https://massivelyop.com MMORPG news and opinions Thu, 08 Feb 2024 17:48:03 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/08/massively-overthinking-when-the-original-mmo-is-better-than-the-sequel/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/08/massively-overthinking-when-the-original-mmo-is-better-than-the-sequel/#comments Fri, 09 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=478693 A few weeks ago, two lovely gamers I follow on Bluesky were discussing how let down they felt by Diablo IV, less because Diablo IV is particularly bad and more because Diablo III is really good and holding up better over time. It caught my attention because y’all know I really enjoyed the heck out […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/08/massively-overthinking-when-the-original-mmo-is-better-than-the-sequel/feed/ 18 https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/01/massively-overthinking-do-you-care-more-about-mmo-stats-or-looks/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/01/massively-overthinking-do-you-care-more-about-mmo-stats-or-looks/#comments Fri, 02 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=477582 This week's Massively Overthinking is fully inspired by the unicorn backpack meme, which Black Desert studio Pearl Abyss tweeted out last week with the caption "stats over looks any day." You know we have to talk about this.]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/01/massively-overthinking-do-you-care-more-about-mmo-stats-or-looks/feed/ 27 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/25/massively-overthinking-open-world-difficulty-and-puzzles-in-mmos/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/25/massively-overthinking-open-world-difficulty-and-puzzles-in-mmos/#comments Fri, 26 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=476496 During last week’s press event ahead of the Gold Road announcement, Elder Scrolls Online’s Rich Lambert said something I thought would turn out to be pretty provocative. Apparently, there’s a small contingent of ESO players who are persistent in agitating for the open world to be made much harder than it is, and his pushback […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/25/massively-overthinking-open-world-difficulty-and-puzzles-in-mmos/feed/ 28 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/18/massively-overthinking-the-slowest-and-fastest-combat-in-mmorpgs/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/18/massively-overthinking-the-slowest-and-fastest-combat-in-mmorpgs/#comments Fri, 19 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=475524 During a recent podcast discussion about City of Heroes’ official revival, the MOP writers were talking about its combat, which – let’s be honest – harkens back to a long-ago era of tab-target MMO combat that is relatively slow and tactical rather than fast and twitchy. In fact, I was hard-pressed to come up with […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/18/massively-overthinking-the-slowest-and-fastest-combat-in-mmorpgs/feed/ 17 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/11/massively-overthinking-the-2023-mmo-trainwrecks-almost-nobody-noticed/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/11/massively-overthinking-the-2023-mmo-trainwrecks-almost-nobody-noticed/#comments Fri, 12 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=470344 This might be one of the most important Massively Overthinkings we do all year, and it’s a pretty salty one. We always come away from our awards season having picked out some of the worst imbroglios and scandals and disaster trainwrecks of the year, but there are only so many awards and fauxwards to go […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/11/massively-overthinking-the-2023-mmo-trainwrecks-almost-nobody-noticed/feed/ 9 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/04/massively-overthinking-hopes-and-fears-for-mmos-in-2024/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/04/massively-overthinking-hopes-and-fears-for-mmos-in-2024/#comments Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=470343 For our first Massively Overthinking of the year, we’re drawing a hard line between what we think will happen, what we mean to make happen, and what we hope will happen (and fear will happen). Yep, today’s roundtable is all about our hopes and fears – what we want to see happen to the MMO […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/04/massively-overthinking-hopes-and-fears-for-mmos-in-2024/feed/ 10 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/28/massively-overthinking-our-mmo-resolutions-for-2024/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/28/massively-overthinking-our-mmo-resolutions-for-2024/#comments Fri, 29 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=470342 Stop right there. I know you’re about to object and say that you don’t do resolutions, let alone MMO resolutions. That’s fine. A lot of us don’t do resolutions either. They’re not even necessarily the best way to make life changes. So consider this week’s traditional Massively Overthinking a chance to issue resolutions or just […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/28/massively-overthinking-our-mmo-resolutions-for-2024/feed/ 11 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/21/massively-overthinking-our-favorite-mop-articles-of-2023/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/21/massively-overthinking-our-favorite-mop-articles-of-2023/#comments Fri, 22 