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The Soapbox: Feeling the loss of an MMO community
Back in 2012, I was almost a year deep into Lord of the Rings Online and enjoying my time both in the game and discovering the benefits of settling into an MMO community. Most of my time was not spent...
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The Soapbox: The joys of MMO collecting
I’ve often sat and pondered exactly what it is that I enjoy about the MMO experience. After all, being educated about your own likes and dislikes can lead to a more enjoyable leisure experience as well...
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The Soapbox: How Pathfinder killed World of Warcraft for me
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands launches today. I will not be playing. Once upon a time, a new WoW expansion would be a major event in my life, but this is the second expansion in a row I’m giving a...
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The Soapbox: Red Dead Online is just not as fun as it should be
A few weeks ago, I detailed my newfound adventures in the single-player title Red Dead Redemption 2. More relevant to our interests here on MassivelyOP, when I purchased the game it came with an MMO...
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The Soapbox: Pet battles are one of the best things WoW ever did (which is...
Pokemon first burst onto the scene when I was in elementary school. I’ve always been lukewarm at best toward anime and “cute” things, so it never really interested me. My friends at the time, however,...
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Why WB Games should make a new Asheron’s Call game in 2021+: The lore
So we recently brought up how Asheron’s Call 2 died twice during the winter seasons, with the second one being a double funeral with the original AC. But WB Games still holds the trademark and...
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Why WB Games should make a new Asheron’s Call game in 2021+: The mechanics
Just based on lore alone, WB Games should make a new Asheron’s Call game. As I argued last time, AC has the qualities of an underutilized Marvel Comic IP but the modern fantasy sensibilities of Game of...
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The Soapbox: What I want to see in Riot’s League of Legends MMO
It’s finally happening, y’all! League of Legends is getting an MMO! And boy howdy am I excited. While I didn’t follow the game in its infancy, over the past three years I’ve slowly become a fan of the...
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The Soapbox: Would Asheron’s Call make a good battle royale game?
With the recent announcement of Crayta coming to PCs, I was reminded of some discussions on the Asheron’s Call subreddit about making a battle royale fan server. While I’ve always hoped fan would...
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The Soapbox: How Magic Legends went wrong with the Dimir Assassin class
Cryptic and Perfect World Entertainment are known for their love of lockboxes as a monetization strategy. Therefore it was not wholly surprising when Magic: Legends open beta launched with a whole...
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The Soapbox: Lies I was told about World of Warcraft
A few months back, I was feeling restless in my MMO routine. Guild Wars 2 is my MMO “home,” so I’m always in that one, but I like to have one or two other MMOs to play on the side. For a while, that...
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The Soapbox: If you want innovation in MMOs, stop worshiping polish
Gamers often lament that the world of MMORPGs lacks innovation. It’s a frustration I share; this a genre that could be much more than it is. But I fear that the source of the problem is misunderstood....
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The Soapbox: Reconsidering social media as an MMORPG
At GDC 2011, Raph Koster gave a talk in which he said, “Games are fundamentally social media and always have been.” You can watch starting at around 58:18 in the video from back then, and it’s...
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The Soapbox: MMO monetization that complements poor game design makes us all...
I have a problem: As much as I enjoy games, I can see that many online and multiplayer games are becoming designed more poorly in order to sell themselves as a service, and they’re getting better at...
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The Soapbox: Abusing MMO community reps over design decisions is not only...
Recently, an online video game community rep was run off Twitter by “fans.” The CM’s fellow game dev shared how upset she was that said employee friend had been harassed. It’s sadly not uncommon in our...
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The Soapbox: Pokemon Unite’s monetization is gross and threatens a competent...
By now, you’ve probably seen several articles about the poor monetization in Pokemon Unite, often based on Reddit posts or streamer hot takes. Most talk about pay-to-win play, though the better ones...
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The Soapbox: World of Warships’ aggressive monetization incited a mass-exodus...
Gaming monetization has been a topic of intense conversation ever since box copies of software diminished in favor of persistent online experiences. Subscription services entered the scene but...
