Conan Exiles' producer explains healing and food tweaks, outlines update plans for the Isle of Siptah
I haven't read many of the Conan the Barbarian books, but I'm reasonably sure that whenever he was brought low in a fight, he didn't suddenly pull a drumstick from thin air, cram it into his face, and rise mightily back up to fight his foe. That's sort of the problem that Conan Exiles was […]
The Soapbox: The joys of MMO collecting
I've often sat and pondered exactly what it is that I enjoy about the MMO experience. After all, being educated about your own likes and dislikes can lead to a more enjoyable leisure experience as well as wiser purchasing decisions. Two obvious things come to mind: story and progression, and the better these two things […]
Krafton spins Bluehole off as an 'independent subsidiary' to handle TERA and Elyon
The corporate reshuffling that's been going on ever since En Masse Entertainment announced that it was closing is producing interesting developments this fall. Krafton, which owns PUBG and TERA, announced on Friday that it was spinning Bluehole Studio off into an "independent subsidiary" to grant the studio some degree of autonomy. Krafton said that it […]
WRUP: Cat control guide edition
WASD: Move Mouse: Move camera Shift: Move slowly Ctrl: Move quickly Space Bar: Jump Left Click: Cry like an idiot Right Click: Swat F1: Summon Drone Number keys 1-0: Suggest actions to drone F2-F10: Command drone to act in a way that is not optional but reduces your affection level with drone F11: Direct workflow […]
The Daily Grind: What upcoming MMOs have fallen off your radar?
The joke around the Massively OP office is now that Chris is covering Star Citizen news with his angle of expertise, the rest of us can take a break from trying to ride that bucking bronco of news. Honestly, I stopped being interested in Star Citizen a long time ago. It's too much drama, too […]
The Stream Team: Preparing for a first Heist in Path of Exile
Path of Exile's latest league Heist just launched today, and Massively OP's MJ is ready to turn to a life of crime. Well, commit crimes against the crime bosses anyway! She's preparing for her very first heist and invites you to come along. Tune in live at 8:00 p.m. to see if she can pull […]
Betawatch: Frozen Flame burns its way into a cool closed beta
Survival action RPG Frozen Flame announced this week that it was heading into closed beta with a single-player mode, a new event, and a special respec juice for characters. The good news is that you can now play singly, take part in the event, and drink the juice as the beta has begun and is currently running. […]
The Division 2 previews Concealed Agenda, the Summit, and gear transmogging
With the latest update to The Division 2 arriving on Tuesday, September 22nd, now seems as good a time as any for the devs of the game to summarize all of the things that are coming with the update. And that's just what they did. Leading off things is the game's third season, Concealed Agenda, […]
The World of Warships Transformers promotional event is live
Do you like World of Warships? Do you like Transformers? If the answer to both of those questions is "yes," you are the reason why today hurts me so dang much. There is a crossover event running in the game with a franchise I very much enjoy that keeps not happening as a proper MMO, but […]
Champions Online's third anniversary week sees Dr. Destroyer and his Destroids attack the city
Dr. Destroyer. Boy, what a comic book-y villain name. I love his '80s-style cheese. I love his Marc Silvestri-looking metallic outfit. And I love that his minions are called Destroids, which happen to be the primary threat in the third week of the anniversary of Champions Online. Players of the superheroic MMO will need to […]
Blade & Soul previews another round of item and system changes arriving with Cosmic Horizon
As ever seems to be the case with new updates to Blade & Soul, the upcoming Cosmic Horizon update will introduce some more tweaks to the MMO's items and systems. This time around, players will be facing some sterner challenges in floors 9-20 of Mushin's Tower, Outlaw Arena, Circle of Sundering, and Den of the […]
Warhammer Online: Return of Reckoning offers a special title for taking part in its anniversary events
Can you believe that it's been 12 years since the launch of Warhammer Online? Because it absolutely has. Of course, the game hasn't been consistently running during those 12 years, but the Return of Reckoning rogue server is still going to celebrate the anniversary with a weekend warfront event giving you a chance at a unique title. […]
Torchlight III promises a date for final data wipe and launch 'soon'