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=470341 Every year, we pick out a bunch of narrative arcs and stories that dominated the headlines and emotions of the MMORPG genre, and it gets an award. Actually a couple of awards, if you get creative about it. But whatever that story turns out to be, it’s just one among thousands that we write every […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/21/massively-overthinking-our-favorite-mop-articles-of-2023/feed/ 5 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/14/massively-overthinking-our-mmo-predictions-for-2024/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/14/massively-overthinking-our-mmo-predictions-for-2024/#comments Fri, 15 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=470340 It’s time once again for the MOP staff and readers to engage in our favorite end-of-the-year MMO: collectively guessing what’s going to happen next year. Yes, this Massively Overthinking will round up all of our predictions for 2024, relating to the MMORPG genre, of course. We have a pretty decent track record, as you’ll have […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/14/massively-overthinking-our-mmo-predictions-for-2024/feed/ 33 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/07/massively-overthinking-best-and-worst-mmo-developer-quotes-of-2023/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/07/massively-overthinking-best-and-worst-mmo-developer-quotes-of-2023/#comments Thu, 07 Dec 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=470310 I have to thank all the MMO developers and industry veterans out there for talking long past the time when they should stop talking. Their fine contributions to the Discourse ensure that we always have fun things to talk about… and record for posterity in this end-of-the-year roundtable right here. For this week’s Massively Overthinking, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/07/massively-overthinking-best-and-worst-mmo-developer-quotes-of-2023/feed/ 15 https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/30/massively-overthinking-penalties-for-failure-in-mmorpgs-beyond-death/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/30/massively-overthinking-penalties-for-failure-in-mmorpgs-beyond-death/#comments Fri, 01 Dec 2023 01:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=469072 MMOs generally have one big obvious penalty for failure, right? You die. Oh, usually not forever, not unless it’s some niche hardcore realm, and usually it comes with some minor inconvenience, like gear repair or a walk of shame back to your body. But death is generally the key punishment. But not always. Some MMOs […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/30/massively-overthinking-penalties-for-failure-in-mmorpgs-beyond-death/feed/ 23 https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/23/massively-overthinking-the-mmos-were-happy-still-exist-even-if-we-dont-play-them/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/23/massively-overthinking-the-mmos-were-happy-still-exist-even-if-we-dont-play-them/#comments Thu, 23 Nov 2023 17:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=467225 Earlier this month, following the news that Project Gorgon was in dire financial straits as the MMO wasn’t making enough for full development and the indie couple behind the title were being crushed by medical bills owing to one dev’s cancer treatments, the MMO community leaped to action to support the well-loved but weird MMO. […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/23/massively-overthinking-the-mmos-were-happy-still-exist-even-if-we-dont-play-them/feed/ 11 https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/16/massively-overthinking-pervasive-old-mmo-ideas-that-arent-really-true/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/16/massively-overthinking-pervasive-old-mmo-ideas-that-arent-really-true/#comments Fri, 17 Nov 2023 02:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=464930 A while back, Eliot and I were discussing one of his columns, in which he noted that in the eldest of the elder MMOs, the main draw was that it was a place to hang out. And of course, he was not wrong. But it led us to chatting about the persistent belief that tools […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/16/massively-overthinking-pervasive-old-mmo-ideas-that-arent-really-true/feed/ 25 https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/09/massively-overthinking-did-blizzcon-do-what-it-needed-to-do/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/09/massively-overthinking-did-blizzcon-do-what-it-needed-to-do/#comments Fri, 10 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=464430 Given the last couple of years, which have been inarguably rocky for both the company and its games, Blizzard needed a big win at last weekend’s BlizzCon, its first live show since Blitzchung, if you can believe that. Did it score one? That’s what we’re gathered here in Massively Overthinking this week to mull over. […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/09/massively-overthinking-did-blizzcon-do-what-it-needed-to-do/feed/ 27 https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/02/massively-overthinking-the-elements-of-mmos/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/02/massively-overthinking-the-elements-of-mmos/#comments Thu, 02 Nov 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=464410 MOP reader Nibbana recently posed us a fun question: “As I play my Scrapper in Guild Wars 2, I thought to myself, man, I