to reader Bill for doing so based on a challenge from a previous column.

"Here is a shot from RIFT with the odd angle, which you requested of readers," he wrote. "The rather angry-looking monster is the result of drinking a holiday vial from the Halloween celebration."

Uncanny. It's like looking into a mirror.

"Hey, I'm JMadFour."

Hi JMadFour!

"So, I just started Final Fantasy XIV, and while I was running around La Noscea doing my newbie quests and such when I saw a glowing blue tower in the distance."

No way! That's so groovy!

"Seems perfectly harmless, right?"

Word, JMadFour. Word.

"Attached is a screenshot of my level 8-ish Marauder, looking at the tower."

I couldn't be more proud of you than if you were my very own Marauder offspring.

This week's screenshot challenge is a little different! I want you to open up a screenshot folder at random and choose a picture at random to submit. If you can, try to recall what happened or why you took it. If you can't, just make something up. Tell a tall tale! I'm cool with it, and I totally won't rat you out to my editor.

Want to be featured in a future edition of One Shots? Send your favorite MMO screenshots to oneshots@massively.com, and don't forget to include your name, the name of the game, and a description of the scene. Large, colorful, UI-free shots that tell a story and really show off the game make for the best images. Look ma, we brought back One Shots!