So the last patch for Torchlight III took a little while to arrive, but you can rest easy knowing that launch approaches! A date for that fabled actual launch will be here soon. How soon? Why, in a jiff! Are you now annoyed because a jiff is not actually a timeframe but an ambiguous statement? Then […]
The Stream Team: Gone fishing in AdventureQuest 3D
AQ3D just introduced an expanded fishing system, making it the very first trade skill! Massively OP's MJ has always loved fishing (especially in games), so she cannot wait to check it out. Even better, fish go into a new resource tab so they won't fill up her inventory! Join us live at 2:00 p.m. as […]
Path of Exile's Heist expansion officially launches this afternoon
It's expansion day for Path of Exile as Grinding Gear Games goes all Oceans 11 with the release of Heist for PC and Mac players. As we've covered at length, this update introduce the Heist challenge league, new equippable NPC, the Rogue Harbour hub, new items, trinket lots, new skills, skill reworks, and of course, […]
No Man's Sky teases 'the beginning of something new': New update Origins, launching next week
No Man's Sky studio Hello Games has a bit of a habit of casually announcing major expansions out of the blue and crashing its own website. Today being what it is, that's exactly what happened this morning with the announcement of Origins, launching next week, with basically no pomp or fanfare, "the beginning of something […]
Kickstarted MMO Fractured lowers price of entry, rearranges alpha and beta schedule
Dynamight Studios' latest dev blog has some big changes for Fractured and its fans, starting with the news that the game's price is coming down down down. The devs explain that the alpha has gone on longer than anticipated as the developers continue testing, which means the first beta hasn't launched yet (and probably won't […]
Disintegration is shutting its multiplayer servers down after less than five months
In what will no doubt be a non-surprise to pretty much anyone who has paid attention to the industry over the past decade, it turns out that multiplayer shooters need more than just "you do the shooty and there are other people" to build a community. You cannot replicate the success of Halo by showing […]
Inside Star Citizen shows off an improved personal inventory, planet painting, and homestead concepts
This week, Star Citizen is all about mucking with its inventory as the latest video digest opened with a look at an improved personal inventory system. This system, powered by the bespoke Building Blocks UI, will more easily let players move items from their various inventory locations, split stacks apart, and access other contextual functions […]
WoW Factor: No, Shadowlands is probably not going to be terrible
I've noted many times at this point that World of Warcraft does not seem to have done a great job with Shadowlands, at least from what we've seen so far. A little prison of the team's own making over here, a little bad philosophy behind redesigns over there, and not even a little salami as a treat. And […]
Dungeons and Dragons Online turns on its pirate event for the weekend
With this weekend's International Talk Like a Pirate Day bringing out the buccaneer in all of us, Dungeons and Dragons Online wanted to join in on the swashbuckling good time. The MMO is activating its Crystal Cove event from now through September 22nd, which opens up the usually hidden area for adventurin' and plunderin'. According […]
The US government is now probing Epic and Riot in relation to Tencent's data security
Remember back in August when the Trump administration made noise about trying to ban WeChat and Tencent from transactions with folks in the US? It caused a big ripple at the time, as it was written to effectively include all of Tencent's holdings, including its games studios, everything from Riot and Epic to Funcom and […]
Astellia Online grants an 'ultimate buff' for its first birthday
It's already been a year since Astellia Online launched here in the west, and anyone's first birthday is a cause for celebration. If it's a kid, that usually involves a messy consumption of chocolate cake, but for this MMO, it involves turning on the buff hose and letting it spray everywhere. "We truly thank all […]
Capcom unveils new single-player RPG and multiplayer Monster Hunter games for the Nintendo Switch
2021 is bringing a couple of new additions to the Monster Hunter series and both of them are going to be on the Nintendo Switch: Monster Hunter Rise and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, both of which were unveiled during this week's Nintendo Direct mini showcase. Monster Hunter Stories is a single-player RPG […]
The Daily Grind: How important is player-generated content to you in MMOs?
