The Stream Team: Staking a claim in Dual Universe
While her first attempts to play Dual Universe after the NDA lift were pretty choppy, Massively OP's MJ didn't give up! Over the weekend things were a bit smoother, and she was able to move through the basic tutorial. Now, she's eager to get back in and finally claim a piece of the moon for […]
Enter to win a month of Supremacy 1 premium gametime courtesy of Bytro Labs and MOP!
Last week, we covered the summer launch of Supremacy 1 in-browser and on mobile (both iOS and Android). German studio Bytro Labs bills the game as an MMORTS in the proud tradition of its popular Supremacy 1914 title. "Supremacy 1: The Great War is a free-to-play game for browser and mobile platforms. In Supremacy 1 […]
SuperData July 2020: Pokemon Go is making all the monies right now
We'd like to think that Niantic is learning a huge lesson from its continuing efforts to making Pokemon Go more accessible: SuperData says it's raking in the bucks right now after a season of doing just that, combined with its all-virtual Pokemon Go Fest. "Pokémon GO had its second-biggest revenue month ever. Earnings were just […]
Fluffy dogs adventuring with salty dogs: Sea of Thieves' September update introduces dogs
During this year's Gamescom, Sea of Thieves executive producer Joe Neate offered up a little video rundown of what players can expect for the multiplayer piratical sandbox in September, which will include a new Gold Hoarders voyage that will become a permanent choice and the addition of dogs to the Pirate Emporium. Neate also promises […]
Wisdom of Nym: What does Final Fantasy XIV's final 5.3 stinger imply?
As above, so below, and as before, so again. Just to make it absolutely clear, even though we did it for last week's column as well, there will be spoilers in this column. If you have not cleared the MSQ in 5.3, you will get some spoilers. Unlike last week, though, this week I'm not […]
World of Warcraft plans more server connections for NA and EU realms
The trend (one might say spree) of realm connections for World of Warcraft rolls on. If you liked being on a nearly empty server? Well, you'll just have to get used to having a bit more in the way of contacts, as there's a fresh batch of connections planned for North American realms on September 2nd […]
First impressions: New World has the foundation of what could be a great game
Like a lot of people, I've been hotly anticipating Amazon's New World, one of the first truly big name new MMOs we've seen in a while, so I was quite excited to receive a key to the current preview event. My main impression after a few days of play is that delaying the launch to […]
Defiance 2050 will unleash Mayhem and Mutiny once more in its latest event
Defiance 2050 is re-kicking out the jams yet again with the return of the Mayhem and Mutiny event, which will pit players of the shooter MMO on PC and console against massive Arkfalls that will rain down from the sky starting today, August 31st, all the way until Monday, September 28th. Details on the event […]
League of Legends quietly introduces a new character to the public beta environment
Usually new MOBA additions are met with all sorts of pomp and circumstance, but in the case of the newest addition to League of Legends we apparently just got some initial rose imagery and an arrival to the game's public beta environment. Perhaps Riot Games burnt up all of its hype with the new K/DA […]
Confused about Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis? SEGA's new Q&A might help
While Phantasy Star Online 2's upcoming standalone large-scale update New Genesis has a long way to go before release, there's still plenty of player curiosity about the game, especially in regards to what transfers between the two. Sega has been gathering up a number of those questions and has offered up a few answers. As […]
Path of Exile is headed to the Epic Games Store in September, expansion reveal is tomorrow
While many players of Path of Exile are understandably eager for the next expansion that's arriving in September, there's something else happening that month: an arrival to the Epic Games Store. This news simply offers the multiplayer ARPG another avenue for players to get in to the game and will not have any sort of […]
The Daily Grind: Is it ever too late to start playing an MMORPG?
