My Favorite MMO Menu Themes

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Atlas Reactor, blade and soul, city of heroes, master x master, MMO, mmo music, mmorpg, mmorpg music, music, ost, paladins, soundtrack, splatoon, theme, wildstar

This is a softball topic of a blog, but that’s because I feel like I’ve been hit in the head with a softball. In other words, my skull is just absolutely throbbing. But more than that, I just wanted to write a positive and happy MMO thing today and few things make me happier than a good MMO tune.

MMO soundtracks are generally throwaway things, but there are occasions where a song in a game will strike me just right. So I decided, since it’s Valentine’s Day, to show a little love to my favorite MMO menu themes.

Stocking the Bomb Shelter

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bomb shelter, closure, games, gaming, lovely people, memories, MMO, mmorpg, shutdown, sunset, wildstar

So it was my unfortunate task to report that WildStar is such a non-factor in NCSoft’s eye that they’ve outright stopped including the IP in their quarterly reports as of Q4 2016. While they haven’t completely expunged the game from the record, relegating it instead to the “Other Sales” segment of their quarterly and yearly earnings, it still is a very worrying thing, especially as we all bear in mind the company we’re dealing with here.

In fact, it’s the behavior of that very company that prompted this post. NCSoft is very good at cutting the things away from them that they feel are hurting their bottom line, and the reshuffle of WildStar as an inconsequential IP has me reliving City of Heroes all over again. Recalling how I got through that closure, I decided to share an idea on how fans can possibly deal with the end of their favorite MMO.

You can start off as a sad Chua, but you’ve got to move on from there.

30 Videogame Answers, No Likes Part 2

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carbine studios, classic games, eve online, final fantasy iv, final fantasy ix, final fantasy vi, games, gaming, MMO, mmorpg, modern games, ratchet and clank, rpg, splatoon, uncharted, wildstar

So a couple of days ago I decided to turn an image that was circulating around Twitter in to a writing prompt. Which, overall, felt like a good idea but it ran awfully long. So this here’s part two of that blog!

I’m also re-using this image just because.

The Sunday Bundle – Jan 29 2017

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ark: survival evolved, camelot unchained, final fantasy xiv, game news, gaming news, MMO, mmo gaming, mmo news, mmorpg, news, revelation online, sandbox, the sunday bundle, wildstar

As the news editor for MMOGames, I see a bunch of stories crawl across my feeds, and there are a few of these I have thoughts on or that strike my fancy enough that I’d like to expand upon them. That’s what this segment is all about; The Sunday Bundle.

This week’s world news has been…difficult, to say the least. If you’ve been following current events and my personal Twitter, I apologize for not exactly using the latter to help folks escape from the former. It’s my fervent hope that this week’s edition of the Sunday Bundle will offer a bit of a breather from the maelstrom outside.

Let’s talk videogames, shall we?

Fanning Flames for Final Fantasy XIV

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burnout, final fantasy xiv, games, gaming, gaming burnout, MMO, mmo burnout, mmorpg, mmos, wildstar

MMO burnout. It’s a thing that every MMO gamer has gone through multiple times. Whether it’s specific to a single game or just general malaise at the genre entire, it’s kind of a regular cycle. Especially for those of us who play to raise stats and progress for hours on end over the course of months, like a nerdy flagellation in offering to Gary Gygax.

“Just a few more swings and my dailies are complete…”

So it is with myself and Final Fantasy XIV, and I wanted to babble on about why it’s happened and ideas on how to fix it.

A Skyplot Full of Headache

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building, decor, design, house build, housing, medical center, ohgodithurts, roleplay location, rp, skyplot, wildstar

I have a plan.

I have a vision.

After finally having put up the walls, I also now have crossed eyes and probably am bleeding out of my ears.  In short, building a large, cohesive house in WildStar is becoming one of the most exhausting, frustrating and rewarding experiences I have ever had in any MMO in immediate memory.

Who knew four walls would add up to so much?

A Noble Purpose

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bad guys, factions, final fantasy xiv, good guys, groups, narrative, the secret world, tribes, warring, wildstar, world of warcraft

Today’s Daily Grind question on Massively Overpowered got me considering factions in MMO’ing.  More specifically, how multifaceted factions are the more interesting than the flat black-versus-white sort that you see in some games.  Even World of Warcraft had pretty much foregone its Orcs vs. Humans narrative on…well, pretty much every open opportunity, near as I can tell.

“World of OccasionallyWarCraft” just doesn’t sound as snappy.

One of my favorite aspects of a multifaceted faction is the belief in their noble purpose.  The concept that they are truly right in their cause.  Even those who would be painted with the Evil Brush can have sides that are actually something to look up to.

Blaugust Day 30 – A Skyplot Full of Plans

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blueprint, Exile, home, housing, medical center, plan, roleplay, rp, skyplot, wildstar

A few days ago, I had written a blog about WildStar’s housing.  I also admitted to my own annoyance at my level of skill.  But, just like anything that requires an amount of skill or personal ability, that should only be able to improve with practice.  Kelzam Duskthorn himself has mentioned that he has made maps for old FPS games for a long time before entering WildStar, so it would stand to reason that he has all those many months or years of practice under his belt to aid him.

So, what if I really tried?  What if I applied myself to a concept, and really focused to make it come to life?  What if I also outlined this process as I go along for my blog?

Basically, I’m going to Bob Vila this shit.

Blaugust Day 29 – Screenshot Dumpin’

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dcuo, final fantasy xiv, landmark, scrapbook, screencap, screenie, screenshot, sim city, wildstar

Okay, I think I have an idea.  I’m sitting here staring at a blank text box while my husband watches some YouTube nonsense video I don’t know there’s a lot of swearing involved.  Which, admittedly, doesn’t narrow it down but anyway.

I have a lot of screenshots that I collect.  A lot of them from games that I’m not sure I play anymore or as much as I’d like.  So today, I decided to prompt myself by digging around in my pile of digital crap and start slapping up random shots.  It’s like scrapbooking but without any sort of really fancy decorations.

…this is a really creepy-ass example, actually. Whoa.

Blaugust Day 11 – A Skyplot Full of Dreams

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building, customization, house, housing, personal house, skyplot, wildstar

I had done a “Through Wolfy’s Eyes” write-up of WildStar as one of my first entries–something of a “signature” way of me writing a review that I tried to tie specifically with my blog.  However, I do intend to create new write-ups for MMO’s, especially since they are always changing.

That said, there was one part of WildStar that really deserves its own blog post. And that part is its housing.  It’s not only one of the signature features that this game has gotten correct right from the very start, but it has been a repeated source of both delight and frustration for me.