RuneScape introduces the Effigy Incubator and Penguin Hide and Seek in its latest update
One is about surveilling penguins, one is about creating your own effigy. Both are part of RuneScape's latest update. Choose your poison. Or don't; you can totally do both things if you want to. The latest update to the MMORPG has brought on the Effigy Incubator, a new monthly Diversion and Distraction that lets players […]
Lost Ark announces a launch date of September 23 – in Japan
It doesn't look like it'll be long now before Lost Ark makes its way to Western shores. How do we figure? Because the Korean-built MMORPG has announced its Japanese launch date in a livestream, arriving to players in the country on Wednesday, September 23rd. As of right now, Japanese players can pre-download the game while […]
Fallout 76's daily ops will deliver randomized and repeatable missions
Along with the One Wasteland revamp and Season 2 tomorrow, Fallout 76's Update 22 is due to bring us another spiffy feature on September 15th: Daily Ops. So what are daily ops? Bethesda describes them as "instanced, randomized, repeatable encounters" that can be run, er, daily for new challenges and rewards. Daily ops can be […]
Warframe's 'great ensmallening' updates will shrink down the game's file size and optimize performance
Apparently, Warframe could stand to lose some weight; after three open worlds, over a dozen tile-sets, 28 quests, almost 500 weapons, over a thousand mods, and several remasters that updated older content, the game's file size has reached megachonker status, so the devs at Digital Extremes are going to perform what they're calling a "great […]
Albion Online touts continued population growth in September and work on new features
Earlier in May, Albion Online experienced a pretty significant spike in population numbers thanks in part to shelter-in-place orders for the pandemic. So one would maybe suspect that, as some of those pandemic restrictions ease, the game's population would similarly slip, but as of this month that's not the case, rising past the lockdown population […]
Not So Massively: The dos and don'ts of stealing from MMOs
Recently I played through the new PC port of the open world RPG Horizon Zero Dawn. While playing it, I was struck by how much it felt like playing an MMORPG… but in all the wrong ways. Endless chores, forgettable side quests, and unfocused design. That's not to say that the game doesn't also have […]
Path of Exile explains changes to Curse skills, Steel skills, and classic spells coming in Heist
Sure, the Heist expansion for Path of Exile is all about stealing baubles from highly guarded places, but there's going to be much more than that as outlined by developer Grinding Gear Games in a couple of announcement posts. Namely, some noteworthy adjustments to several skills and spells in the multiplayer ARPG. In the first […]
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV's second Ishgard season is a touch underwhelming
In the days of my youth, you usually got introduced to a new band via the radio. (The radio was like YouTube, but no video, only for music, and it was terrible.) Once you heard a new song on the radio, you would often begin a particular cycle of disappointment. First, you'd hear this new […]
Ilysia VR launches Kickstarter, vows to bring back 'the glory days of MMORPGs'
Several years now into the latest virtual reality "revolution," we've yet to see many breakout hits on the platform — nevermind the promised MMOs that seemed suited to the tech. Other than Orbus VR and a handful of other side projects, VR isn't the next big thing for MMOs. So far. Ilysia is hoping to […]
Star Wars Squadrons will be premiering a new CG trailer — watch it here
Much of the noise about Star Wars: Squadrons has been made about the game's narrative beats in its single-player campaign and it looks like that drum will continue to be thumped as the game is about to premiere an all-new CG trailer that's all about that sweet story. "Meet one of the ace pilots you'll […]
Missed Lord of the Rings Online's Weatherstock XII last weekend? Rewatch it here!
After being delayed from its original July date due to the summer Lord of the Rings Online's server meltdown, Weatherstock XII finally happened this past weekend. The popular annual player concert series featured dozens of bands playing 15-minute sets across an entire Saturday. By all accounts, it was a great show — as usual — […]
Camelot Unchained's Mark Jacobs streams refund payments from inside the City State Entertainment office
There's been another stream from Mark Jacobs regarding Camelot Unchained, but it might not be quite the content some would expect of a livestream. For one, the stream is live from inside the City State Entertainment office, and for two, the broadcast involved Jacobs processing refunds. Naturally, that's not the only thing that was part […]
Torchlight III is working on a UI scaling slider, according to its latest state of the game address
With repeated patch delays and a lot of last-minute adjustments, you'd be forgiven for harboring suspicions that Torchlight III isn't quite ready to play with the big kids. And so another state of the game report shows a title that's still in flux, this time in regards to its user interface. The developer report talks […]
Conan Exiles discusses the Isle of Siptah expansion in a stream, begins testing temperature changes on PTS
As one would expect, Conan Exiles is all about its impending Isle of Siptah expansion with a focus on the new content in the most recent developer livestream, where Funcom offered a few more specifics about what to expect. For one thing, the Isle of Siptah map and the Exiled Lands will not be linked […]
The Daily Grind: What's the weirdest stunt you've ever seen players pull in an MMO?
