So let's face it.  Most of us that play free MMORPGs play them for one of two reasons:

1) We don't have the money to play a subscription MMORPG

2) We don't have a credit card or other means to pay subscriptions

So what happens when we graduate from college or high school, get a real job, and are suddenly swimming in our new, glorious salaries?  The average college grad will make over $35,000 a year at an entry level job.  For a single, reasonably frugal individual living alone in an apartment, that's a lot of money still floating around each pay period.

Suddenly $13-15 a month isn't a big deal any more.  Suddenly that Playstation 3 is within reach.  Suddenly you're checking Amazon.com's prices on video games more often than you're checking mmosite.com for the latest free MMO to come out of Korea.

But there's a flipside.  Now you're *really* on your own.  Now you're working 40+ hours a week, taking care of your own finances and all the day-to-day living responsibilities.  Local friends, church, and other things are still vying for your time and you don't have as much of it as you used to.  Now, if you get on your favorite MMO, it'

Patch 2.3: Twinks become gods

Posted Oct 28th 2007 2:22PM by David Bowers
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Leveling, Alts

As you know, in patch 2.3, many of the previously ho-hum mid-level dungeon drops are set to actually become useful, worth the trip you make to go get them in the dungeon (in most cases). Overall, this is a blessing for players everywhere, either starting out with their first characters, or leveling up long-forgotten alts.
Twinks, however, are going to become a much greater nuisance than they were before. Some of their old items are going to be upgraded by default as the new patch comes in and the old items all around the world get replaced with the new.

New twinks, however, will have the privilege of setting their sights on the best of the best items for their particular class and level bracket, putting an even further distance between them and other players who just want to enjoy a bit of PvP as they level up. This is particularly true with new low-level epics such as the Deadman's Hand which, at level 29, seems designed to be the pet dream of twinks everywhere, regardless of race or class.

Does Blizzard intend to support twinking? And what's the whol

Once thought mere legend, the Ogre plateau of enlightenment is indeed real, and those who prove their worth may find much to occupy themselves in the hidden sanctuary of Ogri'la. Level 70 players are able to assist the o

Me, you and Chesty Larue

Posted Sep 11th 2007 5:50PM by Amanda Rivera
Filed under: Rogue, Analysis / Opinion, Tricks

Cach, a player on the Spanish-speaking Zul'jin realm wrote in to tell us a little story about him, a GM, and the chests in the Mechanar. So the story goes that Cach was going through his usual sneaky-stealthy chest farming run in the instance, when he was messaged by a GM. It appears that such a run is about to be considered an exploit, and that Cach was getting a note on his Permanent Record and would soon be sent to the Principal's Office if he didn't stop.

Didn't stop? If he stops playing a rogue, they mean. Okay, I may be wrong on this, but I honestly thought being sneaky and inventive was what the rogue class was all about. Turns out that using their skills to achieve monetary gain is a no-no. Oh wait, what about Pick Pocket you say? Yeah, my point exactly. I fail to see how using the skills programmed into the class is exploiting the game. Yes, he is able to stealth through the instance and collect items from chests. Yes, this enables to rogues to make cash in an inventive way. So does AoE farming fire elementals on the Elemental Plateau. Will this too be consider

The "massive" in MMORPG just got a whole lot more massive

Posted Sep 10th 2007 8:00PM by Eric Vice
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Features

I'm always amused by those tips that display on the startup screen. I'm so amused that I can't find the willpower to turn them off. Blizzard changes them from time to time to keep folks like me entertained, so I guess that's why I leave them on. I don't want to miss new installments. Among them is one that encourages you to not only spend time with your friends in Azeroth, but in the "real world" as well.

Separation is good. It's important to have a life outside of the visual range of your computer monitor. But for some folks, the hours they spend in-game aren't enough. Like the Borg, they want to stay permanently hard-wired to the collective consciousness. In the hours of the day when they can't be in the game, they want the game to reach out to them.

Tuebit over at WorldIV.com has published an article about the directions this might take. He talks about ways that your game-of-choice could keep you informed by SMS or perhaps an interface with one of your "real world" instant messengers. In the present tense, Wowecon

South Park episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft," which famously skewered MMORPG World of Warcraft and its many subscribers late last year, was awarded the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program at the 59th Creative Ar

Finally, after numerous delays, The9 have launched WoW's expansion, The Burning Crusade, in China.  This happened yesterday and, as you might expect, the Chinese fanboys went wild.  The launch is expected to be a huge success, make millions of Chinese players very happy, and further line the pockets of Vivendi executives with bright, shiny gold. 

What wasn't expected, however, was that a particular fanboy would show such extreme enthusiasm that he's level 70 today. 

That's right, TBC launched yesterday.  One player achieved level 70 today.

In this amazing simulation, we see the Chinese ubernerd WoW player cheering after reaching his goal:  Level 70 in under a day!  Woot!

 

In fact, it took him less than a full day -- only 23 hours -- to accomplish this mighty feat.  WorldofWar.Net broke this story, which you can read right here.  If you enjoy reading Mandarin, you can read the original posts, with screenshots to prove his accomplishments, here.

So after an agonizing week of rumors, it's finally official: the second expansion for World of Warcraft is called Wrath of the Lich King. As its name implies, you'll face off against the baddest Arthas, arguably the baddest Warcraft villain of them all, on his home turf: the icy continent of Northrend. Though it's a safe bet to say that what was revealed at Blizzcon was merely the tip of the iceberg (har, har), we know enough already to say that Wrath of the Lich King will be making some pretty key changes to the game as we know it. Here are the five most compelling reasons to be excited about it.

1: Level Cap Raised to 80

While you may still be reeling from the 60-70 grind at the moment, depending on slow you are, you should start prepping yourself for another 10; Wrath of the Lich King will see the level limit increased to 80, and no amount of pining to maintain the status quo will change this. Expect new abilities and talents as you make your way to the new level cap, and as before, you'll be able to solo quest the whole way through.

2: Death Knights!

Blizzard, at long last, will introduce hero classes to the game with the second expansion, and the implementation is probably not wha

Everyone knows that China endorses a “Harmonious Society”, that is, disregarding its crippling social issues such as nationwide poverty, energy shortages, and [if I might add] this little thing called communism. But anyw

The latest patch v2.1.2 for Blizzard's insanely popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft, is now live. The patch adds season 2 PVP armor, marks the start of the new Arena season, as well as introducing some other PVP and miscellaneous changes.