'Circular economy' MMO Virtuverse schedules public early access test for this fall
Over the past two years, we've been lightly tracking the development of Virtuverse, an episodic online sci-fi RPG with a curious business model, and now it looks as though the wider public is going to get to see it first-hand come this fall. The game's Early Access 4 test is coming soon, with a backer […]
Kids MMO developer Age of Learning must pay the FTC $10M to settle 'dark patterns' complaint
The US Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on the purveyor of kids game ABCMouse this week, finding that it "trick[ed] and trap[ped] families into paid subscriptions" and "scammed millions of dollars from families" through "conduct that was not only unethical, but also illegal." ABCMouse is not an MMO, but it's an online game run […]
Phantasy Star Online 2 introduces new items, new Episode 4 story content, and September's PSO2 Day
It's update time for Phantasy Star Online 2, and that means a whole bunch of new things, and since it's the beginning of the month, it also means PSO2 Day events on top of everything else. In this release, players can take on the eighth chapter of Episode 4's story content, which appears to be […]
The Stream Team: A magical 12th birthday for Wizard101, complete with gifts
Being 12 years old is magical, especially if you're Wizard101! This cheery game filled with fun pets and mounts is celebrating its 12th anniversary today, and Massively OP's MJ is returning for the party. And wouldn't you know, KingsIsle is supplying the gifts! Redeem the code 12TIMESTHEFUN before 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, September 8th, to […]
War Thunder's Raining Fire update adds the Tuskegee Airmen's historical planes
The Tuskegee Airmen should need no introduction, especially to Americans: They were the first Black pilots to serve in what eventually became the US Air Force throughout World War II. The aviators have been feted in films, remembered in museums, and even honored with postage stamps. Now, they're getting their due in an MMO thanks […]
Ashes of Creation recaps August progress, promises more details about nodes soon
The month of August was certainly a busy one for Intrepid Studios and Ashes of Creation, so if you happened to have missed any of the developments that were made over the past month, then you've got the handy-dandy newsletter to keep you up to date. The biggest pieces from the roundup involve streamed details […]
World of Warships celebrates five years and details planned changes to commander skills
Happy birthday to World of Warships! It's been five years since the naval multiplayer battler kicked off, and the folks at Wargaming are marking the occasion with a new update full of things for fans to take on. There's a new permanent campaign of 50 tasks across five missions, a temporary asymmetrical battle mode where […]
The Soapbox: Feeling the loss of an MMO community
Back in 2012, I was almost a year deep into Lord of the Rings Online and enjoying my time both in the game and discovering the benefits of settling into an MMO community. Most of my time was not spent in the official forums, nor even blog posts, as I preferred to hunker down in […]
World of Warcraft is taking several 'burst cooldowns' off the global cooldown
Ah, the noble burst cooldown in World of Warcraft! What the heck is that? Well, in short, it's a cooldown you press to boost a bunch of outgoing damage. Avenging Wrath for Paladins, Recklessness for Warriors, Pillar of Frost for Death Knights… you get the idea. You press the button now, and then for a limited […]
Perfect Ten: 10 reasons WoW Classic is still fun in 2020
WoW Classic just celebrated its first year of operation, and what a year it's been! Back in the summer of 2019, I was rediscovering all sorts of old school features and details from the game while being strangely entranced by it. Since the crazy busy launch and explosion of servers, WoW Classic has settled down […]
Black Desert rolls out Hashashin to PC and mobile, teases O'dyllita for October 7
It's Hashashin day across much of the Black Desert universe, as the new toon is out and playable on both PC and mobile today. "Hashashin is the 20th class to be added to the popular MMORPG and will be able to manipulate the power of sand with the power of the Valencian god Aal. A […]
Guild Wars 2 offers free promotional items as part of Suicide Prevention Month
September is Suicide Prevention Month, which is not really an event that you celebrate in the conventional sense. It's an event worthy of note, however, and Guild Wars 2 is tying that in with "Seize the Awkward" as a chance to remind everyone to have important conversations with your friends about mental health. To help serve as […]
Lord of the Rings Online sees more login issues, gives update on race change tokens
With all of the issues causing game disruption over the past month, Lord of the Rings Online players are understandably sensitive toward any further problems. So it was with mild alarm that some players couldn't actually log into the game last night. However, SSG said that this wasn't a widespread issue and was the fault […]
World of Warcraft increases reputation gains all September – time to rep grind!
The ticker on World of Warcraft's site is counting down to Shadowlands' October release — 54 days and counting at this point. With the expansion coming and Patch 9.0 arriving before that, the pressure is on for players to finish up everything they want or need to do in Battle for Azeroth. Assuming that one […]
The Daily Grind: Is the tab-target MMO on the way to becoming extinct?
