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  • World of Warcraft: Classic Will Outlive Retail & Its Clones

    World of Warcraft: Classic Will Outlive Retail & Its Clones

    World of Warcraft, the 800 lb gorilla of the MMORPG industry, has gained renewed popularity with the release of World of Warcraft: Classic, its subsequent expansions, and novelty servers. Even as the ashes of Activision Blizzard’s public reputation continue to smolder, Warcraft persists almost twenty years after its release. Despite having a new ‘retail’ expansion on the horizon, it feels that the longevity of WoW Vanilla will outlast not just its competition but its progeny as well whether Blizzard wants it to or not.

    Winter is Coming

    Massively multiplayer online role-playing games, like World of Warcraft, and Winter go together like blueberries and pie. For those living far enough from the equator for it to matter, the holiday season is cold, dark, and often lonely. Fantastic worlds of wonder and magic offer players an escape from their troubles and a “third place” to gather with other like-minded individuals. In search of a virtual world to make my home for the winter, I shuffled through my collection of MMORPGs to see what the space had to offer in 2023.

    Clearly, Final Fantasy is doing just fine. It’s not my cup of tea, but I’m glad folks are enjoying it and I wish I liked it more. Retail WoW offers me none of the joy that brought me to the scene as a child. Several new IPs have come and gone since I last paid for a Warcraft subscription, Wildstar, Rift, and Star Wars the Old Republic to name a few. The ones that were lucky enough to be put into maintenance mode offer me even less than World of Warcraft: the War Within. Other survivors market themselves as drastically different experiences, some attempting to recreate the magic of Ultima Online and others adopting a more action-oriented approach to combat. None of these experiences capture the fantasy of a massively multiplayer role-playing game: they’re unabashedly selling a product, showering new players in meaningless trinkets, and offering plenty more at the cost of an active monthly subscription.

    More Money, More Problems

    Money makes the world go round, but that’s not an excuse for bad game design. In an attempt to capture the success of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, many competitors rushed out similar products without realizing what made the original worth its weight in gorilla. With employee turnover, the ravages of time, and some level of incompetence, Blizzard eventually began acting more like one of its own competitors rather than the company that launched the World of Warcraft back in 2004.

    Deathwing helped reshape Blizzard as well as Azeroth.

    Beginning with WoW: Cataclysm, it was clear that the world had changed, but not for the better. Blizzard stubbornly fought against private servers and their administrators for years, openly admitting that they thought they knew better than their fanbase. What they really knew is that, if players got what they really wanted, the stockholders would lose money. The original World of Warcraft was such a well-made carrot-on-a-stick that the players seem to prefer it over whatever gold-plated turd Activision Blizzard continues to serve their retail subscribers. Conceding to the inevitable, they eventually released their own vanilla servers called World of Warcraft: Classic.

    Exploring the World

    What is it about the original Azeroth that keeps players coming back? The “World.” Every other game, more modern expansions included, attempted to copy the success of WoW but forgot that the staying power of an MMO lies in its core fantasy. In World of Warcraft, the player starts off as a meager adventurer and must travel, go on quests, and meet other players and virtual characters. Reaching the max level in Vanilla was not the be-all-end-all goal popularized by later expansions. Role-playing, traversing the world, and chatting with other players are some of the most fulfilling experiences that MMORPGs uniquely offer, yet the industry quickly shifted to focus on end-game dungeoneering and selling premium fashion via microtransactions.

    Keeping the magic of an MMORPG can be a daunting task given they are intrinsically designed to keep the player playing as long as possible to soak up as many subscription fees as possible. Whatever Stockholm Syndrome that MMO fans suffer from comes with the urge to go back to the familiar and continue adventuring, but the illusion fades quickly once the player looks behind the metaphorical curtain. Despite the risk of scams, bots, and server admin drama, players flock to private servers to cut out the middleman and enjoy their favorite game however they want to.

