The Stream Team: Beating Bartholomew Blackdagger in Neverwinter
The pirate fort in Neverwinter's Pirate's Skyhold was underwhelming, so Massively OP's MJ wants to kick it up a notch or two. Cue the zone's end dungeon, Pirate King's Retreat! Surely a pirate king could pose a bit more of a challenge to MJ and her group? And bonus, they get to help put the […]
Massively Overthinking: MMO voids that haven't been filled
I swear, so many of the posts I bookmark on Reddit to muse on later wind up deleted, and today I've got another one, but hey, I at least liked the topic! The now-deleted user wondered aloud about the most obscure MMOs in the genre, games with hardly anyone playing but full of heart. "Do […]
Crucible's latest beta patch brings major improvements to characters and the Heart of the Hive
The latest beta patch for Crucible is all about delivering on one of the game's stated major design goals when moving back into beta with a refocus on the Heart of the Hive mode. Players will notice a number of major changes, starting with the map refocused and rebalanced to provide more "rings" of danger moving […]
Not So Massively Roundup: Destiny 2, Spellbreak, Vigor, Valorant, Frostpoint, Shadow Arena, and PUBG's BLACKPINK collab
Welcome to a quick roundup of some news from the Not-So-Massively world! Destiny 2: Bungie posted a trailer and a detailed dev blog on Destiny 2's dynamic weather and storms on Europa, all in the leadup to the Beyond Light expansion. "The team tested features like slowing player movement, altering grenade paths, and even knocking […]
Lost Ark confirms the Reaper class launches on Korean servers September 29
Yup, we're still waiting on Lost Ark's arrival to western shores, but we can still at least peek over to the goings-on for the Korean version of the game. In that vein we have word of a launch date for the new Reaper class, which is confirmed for Tuesday, September 29th, complete with a big […]
Conan Exiles applies balance changes and plugs a hole in the map on PC, optimizes memory use on Xbox
Have you been falling through a hole in the world of Conan Exiles? Apparently, that's been an experience players on PC have been having in a section of the map near Scavenger Coast, but as of a recent hotfix, that hole has been sewn shut. The hotfix has also made a number of changes to […]
MUD network and roleplaying repository Skotos celebrates 20th anniversary with retirement
While many old-school MMORPG players came from MUDs, I didn't: I didn't even know they existed until several years into playing Ultima Online and EverQuest, so when I did, I went a little bit nuts digging through piles of ideas that had predated everything I knew. And one of the MUD groups I found was […]
Albion Online makes improvements to mobile and the Black Market in latest patch
Albion Online has addressed a couple of little but no less important issues in its most recent patch, namely to the mobile version of the game and to the Black Market: The latter will now retain the name of the crafter who made items that can be found in the market as well as end […]
World of Warcraft shows off customization changes coming with the Shadowlands pre-patch
Every World of Warcraft fan knows that the Shadowlands pre-patch remains locked in a future of indeterminate date, forever happening "soon" without an actual announcement. But it's clear that it's going to be quite soon based on the new preview of customization options and the new interface on the official site. Once the patch finally arrives, […]
The Division 2 launches Season 3 and Title Update 11, announces another free weekend and Twitch drops
Whether you're chasing a rogue agent or climbing up the floors of a skyscraper, the recent update for The Division 2 has plenty of things for players to take on with the arrival of Title Update 11 and Season 3, the latter of which has more information on objective timing with a calendar detailing what's […]
Broadsword just announced Ultima Online: New Legacy on its 23rd birthday
We're updating this post with the big news down at the bottom! All year, Broadsword's been teasing something big for Ultima Online, which we've been assuming just has to be the long-delayed Steam launch. And we do mean long-delayed: As we've previously noted, the game was greenlit for Steam in 2014, back when Steam greenlighting […]
City of Heroes rebuild project SEGS expects to have an alpha by the end of the year
Back in the long long ago, before last year's City of Heroes revival, there was a group trying to bring back the game not as a copy and not as a brand-new spiritual successor but as a legal rewrite of the game's core that could plug into the assets players already own – wouldn't run […]
Vague Patch Notes: Why stan an MMO with nothing to show for itself?