love lightning. I played a Sorcerer in SWTOR because I love the lightning. I…. like lightning. I don’t care for fire, ice, arcane, etc. I gravitate toward classes in games that […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/02/massively-overthinking-the-elements-of-mmos/feed/ 10 https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/26/massively-overthinking-are-there-any-mmos-for-which-a-spin-off-mode-would-be-welcome/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/26/massively-overthinking-are-there-any-mmos-for-which-a-spin-off-mode-would-be-welcome/#comments Thu, 26 Oct 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=463557 Pantheon’s announcement that its developers are working on spinning out a monetized “247” extraction mode hasn’t engendered a whole lot of hope for the future of the Kickstarted game, though it’s hard topic to unravel. Players are concerned both because of Pantheon’s specifics and because so many other MMOs, from Ashes of Creation to Camelot […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/26/massively-overthinking-are-there-any-mmos-for-which-a-spin-off-mode-would-be-welcome/feed/ 13 https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/19/massively-overthinking-whats-next-for-blizzard-under-microsoft/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/19/massively-overthinking-whats-next-for-blizzard-under-microsoft/#comments Thu, 19 Oct 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=462237 So the Microsoft acquisition of Activision-Blizzard is basically a done deal. Oh, sure, the FTC is still fumbling around with hapless appeals, but look, there’s a trailer now. It’s happening. It’s happened. It’s unlikely to be undone. Two years of wondering and now here we are. Only… what does “here” actually mean now? For this […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/19/massively-overthinking-whats-next-for-blizzard-under-microsoft/feed/ 21 https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/12/massively-overthinking-what-do-you-wish-gamers-knew-about-the-games-industry/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/12/massively-overthinking-what-do-you-wish-gamers-knew-about-the-games-industry/#comments Thu, 12 Oct 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=461382 I was surfing the comments of another gaming site’s article earlier this week when I stumbled upon a scathing note about games industry QA workers unionizing. “Nothing like a bunch of people who play video games for a living complaining about their jobs,” this person opined. “Pathetic people who want to stay home, play games […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/12/massively-overthinking-what-do-you-wish-gamers-knew-about-the-games-industry/feed/ 34 https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/05/massively-overthinking-whats-the-most-chaotic-behavior-youve-seen-from-mmo-players/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/05/massively-overthinking-whats-the-most-chaotic-behavior-youve-seen-from-mmo-players/#comments Thu, 05 Oct 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=460261 A week or two ago, I found myself discussing Ultima Online by way of trying to convince our work chat that players often do the opposite of what developers expect them to do. It’s one of my favorite anecdotes from the annals of MMO history, although it was deep into the game’s life: The UO team […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/05/massively-overthinking-whats-the-most-chaotic-behavior-youve-seen-from-mmo-players/feed/ 8 https://massivelyop.com/2023/09/15/massively-overthinking-do-you-sub-to-mmos-youre-no-longer-playing/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/09/15/massively-overthinking-do-you-sub-to-mmos-youre-no-longer-playing/#comments Fri, 15 Sep 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=457271 Over the summer, an MMO did something I’ve never seen an MMO do before: It stopped taking my money for no discernable reason and unsubbed me! I’d had a three-month Lord of the Rings Online subscription going for a while, and some bug – probably relating to the cash-shop overhaul around the same time – […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/09/15/massively-overthinking-do-you-sub-to-mmos-youre-no-longer-playing/feed/ 41 https://massivelyop.com/2023/09/07/massively-overthinking-the-dumbest-deaths-in-mmorpgs/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/09/07/massively-overthinking-the-dumbest-deaths-in-mmorpgs/#comments Thu, 07 Sep 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=456501 This past week has been amusing for everyone in the MMO community and beyond who loves to watch people die stupid deaths in video games, all thanks to World of Warcraft’s hardcore classic mode, where a dead character represents hours and hours of lost work. For example, there’s the story of the Night Elf Hunter […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/09/07/massively-overthinking-the-dumbest-deaths-in-mmorpgs/feed/ 15 https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/31/massively-overthinking-does-reused-content-in-mmos-bother-you/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/31/massively-overthinking-does-reused-content-in-mmos-bother-you/#comments Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=455474 One of the big complaints I saw on the Guild Wars 2 subreddit right before Secrets of the Obscure launched was the grump that ArenaNet was somehow scraping the bottom of the barrel by reusing and reskinning