I'll go first: Nope, it's not. Unless the game is sunsetting tomorrow, it's never too late. It's a video game, folks. You sit on your butt and play it. If that thing holding you back is just fear of not being competitive, banish that thought. But this is a question we hear endlessly, isn't? And […]
MMO Week in Review: Shadowlands in two months, Cantha next year
It was one helluva week for MMORPGs: World of Warcraft announced Shadowlands' launch date, Guild Wars 2 confirmed that Cantha-themed End of Dragons launches in 2021, we checked out New World during its open preview, and Elder Scrolls Online released its Stonethorn DLC. And just for old times' sake, we had a big ol' sub […]
RuneScape and Old School RuneScape preview fall plans, discuss endgame content
It's a double dose of Jagex developer heads talking about game stuff! Two whole hours of conversational content! And craziest of all, it's absolutely free so long as you're paying for internet service!. Prepare to wear down the edge of your seat as RuneScape and Old School RuneScape both talk about what's coming next! All […]
The MOP Up: Legends of Runeterra unwraps a new expansion
Riot Games' digital card game Legends of Runeterra made a big splash this past week as it released its first big expansion. "The Call of the Mountain expansion arrives with a new region—Targon—as well as 89 collectible cards, seven champions, and a variety of new features & content across the game. Try out new champions […]
Champions Online wraps up its current story arc with The Midnight Depths
Some new content is always better than no new content, and so Champions Online players have not complained to be finally receiving new story arcs over the past year. The current questline is due to be completed "very soon," and Cryptic gave a quick preview as to what it will entail. "What began with rampaging […]
Jukebox Heroes: The best of Blade & Soul's soundtrack
Pretty game, strong story focus, really not for me. That's the impression I got from dipping into Blade & Soul a few months back. It's certainly a game with a whole lot of eye candy, but it's also got a lot of ear candy too. Ear candy — is that a thing? Are we all […]
Apple officially terminates Epic's dev account, cutting Fortnite iOS and Mac players from future updates
This past Friday, Apple made good on its threat to terminate Epic Games' developer accounts on iOS and Mac, which now effectively cuts off players of Epic's titles on the platforms from seeing future updates including Fortnite, ie the game that was the reason for this whole sordid mess. And for an extra twinge of […]
One Shots: Chilla with my gorilla
It's always a parade of fluffy, furry, and feathery friends when One Shots asks readers to share their favorite pets, and today is no different! We'll start this week with a striking picture from Toy Clown, who features a beast that you really wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley — or a well-lit […]
The Daily Grind: What was a great idea you saw in an otherwise unsuccessful MMO?
If you're familiar with tabletop roleplaying games, you are probably familiar with the concept of the fantasy heartbreaker. To summarize it very quickly for those who aren't, it's a game that is clearly trying to copy Dungeons & Dragons… but usually with one or two really neat ideas that don't matter, because it's not going […]
Make My MMO: Dual Universe's beta – its 'fully playable version' – is up and away
This week in MMO crowdfunding, Dual Universe hit true beta, dropping its NDA and swelling its ranks far past the 20,000 testers who were already playing alpha. "We've met each one of our milestone goals since unveiling the updated roadmap late last year, and we're now releasing what we think is a fully-playable version of […]
Final Fantasy XI's Autumn Power Up Campaign gives you more stuff in a variety of content
The current new story content for Final Fantasy XI is titled The Voracious Resurgence, but you know who has always been pretty voracious? The players. They want stuff. Sure, new content is also good, but they also want new stuff. And when September 11th rolls around, the Autumn Power Up Campaign is going to provide […]
Ashes of Creation's latest stream homes in on castle sieges and hybrid combat
Ashes of Creation's latest livestream is a wide-ranging one, covering the game's hybrid combat system, castle sieges, context expectations for beta, and the probability that Ashes of Creation will eventually move to Unreal Engine 5. Intrepid also said that it's not going to move into its new studio until next year: "In regards to our […]
World of Warcraft players are digging in to an 11 month-old secret battle pet unlock
Secret hunters in World of Warcraft are deep in the chase after a battle pet that's been hiding for 11 months now — a big fluffy cat by the name of Jenafur. As of right now, players have uncovered the first two steps involving a couple of NPCs and a line of kibble that points […]
LOTRO Legendarium: Ranking LOTRO's expansions from worst to best
Every once in a while, it's a lot of fun to sit down and rank things in your favorite geeky franchises. A while back, I did a ranked list of Lord of the Rings Online's festivals, a list that is now obsolete due to the addition of a new festival and the merging of two […]
The Stream Team: It's raining invasions in Ship of Heroes
What is Ship of Heroes up to these days? Invasions! Today the devs are doing a special event for players (backers or not!), tossing invasions with varying difficulty levels at folks. All in the name of testing, of course. Massively OP's MJ is eager to be a guinea pig, so even though crashes could happen, […]
WRUP: The power of superheroes edition
The obvious thing to say about superheroes is that they are a power fantasy. This is mostly true, but it isn't the whole story, because most superheroes aren't about simply about having power but about how you choose to use it. In every superhero story, the hero is matched against someone who either has more […]
Champions Online and David Brevik pay their respects to Chadwick Boseman
You've no doubt seen the tragic news that Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman passed away on Friday at the age of 43 due to colon cancer. His family posted a statement thanking fans for their love and support, saying that Boseman had been battling cancer quietly since 2016 while continuing to film various projects. Marvel […]
The Daily Grind: How much does an MMO's environment affect your mood?