    World of Warcraft is worth replaying over and over because there is enough going on across both continents to keep any sane person engaged for years. The game was designed to be explored. Even the most common form of fast travel, flight paths, zeppelins, and boats, force the player to stop and smell the roses. Open-world games are about setting one’s own goals, so results may vary, but as long as a player is comfortable making their own path, they’ll have plenty of adventuring to do.

    Retail World of Warcraft and plenty of other MMOs fail to fulfill their fantasies from the beginning; not only can players pay for max-level characters but they hardly start out as lowly adventurers. I have no interest in paying to become a renowned warlord of a virtual realm; A. because it saps the “accomplishment” of all its meaning and B. without meaning, there’s no point in spending my time chasing the proverbial carrot. Any game that offers a free max level boost on their in-game shop is conceding that a majority of the “game” is worth paying hard-earned cash to skip.

    World of Warcraft: Classic offers an experience that no other MMO can; everything matters (within reason). Delving into a modern MMORPG often involves dodging landmines and trying to avoid any gameplay that is outdated, underdeveloped, or otherwise obsolete. It’s a tedious process that WoW Vanilla avoids by being a time capsule of a better time rather than a half-baked hedonistic treadmill meant to milk players for every cent they’re worth. Cataclysm marked a clear delineation between the old Blizzard and the new; not only could you not go back to the old Azeroth anymore, but most of the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King (two popular expansions) became irrelevant. WoW Vanilla, TBC, and WoTLK give players a clear beginning and end with a static playing field to explore without fear of mistakenly playing a part of the game that no longer matters. Blizzard proved that plenty of players are willing to pay their developers to stop developing their games for the sake of endless growth and stockholder earnings.

    What do you think? Are there other MMORPGs that are doing something new and interesting? Let me know in the comments below.

  • Fighting Game Combo Challenge Episode 8 – You’re Grounded!

  • Fighting Game Combo Challenge Episode 7 – Kameo Kombat

  • 5 Albums Worth Listening to Front to Back

    5 Albums Worth Listening to Front to Back

    Appreciating concept albums feels like something you age into, like bluegrass or vintage baseball card collecting. Not that the idea was lost on me in my youth, but that I didn’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about the structure of an album while listening to it. Another orbit around the sun is rapidly approaching and it feels like as good a time as any to share of my favorite albums to listen to front to back. The criteria are simple: bangers throughout that flow seamlessly from beginning to end. In no particular order, here are a few of the best ones that came to mind:

    Downward Spiral – Nine Inch Nails

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    Trent Reznor in his prime was something unique to behold. If Pretty Hate Machine is more your cup of tea, that’s also perfectly acceptable, but Downward Spiral is an impending tsunami of passion and anger that needs to be heard all the way through at least once. Drugs are a hell of a drug, but they do make fantastic music.

    Brown Album – Primus

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    Imagine yourself in a haze, wandering through a turn-of-the-century carnival haunted by the ghost of Frank Zappa. The circus master is named Les Claypool and the sideshow attractions double as the band. With that mindset, you may be prepared to feel the funk, jams, catchy lyrics, and bass-slapping goodness that Primus has to offer.

    Drunk – Thundercat

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    A one-two punch of another bassist-led project that includes plenty of funk and comedy mixed in equal measure, Thundercat’s “Drunk” is an enrapturing experience throughout. Unabashedly cool and nerdy at the same time, Thundercat slaps on all the right stings in a way that seems at times both a blast from the past and a gift from the future.

    Francis the Mute – The Mars Volta

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    The sophomore album from The Mars Volta holds no punches and explodes into a cavalcade of progressive rock virtuosity right from the first track. A concept album at its core, Francis the Mute borrows elements from a story written in a diary discovered in a repossessed car by the band’s former sound technician. If that sounds up your alley, then you are in for a wild ride.

    Steal This Album! – System of a Down

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    A fair combination of heavy metal, political activism, levity, and storytelling, System of a Down’s provocatively titled album stands out and demands to be heard. Not taking themselves too seriously while simultaneously talking about very serious topics can be a mixed bag, but Steal This Album! nails System’s quintessential sound without anything as corny as “Chop Suey” or conspiracy theorist-y as some of the lyrics on their freshman outing.