We need to talk about Star Citizen, folks. But maybe not in the way you might be thinking. Not about the game's development, which is dragging on with no end in sight and no effective scope management; that's just a set of facts. No, we need to talk about the fact that I assure you that […]
Lineage II celebrates 6,000 days of uptime with server boosts and free goodies
Usually, most MMOs elect to mark their game's lifespan through yearly milestones, but the fact that Lineage II has been online for 6,000 days is certainly nothing to sneeze at and is reason enough to mark the occasion with some free goodies for players. The celebration runs between now and October 14th and will be […]
SuperData August 2020: Fall Guys dethroned League of Legends, pushed WoW to its lowest rank in over a year
SuperData's August global revenue report for the games industry has more than a few eyebrow-raisers this week. On the PC side of things, World of Warcraft West has fallen all the way to 10th place, its lowest relative position since June 2019, when it re-entered the lists at 10th after a few months off it […]
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands adds a new Rogue Covenant ability as the beta sees another round of tuning
The next World of Warcraft expansion is slated to go live on October 26th, but there's still tuning and even some significant changes happening in the beta even now. The most recent build includes a number of balance changes for class abilities and Covenant abilities, with the most notable change being a whole new Rogue ability […]
RuneScape and Old School RuneScape announce Steam launch as Jagex delays mobile
As many other games have proven, it never really seems to be too late to arrive to Steam, so consider that when learning that both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape are coming to the platform, with RuneScape landing on Wednesday, October 14th, while OSRS will arrive at some point in the early part of 2021. […]
TERA Console delays its crossplay release to mid-November
Crossplay is no small feature for an MMO, as it allows players across different platforms to be able to connect and adventure together. It's been an anticipated feature for TERA's console edition, but now gamers are going to have to wait a little while longer to get it. Krafton said that it's delaying the rollout […]
Rumor: Lord of the Rings Online's next class might be the Brawler
Sharp-eyed Lord of the Rings Online players seem to have discovered a big secret on the game's test server: the existence of a new class-in-the-making called the Brawler. A screenshot from the Bullroarer test world and reportedly taken by player jailwartho is making the rounds on Discord and the forums, showing a curious drop-down menu […]
The Daily Grind: Have you ever led an MMO guild?
Leadership in a guild has never been something I have sought. It has happened more than once, but literally every single time it was mostly an accident wherein it turned out I was at least moderately responsible and intelligent. That meant getting duties handed to me on more than one occasion, which has usually… not helped […]
The Stream Team: Fourth day's (hopefully) the charm for finishing Warframe's Deadlock Protocol
As hard as it is for Massively OP's MJ to break away from the Heart of Deimos fun, she really needs to wrap up Warframe's Deadlock protocol. All that's left is the final boss fight. Can she power her way through tonight and defeat Protea? Tune in live at 8:00 p.m. for (hopefully) the final […]
Torchlight III has pushed out gifts for alpha testers, even if you tested Torchlight Frontiers
We're inching close to Torchlight III's inevitable launch announcement here, but in the meantime, PWE and Ectra Games have been patching up the beta. The latest patch follows up on last week's mainline update, chiefly fixing bugs. "A quick hotfix this morning to address a few bugs that went out with the "Update for Dummies" […]
ArcheAge Unchained promises changes to Marketplace and ArchePass items that avoid pay-to-win territory
Gamigo, in coordination with XLGames, is promising to take ArcheAge Unchained player feedback to heart regarding items in the Marketplace and as part of the ArchePass. In a general breakdown of the team's plans, the post promises that there will be efforts to avoid pay-to-win items, noting that their definition of such items as something […]
Astellia Online expands its one-year anniversary event beyond buffs with login rewards
Were you afraid that Astellia Online would celebrate a year since it launched in North America with nothing more than a passive buff to all characters? If so, you were wrong! It's also celebrating by following that buff with a bunch of bonus items that you get for staying logged into the game for a while. This […]
Star Wars: The Old Republic previews the Feast of Prosperity on the test server
Clearly, what a a galaxy far, far away needs for players are more seasonal events. The Feast of Prosperity is the next annual recurring event for Star Wars: The Old Republic, complete with weekly story content alongside new daily and weekly missions and new minigames. And you can try it out now on the test server, […]
The Elder Scrolls Online starts the collective countdown for the Lost Treasures of Skyrim
No one ever seems to have much interest in uncovering found treasures. That is probably explained by the premise, really; once the treasure is found, it's unlikely to be difficult to locate. But for the Lost Treasures of Skyrim event in The Elder Scrolls Online, finding Antiquities buried hither and yon will help unlock additional treasures for everyone […]
Neverwinter is boosting the drop rates of premium items in dungeons
There is a bit of a problem with the premium items that can be awarded at the end of dungeons in Neverwinter. For example, you may be looking at that first line and wondering what the heck it's talking about, because the drops are so uncommon that they are scarcely even spoken of in legends. That […]
Boundless introduces new sovereign and creative worlds, celebrates second birthday
There's already a fair amount of creative freedom in the voxelbox of Boundless, but as of the most recent update that freedom has extended to entire planets with the arrival of sovereign worlds and creative worlds, both of which allow players to form their own planets in the game's universe. Sovereign worlds sound pretty much […]
Bless Unleashed launches for PS4 on October 22, with preorder packs live now
The Bless IP never seems to give up, and so it is with the Bless Unleashed PS4 version. We knew it was coming, of course, following the game's launch on Xbox One earlier this year and the PS4 closed beta, but as of today, we know it's officially launching this fall. "Bless Unleashed™ is set […]
Yikes… WoW's Khadgar server accidentally sent characters back to Mists of Pandaria levels
Time travel isn't unknown in World of Warcraft, but usually when players experience it there, it's a thrilling adventure to other eras. However, some players on the game's Khadgar server experienced a much less fun version of time travel this week as they logged in to find that their characters were de-leveled back to 80 […]
Blade & Soul's Cosmic Horizon update goes live today — here are the patch notes
It's time for the Lyn to unleash star-powered hell on the foes of the Earthen Realm. This isn't the only thing that's been added with the launch of today's Cosmic Horizon update to Blade & Soul, but it's certainly among the top items in the recently released patch notes and update overview. The overview hearkens […]
Book of Travels promises gameplay footage this fall, delays early access to Q2 2021
Book of Travels effectively took Massively OP's most anticipated award last year, especially since the game that tied with it no longer really exists. It came almost out of nowhere in 2019 with a Kickstarter promising a painterly and weird and creative roleplaying sandbox MMO experience, and it was gobbled up by MMO players hungry […]
Perfect Ten: Why do players keep playing MMOs they hate?