As we talked about on the podcast this past week, in-game environments can have a huge affect on moods, depending on the person. I'm more sensitive in this regard, feeling my emotions lift when I'm adventuring through a beautiful or evocative land while falling into a funk if I have to spend too much time […]
The Stream Team: Celebrating Guild Wars 2's 8th birthday with underwater mounts
A birthday and underwater mounts? Well this sounds like the perfect kind of party of Massively OP's MJ! Guild Wars 2 has turned eight years old today, and just this week introduced a new ability for skimmers to swim under the water instead of skimming above. So, are they now skwimmers? Join us live at […]
Betawatch: Bless Unleashed plans for a PC beta test
Darn it! I said ages ago that I would be much more interested in Bless Unleashed if it were releasing on platforms I actually own. That was easy to say when it was on the Xbox One. Sure, I could pretend that my PlayStation 4 has other things to do, but now with a PC […]
Minecraft-built MMO Hegemony releases the Traders from the East expansion on September 6
Hegemony, the self-described "classic" sandbox MMORPG built upon the framework of Minecraft, is expanding. As in literally releasing an expansion. Or at least an expansion-sized update. Whatever you want to call it, just be sure to refer to it by name: Traders from the East. This large-scale update will introduce a variety of new things […]
PvPvE survival battle royale shooter The Cycle is leaving early access and releasing on Steam in Q4 2020
Well, here's some good news for those who are looking for yet another alternative option in the battle royale subgenre: The Cycle is going to exit its early access period at some point in the fourth quarter of this year and will release on both EGS and for the first time ever on Steam. For […]
Shroud of the Avatar's Release 81 adds a new town, new lava fish, and flexible block building features
Release 81 for Shroud of the Avatar is out this week and it's got some new goodies for pretty much everyone in the game, whether you're someone who enjoys building things with blocks, someone who enjoys fishing things from lava(!), or someone who has Episode 2 Access and is ready for a new town to […]
PSA: OK procrastinators, you're running out of time to get your free LOTRO and DDO stuff
Last spring, when the pandemic was ramping up here in the US and states were closing down everything in a panic, MMO studios around the world responded by throwing open their virtual doors and offering respite. One of them was Standing Stone Games, which made a huge chunk of content in Lord of the Rings […]
A new interview reveals how Naoki Yoshida leveraged charisma and spreadsheets to make Final Fantasy XIV happen
We all know that Final Fantasy XIV is a big success story. So what's the secret behind Naoki Yoshida taking the game from zero to hit? According to a new interview over on PC Gamer, it's all about charisma and spreadsheets. Yes, spreadsheets. One of Yoshida's big tricks when he took on the project was […]
The Stream Team: Dual Universe's NDA is down, and we're going in!