When I was reading MOP's Tyler's impressions of the recent New World play test, there was one point when I felt my body droop in a sigh. That was when he was praising the game's action combat, which may be exciting to him but it's always a red flag to me. Action combat MMOs can […]
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen unveils its shiny new website
Are you ready for some internet eye candy? Then feast upon the visual splendor that is the new Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen website, which has streamlined its overall look, added easier to navigate menus and forums, and now boasts a more user-friendly design overall. More crucially, the game's information section and media section have […]
Multiplayer survival shooter Vigor announces launch dates for PS4 and PS5, free-to-play arrival on Nintendo Switch
Apparently there's a demand from fans of the multiplayer shooter Vigor to arrive to more consoles, and developer Bohemia Interactive is meeting that demand with word of several upcoming releases, including a launch on PlayStation 4 on November 25th, a launch on PlayStation 5 during the 2020 holiday season, and a free-to-play release on the […]
Wizarding battle royale Spellbreak launches September 3 – here's the latest trailer
Yep, it's another battle royale game launch. This one, however, is all about flinging spells angrily at other wizards, which might be enough of a hook for some. If you are among those eager to do precisely this, then you'll want to keep eyes on Spellbreak, which is making its way to PlayStation 4, Xbox […]
Path of Exile's Heist expansion will launch on Mac with full crossplay
What's better than getting a new Path of Exile league? If you are a Mac user, it's getting the game on your favored operating system. And Grinding Gear Games is doing just that! When the new Heist expansion drops on September 18th (September 23rd for consoles), POE will be fully playable on Mac, with complete […]
Path of Exile's Heist expansion lets players infiltrate Rogue Harbor on September 18
Are you tormented by the unrequited desire of executing a daring caper, perhaps pilfering a rare antique or infiltrating a secure vault, all because you've been hindered by the legal or moral ramifications of perpetrating such an escapade? Have you dreamed of Oceans Eleven-ing your way through a storied jewel or art heist? Well Path […]
Massively OP Podcast Episode 286: Cantha, Shadowlands, and New World
Justin and Bree discuss Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons, WoW Shadowlands, New World, Elder Scrolls Online, and Final Fantasy XIV, with adventures in WoW Classic, LOTRO, SWTOR, Wurm Online, SWG Legends, and Guild Wars 2, plus reader mail on reviving old zones, recovering from burnout, and Mo himself.
Jagex backpedals slightly on a RuneScape ban wave related to Treasure Hunter keys and oddments
Last Monday, RuneScape developer Jagex issued an announcement regarding actions taken against player accounts who were found to be cashing out items to receive more oddments than the cost of a currently discounted Treasure Hunter key, allowing players to generate a surplus of oddments which the studio considered to be an exploit. In total, over […]
The panther statue in Fortnite has become a player memorial for Chadwick Boseman
The unexpected passing of actor Chadwick Boseman at age 43 has left many people struggling to find the words to express what has been lost or even the depth of feeling many people are experiencing in the wake of his loss. Fortnite players have already found one such way to express respect, however. As the […]
Grab a promo pack key for RTS Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming from Massively OP
R2 Games has this week released Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming globally across its platform. It's a browser-based multiplayer RTS, and though it's not a headlining feature of the game, you can indeed team up with your player allies (and we spied a mention of PvP too). You'll be training dragons, buffing your castle, […]
Star Wars Galaxies Legends teases Bespin, previews new Days of the Aned-Kla festival
It's a weird year when rogue servers are getting more love than some live MMOs, but we're not sorry to see it. One of those servers is Star Wars Galaxies Legends, which just dropped a whopper of a community report with news of future updates and events. Let's start with the event, since it's something […]
Blizzard plans a book of World of Warcraft fairy tales… but no more scrolls in Shadowlands
So remember how people still blame World of Warcraft's current class design on the old statement of "bring the player, not the class"? That philosophy will have to now be amended with "unless the class brings a very specific set of buffs," since it appears that scrolls mirroring the effects of Battle Shout, Arcane Intellect, […]
Choose My Adventure: The slow-burning, esoteric start of Wurm Online
I have a feeling this is going to be a short article and a probably completely inept series. Wurm Online is definitely not the kind of game one gets deep in to in a month's time, I think. That's not to suggest that it seems deep right now so much as the surface scratching is […]
Japanese survivalbox Craftopia is set to launch early access on Friday
All summer, we've been keeping watch over Craftopia, a Japanese multiplayer "open world survival crafting game," and I think it would be fair to say that its testing and release schedule has been a bit slapdash. Early access was originally supposed to land in June, but then the closed alpha didn't actually start until July, […]
Not So Massively: Iron Harvest 1920 is a dieselpunk RTS with a surprising amount of heart
It's pretty common to stumble across a new game on the front page of Steam and think it looks interesting enough to add to your wishlist, but often such games languish there for months or years, and even if you do end up trying them, they often disappoint. Such is not the case for real […]
