Septuagenarian definition history

Play EVE Online for freeOne of the most common comments you’ll see in articles about big events in EVE Online is that it’s a lot more entertaining to read about than to play, and that’s certainly true if what you’re reading is Empires of EVE. Written by EVE Historian Andrew Groen back in 2015 and published thanks to the support of over 3,000 players through a crowdfunding campaign, Empires of EVE tells the story of some of EVE‘s earliest and most deadly wars and political schisms. Cutting through all of the propaganda and player self-motivations in a political sandbox like EVE is no small task, and it’s complicated by over a decade of shifting loyalties, misinformation, propaganda, and misremembered events. Andrew is uniquely equipped to cut through many of those issues, collecting as accurate historical records as possible and delivering it all as a coherent, deeply compelling narrative that even plenty of non-players have thoroughly enjoyed. Andrew … [Read more...] about EVE Fanfest 2018: Andrew Groen on the sequel to his popular EVE Online history book

It was just a couple of days ago when Bree was sharing that I felt like Wrath of the Lich King was the best World of Warcraft has ever been. But was it actually the best, or is that a matter of memory tilting it to be the best? I mean, that game was released a decade ago when I was still living in a house without air conditioning. I’ve moved twice since then, lots of new games have come out, we finally got a decent Mega Man game. There have been changes. Of course, at a glance I’m not inclined to change that particular viewpoint… but there are people who have argued that Legion is, in fact, the best expansion in the game’s history. And one of the benefits of this particular format is that I go in without a clear picture ahead of time; it’s all about putting together totals based on the criteria laid out. So let’s actually put these two expansions head-to-head. Wrath of the Lich King vs. Legion: Two expansions enter, one leaves as the best expansion … [Read more...] about Epic MMO Battles of History: World of Warcraft’s Wrath of the Lich King vs. Legion

For the longest time in the early 2000s, MMORPGs scared me off. They looked too obtuse, too grindy, too ugly, and too unapproachable for my tastes. It took a special title to really draw me in with its more casual friendly structure and colorful graphics. In early 2004, I found myself entranced with this superhero MMO that let me be whatever type of caped (or non-caped) crusader I wanted to be. From then on, there was no going back with my interest in these types of games. I assume that many MMO gamers owe a great debt to City of Heroes for the way that it introduced, encouraged, and excited them about MMOs. It was a new type of online game, one that boasted an unbelievably flexible character creator and invested in the fantasy of playing as a superhero fighting villains all across Paragon City. Today we’re going to kick off a Game Archaeologist series looking back at City of Heroes. And as with any remarkable superhero, we have to begin with its origin story. Where did it come … [Read more...] about The Game Archaeologist: Digging up the history of City of Heroes

Play EverQuest II NowBack in 2013, I took a walk through the annals of the EverQuest franchise’s history. What started as one title not only blossomed into a fill franchise including a number of games, books, and more, but also shaped a good share of our MMOverse to come. The creating studio (then Sony Online Entertainment, now Daybreak) couldn’t have known then how much EQ would still be influencing game design years later. Much has changed in the life of the franchise since that first delve into the past, both in births and deaths. More expansions have been added, and more games have been lost. Here’s a look at the vastness that is Norrath now. In the beginning In the beginning, there was EverQuest . And the devs saw that it was good. And they nurtured it, and it grew. Oh, how it grew! And grew, and grew… The game that launched the franchise launched itself on March 16th, 1999. Over the almost 20 years of EQ’s life (are you ready for a big 20th … [Read more...] about EverQuesting: The history of the EverQuest franchise

Eleven years ago this week, the New Game Enhancements patch descended on Star Wars Galaxies, forever changing the trajectory of the game, SOE, and maybe even sandbox MMORPGs in general by completely uprooting the character development process of the MMO and gutting beloved professions, not to mention breaking essential pieces of the game’s crafting economy. The ensuing fallout caused a mass-exodus from the game, tarnished gamer trust in SOE, and guaranteed that we’d still be talking about it more than a decade later. And though I’ve long argued that the game that sunsetted in 2011 was as far removed from the NGE as the NGE was from the game that launched in 2003, I’m first in line to declare that the NGE implemented in 2005 was an unmitigated disaster. For this edition of Massively Overthinking, I don’t want to talk about Star Wars Galaxies’ NGE. I want to talk about all the other NGEs in MMORPG history — all those other massive … [Read more...] about Massively Overthinking: The many ‘NGE’ moments across MMORPG history