existing game graphics and assets for the new zones. I was genuinely surprised by that complaint; it seems […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/31/massively-overthinking-does-reused-content-in-mmos-bother-you/feed/ 25 https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/24/massively-overthinking-what-makes-you-embarrassed-to-be-an-mmorpg-player/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/24/massively-overthinking-what-makes-you-embarrassed-to-be-an-mmorpg-player/#comments Fri, 25 Aug 2023 00:00:32 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=454153 A week or two ago, the MOP writers were chatting about people flipping tables over River Hobbits in Lord of the Rings Online (sigh) when MOP’s Chris deemed it a “certified bruh moment” of the sort that make you kinda embarrassed to be associated with an MMORPG. Obviously, I had to steal this idea for […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/24/massively-overthinking-what-makes-you-embarrassed-to-be-an-mmorpg-player/feed/ 22 https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/17/massively-overthinking-do-you-strive-to-be-rich-in-mmorpgs/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/17/massively-overthinking-do-you-strive-to-be-rich-in-mmorpgs/#comments Thu, 17 Aug 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=453197 Last week, we did a Daily Grind about living our best lives in MMOs, doing things in video games we wish we could do in real life but for multiple reasons just can’t. In the comments and on social media, several people mentioned things like “being able to afford a house” or “being super rich,” […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/17/massively-overthinking-do-you-strive-to-be-rich-in-mmorpgs/feed/ 18 https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/10/massively-overthinking-rescuing-the-worst-economies-in-the-mmo-genre/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/10/massively-overthinking-rescuing-the-worst-economies-in-the-mmo-genre/#comments Thu, 10 Aug 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=452199 As a hardcore economy player in most of the MMOs I play, I pay a whole lot of attention to the health of the game economy, as I’ve been on a soapbox about inflation being the “long death” of MMOs for longer than most MMOs have even been alive. The interesting thing to me is […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/10/massively-overthinking-rescuing-the-worst-economies-in-the-mmo-genre/feed/ 11 https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/03/massively-overthinking-whats-the-best-way-a-studio-can-save-a-struggling-mid-size-mmo/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/03/massively-overthinking-whats-the-best-way-a-studio-can-save-a-struggling-mid-size-mmo/#comments Fri, 04 Aug 2023 00:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=451196 Temtem’s Crema Games raised eyebrows earlier this week when it admitted that in spite of Temtem’s successful launch, the game is having trouble; the studio has been adding monsters and zones – i.e., content – but that isn’t bringing players back, meaning that doing the obvious task of Just Making More Content isn’t sustainable given […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/08/03/massively-overthinking-whats-the-best-way-a-studio-can-save-a-struggling-mid-size-mmo/feed/ 15 https://massivelyop.com/2023/07/27/massively-overthinking-whats-blizzards-next-move/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/07/27/massively-overthinking-whats-blizzards-next-move/#comments Fri, 28 Jul 2023 00:00:07 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=450138 Gamers and pundits talked a big talk about Blizzard’s prospects over the last few years. Don’t worry about the weak revenues and plunging MAUs, they said. Don’t react to the problematic corporate behavior and the stock massaging. Don’t stress over the delayed pipeline and content droughts. Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV will save the studio, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/07/27/massively-overthinking-whats-blizzards-next-move/feed/ 71 https://massivelyop.com/2023/07/21/massively-overthinking-the-mmos-that-are-worth-their-dreadful-early-gameplay/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/07/21/massively-overthinking-the-mmos-that-are-worth-their-dreadful-early-gameplay/#comments Fri, 21 Jul 2023 17:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=449155 I think many of us are primed to roll our eyes at anyone who says “oh man, just keep playing, it gets better later after the early parts” – and yet we also know it’s true of so many MMOs, which means even if we hate it, we’ll stick it out just to see if […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/07/21/massively-overthinking-the-mmos-that-are-worth-their-dreadful-early-gameplay/feed/ 20 https://massivelyop.com/2023/07/13/massively-overthinking-old-zones-vs-new-zones-in-mmorpgs/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/07/13/massively-overthinking-old-zones-vs-new-zones-in-mmorpgs/#comments Fri, 14 Jul 2023 00:00:03 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=448152 I’ve been playing a lot of Lord of the Rings Online lately, in both very old zones from Moria and earlier and some of the brand-new zones just added last year. And while the graphics and storytelling are better than ever in places like Cardolan, I was surprised to see that the trend of time-wastey […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/07/13/massively-overthinking-old-zones-vs-new-zones-in-mmorpgs/feed/ 11 https://massivelyop.com/2023/07/06/massively-overthinking-the-mmos-we-wanted-a-decade-ago/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/07/06/massively-overthinking-the-mmos-we-wanted-a-decade-ago/#comments Fri, 07 Jul 2023 00:00:57 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=447389 Back in May, MOP’s Justin penned a fun blog piece on his Bio Break blog about the games he wanted all the way back in 2013 – i.e., 10 years ago. It’s a massive list, and some of the games aren’t MMOs, but many of them are. Maybe the saddest part is how many of […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/07/06/massively-overthinking-the-mmos-we-wanted-a-decade-ago/feed/ 10 https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/29/massively-overthinking-why-dont-mmos-try-harder-to-foster-great-guilds/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/29/massively-overthinking-why-dont-mmos-try-harder-to-foster-great-guilds/#comments Fri, 30 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=446423 MOP reader Mahaf1089 posed an interesting question beneath a WoW Factor column earlier this month, one that clearly resonated with our readers because it took off and just about had a life of its own. “Why isn’t Blizzard making changes aimed at facilitating great guilds?” he wondered. “On the whole, I would say there are […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/29/massively-overthinking-why-dont-mmos-try-harder-to-foster-great-guilds/feed/ 51 https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/22/massively-overthinking-which-mmos-are-memorable-but-not-actually-fun/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/22/massively-overthinking-which-mmos-are-memorable-but-not-actually-fun/#comments Thu, 22 Jun 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=445404 Earlier this week, we ran a Daily Grind on MMOs that are fun but not especially memorable, throwing it back to a quote from MOP’s Andy. A reader on Mastodon, however, proposed the inverse: MMOs that are memorable but not especially fun. “Inverse: MMO that is memorable but not fun?” PaJamas wrote. “EVE Online. I […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/22/massively-overthinking-which-mmos-are-memorable-but-not-actually-fun/feed/ 24 https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/15/massively-overthinking-does-whaling-ruin-mmos/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/15/massively-overthinking-does-whaling-ruin-mmos/#comments Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:00:43 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=442395 Last week, I was chatting with a MOP reader (hi Bryan!) in our comments about Lord of the Rings Online’s business model – both models, really. It has the basic model, whereby you buy expansions and a sub and necessities like bag space and and it’s actually not that expensive to just play the game […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/15/massively-overthinking-does-whaling-ruin-mmos/feed/ 39 https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/08/massively-overthinking-when-an-mmo-has-everything-and-so-much-of-it/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/08/massively-overthinking-when-an-mmo-has-everything-and-so-much-of-it/#comments Fri, 09 Jun 2023 00:00:57 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=442792 Last week, when No Man’s Sky released its native Mac client, MOP’s Chris and I fell into a discussion about the game being so vast that even as players of the game we had forgotten some of the content systems that existed within it, like farming. The game pretty much has everything – and maybe […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/08/massively-overthinking-when-an-mmo-has-everything-and-so-much-of-it/feed/ 17 https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/25/massively-overthinking-are-we-in-an-mmo-hype-vaccuum/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/25/massively-overthinking-are-we-in-an-mmo-hype-vaccuum/#comments Fri, 26 May 2023 00:00:50 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=441118 James “MMO Folklorist” Crosby recently penned a piece using a term that seems so apt I feel we should all adopt it: the MMO hype vacuum. Essentially, he is grappling with the realization that we have a ton of big new MMOs on the horizon, and yet expectations and hype for the games have bottomed […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/25/massively-overthinking-are-we-in-an-mmo-hype-vaccuum/feed/ 22 https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/18/massively-overthinking-solving-the-mmo-gear-obsolescence-problem/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/18/massively-overthinking-solving-the-mmo-gear-obsolescence-problem/#comments Fri, 19 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=440004 Last weekend, Amazon told players in a New World Discord Q&A that the expansion still on the way will essentially nullify existing gear to a degree. Redditors debating the issue settled quickly into two camps – “Oh no!” and “So what?” – which I think is a fair way of summing up a lot of […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/18/massively-overthinking-solving-the-mmo-gear-obsolescence-problem/feed/ 29 https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/11/massively-overthinking-whats-your-monthly-mmo-budget/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/11/massively-overthinking-whats-your-monthly-mmo-budget/#comments