    Each individual’s music taste is molded just as much by their personality as their environment. In this way, sharing music becomes a channel through which people from all different backgrounds, cultures, and geographies can connect. What are some albums that shaped who you are? Let me know in the comments below.

  • Marvel Crisis Protocol – A New Hope for Tabletop Game Design

    Marvel Crisis Protocol – A New Hope for Tabletop Game Design

    Atomic Mass Games’ first entry into the tabletop skirmish arena Marvel Crisis Protocol stands apart from its peers at first blush. Not only is it based on Disney’s third most popular intellectual property, but MCP manages to be simple to play without speaking down to its players.

    Marvel Crisis Protocol epitomizes the tabletop skirmish game by giving players a short but engaging experience with just enough tools to create memorable moments and flex their strategic muscles. There aren’t a variety of play styles that segment the community between casual, narrative, and competitive players. Each game of MCP is played with the same ruleset.

    This accomplishment is especially important given the legacy of tabletop wargaming’s biggest model company. Games Workshop notoriously operates as a model making company first and a games company second. It’s taken AMG less than 3 years to create a tabletop strategy game that rivals the industry’s 800lb gorilla, but the question still remains whether their rise in popularity will last. For now, Marvel Crisis Protocol has become my favorite tabletop skirmish game and a mainstay at tabletop gaming conventions the world over.

    The catch is that I love MCP for a lot of the same reasons I disliked it at first blush. I’m a vocal proponent of low-component games or games that use components that gamers have access to already. Marvel utilizes proprietary 8-sided dice and measurement tools while also requiring at least 10 terrain pieces of various shapes and sizes. A lot of my concerns were quickly remedied by the existence of the original core set that provides all of the tools and terrain necessary to play. Is it a shame that folks need to buy a large box product to enjoy the game? Partially, but the core box is set up as a significant loss leader for AMG; it offers a lot of product at a discount to get folks into the game and make up the difference in return patronage.

    Now that a second core set is rapidly approaching (scheduled for an October release), Marvel Crisis Protocol doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. One of the most frequent compliments I’ve heard thus far is that the newer range of models from AMG represent a clear leap forward in model design, quality, and assembly. As a newer player, I was initially taken aback given just how great the original core box is, but I understand now that the difference is more in design philosophy rather than overall fidelity.

    The original core box is great for anyone who enjoys models that can take a beating and keep on kicking. More reliable than dynamic, the original Marvel Crisis Protocol models rely on heroic albeit static poses; Captain America is leading the charge but most are standing flat footed with hands on their proverbial hips. This means that even the most novice tabletop gamer can have fun without worrying about breaking their new toys.

    More modern miniatures show Marvel’s finest superheroes flying or jumping off of debris or enemy. The few over designed ones, like Carnage or Malekith, can be tricky to build and even more finicky to play. That shouldn’t be anything new to fans of Warhammer, but it showcases how too much of a good thing can be bad.

    Thankfully, AMG’s signature skirmish game captures its players attention during each step of tabletop gaming journey. From assembly to playing with painted models on the table, Marvel shines as a beacon of hope for the future of non-Games Workshop properties.

    Similar to games like Magic the Gathering and Warcry, it can often be just as fun to talk about and build squads as it is to play MCP. The out of game experience benefits greatly from the fashion in which factions are developed. Specific characters have leadership abilities that can be accessed by gathering a squad consisting of at least half that faction’s members. Instead of selecting an army in Warhammer, Marvel’s team building system allows each model to be a potential member of any squad. Each model is packaged with at least one other model, so each purchase offers the opportunity for further team building exploration.

    Not everything is rainbows and sunshine in Marvel land, but Atomic Mass Games has proven their ability to create stellar miniatures and games to go along with them. With their fourth anniversary on the horizon, I look forward to seeing what Marvel Crisis Protocol has to offer in the future.