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  • A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Someone dies at the end, part one

    by 
    Eliot Lefebvre
    Eliot Lefebvre
    08.03.2011

    So that doubled experience weekend sort of, um, didn't happen. In my defense, by the time we knew about it, it was Wednesday. That's when you read the column, but not when it's written. So I couldn't do much more other than shake my head and wonder what I was going to talk about when City of Heroes had inadvertently yanked my column topic away at the last moment as if it were a football. Instead, we're going to look at the rumblings about the first Signature Story arc, which asks us who is going to die at the end. Now, to be fair, "nobody" is a valid answer. But it's heavily implied that one of the members of the Surviving Eight will bite the big one, and that means a big shakeup in the game's status quo. So let's run down the big eight and see which one seems most likely to die, at least in comic book terms. (And yes, it's comic book terms. War Witch is already dead, and that hasn't stopped her from being in-game as a trainer, remember?)

  • The Daily Grind: What NPCs stick in your memory?

    by 
    Eliot Lefebvre
    Eliot Lefebvre
    02.17.2011

    I'm not fond of a lot of the storytelling on display in the Prophecies campaign of Guild Wars, but I have to admit that, against all logic, I was happy when Gwen showed up again. I joked about her, I complained about her uselessness and her irritating habits, but the fact that she turned up alive again always tickled me on some level. When I think about the game, I think of her, and her trials and tribulations stuck with me long after Prince Rurik had all but vanished into memory. In an MMO with any sort of story, some NPCs are going to stand out to different people. Even beyond the signature characters of a game's box art, incidental figures wind up getting embedded in the consciousness of players. Maybe it's one of the recurring heroes in the City of Heroes tip missions, or perhaps it's one of the more amusing mission NPCs in Star Trek Online. Whatever the reason, what NPCs stick in your mind regardless of their importance or lack thereof? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!