Massively OP's MJ has been waiting for the day she can finally take ya'll for a spin in the big Landmark-esque space sandbox Dual Universe. And that day is finally here! She's very excited to hop in and start in the newly released, sans-NDA beta. Tune in live at 2:00 p.m. to start the weekend […]
ArcheAge Unchained is free-to-play this weekend with the SUMMERTRIAL code
If you've been eyeing ArcheAge Unchained over the last year but hadn't wanted to pull the trigger on a buy-to-play experience, especially after the business model rather severely changed course in 2020, then this weekend's free-play event is probably for you. "Players are able to explore the wondrous online worlds of ArcheAge: Unchained free of […]
Check out this fan-made interactive map of New World to help your testing
So you're out in the field in New World, and you're not lost per se, but you're frustrated. All you want is a lynx! You need some lynx! But you keep not finding them. Where can you go to find a lynx? Perhaps this new interactive map made by fans and for fans at Newworld-map.com […]
Torchlight III delays its next early access patch to at least September 8
You know, if there's one constant in Torchlight III's development, stretching all the way back into when it was an MMO called Torchlight Frontiers, it's that stuff gets announced and then stuff gets delayed. Ahead of the fall launch – and no we still don't have a hard date – Echtra Games and PWE had […]
Global Chat: Is MMO crafting obsolete?
Tipa over at Chasing Dings recently posed an intriguing question to her friends and readers: Does crafting have any place in the modern MMO? Before you have a kneejerk response to that, read her piece and consider crafting from a new angle. "In real life, crafting is an outlet for explosive creativity," she said. "Crafty […]
Star Citizen shows off gas cloud generators and knocks players and NPCs around
CIG is playing around with the forces of nature in the latest episode of Star Citizen's weekly video digest. The video first opens up with a look at more gas cloud generation tech, showing off the "parent" gas cloud and a couple of smaller "children" gas clouds within, as well as giving a look at […]
WoW Factor: World of Warcraft has no good excuses for not having housing
We are past 15 years on now, and World of Warcraft still lacks housing. This is, frankly, really dumb. And it comes up a lot, and you always have the people working hard in the Fanboy Mines who fire back with the same set of defenses: that housing wouldn't work in the game, that no […]
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen shares 30 minutes of pre-alpha 5 shakeout gameplay
As reported earlier, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is going to be having a pre-alpha 5 "shakeout" test next weekend between September 5th and 6th, but before that, the devs at Visionary Realms wanted to offer a look at just what testers will be getting in to. The shakeout region will be a greyboxed version […]
Dungeons and Dragons Online's getting shifty with the Shifter
Dungeons and Dragons Online's newest race is going through the paces on the test server right now, which means that before long, players will have another option for the MMO's already robust character creation screen. Shifters might best be described as half-hearted werewolves that can spec to be tanks or casters, depending on the player's […]
Gamescom 2020: Dual Universe gives you five minutes in heaven
Cinematic trailers are all well and good, but when it comes to getting a handle on how a title actually functions, there's nothing quite like a gameplay video to establish expectations. At Gamescom this week, Dual Universe is pulling out the stops to get noticed for its innovative design, and it's this design that you […]
Final Fantasy XIV confirms new housing coming in patch 5.35 along with how new Skybuilder titles will work
Yes, you saw that right, and if you play Final Fantasy XIV, you're probably excited. New housing day arrives when patch 5.35 does, and it brings with it three new wards for each of the housing districts. This might sound like it's not a whole lot, but that's three new wards with three subdivisions each […]
The Daily Grind: What's your most embarrassing MMO fail story?
A while back my husband was playing Overwatch when he was in a match with two guys who obviously knew each other and both had poop-related names. At the end of the match, after my husband's team had lost and the poop team had won, the pair of them cheerfully shouted, "YEAH, GET POOPED ON!" […]
The Stream Team: The sky pirates are the limit in Neverwinter
So long werewolves, hello sky pirates! Or, should we say, crocodiles! Massively OP's MJ and her D&D crew are embarking on their next Neverwinter adventure: Pirates' Skyhold. And yes, they have to take a flying ship to get there. (But no, they can't pilot their own!) Giant humanoid crocs await their arrival, and not in […]
Massively Overthinking: The MMOs we intentionally avoid
A few weeks back, I read a Twitter thread about people who avoid specific games and types of games, and the folks chiming in were all over the map. Some people avoid games that trigger their various addictions; others avoid games that take up too much time, or require too much mousing, or demand voice […]
