LAGWAR | GAMING'S BEST IN TOP NOTCH MEDIOCRITY

As most people who read these columns know I am a so-called “lore whore”. I do not PvP. In the rare instances that I do, I generally die. Often. And frequently. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to be the A-Rod of arenas, it is just that my proficiency at PvP mirrors my proficiency at basketball – nonexistent. Like basketball or football the skill set required for excelling at high levels of arena play is rare, and requires extensive practice to hone. Similar to football, basketball, or any major sport watching the best players matched up head to head can be quite entertaining. So why isn’t WoW arenas a sport or Starcraft 2 for that matter? Will they ever be? Read on for my thoughts on the future of “e-sports”.

I am absolutely horrible at basketball. Just really, really bad. Ever seen a Harlem Globetrotters game against the Generals? Well pretty much anyone looks like the Globetrotters when matched against me. I can’t pass, I can’t shoot, I can’t dribble – and despite 16 years of playing soccer and developing some freakishly disproportionate leg muscles – I can’t jump either. Luckily no one is ever going to inform me out of the blue that I have to give up my job and become a basketball player. Our characters in MMO’s though are sometimes asked to do just that: change roles. How do you deal with it?

If there’s one common thread that ties American MMOs together, it’s their unfailing ability to hype their product beyond all reasonable expectations. MMOs are saviors and inasmuch as games like Guild Wars 2 try to “challenge the conventions” they proclaim their MMO-messiahship with twisting tongues. The irony of focusing on day one box sales in [...]

Last night something akin to a small hurricane hit the town that I live in. Thunder boomed, rain came down in sheets, and the wind blew. The wind blew hard enough to completely topple a huge tree near my apartment complex that resulted in power outages– so no WoW last night. Initially I was disappointed by my lack of entertainment-giving electricity, it would ruin my plans to…run ICC – no, farm frost badges…no, kill Halion again? Nope. I wasn’t doing that either. I realized that even if I had electricity there really wasn’t anything in WoW I was planning to do. Judging by the desertion I’ve seen in Dalaran recently I am betting that many of you feel the same way. We are all in the same boat – waiting on the expansion, and if it seems harder to wait this time than other times – it’s because it is.

My original plan was that as the expansion neared release I would be writing you fanciful stories of the beta and the glimmering new coat of paint Blizzard was putting on our old friend Azeroth. Unfortunately, apparently due to several large scale e-mail errors, I have yet to receive my beta invitation. So instead I am stuck reading other people’s posts and looking at screenies with the “common man” like some sort of punished beast of burden! Since I haven’t been able to immerse myself in Cataclysm – I have been resorting to playing a little Starcraft 2 on the side. After a week or so of playing one thing is certain – SC2 has learned a lot from WoW.

I have a confession to make. Sometimes, I’m a little snarky. I can be quick to judge. And, you know what happens? A developer comes along and decides to comment on my blog. The first time, it was Paul Barnett. This time, it was Scott Hartsman. Both good guys and open to the community. I [...]

My original plan was that as the expansion neared release I would be writing you fanciful stories of the beta and the glimmering new coat of paint Blizzard was putting on our old friend Azeroth. Unfortunately, apparently due to several large scale email errors, I have yet to receive my beta invitation. So instead I am stuck reading other people’s posts and looking at screenies with the “common man” like some sort of punished beast of burden! But fear not, for I trudge on with the best* non-Cataclysm WoW commentary on the internet (Note: “best” is an opinion and since this is my article, it’s my opinion…). This week we are going to focus on something that I think we take for granted in WoW, something that makes Azeroth the vibrant world (soon-to –be-remade) that we all love, the continuous world.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve had the opportunity to pop back and forth between a lot of games. I’ll admit, most of these are theme park games, so I’m just trading in my ticket for a different set of rides. Every so often, however, there’s a good sandbox that begs to be played [...]

Can I have your undivided attention? Not anymore. That is what guild leaders around Azeroth will find this week. Tuesday marks the start of the new raid week and the release of Starcraft 2. Good luck filling those raids guild leaders, the lack of new content until Cataclysm and Starcraft 2 are going to take a double-whammy on your raid attendance. Be prepared for no-shows as previously iron clad tanks drop their swords for the chance to control siege tanks, as rogues vanish from your guild roster to appear as ghosts targeting nuclear strikes, and as your most dependable players switch their mastery of guild mechanics for a mastery of micro-mechanics.

As a self-proclaimed MMO Nomad, I make it a point to spread my playtime out over multiple titles. The problem is that most MMOs aren’t designed to be anything other than a main game; MMO designers expect you to take their baby and make it your own. It’s a common thought that playing more than [...]