Bel's Blog Bonanza - April 10, 2015 .

Hey folks and welcome to Bel’s Blog Bonanza, a bi-weekly feature here on MMOGames where I attempt to highlight some of the more interesting topics currently cycling through the gaming blogosphere. One of my favorite aspects of writing about games, is the interactions I have with other bloggers. In this column, it is my goal to highlight some of the individuals in this community and present their interesting take on current issues. Let us dispense with the introduction and get to the awesome.

 

WoW Token Market

During the last two weeks the hottest topic has been the release of the WoW Token on the United States servers in World of Warcraft.  The currency started trading at 30,000g for the $20 token, and has been on quite a roller-coaster ride since.  Thankfully there has been an excellent tool created to track its progress and I have watched it spike at 35,000g and drop to as low as 18,000g before settling out recently around the 25,000g mark.  With this early volatility the blogging community has been set ablaze with chatter about what exactly this means for the game.

• Grimoires of Supremacy – Token
• Aspect of the Hare – WoW Token and an Uncomfortable Past
• The Ancient Gaming Noob – CCP Copies Blizzard’s WoW Token Idea
• Tobold’s Blog – Inverted Scales
• Alternative Chat – That’s The Way the Money Goes
• Rambling Thoughts about WoW – On Tokens
• In An Age – As the WoW Token Turns

Delta Recruits

This two week period also saw the starting of the Delta Recruitment event in Star Trek Online.  This event runs from April 2nd to May 21st and comes with a whole slew of features and bonuses.  All accounts will receive an extra character slot, and the Delta recruit characters themselves have a number of bonuses allowing you to close the gap on the higher content in the game.  As such we had a couple of excellent posts this week talking about the experiences with this new event.

• Endgame Viable – Star Trek Online – Delta Recruitment
• Contains Moderate Peril – Delta Recruits

Newbie Blogger Initiative 2015 Planning

One of the big events that happened was the Developer Appreciation Week and all of the posts that went along with it.  However since we covered this in depth during a very special “Bonanza” last Friday, I thought I would take the space that would normally devoted to this to talk about the upcoming Newbie Blogger Initiative for 2015.  For those not familiar with this event, it is a special time of the year when veteran bloggers encourage individuals such as yourselves to start new gaming blogs.  Over the last few years the event has also made a serious focus on getting more individuals podcasting, streaming and posting content on YouTube as well to reflect the changing demographic of enthusiast content delivery.  If you have ever considered getting involved and letting your voice be heard, throughout the month of May there will be events dedicated to helping you with that process.  The event is currently in the planning stages, so I highly suggest you check it out if you are a veteran blogger willing to act as a mentor, or a new voice wanting to get started.

• Newbie Blogger Initiative – NBI2015 Looking for Organizers
• Contains Moderate Peril – A Community in Flux

Outfit Designer

Star Wars the Old Republic has gone through a number of significant changes since its release in 2011, including a switch to the free to play model in November 2012, and the release of four expansions.  However during all of this time there has been one frustration for the players surrounding cosmetic options.  The game was revolutionary with its inclusion of armor that could be upgraded by swapping out certain modification sockets.  However this meant for the most part that all gear that was not “moddable” became unwanted by the player base.  However during Pax East they hinted at the inclusion of an “Outfit Designer” in the April release.  In her blog post Ravenel goes over the feature in detail, talking about the actual costs associated with it.

• Ravalation – On the road to destitution with the outfit designer

Playing Games We Don’t Like

I tend to personally focus heavily on the joy I find in games when I write about them.  This means there are many games that I simply stop playing because I am not having fun.  This week there is a very interesting piece from Tamrielo talking about the virtue of playing games we don’t like.  The article talks about sometimes finding games we do enjoy in places we never thought, and at the same time that playing games we don’t enjoy helps us to understand more closely why we don’t enjoy them.  This leads to providing better feedback to improve the games we do enjoy.  It is an interesting read nonetheless, and comes from the viewpoint of a games designer.

• Digital Initiative – Playing Games I Don’t Like