Rockstar wipes out characters caught using a money exploit, sending cheaters in to a rage
You would think that the instruction — either direct or inherent — to not cheat in a game would be common sense, but as we all know some multiplayer gamers consider this golden rule to be nothing more than brass. Cheaters who were taking advantage of a money exploit in Grand Theft Auto Online are […]
Flameseeker Chronicles: Breaking down Guild Wars 2's End of Dragons expansion teaser trailer
Last, after a lot of build-up, during a stream dedicated to the 8th anniversary of the launch of Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet finally released its teaser trailer for the game's third expansion, called End of Dragons. As we had already surmised from the single piece of concept art, this expansion is indeed going to be […]
Director Sir Ridley Scott sounds off on the Fortnite ad spoof with mild disappointment
Aside from directing Gladiator, Alien, and Blade Runner, Sir Ridley Scott is also known for directing the famous '1984' commercial for Apple – because when you've directed one of those films on that list you can basically do anything you want for a paycheck forever. Of course, it helped that the commercial is so famous […]
Corepunk plans December closed beta, talks questing and character customization
We've had our eye on upcoming Unity-based MMORPG Corepunk since its original announcement by Dutch studio Artificial Core back in December, and in spite of its early development stage, the studio has been putting out regular updates along the way. This week, the devs have dropped a blog discussing what they've been up to – […]
The Herb bakes a 'classical' MMO on a far-away planet
We've seen a lot of different MMOs come across our desk over the years, but so far there haven't been any titles that revolved around herbs as a theme. Well, that's about to change, as Germany-based Rigem Works is cooking up a "classical MMORPG" called The Herb. It's a lot more fun if you think […]
Camelot Unchained promises that 'a game is starting to emerge'
Progress and change are the watchwords of Camelot Unchained this late summer, as Chris Junior – formerly of the RIFT and EverQuest II teams – has taken over the role of Game Designer for the project. "I really am excited about getting to the point where I can interact with the community, but for right […]
The Daily Grind: What's the worst minigame in an MMO?
I'm not a minigame person in general – for example, I have long made known my rage for Polymock. (Curse you, Polymock!) But I recently stumbled into an even worse minigame while rereading an article I wrote back in 2015, in part about Revival. Y'all remember Revival, right? It's canceled now, but it was a […]
The Stream Team: A second sashay into the New World preview
As much as the name inspires it, life's not all singing and dancing in New World. Unless you count dodging as a new dance! Massively OP's MJ hasn't wandered too far into this realm yet, so she's sashaying back to the shipwreck to continue with a second day of adventures. Will she make it off […]
Steam begins testing user-controlled chat filtering options
The words that people find harmful or hurtful to them is a deeply personal experience in a variety of cases, and while there are a number of words and terms that are not kosher anywhere, Steam is hoping to give its users more control over the terms that they take umbrage with thanks to some […]
Early access survival MMO Last Oasis adds biodegradable exosuits
We've always been a mixture of intrigued and skeptical of Last Oasis' devotion to its woodpunk aesthetic, but bless this team's courageous hearts, the game hasn't wavered from making wood THE building material of the post-apocalyptic future. Case in point, this week Last Oasis is adding exosuits. But unlike the metal frames that you might […]
Warframe shows off new kitguns, previews a new Necramech, and starts taking Xaku feedback
This past Friday, the folks at Digital Extremes held yet another home devstream for Warframe, and as one would expect, it was pretty much all about the recently released Heart of Deimos update. During the stream players got a sneak peek at a number of future goodies due in later updates including some Infested Kitguns […]
Pokemon Go studio Niantic is asking for player feedback to fix the Mega problem, adds curious Mega September events
For those who might not play Pokemon Go, our own coverage of the Mega Evolution release day probably was a small hint that the feature's release was less than well-received once people discovered the actual mechanics of the new evolution, and now, Niantic has admitted it needs player feedback to solve the problem. So here's […]
Black Desert details September seasonal servers for PC and asks players to fill out a survey
Did you miss out on the last time Black Desert had seasonal servers? Fret not, because they're coming back on Wednesday, September 2nd, and the devs at Pearl Abyss have offered up a whole slew of details, including how to make a seasonal character, the goodies waiting for players as they level up, and even […]
Star Citizen devs outline future steps toward more persistence and meshing servers
Calling Star Citizen an MMO is probably charitable in the eyes of some (or even calling it a game, there now you can't make that snide comment yourself, I beat you to it, neener-neener), considering that players currently log on to one of several random servers that hold 50 players at once and only have […]
Dual Universe studio Novaquark issues password resets following registration 'security issue'
If you've signed up for a Dual Universe website account, you probably received a worrisome email this afternoon informing you of a password reset following a "security issue" on the game's official site. "A very small group of accounts has been affected by a personal data disclosure, which we are taking very seriously," Novaquark says. […]
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 […]