I've seen a lot of weird stuff in my day as an MMORPG player, but I'd never seen anyone eat 999 eggs before Ross Donovan did it in Final Fantasy XIV. Why did he eat 999 eggs? Because someone gave them to him. Because he could. Because it made for fun absurdist Twitch. Who knows. You […]
MMO Week in Review: LOTRO's mini-expansion, WoW's covenant fuss
As part of our recaps at the end of every calendar year, we always do a piece here on MOP about developer quotes and related shenanigans. This week offered up a whole bunch of contenders for that piece that I suspect we'll be seeing again, as Chris Roberts, Tim Sweeney, and Raph Koster all went […]
Craftopia's fourth consecutive patch keeps hunger from killing you and adds window frames
Last week, a patch arrived each day for four straight days over in Craftopia, but the most recent patch is notable because you can stop dying of hunger! No, really; hunger damage will no longer kill you, leaving you at 1 HP as you desperately wish for a hamburger. So a slight breeze will kill you, but […]
The MOP Up: Overhit sunsets in Korea
Nexon's Overhit is fading quickly from the mobile MMO scene. Its global servers were shut down earlier this year, leaving only the Korean and Japanese versions alive. And now the Korean shards are on the chopping block, scheduled to close down for good on November 11th. And this is just the beginning of the rest of the […]
Here's how leveling an alt in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will currently work
We know that World of Warcraft players will have a small battalion of alts to push through the content of Shadowlands. So how exactly does that work? The folks at Wowhead have compiled the currently known steps together in to one handy dandy guide just in case you're curious but not experiencing the expansion's beta. […]
Jukebox Heroes: The best of MapleStory 2's soundtrack
The death of MapleStory 2 earlier this year is seen as somewhat tragic in the Massively OP offices. Many of us got time with this colorful MMO and were charmed by its unique style, robust tools, and generally fun atmosphere. We weren't happy to see it go away so quickly, I can assure you. And […]
Pirates fight ninjas in Trove, Aura Kingdom's 'double patch,' Twin Saga adds a new Senshi
With the number of MMOs under the Gamigo umbrella, it's perhaps easy for some of their updates to fall through the cracks, so consider this story a sweep-up of some recent happenings in several of the publisher's smaller titles. Over in Trove, there's an event where pirates are fighting ninjas over who's the best at […]
One Shots: When nerfing goes too far
We've all seen classes and gear hit with the nerf bat from time to time in MMOs — hey, it's a fact of life! But actually giving players foam weapons seems like the devs are grossly overstepping their duties. Minimalistway shares this World of Warcraft evidence: "Sometimes the game asks me not to kill mobs […]
The Daily Grind: Do you try to be patient with new players in MMOs?
Patience is a virtue. It is also something not everyone is very good at – and I include myself in this particular batch because I have a very easy time becoming impatient when the same person keeps screwing up the same mechanic in the same way multiple times in Final Fantasy XIV. The first time, […]
Global Chat: Which MMO has the least annoying inventory system?
