Blog Bonanza: Those Not Partaking in Blaugust .

Blaugust has kicked into high gear and the number of blogs participating has grown exponentially. I have done my very best to read nearly every single post, but it is a monumental task to say the least. Rather than highlight every single post or participant, I wanted to instead highlight the blogroll again.

 

Blaugust 2015 Blogroll

• A Green Mushroom
• Adamantly Complacent
• Aeternus Gaming
• Ald Shot First
• Ash’s Adventures
• Aywren Sojourner
• Battle Priestess
• Beyond Tannhauser Gate
• Bio Break
• Blue Kae
• Cannot Be Tamed
• Comics and Cookies
• Contains Moderate Peril
• Couture Gaming
• Dragons and Whimsy
• Endgame Viable
• Evabee
• Floor Tank Gaming
• Gamer Girl Confessions
• Gaming Identity
• Goobbue Crossing
• Hello Kitsune
• Hello, I’m Alix
• Herding Cats
• I Have Touched the Sky
• In An Age
• Irrelative Collection
• Jamie’s Blog – Daily Vlogs
• JVT Workshop
• Kateri Morton
• Knifesedge
• Lair of the Wolf Dragon
• Leaflocker
• LFGryph
• Light Falls Gracefully
• Lock and Bolt
• Looking For Playtime
• Mama Needs Mana
• Me Vs Myself and I
• Memoirs of a Lady
• Missy’s Mojo
• MMO Gypsy
• Moonshine Mansion
• Murf Versus
• My Epic Fail
• My Life in Azeroth
• Nerdy Bookahs
• Nomadic Gamers
• Pixel Thoughts
• Pizza Maid
• Pleasant Gamer
• Sagacyte’s Digital Adventures
• She Rides Dragons
• Soulbound Life
• Star-Fired Beef
• Stars of the Spiral
• Starshadow
• Static Refresh
• Stylish Corpse
• Tanking Mage
• Thalen Speaks
• The Adventures of Xinrae
• The Ancient Gaming Noob
• THE DÀCHÉNG DIARIES
• The Driveling Dwarf
• The Mystical Mesmer
• The Tankquisition
• Through Wofly’s Eyes
• Tyrannodorkus
• Wandering Wench
• Why I Game

The Anook page for the event has over 120 followers, so I am bound to have missed a few in this slightly revised list. If your blog is missing, or someone else’s you know of is, then please let me know immediately!

 

Other People Blogging

As you can imagine, keeping up with Blaugust has been, on its own, a full-time task for most everyone involved. The sheer number of new posts each day is one thing, but there have also been some excellent conversations taking place further stretching my attention.

I don’t want those who chose not to participate in Blaugust to go unheard, simply due to the volume of voices currently in play. Here are a few posts I wanted to highlight specifically:

• Ravalation has a cute post about the Star Wars pets she’d most like to adopt. The post is a real treat as it highlights some of Star Wars: The Old Republic’s cutest and most lovable denizens.
• While not strictly a blog about parenting and gaming (for that, you should check out the always excellent Mama Needs Mana), Braxwolf over at Gaming Conversations has a strong opinion about the need for media rating systems. The post was inspired by a blog that everyone should be reading, Gamers Decrypted, that often explores the nature of games and gamers in a deeper way than just reiterating whatever the current flavor of the month is at the moment.
• Gaming Introspections has the beginnings of what will likely shape up to be an excellent series. In it, he explores the language games use by exploring and comparing the scripts of those games, while examining the word choice and the overall negativity which many games feel most comfortable expressing.
• The Elder Scrolls Online doesn’t get highlighted enough, so for those fans of the game out there, The Iron Dagger has been exploring the Fighter’s Guild, and has found the experience particularly refreshing.
• Both Inventory Full and Clean Casuals had posts about recent server merger plans in two high profile MMOs. First up, Bhagpuss covers both EverQuest II’s and The Lord of the Ring Online’s mergers, and second Aywren covers only LOTRO’s. As someone who has braved a few server mergers in my experiences, it can be a trying time of uncertainty and confusion. They can also rejuvenate communities in completely unpredictable ways. I typically consider them a positive, though I share the same concerns with these two excellent bloggers.
• Since I am completely biased toward the game, I can’t miss an opportunity to highlight a Final Final XIV post. Thankfully, To Boldly Nerd has it covered with some continued journeys within the game. It isn’t the most glowing post, however, so I think that balances out my over-appreciation for the game.
• Finally, the latest Beyond Bossfights/TGEN Tribunal podcast is out and it features some of the better known blogging podcasts in my extended community. Belghast of Aggrochat, Jason from The MMO Show, Syl from Battle Bards, Roger of Burton and Scrooge, and Liore of Cat Context all join Braxwolf in a broadly MMO-oriented discussion. If you were looking for podcasts to listen to, this combined effort is the Avengers and each individual participant has their own movie worth watching.

 

The Felephant in the Room

Okay, so World of Warcraft doesn’t have felephants and neither will its new Legion expansion, but since the Burning Legion is coming over the mountains like Hammurabi, you will have to excuse the admittedly terrible pun. As important as Blaugust is, and as awesome as those links above are, the thing that has overtaken the blogosphere was always going to be chatter about the new World of Warcraft expansion. From all that I have read, opinions seem pretty varied. There’s obviously a lot to love, but people are rightfully cautious after the last expansion or previous Blizzard over-promises. Here’s a sampling of some of those early reactions:

• Superior Realities has concerns beyond a lukewarm opinion of the announcement. While the expansion is themed around the Burning Legion, everything else is what excites him the most. One exception: he worries some of Warcraft’s greatest heroes might not survive the battle.
• Similarly, Rambling Thoughts About WoW has concerns too, but is still open to accepting the game for what it is and what it will become, whether Legion is a great addition or a sub par one.
• While many bloggers cut their teeth on covering World of Warcraft, Alternative Chat is so synonymous with the game, that I would’ve asked her kindly to write a post about the expansion, if she hadn’t already. Frankly, the chances of her not having something to say about it almost immediately are so small, that your better bet would be on me writing a post proclaiming that WoW’s trolls are the worst race ever. They aren’t and Alternative Chat already has several posts about the expansion, so let’s explore those:
  • First, let’s start with a short exploration of what the expansion will be adding through Alt’s eyes.
  • Now, a fuller reaction and rumination on why Legion is shaping up to be what it is right now for WoW fans.
  • Finally, a post discussing Blizzard financial incentives and motivations, that ends on Blizzard giving the people what they think they want (which seems pretty accurate too, though some things remain to be seen).
• While opinions were bound to be formed almost immediately, Battle Priestess mostly has questions in her thoughts about the announcement.
• Finally, Sparks in the Horizon highlights a few tidbits that weren’t in the announcement, but showed up in an interview later.

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There are so many more blogs and posts worth highlighting, but I only have the time to give you a short teaser. If there are any outstanding posts you feel were missed, then feel free to add or promote them down in the comments below.