As the month of November approached, I got to reminiscing about BlizzCon. For those of us that loved World of Warcraft and used to play it, the yearly BlizzCon event held by Blizzard was an obligatory annual MMORPG pilgrimage. Even long after I stopped playing, I would pay the $40 for the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket just to see the Blizzard artists and designers talk about their craft and a genre I love. This year I was seriously contemplating purchasing the BlizzCon 2016 PPV event dubbed by Blizzard as a cerebration of epic games and an epic community. But after reading reports that many of the World of Warcraft panels would not be live-streamed, I declined. After watching the opening ceremony and some of the panels on YouTube I am glad I didn’t waste my money. The BlizzCon that I was hoping would rekindle my passion for WoW wasn’t the BlizzCon I remembered. In the early days of BlizzCon, the fare was mostly about WoW. But the BlizzCon of today is all about e-sports and the … [Read more...] about World of Warcraft’s Diminishing Presence at BlizzCon 2016
World warcraft shirts
Brand New Content For World of Warcraft’s Battle For Azeroth Expansion Arrives
In the latest content now available in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, two Allied Races join the fight, new Tools of the Trade bring twists to players’ professions, and a mystery is brewing at the Brawler’s Guild. Play as a Zandalari Troll or Kul Tiran Human Over the course of countless trials and on the frontlines of the Battle of Dazar’alor, the heroes of the Alliance and the Horde have forged unbreakable bonds with their new Kul Tiran human and Zandalari troll allies. Players who’ve proven their worth can now officially recruit and play as one of these proud Allied Races. Master Your Craft with Tools of the Trade Players with crafting professions can now embark on quests to earn special Tools of the Trade that provide unique bonuses or abilities. Mend the fabric of reality and gather cloth displaced across time with Synchronous Thread for Tailoring. Siphon the blood of the dead and write Blood … [Read more...] about Brand New Content For World of Warcraft’s Battle For Azeroth Expansion Arrives
From the World of Warcraft quest log: Battle for Azeroth edition
Every once in a while during my play sessions, I’ll encounter a quest log entry that grabs my interest for one reason or another. Yes, I actually read the quest text. And yes, there’s actually some good writing in these if you slow down enough to take them in. So today I wanted to share four of them from Battle for Azeroth. This quest wasn’t particularly notable except for the surprise appearance of Calvin and Hobbs as major NPCs in this one region. Of course I was a big fan of the comic strip, and it’s great to see an homage to them in-game. As long as it’s not too obnoxious, I do like these kinds of references. Seems like they amuse the devs, so why not amuse me as well! I thought this job posting did excessively well on being both funny and developing some of the culture of this region in Kul Tiras. From this one entry, I can deduce that there’s a bit of a class schism and can sense that it’s more an issue of pride and identity more than … [Read more...] about From the World of Warcraft quest log: Battle for Azeroth edition
World of Warcraft is bringing in Free T-Shirt Day as a micro-holiday in patch 8.1.5
If you’re not happy with the state of World of Warcraft at the moment, perhaps what would change your mind are free shirts. It couldn’t hurt, right? Hence the addition of the Free T-Shirt Day as a new micro-holiday, which is the first micro-holiday allowing players to get permanent rewards in the form of… well, shirts. New epic gear it is not, but it’s still free shirts! It should make non-Demon Hunters happy. The holiday itself has NPCs walking through Orgrimmar and Stormwind firing little wrapped bundles of shirt goodness, which can be picked up to acquire a variety of different extant shirts in the game. You can also get the temporary title “T-Shirt Enthusiast” if you do, in fact, have a shirt equipped at the time when you pick up a shirt. So if you want more shirts but don’t want to do the work to get them through other ways, look forward to following someone with a shirt cannon around for a while. Everybody needs a hobby. … [Read more...] about World of Warcraft is bringing in Free T-Shirt Day as a micro-holiday in patch 8.1.5
GDC 2018: Ready Player One Now, billion person gaming, and mitigating abuse
It’s no surprise that Ready Player One was constantly being referenced at GDC 2018, especially in VR, AR, and MMO panels. It’s not just because of the movie’s release but because the tech involved is seeing a surge of interest. That doesn’t mean we’re on the cusp, in my opinion, but it may be a thing we should start talking about. And talking about it we did. As Bill Roper of Improbable and SpatialOS recently told me, “The next generation of online games isn’t going to behave like current-generation MMOs. […] We don’t know what a billion-person game might look like, but it’s likely to include a wide variety of playstyles, to reflect the diversity of its playerbase.” Even if you’re a cynic and don’t think SpatialOS will play any part of this future, Roper’s very much on the mark: Billion-person gaming isn’t going to be like our current MMOs. Roper moderated a panel on the topic, … [Read more...] about GDC 2018: Ready Player One Now, billion person gaming, and mitigating abuse