Inventory is something we have to deal with in, oh, pretty much every MMO that we play. Some games are far more generous with space and offer better sorting options, while others give you a shoebox and expect you to store your horse, armor, and sword inside of it. So which MMO is the best […]
Mortal Online 2 scales up testing, aims for a beta later this year
After months running a combat alpha, Mortal Online 2 is ramping up the scope and population of its testing. In this month's newsletter, Star Vault said that it's increasing the number of alpha keys it's distributing and is planning a beta test for late 2020. "In the coming months we will also start a technical […]
Chris Roberts says Star Citizen is 'not a pipe dream' in spite of taking longer than planned
It's been some time since we've heard a peep from Star Citizen's Chris Roberts — the 10 for the Chairman video series has ended, and we haven't had a roundtable Pillar Talk since April, though that's likely more due to the pandemic than anything else. However, CIG's big boss has recently emerged in a couple […]
Tim Sweeney insists Epic Games' legal battle is meant to stop a monopoly
In an interview with NPR, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is continuing to explain that the motivation for his company's legal battle with Google and Apple over Fortnite is meant to stop the tech giants from monopolizing the mobile games space. "It's not just Epic being exploited by Apple, but it's every developer who goes […]
The Stream Team: Mo Mania the Third, stream-athon extravaganza
You know what they say, the third Mo Mania's the charm! And we're starting up the third Mo Mania stream-athon right now with plans to dazzle and delight you. (Though if you want to get technical, MOP's fifth birthday celebrations were also Mo Manias, though not stream-athons.) Do you wish to be delighted? Dazzled? Deafened […]
LOTRO Legendarium: The quiet consistency of Lord of the Rings Online
I want to start this LOTRO Legendarium column today by talking about, well, by talking about World of Warcraft. Like probably many of you, I play several different MMOs, and alongside of LOTRO, WoW has been one of my most consistently visited titles. And as we all well know from general chat, there's no resisting […]
WRUP: Extreme unicorn hammer tag edition
Important note: Due to the sensitive nature of the contents contained within, this post has been auto-checked by ContentReader Safe Censor™! The algorithms of Safe Censor™ ensure that you see as much of a post as is possible while editing out any unpleasantness unsafe for human eyes. Please enjoy! All right, folks, it's time for […]
The Daily Grind: Which MMO has the best in-game cutscenes and cinematics?
There are a lot of ways that stories can be told in MMORPGs, but one of the most straight-forward and visually exciting is the cinematic cutscene. These temporarily yank the player out from actively controlling a character to simply watch an important narrative beat play out as a small movie in the game. Not every […]
Betawatch: Craftopia is doing the difficult Early Access work
There's kind of a pall around early access games, mostly because a lot of them launch into early access and then faff about pointlessly. But Craftopia is doing the hard work necessary to keep itself going along, and that hard work means patching. So many patches hit this week! Points for Craftopia. Other beta news is not being patched […]
The Stream Team: Following the Path of Fire story in Guild Wars 2
Massively OP's MJ was not in any rush to finally finish the Guild Wars 2 Path of Fire story… until she learned that she can't have an underwater mount until she does! Now she's raring to go. There is quite a bit of story to cover, so let's get to it: Tune in live at […]
Meta: Meet Mo Mania the Third, coming to SUBtember this Saturday
Whats better than a regular Mo stream? A Mo Mania stream-athon! (And a third one at that!) Meet Mo Mania the The Third, or MO III for short. If you were seeking hours of livestreaming entertainment filled with silly songs and prize giveaways for your weekend, look no further: Mo Mania III is here for […]
Isometric co-op zombie roguelike OARPG Darksburg exits early access on September 23
While we've been busy keeping eyes on all the games as best as we can, developer Shiro Games has had its head down working away on Darksburg, the isometric online ARPG that sees players trying to survive in the titular town during a zombie outbreak — you'll recall it was among the titles we included […]
The Division 2 details its upcoming Summit game mode and maps out content for the rest of the year
Remember when a dataminer in May unearthed details of a new game mode that involved a multi-story skyscraper being taken back by Agents? The datamine that was confirmed by the devs at the time? Well, now we're all getting more succinct details of this new game mode, which is being dubbed Summit. Summit tasks players […]
Inside Star Citizen offers up a closer look at Origin 100 ships and the Building Blocks UI
There's certainly something to be said for arriving in a big, chunky spaceship, but sometimes you just need something a little smaller and more refined, especially if you're the sort who seeks out dogfights. Star Citizen is feeding that need for smaller spacecraft with the upcoming Origin 100 series, which were part of the game's […]
