One of my struggles with this blog since I started working at Massively Overpowered, and one of the reasons I don’t post nearly as much as I used to, is the decision of what to put here versus what to put on Massively. My recent Not So Massively column on Redfall, for instance, is something of a sequel to a blog post I made about it a few months ago, and I originally intended it to go on Superior Realities, but ultimately I get paid if I put it on MOP, so that’s what I did.

New World is another good example. It’s been my main game for the last two years, but I’ve barely mentioned it on my blog, because nearly everything I have to say about it goes into the Vitae Aeternum column.

That said, I now find myself with some thoughts to share on multiplayer games that are too short and rambly to form a MOP column, so it’s time for another gaming round-up blog.

New World

I’ve settled into a loose pattern of playing New World heavily for a few weeks, then putting it on the back burner for a few weeks (but rarely quitting entirely), rinse and repeat. It’s a good fit for both my own fickle attention span and the game’s seasonal content model.

During December I went through a phase where I took the unusual (for me) step of actually playing it the way you’re “supposed to” play MMOs: doing lots of endgame group content, chasing rare drops, trying to improve my gear.

This mainly took the form of elite chest runs, a form of open world zerg that will feel very familiar to anyone who’s ever done a hero point train in Guild Wars 2. In fact, the more I play of it the more I feel the endgame structure of New World is closer to that of GW2 than anything else. Despite its increasingly inaccurate reputation as a hardcore PvP game, New World truly has become a casual PvE paradise.

A particular goal was earning some more artifacts. I grabbed the Boltcaster bow for my Convenant alt (who is now more of a co-main, as usually happens with me) without much difficulty. What took more grinding was the Abyss, a great axe that deals void damage and can scale off intellect, but after a few dozen Corrupted portals, I finally got it on my main.

I like the idea of artifacts, but so far most of their designs have been a little unambitious, not really delivering on the “build-defining” role Amazon intends for them. However, the Abyss is an exception. Being able to use a great axe in a mage build is a fun novelty, and I completely retooled my fire staff skills to support the close combat. I wasn’t sure I’d actually use Abyss much, but I’m actually having a blast with this newfound battle-mage playstyle.

I also took a run through the new dungeon, the Glacial Tarn, to finish upgrading Boltcaster. This was only my third dungeon run in my New World career, and we didn’t have a proper tank, so things got a bit hairy at points, but the story mode introduced with the expansion is indeed pretty easy, so we were able to press through.

I wouldn’t say the mechanics of the dungeon were anything too exotic in the MMO space, but the environment art was great, the music was amazing, and overall it was a pretty good time, despite my dodgy group. It has me excited to see more of the game’s dungeons once the dungeon finder finally launches.

I also did quite a bit of grinding on the Winter Convergence event. Various circumstances led to me being unable to fully participate in it for the first two years, so I essentially did three years of grinding at once, but I managed to get pretty much all the cosmetics I want on both characters.

Finally, I did some redecorating on my Reekwater home, and I think it’s cozier than ever. All in all, a pretty productive couple of weeks.

Heroes of the Storm

When I wrote about my brief return to Heroes of the Storm on Massively OP a few months ago, I said I’d already uninstalled, and I did… but I reinstalled again not too long after. I’ve been playing off and on since.

As I always have, I maintain mixed feelings on the game. When you get a good match, it can be an incredibly exciting experience, but you won’t always have good matches, and it is kind of an empty and mindless experience even at the best of times. I can never quite escape the feeling that I’m wasting my life even more than one usually does when playing video games.

It also remains true that nearly every major change to the game since launch has made it worse, at least in my opinion. I hardly play my old favourite heroes, because almost all of them have been altered or nerfed too much. Jaina and Johanna are the only major exceptions.

The loss of Tassadar as a support character stings especially. I’ve been playing nearly every remaining healer trying to find a replacement, but none of them quite click so well. Whitemane is very fun, but also very difficult and thus too stressful to play all the time. Anduin is very easy, but a little bland. Tyrande’s not bad, but she still doesn’t feel as good as Tassadar did when he was a support.

I’m painting a very bleak picture of the game, but the core gameplay does remain very fun, and in terms of balance, the game is in a pretty good place. There’s a few overtuned heroes, but this feels like one of the most well-balanced periods of the game’s life.

And as always, the chief appeal is simply in nostalgia. Even with all we’ve learned in the last few years, I can’t help but get the warm fuzzies from all those classic Blizzard characters all together.

As is the case for all MOBAs, the sheer variety of heroes also does a lot to keep things fresh. Of the new heroes added since I lasted played, Fenix is probably the biggest hit for me. He’s very simple to play, but that can be a nice change of pace. I’m quite perplexed that I rarely see anyone else playing him; he feels incredibly strong to me, and I’ve had many dominant performances with him.

I’ve had a lot of fun with Imperius, too. Brusier was never my favourite role, but charging into the thick of it to impale people with your spear just never gets old.

Also, while I do tend to complain about the revamps over-complicating heroes, in the case of Raynor adding some depth to him was actually welcome. He’s still pretty simple, but no longer to the point of being boring. This pleases me a lot because he’s always been a favourite character of mine lore-wise, and I was disappointed he wasn’t more fun to play in Heroes.

Finally, I’ve been playing a lot of D.va lately, to the point where she feels like potential “new main” material. I barely played her before my long hiatus, so I can’t say if she changed or I did, but she feels far stronger and more fun than I remember. The fact you can almost completely avoid death with her given good play and a little luck is just so nice. Plus she combines my long-time affinity for short, mildly insane women and my natural masculine desire to pilot a big stompy robot.

I don’t know if I’m going to stick with Heroes much longer or not. I do want to at least try every hero, which is proving frustrating since Qhira and Hogger almost never get picked for the free rotation and Mei was never added to it at all for some incomprehensible reason. I’m grinding the gold to buy her just for completionism’s sake, which for now keeps me doing my dailies and trying to find a healer who feels just right.