Fri, 12 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=439011 Unless you are fabulously wealthy, you probably maintain some sort of budget for your discretionary expenses, and if MMOs had their way, they’d claim all of it. You’d be spending all your cash on sparkleponies, cosmetic outfits, boosters, and video game furniture instead of gas, clothes, food, and actual furniture. For this week’s Massively Overthinking, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/11/massively-overthinking-whats-your-monthly-mmo-budget/feed/ 24 https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/04/massively-overthinking-what-kind-of-pve-content-do-you-expect-from-mmo-sandboxes/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/04/massively-overthinking-what-kind-of-pve-content-do-you-expect-from-mmo-sandboxes/#comments Fri, 05 May 2023 00:00:15 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=437136 A couple of weeks back, MOP reader Alberto asked an interesting question in the comments of a particularly galling Star Citizen post. He pointed out that some players consider working on PvE content in a sandbox “wasting dev time” because the content in such a game is meant to be emergent gameplay anyway, not quests […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/04/massively-overthinking-what-kind-of-pve-content-do-you-expect-from-mmo-sandboxes/feed/ 21 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/20/massively-overthinking-what-should-mmos-do-when-guild-leaders-vanish/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/20/massively-overthinking-what-should-mmos-do-when-guild-leaders-vanish/#comments Fri, 21 Apr 2023 00:00:14 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=435850 Last week, we covered that wild story about a “heist” in EVE Online that allowed the perpetrators to make off with trillions of ISK in cash and assets, amounting to a value of something like $22,000 US. And when you look a little more closely at the story, you realize it wasn’t really a heist […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/20/massively-overthinking-what-should-mmos-do-when-guild-leaders-vanish/feed/ 8 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/13/massively-overthinking-how-to-alienate-your-mmorpg-playerbase/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/13/massively-overthinking-how-to-alienate-your-mmorpg-playerbase/#comments Thu, 13 Apr 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434862 I am not a Pokemon Go player, but I can’t help but stare at its many trainwrecks thanks to the detailed coverage of our Massively on the Go columnist Andrew. And the latest trainwreck is one that I’ve seen play out in MMOs many times. I’ll spare you a full rundown of the gory details leading […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/13/massively-overthinking-how-to-alienate-your-mmorpg-playerbase/feed/ 25 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/massively-overthinking-tabletop-and-boardgames-for-mmorpg-players/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/massively-overthinking-tabletop-and-boardgames-for-mmorpg-players/#comments Fri, 07 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433878 Last week, following the crowdfunding of an Elder Scrolls boardgame, the MOP staff got derailed by a discussion on boardgame prices (it’s expensive, y’all). MOP’s Sam showed off a pic of his massive collection (a tiny sliver of which sits atop this article), and pretty soon we were all sharing our favorites (and also whining […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/massively-overthinking-tabletop-and-boardgames-for-mmorpg-players/feed/ 16 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/massively-overthinking-the-dumbest-conversations-in-your-main-mmos-general-chat/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/massively-overthinking-the-dumbest-conversations-in-your-main-mmos-general-chat/#comments Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:00:30 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=432659 Last week, in a thread about one of Diablo IV’s many rivals, MOP commenter Greaterdivinity noted that chat in the game was exhausting because all anyone wants to talk about is that game vs. all the other roguelikes and ARPGs. We gotta talk about that in this week’s Massively Overthinking because I bet every single […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/massively-overthinking-the-dumbest-conversations-in-your-main-mmos-general-chat/feed/ 24 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/23/massively-overthinking-the-times-mmo-developers-admitted-they-were-wrong/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/23/massively-overthinking-the-times-mmo-developers-admitted-they-were-wrong/#comments Fri, 24 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=430627 Earlier in March, Jagex did the unthinkable for an MMORPG company: It admitted it was wrong about something. If you’re used to the Blizzards of the world, you know that they seldom admit to making mistakes or misjudging their players; that’s why Jagex’s comments stand out. In this case, Jagex offered a piece of honesty […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/23/massively-overthinking-the-times-mmo-developers-admitted-they-were-wrong/feed/ 13 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/16/massively-overthinking-when-is-localization-itself-the-kiss-of-death-for-an-imported-mmorpg/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/16/massively-overthinking-when-is-localization-itself-the-kiss-of-death-for-an-imported-mmorpg/#comments