When I look at the current crop of top MMORPGs, I'm dismayed to realize that not a single one of them has anything significant in the way of player-generated content inside the game. Sure, people roleplay, and a few of them have relatively limited prefab housing, but if you're looking for something structured like a […]
The Stream Team: Standing a Ghost of a Chance in Dungeons and Dragons Online
Does Massively OP's MJ stand a Ghost of a Chance in DDO? We'll see as she takes on a quest by that very name! The next mission in the saga of the Pirates of the Tunder Sea, she and her group will have to rescue the brother of Marteen Worley, a ghost who needs a […]
Massively Overthinking: How to deal with cheater scum in MMORPGs
I'm sure it was a random coincidence, but last week two different Star Wars Galaxies emulators posted about steps they were taking against cheaters and RMT purveyors: SWGemu banned 65 accounts for real-money trading, while SWG Legends banned a pile more for similar offenses, recouping over 12B in credits. SWGL then doled out tempbans and permabans […]
Last Oasis drops three new bomb types on players in its weekly update
Blowing things up usually doesn't get too old, but there's always room for new and unique ways for stuff to go boom. Enter Last Oasis' latest update, which brings on three new types of bombs for players to huck at things. Or for players to worry about, depending on which side of the bomb they're […]
APB Reloaded makes clothing more accessible and balances weapons in its latest patch
Looking good and firing guns. That's what APB Reloaded is all about. OK, maybe not all it's about, but those two arguably important aspects of the game are getting adjusted in today's patch. On the subject of clothing changes, over 100 clothing items are moving from ARMAS to the Joker Store and clothing bundle prices […]
Xbox Series X and S preorders go live on September 22nd, with hopefully no chaos
So apparently somebody at Xbox was watching the PlayStation 5 preorder debacle last night and said, "Hey so yeah let's not emulate that clownshow." We say this because it's set a nice clean preorder date and time for the preorder launch, a nice clean preorder date and time that isn't "tomorrow – just kidding, right […]
Fallout 76 is merging some content releases and delaying others into 2021
With One Wasteland out in the wild this week and dynamic overland difficulty finally in the game, Fallout 76 is prepping for its next big thing, and that means changes to the roadmap for the rest of the year and beyond. "In a previous version of our 2020 Roadmap, we had shown you that the […]
The Survivalist: First impressions of Conan Exiles' Isle of Siptah expansion
Framed. Convicted. Exiled. Now, shipwrecked? What do the fates have in store for me next? Perhaps this Isle of Siptah will be my redress. Wait, what was that sound… Say what you will of Funcom, but after my first taste of the shipwrecked survival life, I think it got something right with Isle of Siptah. […]
Valorant's game director discusses rough plans for new Agents, maps, and modes that promote 'social downtime'
Riot Games' team-based tactical shooter Valorant has been, by all accounts, enjoying some quiet yet steady success. Even so, that only means that the game should continue to grow and adapt, and a general idea of those plans were talked about by game director Joe Ziegler in an interview with US Gamer. Plans for future […]
World of Warcraft caps off its Afterlives with a look at Revendreth
Despite the appearance, the Venthyr of Revendreth in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands do not really vant to dreenk your blud. They vant to make you a better person because you were kind of awful in life, but there's the potential for some kind of redemption at the end of the day, hence being tossed into this particular corner of the eponymous […]
Final Fantasy XIV's final anniversary story closes the book on the origin of the Crystal Exarch
Every year, Final Fantasy XIV has a quartet of anniversary stories to shed more light on the characters of the game's story. But this year, the last story isn't filling in gaps in the usual way. Instead, this last story of the year is closing the book on a side story that has been running since […]
Crowfall says its new Shadowbane-inspired class design will create an 'explosion' of build possibilities
Yesterday, several members of the Crowfall dev team sat for an AMA with DownToQuest Twitch, and while the whole broadcast isn't up for non-subscribers as we type this, several fun clips are, with useful insight into the game's development. Notably, ArtCraft's J. Todd Coleman discusses the overhaul for class design and balance. "The marching orders I […]
LOTRO Legendarium: Is LOTRO getting greedy with its fall content update?