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The Soapbox: #DayOffTwitch illustrates how good intentions break under bad...
Those of you reading this probably know me as someone who wears one of three hats here at MOP: a news writer, the Choose My Adventure columnist, and one of MOP’s streamers. It’s that third job that I...
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The Soapbox: Single-player open worlds will never equal those of MMORPGs
These days it seems like sprawling open worlds are becoming an ever more popular choice for single-player games, from the newer Assassin’s Creed titles to the upcoming Horizon Forbidden West. Despite...
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The Soapbox: SWTOR’s Legacy of the Sith is bad, but not for the reasons...
I’ve never been a big Star Wars fan, but I am a big BioWare fan, and after many failed attempts to get into the game, Star Wars: The Old Republic finally won me over after Knights of the Fallen Empire...
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From the Depths: Everything we know about Wargaming’s exit from Russia
Mixing gaming and politics is rough. Think back to the Blitzchung fiasco for Blizzard back in 2019. Or when Daybreak was (and then wasn’t) owned by Columbus Nova, which itself was owned (and then...
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The Soapbox: Are modern games more disposable than ever?
Atlas Rogues went out not with a bang but a whimper. I forgot it even existed. And after it closes July 5th, it’s gone. Of course there’s always hope that a dedicated fan will do the legwork to get...
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The Soapbox: Fallout 76 absolutely needs better social tools to thrive
Unpopular opinion time: I have to say that Fallout 76… is kind of a great game right now. I know that the launch and ensuing year(s) of disastrous responses on the part of Bethesda burned all sorts of...
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The Soapbox: WoW’s talent trees don’t deserve your nostalgia
As World of Warcraft‘s Dragonflight expansion marches into alpha testing, we’re getting more glimpses at its new/old talent system, which harkens back to the talent trees of yore. Some have welcomed...
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The Soapbox: Why diversifying your MMO gaming is the smart thing to do
Allow me to indulge in some retrospection for a moment as I sit back on my rocker, squint into the fading afternoon light, and recall the “good ol’ days.” Well, the “ol’ days” at least. Different days....
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The Soapbox: Comparing the monetization of physical and digital card games
Earlier this week, we reported on the recent Blizzard survey about a possible Hearthstone sub. When I read the news, I almost choked on the sourdough jack I was noshing on as I accidently blurted,...
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The Soapbox: Subscriptions might actually be the next big innovation in...
What started earlier this week as a rant on how bad an idea a subscription model in Hearthstone would be evolved into something more: a Soapbox comparing the economies of traditional TCGs and digital...
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The Soapbox: Hating on the competition is no way to promote an MMO
Recently, RIFT was back in the news, offering free subscription time to new and returning players. While I salute Gamigo’s generosity here, whenever the topic of RIFT comes up, I can’t help but think...
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The Soapbox: MMO housing is so much more than a frivolous feature
When The Sims launched in 2000, what seemed like a dull and laughable concept on paper proved to be one of the most compelling video game experiences of all time. Messing around with a virtual...
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The Soapbox: Raiding isn’t the problem with World of Warcraft
It is by now clear that World of Warcraft‘s Dragonflight expansion hasn’t exactly set the world on fire. This has set off another round of the MMO community’s favourite gameshow, “Why Is World of...
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The Soapbox: A belated The Secret World post-mortem
This weeks marks the eleventh anniversary of the launch of The Secret World. While the game is still playable (for those with existing accounts), it has been relegated to the semi-death of maintenance...
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The Soapbox: Why The Secret World really failed
We’re back with part two of my long-overdue post-mortem of The Secret World, my favourite MMORPG of all time. In the first part I addressed the oft-hated combat, how the flaw was probably not the...
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The Soapbox: The day my son lost his first online video game to a sunset
It was a few weeks back that I walked into our family room and saw my 14-year-old son crouched over the iPad with a watch in hand doing something very meticulous and intentional. I paused and asked,...
