An innovation largely credited to EvE, offline training has slowly taken its place as a staple of the MMO genre. Since EvE’s release, we have seen games as old as Tibia and as new as Age of Wushu use similar mechanics to allow players to progress their characters even when offline. The alternative form of leveling is often associated with [...]
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Grind. The word itself just sounds unpleasant. Gamers use the term to refer to any repetitive task. Common examples includes clearing the same field of monsters, completing the same quest/dungeon over and over, crafting otherwise worthless items simply for skill gain, and so on. Grinding is not exclusive to the MMORPG genre, many games all but force players to grind [...]
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The word "MMO" has been redefined countless times since the early days of MUDs and social games. It’s a contentious term with personalized definitions, and as the market has grown so has the scope with which the label is applied. Narrowing down a definition of "massively multiplayer online game" that is still broad enough to encompass the growing range of [...]
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Despite the term "WoW Clone" being tossed around regularly, not every MMORPG is a clone of Blizzard's World of Warcraft. There are however, numerous titles out there that are unusually similar to World of Warcraft; so much so that it's definitely not a coincidence. Given WoW's enormous success, it shouldn't be too surprising to see developers try and capture some [...]
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It goes without saying, I think, to anyone who has been gaming actively for more than a decade, that we’ve come a very long way in a number of respects. From graphical quality, audio and voice overs, music, and general design, video games are becoming rapidly more and more sophisticated. The medium is becoming respectable and acceptable to the mainstream [...]
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A lot of these Do's and Don'ts should go without saying, but having recently played the extremely popular open beta of Skyforge, I think some of these bear repeating. These rules generally apply to EVERY MMORPG. Do: Join groups and conquer tough dungeons. Don't: Ditch a group mid-dungeon. Before you enter a dungeon with a group, make sure you can STAY with [...]
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A large part of the appeal of role-playing, whether it's in an MMORPG or on a kitchen tabletop, is being able to take on the personality and appearance of someone new. Personally, I enjoy adventuring in strange mythical worlds, but I keep my characters relatively boring in comparison. My class of choice in Dungeons & Dragons is the fighter, and [...]
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This past weekend ArenaNet opened the floodgates on allowing players to experience the newest profession, the Revenant, in the base game instead of a closed off newer area. For the first time ever players could see just how well the new class would perform under the stress of challenging end-game content and, more importantly, if it would even be enjoyable [...]
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I've been playing MMOs ever since my uncle bought me a copy of Ultima Online back when I was 10 or 11. Having grown up playing these games, I've grown familiar with many different kinds of scams and tricks. I've even scammed people before in MMORPGs in the past. I'm not particularly proud of my past behavior, but I don't [...]
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There are 781 million games piled into Steam’s depository, and that number is growing all the time. Anyone with an idea and some development knowledge can crowdfund a project. And Steam’s Early Access enables indie developers to share a dream as it takes shape. But numerous auspicious titles released through Early Access are like fireworks; after a burst of brilliance [...]
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