Posts tagged brianna-royce-tdg 
The Daily Grind: Do you stay loyal to your MMO guild?
When I joined a guild in Ultima Online in 1997, I had no idea I was going to still be in a version of that guild almost 15 years later. Heck, I doubt I even realized that MMOs would still be a thing 15 years later! But from chatting with my fellow Massively staffers and you lovely readers, I've ...
The Daily Grind: Do you wait for MMO cash-shop sales?
When Lord of the Rings Online first went free-to-play, Turbine put quest zones on sale for a song, and I missed it. There's never been as good a sale since, and I regret being slow on the draw. So I vowed to start watching sales across the F2P games I frequent very carefully. Sparklepony for 10 ...
The Daily Grind: How much character customization is too much?
Forty million. That's how many fashion combinations Spirit Tales is boasting. Forget, for a moment, whether you are a fan of Anime-inspired MMOs and cutesy fare and consider that staggering number on its merits. I don't think players are really confused by a mind-numbing array of options. ...
The Daily Grind: Must MMO housing be open-world to be good?
Whenever the Great MMO Housing debate rears its head, the "of course MMOs ought to have housing" players usually drown out the curmudgeons who lack decorating skills and prefer to live out of their banks and sleep on a bedroll on the public streets (you know who you are!). And then, inevitably, ...
The Daily Grind: Are cash-shop lotteries a black mark on MMOs?
Western players gripe about random number generators, especially when it comes to cash shops. Many of us rebel against paying for lockboxes in Star Trek Online, TCG cards in the now-defunct Star Wars Galaxies, and super-packs in City of Heroes because we want to buy a thing, not a chance at a ...
The Daily Grind: How far would you go for cosmetic gear?
Massively's got so many cosmetic-gear gurus and sandbox aficionados on staff that sometimes I suspect no amount of character customization and housing and achievements and titles would ever be enough for us. We'd do just about anything for more ways to distinguish our characters in an MMO. But ...
The Daily Grind: Do you use mobile authenticators?
A recent listener of the Massively Speaking podcast sparked a lively debate about the mobile authenticators that MMO companies are so fond of asking us to use as an extra layer of security for our accounts. He suggested that companies that encourage authenticators are doing so less for our ...
The Daily Grind: Do MMO studios owe us item restoration?
MMOs vary widely in their account and item restoration policies. In some games, like some of NCsoft's offerings, if you're hacked or you lose access to your account because your memory is toast, it's game over unless you happen to have your original account key. In games like Lord of the Rings ...
The Daily Grind: Have you ever facerolled MMO content?
I've recently returned to World of Warcraft and was surprised to find a much more complex game than when I left (contrary to popular lore in our comments). Several of the classes have been revamped mechanically to be far more interesting and layered, and new dungeon encounters are frequently ...
The Daily Grind: Do you think gear level should gate content?
When I returned to World of Warcraft a few weeks ago, my more hardcore guildies were in a rush to show me the newest sights and latest dungeons. I don't blame them; they didn't want to run regular dungeons when they could be doing the shiniest heroic content and most cutting-edge encounters. But ...