LOTRO's next 'mini-expansion' content update includes boar mounts and a $100 edition
We already knew that Lord of the Rings Online is working on a Gundabad expansion for 2021, but before that arrives, there's a big fall update on the way. However, if you were expecting to get this for free, you may want to brace yourself: This update is being branded as a "mini-expansion" that will […]
MMO Business Roundup: Guild Wars 2 voice acting, EVE Online mental health, Good Game, and more
Welcome back to another roundup of MMO – and MMO-adjacent – industry news! Guild Wars 2: If you've been bummed about Guild Wars 2's pandemic-times content episodes and their lack of voice recording, your troubles are soon coming to an end. ArenaNet announced last night that the "voice over actors are back in the studio," […]
Legends of Aria makes plants extremely mad with the launch of Season 5: Raging Undergrowth
Are you ready to piss off plants? Then you're prepared for Legends of Aria's latest season Raging Undergrowth, which tasks players with thinning the growing threat of the Tree Lords in the Black Forest. As one would expect, this involves the use of fire — specifically a torch — on Tree Lord Saplings. And as […]
The Stream Team: Discovering Secrets of the Sand Sea in AQ3D
What do mummies, sandworms, and lizardmen have in common? Massively OP's MJ is going to face them all as she explores the new Hidden Tomb in AQ3D. This latest update invites all to come discover the secret of the Sand Sea, so join us live at 2:00 p.m. as MJ dons her Indiana Jones hat […]
Star Wars Galaxies Restoration III is a new rogue server blending the CU with the NGE
One of the best (and arguably also worst) parts of the Star Wars Galaxies emulation community is just how many servers we have to play around with, many of them with new ideas and new ruleset combinations that keep the 2003 MMORPG fresh long after its sunset. While we cover SWG Legends and the original […]
Massively on the Go: Pokemon Go's new event includes problematic features and stat bloat
Yes, more not-great-news in Pokemon Go, and yes, it's once again mostly about Mega Evolution. While it's been nice that the official Pokemon Go Twitter account has been trying to engage players in positive ways more so than I can recall in the past, it does so in the face of a tidal wave of […]
Apple reverses its decision to block 'Sign In with Apple' functionality for Fortnite after Apple user blowback
As the battle between Epic Games and Apple continues to wear on, the effects for the players continues to be felt in small waves. Case in point, the Fortnite Status Twitter account stated that Apple would be cutting off future "Sign In with Apple" functionality for the game on mobile on September 11th, offering up […]
Project Gorgon's latest patch sends you to the dungeon(s)
At this point, it wouldn't surprise us if Project Gorgon never actually launched but rather stayed in its early access cocoon indefinitely. At least we know that the MMO would continue to grow at a steady pace, even if it didn't get an official release. And so the pupa grows even larger this week with […]
Elite Dangerous is reviving its in-game storytelling with the return of Galnet and community goals
Earlier this year, the Elite Dangerous community was justifiably grumpy over the revelation that Frontier had seemingly put an end to communtiy features such as community goals, Interstellar Initiatives, and even pure lore content through GalNet. There were petitions and players begging to be allowed to fill the gap themselves, and even Elite novelist Drew […]
WoW Factor: Covenants have become a Shadowlands prison of Blizzard's own making
If there was any remaining question about what stage of the expansion development we were at with World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, this week marked the "we hear the things some of you are asking for and here's why we're not doing any of that" stage of developer communication. This means that yes, we are now at […]
Ubisoft CEO address promises 'real change' in the wake of massive sexual harassment scandal
While publisher/developer Ubisoft was keen to showcase the games its been working on during the Ubisoft Forward broadcast, what wasn't part of the presentation was any mention of the company's still-lingering problems with institutionalized sexual harassment, which has seen to date a total of seven managers ousted from the company. Instead, Ubisoft released a separate […]
Raph Koster argues MMOs are much more than 'a series of kill and fetch quest pellets'
As many of us know, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will be the only leavings we may ever see of 38 Studios' ambitious MMO Project Copernicus after the studio famously burst into flames so hard that Rhode Island got hurt. And now that the game has released its remaster, it's back on the minds of many, […]
TERA will 'live on,' starts transferring operations from En Masse next week
It may be the end of an era for En Masse Entertainment, but it's definitely not the end of the road for TERA. The closing publisher posted another notice yesterday that promised that the action MMO would "live on" under new management. Starting next week, TERA is going to begin the process of transferring to […]
