Karen Bryan
Columnist -
Karen is a mother, guild leader, writer, podcaster, and gamer. When she’s not charging into battle with her guild, she’s usually talking about games on any podcast she can crash. She writes two weekly columns for Massively: The Tattered Notebook, which covers EverQuest II, and The Guild Counsel, which looks at common issues in guild management.
Karen Bryan's Latest Posts
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A land corrupted and a city under seige: A look at GU63 with the EQII team
This coming Tuesday, EverQuest II will launch Game Update 63, and with it comes a bevy of dragons, new content, a level cap increase, and much more. Recently, EQII Producer Holly "Windstalker" Longdale and Game Designer Carlos "Gninja" Mora took the time to talk about the update and lead a tour ...
The Tattered Notebook: Skyshrine, mercs, Qeynos, and shields that roar
For those gamers who have been patiently waiting to hear about GU63, the past few weeks have been a treat. We've shown off a few trailers on Massively, the official site has hosted a couple of team interviews, and even the SOE Twitch TV channel has been focused on EverQuest II. In fact, the ...
The Guild Counsel: What the WoW speed dating video really tells us about gaming
Over on YouTube, amid the sea of boring, mindless, drivel-filled videos are a few gems that capture worldwide attention and have become iconic. Numa Numa, the evolution of dance, and of course, Charlie bit my finger are all so well-known that they've become part of the lexicon. So when I watched ...
Fishing, survival, and dragons: The Trion Team talks about RIFT's 1.8 update
As the Carnival of the Ascended draws to a close and the last of the piñatas and balloons are put away from RIFT's first birthday, Update 1.8 is just around the corner. It's full of new content, including the new raid zone Infernal Dawn, fishing and survival skills, and lots of game ...
Enter at Your Own Rift: Fishin' and survivin'
One of the parts of the recent RIFT producer's letter that caught my eye was the hint that there will soon be more to do in game besides "stab" stuff. Maybe I'm mellowing in my old age, or perhaps it's because of my inner Bartle explorer player-type, but I'm enjoying activities in MMOs that don't ...
The Tattered Notebook: The great big news roundup
One thing you just can't say about EverQuest II is that there's a lack of news coming from the game. In fact, there's been so much going on both in game and out that this week's Tattered Notebook is devoted to a great big roundup. We'll look at developer remarks on Skyshrine, tweaks to the AA ...
The Guild Counsel: The six most embarrassing things you can do in a guild
There are some things in life that just go hand in hand, like peanut butter and jelly, Bert and Ernie, sun and sand, and guilds and embarrassing moments. In fact, one thing that makes guild life so memorable is our collection of those little screw-ups that leave us laughing and wondering what on ...
MMO Family: Do kids belong in guilds?
In my regular columns at Massively, I enjoy taking a look at various topics surrounding family-friendly MMOs and common issues in guild management. So it seemed natural to take the two subjects and combine them for this week's MMO Family. Gamers are growing older, and we're seeing an increasing ...
The Tattered Notebook: A scenic tour of the Withered Lands
As we get closer to April 17th, more and more is being revealed about what's in EverQuest II's Game Update 63. Fortunately, much of it is on the test server, so players can pop in, check things out, and not have to worry about an NDA. I decided to head over, and since I already had a character ...
The Guild Counsel: Time for a mutiny!
In last week's Guild Counsel, we looked at some of the qualities required of guildleaders for those who might be thinking of trying it out. But what if you're someone who's already a member of a guild? If I had a nickel for every time a guild member thought to himself, "I could do a better job," ...