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The Soapbox: Why Cryptic’s MMOs are the epitome of comfort gaming
They say you never forget your first kiss. I honestly can’t recall much about mine, but I do vividly remember the day that I ran to the store before work to grab a copy of City of Heroes for its...
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The Soapbox: How Vanguard’s diplomacy system could be revived and improved
Once upon a time there was an MMORPG called Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. It wasn’t the most popular MMO, but it did cultivate a loyal fanbase due to its innovative features that attempted to push the...
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The Soapbox: The real cost of breaking trust with gamers
There’s a quote going around these days in gaming spheres about trust being like a broken vase that can be fixed but will never be the same – and with good reason. Even though most gamers don’t really...
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The Soapbox: Will Diablo IV’s Vessel of Hatred be a sufficient answer for...
Everyone loves a good enrage timer, right? It puts pressure on everyone involved in a raid or boss fight to pull their weight and play well enough to ensure the boss doesn’t do its unstoppable...
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Some Assembly Required: Grand Theft Online roleplay is a tough nut to crack
A few months ago, I discovered the world of Red Dead Online roleplay. The possibility of interacting with other players and discovering mechanics in the world of RDO was an interesting diversion from...
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The Soapbox: In defence of World of Warcraft Cataclysm
When Blizzard announced Cataclysm Classic servers for World of Warcraft, there was some bemusement in the broader MMORPG community. Cataclysm has always been controversial, and to this day a lot of...
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The Soapbox: The ‘problem’ with MMO hoarding
I remember a number of years ago, in an article for a game I can’t recall, an MMO developer discussed how an early build of his crafting game allowed for unlimited bag space. On paper, it sounded...
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The Soapbox: Hearthstone is probably in for another boring year in 2024
I recently got a survey in my email on Hearthstone and its future. The last time a Hearthstone survey got sent out, the idea of a subscription model for the game wasn’t received super well. It prompted...
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The Soapbox: Casuals and soloers need challenging MMO content too
In a recent press Q&A around the announcement of Elder Scrolls Online‘s Gold Road chapter, Zenimax creative director Rich Lambert appeared to dismiss the idea of offering more challenging open...
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The Soapbox: Why I’m OK with ‘missing’ attacks in City of Heroes
The other day in the MassivelyOP work chat, we were talking about City of Heroes. Shocking, I know. But I’ve mentioned before that I never played the game while it was live, and so one of the things I...
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The Soapbox: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail, mortality, remembrance, and last...
Earlier this week, at least at the time of this op ed’s writing, I completed the main story for Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail, and overall I came away extremely pleased. There were certainly some...
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The Soapbox: Why MMOs are the ultimate creature comforts
As long as I can remember, I’ve been an avid fan of re-consuming my favorite forms of media. I used to read the same Star Trek novels over and over again, replayed my favorite computer games on an...
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The Soapbox: If MMO classes aren’t broken, please leave ’em alone
Last week was a pretty big one for Lord of the Rings Online. The 17-year-old MMO opened up a pair of new progression servers, introduced its second-ever hobby with birdwatching, injected some real life...
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The Soapbox: Feeling the FOMO effect of positive MMO news
It was the other week that I saw the very unexpected headline right here on MOP: “Daybreak bought Palia studio Singularity 6 and aims to bring the game to launch.” And just like that, in the span of a...
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The Soapbox: Paid MMO headstarts foster segregation and resentment in...
The weekend before World of Warcraft: The War Within‘s global launch was not the same as past launches. In the lead up to the past nine expansions, the entire community would be holding vigil together...
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The Soapbox: The War Within is the best World of Warcraft’s endgame has ever...
When I delivered my first impressions of The War Within, I was full of praise for World of Warcraft‘s latest expansion, but I did offer the caveat that I hadn’t yet explored its endgame in depth and...
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The Soapbox: The Dauntless Awakening update is just as bad as advertised for...
I was hoping against hope that I wouldn’t have to write that headline. I’ve been a Dauntless fan and player for many years now, getting into the game during its final alpha, playing through several...
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