I have had numerous guilds collapse because of summer over the years. Vacations, school breaks, Honey Do lists, gardening, general desire to go outside, there are plenty of reasons one’s indoor entertainment may be curtailed during this time. Mine certainly has. Drastically.
No matter my current state of MMOG enjoyment, I still keep my ear to the ground (gotta write about something!). Trailers, cinematics, class reveals, screenshots, no matter the form of information, I gobble it up on a variety of titles. I continue to absorb information on each for very specific reasons.
Let me tell you them.
Guild Wars 2: ArenaNet’s second crack at the market is the closest thing to a WoW-a-like on this list. The game continues to draw me in with innovative ideas and iterations to last-generation MMOG tropes. Streaminlined questing, advanced public quests, fast-action combat, resurrections for all, a new, deep world. Each time I’ve seen the title at a convention there’s been a new feature that leaves me impressed.
TERA: TERA has been a joy to play. The world is unique with hardlined races, genders and classes. The combat is fast paced, dependent on intellect and positioning and flat out fun. Warfare is visceral enough to set hearts a pumpin’ and adrenaline a flowin’. The battles against the epic monsters, random mobs of enormous proportions and angry demeanors, are so enjoyable that it raiding isn’t even needed. I’d be as happy starfish in a clam shoal with a swath of dungeons as the endgame. The visual are absolutely stunning to boot.
Dragon Nest: Dragon Nest’s art scheme is rather deceiving. It’s not some quirky casual game. In fact, it’s quite hardcore, with much the same combat mechanics as TERA. TERA light, if you will. That fact, and its F2P business model, keep it on my radar. Not something that can be said for any other anime styled title.
World of Warplanes: World of Tanks is boatloads of fun. Boats that are full of Mauses (Mausi?). The new WoW (WoWp?) intrigues me on a variety of levels. Blowing crap up chief among them. Planes, well, they’re always fun. However, on a design level I am eagerly waiting for more details on its strategy and replayability. Much of the fun of WoT comes from the randomly chosen map, instantly devising a strategy for it and adopting to the terrain as the blitzkrieg rolls. Being in the air adds the z-axis, but I fail to see how it can remain as engrossing with the loss of environmental strategy.