When someone mentions MMORPGs, there’s a really good chance that World of Warcraft is the first thing that comes to mind. It’s easily the most popular, and it’s certainly the model that so many other games in the genre have tried to emulate. Let’s face it – World of Warcraft is an undisputed success, still pumping strong even eight years after its initial release. Even non-gamers are pretty... 

Most of you have probably already figured this out, but MMOs – especially MMORPGs – are not what the regular, non-gaming public thinks of when you mention video games. I remember my own opinions of WoW before I started playing, when it was just my son and (ex)husband who were the addicts; despite the fact that I very much enjoyed console games, WoW seemed like it had too much attraction –... 

The time has come to look at the bigger picture in Azeroth and see what else is going on outside of Darnassus and Orgrimmar.  World of Warcraft has obliterated subscriber and subscription records for any online game to date by creating a solid world with oodles of things to do – even if you aren’t a gamer – and holding the attention of those signing into the servers more than any other... 

My guild turned 5 in December, but I’m conflicted over whether this is technically a birthday or an anniversary. Whichever it is, it’s gonna be a PARTAY! I’ve watched as other guilds on my server celebrate their anniversaries in grand style – one threw a drunken raid of ICC, and another throws a grand Gala every year. One night of partying isn’t nearly enough for my guild,... 

When Dragon Soul was released I vented about the ease of the current raid tier content and predicted that it would drive hardcore raiders away. And though I haven’t studied world logs and kept up with the actual statistics, anecdotal evidence indicates that I was pretty much on the money: a lot of higher-skilled players have left and progression on our server (and others) slowed to a near-stop. Blizzard... 

I cleaned up my guild roster this past week – “housekeeping”, I call it. We have a guild policy regarding inactivity which states that all toons (including alts) may be kicked if they’re inactive for more than 30 days. This is as much to ensure that we keep an active roster as it is to ease the headache of knowing who is who.  With more than 100 alts running around the guild, many of whom... 

At long last the group has finally caught up to Deathwing.  With the assistance of Thrall, the Dragon Aspects, and the Dragon Soul itself, at last there’s a real good chance of taking out the Destroyer.  Well, at least there would be, if Thrall could get in another good shot with the Dragon Soul.  Fortunately he has a pretty impressive group of heroes standing by, just ready to take on such an... 

After an extended break, we’re finally back!  Although come on now, don’t say you didn’t enjoy the holiday vacation.  And if you skipped out on visiting family because you had a raid scheduled, shame on you!  That is, unless your whole family is in the raiding business…?  In which case, well, sure hope you got that shiny new epic you wanted.  Holidays aside, we have work to do if we’re... 

I haven’t left WoW. A number of my friends have, sadly, but I am still here and still looking for ways to keep it fresh and interesting. Although that includes some creative use of time outside of WoW (which has, in turn, made my in-game time far more precious, since I have a ton to do in a lot less time), I have also ventured to other realms to see what the communities are like there. A fun (or... 

Happy New Year! Chris and Rafe get together to talk about their Christmas video game swag (Catherine for Chris, Batman: Arkham Asylum and City for Rafe). We follow up on a few stories we’ve talked about in the past few episodes – responses to that awesome Modern Warfare advertising Rafe liked and the Half-Life rumors) before discussing more in depth thoughts about Star Wars: The Old...