Fri, 17 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=429968 Last week, when I was poking around the internet trying to understand why Amazon was still making excuses for de-sexualizing some Lost Ark characters for the western audience as if the game hasn’t been undergoing identical localization already for over a year now, I stumbled into the Blue Protocol subreddit, where a vocal segment of […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/16/massively-overthinking-when-is-localization-itself-the-kiss-of-death-for-an-imported-mmorpg/feed/ 19 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/09/massively-overthinking-the-one-about-fomo/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/09/massively-overthinking-the-one-about-fomo/#comments Fri, 10 Mar 2023 01:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=428655 World of Warcraft has become a very dump-on-able game lately, and Blizzard isn’t making it any harder, as a tweet the company sent out last month reminded me that even MMOs that have won our best business model award in the past and aren’t gross about monetization or blockchain or lockboxes still find ways to […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/09/massively-overthinking-the-one-about-fomo/feed/ 24 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/02/massively-overthinking-how-should-mmos-handle-in-game-criming/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/02/massively-overthinking-how-should-mmos-handle-in-game-criming/#comments Fri, 03 Mar 2023 01:00:34 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=428589 A week or so ago, I fell down a rabbit hole when writing up an ArcheAge post. Kakao was handing out joke titles for absurd achievements like racking up the longest jail sentence, and I went wiki-diving to refresh my memory on how it all worked. “ArcheAge’s justice system essentially scores players with ‘crime points’ […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/02/massively-overthinking-how-should-mmos-handle-in-game-criming/feed/ 28 https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/24/massively-overthinking-the-mmo-characters-we-want-to-love-but-dont/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/24/massively-overthinking-the-mmo-characters-we-want-to-love-but-dont/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2023 17:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=426650 A few weeks ago, MOP reader Neurotic pinged the MOP Podcast with a question about characters we want to love but just don’t. He had found that in spite of absolutely loving World of Warcraft’s Druid class and having a cool name and a cool look and a long history, he just can’t stand playing […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/24/massively-overthinking-the-mmo-characters-we-want-to-love-but-dont/feed/ 23 https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/16/massively-overthinking-whats-the-ideal-content-cadence-for-an-mmorpg-in-2023/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/16/massively-overthinking-whats-the-ideal-content-cadence-for-an-mmorpg-in-2023/#comments Fri, 17 Feb 2023 01:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=426583 Earlier this week, Guild Wars 2 revealed a major shake-up of its content delivery cadence. Studio ArenaNet suggested that the traditional living world cadence – with an expansion coming far and few between – drained the company’s resources without providing the punch of power players really wanted. Consequently, the team is replacing the living world-expansion […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/16/massively-overthinking-whats-the-ideal-content-cadence-for-an-mmorpg-in-2023/feed/ 16 https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/09/massively-overthinking-that-moment-when-you-realize-an-mmo-is-truly-something-special/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/09/massively-overthinking-that-moment-when-you-realize-an-mmo-is-truly-something-special/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2023 01:00:34 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=425643 MOP commenter Bruno tweeted something the other that that I thought would make a fun topic. Here’s what he said, printed with permission: “Wanna know the moment I knew Star Wars Galaxies was special? When I wanted to play, I went to check some stuff on the Emu forums, and well, first, they will have […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/09/massively-overthinking-that-moment-when-you-realize-an-mmo-is-truly-something-special/feed/ 16 https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/02/massively-overthinking-what-mmorpg-content-requires-the-most-skill-and-why/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/02/massively-overthinking-what-mmorpg-content-requires-the-most-skill-and-why/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2023 01:00:53 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=424632 Back in January, there was an inflammatory thread on the MMORPG subreddit that argued that anyone using rotation mods in endgame MMO content was nullifying skill and competition from the game, and that merely being able to navigate raid bosses didn’t count as skill. It all dovetails rather nicely with Naoki Yoshida’s comments earlier this […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/02/massively-overthinking-what-mmorpg-content-requires-the-most-skill-and-why/feed/ 36