Boars. Beets. Battlestar Galactica. OK, let's talk about one of those things, at least in a roundabout way, because there's no escaping the fact that Standing Stone Games stirred up a hornet's nest this past week. The announcement that Lord of the Rings Online's fall content update is being rebranded as a "mini-expansion" cocked quite […]
Secret World Legends marks the autumn season with an Envoys of Avalon retread
This news will either be fun to hear or the dull, wooden thud of a nail hammering into a coffin if you're a Secret World Legends player. As of yesterday, the game has once again brought back the Envoys of Avalon to Agartha to mark the autumn equinox and will keep them in-game until September […]
Wisdom of Nym: Speculating on the newly announced Final Fantasy XVI
So, uh… hey! Final Fantasy XVI! That's a thing we learned about yesterday, huh? I'm sure we're all shocked that Naoki Yoshida's very specific dismissal of rumors about him and the title turned out to be not actually a denial after all. If only someone had noted at the time that it was a very specific denial […]
Phantasy Star Online 2 announces Episode 5 launch date of September 30 and starts lead-up campaigns
The next episode's worth of content is coming soon to Phantasy Star Online 2 as Episode 5 has been confirmed for a release date of Wednesday, September 30th, bringing with it a level cap raise to 90, new ARKS missions and areas to explore, new enemy types, new quest types with new rewards, new seasonal […]
Echo of Soul is sunsetting yet again, this time on Steam, and no it's not giving refunds
We return now to the confusing story of Echo of Soul, which as we've previously chronicled has at least a million versions and has sunsetted them approximately half of them. The one relevant today is the version run by Blue Potion Games on Steam, which never actually launched out of early access but is apparently […]
World of Warcraft hitches up PvP's pants while WoW Classic throws a tournament
Eleventh hour adjustments are being made to World of Warcraft: Shadowlands' PvP scene in response to a whole lot of player concerns over the upcoming expansion's competitive scene. Blizzard's main focus in this department is to adjust Conquest gear so that all of it includes the versitality stat. "The result of these changes should be […]
PlayStation 5 targets November amidst buying frenzy, while Facebook trots out the Oculus Quest 2
Expect everyone in the gaming world to be a bit console-crazy this week — and console-insane come November. Not only is Microsoft launching the Xbox Series X on November 10th, but now we know that Sony is releasing the PlayStation 5 two days later on November 12th. Sony's PlayStation 5 will come in two editions: […]
The Daily Grind: What common MMO developer reassurance doesn't reassure you at all?
At one point, I was tossing an idea around for a Perfect Ten column about a Kickstarter drinking game. It didn't go anywhere, ultimately (it wasn't very funny), but it did touch on the point of repeated MMO developer promises, which I think we can agree is most certainly not limited to cash shops because […]
The Stream Team: In SWTOR, 'gotta catch 'em all' refers to droids
Massively OP's Larry and MJ are still out to learn the secrets of — and sabotage — The Shroud, but their real focus is on collecting all the droids in SWTOR! Who wants to pass up an achievement? The duo continues their quest by infiltrating transport station number five on Taris. Join us live at […]
Final Fantasy XVI is announced with Naoki Yoshida of Final Fantasy XIV as producer
Surprising absolutely no one, Final Fantasy XVI is going to happen! Yes, it turns out Square-Enix is continuing its flagship series, we're all shocked. The reveal today took the form of a four-minute trailer for the game along with a blog post on the official PlayStation site, announcing the game in the words of director […]
EVE Online's Depths of the Abyss is live as CCP updates policies and World War Bee 2 endures
EVE Online has lots going on this week, from patches to policies to drama. Let's dig in: First, this week's patch, Depths of the Abyss, is fully live now, with perks for people on both ends of the PvE spectrum. The new tier 0 abyssal deadspace should help newer players ease into the mechanics, but […]
Old School RuneScape introduces more Poll 72 changes and tries to open the discussion on Revenant Caves
It's another week of updates for Old School RuneScape and another gaggle of included adjustments based on Poll 72's results. That all might sound like a complaint, but it's hard to really balk at weekly updates of things that players voted to have added. This week we're seeing some improvements to Agility Courses, a new […]
TERA on console makes a wide swath of adjustments to awakened class skills and maps out the rest of 2020
Players of TERA on console that have an awakened class are going to want to pay attention to the latest update's patch notes because things are a-changin'. This patch has introduced some balance adjustments and improvements to awakened classes, affecting every single class in the game to varying degrees, though the most numerous are applied […]
City of Heroes Homecoming emphasizes player-created content, bars 'controversial political content'
City of Heroes' most popular rogue server, Homecoming, is a fount of player activity these days, and the dev team wants to make sure that the community gets the credit. Two new mission architect efforts recently were stamped with the "Dev Choice" seal of approval, a magic costume contest is coming up this Saturday, and […]