Hating your recreation is an oddly common hobby for a lot of people. It's not universal, of course, but after any given new game releases you don't have to search long to find people who hate it and will loudly tell you how bad it is now that they've played 80 hours of it. A […]
Black Desert dates O'dyllita release for October 7, adds Garmoth's Nest to the Red Battlefield and new events
It's all about the PC version of Black Desert in this week's bundle of news and updates from the game, so if you're a player of the MMORPG on the platform, there's lots to dig in to. First off, there's an official launch date for the O'dyllita region: Wednesday, October 7th. There's a video and […]
World of Warcraft developers discuss endgame loot tables, Chris Metzen acknowledges Warcraft movie sequel rumor
The endgame mechanics for World of Warcraft: Shadowlands are still under a degree of scrutiny by players, to the point that the developers have taken a moment on the official forums to outline the overall philosophy at work for loot tables and how the three structured reward paths (M+, top-end raiding, and ranked PvP) are meant […]
No Man's Sky adds new planets, biomes, creatures, weather, locations, and items in today's Origins update
Yes, that headline has a lot of things broken up by a lot of commas, but it should effectively illustrate the number of things added to No Man's Sky with the release of the Origins update, which has not added anything as unique as, say, a spaceship that's also an organism but has added a […]
MMO Business Roundup: Morhaime is back with Dreamhaven, plus NCsoft's parking lot and Epic's Manticore ambitions
Welcome back to another quick roundup of video game industry news relevant to MMOs and MMO fans! The Morhaimes: When Mike Morhaime announced he was leaving Blizzard just two years ago, there was plenty of speculation about what he'd do next, especially since it appeared his resignation wasn't the most voluntary thing ever. Today, he […]
Hellgate: London's rogue server schedules its beta for Halloween
In terms of online video game resurrections, Hellgate: London seemed like it was going for the world record at one point. The infamous Flagship ARPG has seen more deaths and comebacks than your average superhero — and there's at least one more to come, thanks to a group of player volunteers who are attempting to […]
Lord of the Rings Online begins testing War of the Three Peaks DLC, and yes, boar mounts are high-price bundle perks
The big fall update for Lord of the Rings Online — newly promoted to "mini-expansion" status with an accompanied price tag — is now on the Bullroarer test server for players to evaluate. This initial preview for War of the Three Peaks is only available until this Thursday and includes several changes to the Guardian […]
The Daily Grind: Are you planning to buy a next-gen console?
So at this point, we've now seen PlayStation 5 preorders go live, in a clusterfudge Sony has already apologized for, and we've seen Xbox Series S and X preorders go live, which in spite of shade for Sony from Microsoft still managed to be a bit of a disaster yesterday. Would-be Xbox buyers lamented queues, instant […]
The Stream Team: Celebrating Aion's 11th birthday
Aion holds a very special place in Massively OP's MJ's heart; after all, it's what brought her to MOP! So of course she wants to be on hand to celebrate this beautiful world's 11th birthday. Tune in live at 8:00 p.m. as Massively OP's Stream Team brings you a birthday celebration in Atreia. What: Aion […]
RuneScape adds new Lunar spells, launches a fresh Yak Track, and announces Golden Gnome finalists
This week in RuneScape brings yet another cornucopia of… stuff. It's another update post and it's once again all over the map, but it also has a variety of interesting adjustments and events for players to absorb. For example: The Ninjas have added four new Lunar spells that should make a number of rote tasks […]
Legends of Aria looks back at the summer PvP arena season and notes adjustments due for next season
The PvP arena is nearly closed for the summer in Legends of Aria, and so it's time to take stock of how things went for the inaugural season. A post on the game's website does just that, outlining the winners for the 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 arena brackets and sharing an infographic that outlines the […]
League of Legends introduces Samira the Desert Rose to the roster
If you think a bit of Dante from Devil May Cry is missing in your MOBA, then you might want to consider offering a look at Samira, the latest champion added to League of Legends. Especially if you're the kind of player who likes to rack up combos. As we outlined before when she quietly […]
Massively OP Podcast Episode 289: Microsoft and Bethesda sitting in a tree
Justin and Bree discuss Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax and Bethsoft, Fallout 76, Conan Exiles, Elder Scrolls Online, Echo of Soul, Phantasy Star Online 2, Final Fantasy XVI, and Crowfall, with adventures in WoW and SWG Legends, plus a mailbag topic on FOMO marketing tactics in MMOs.
Pokemon Go continues Mega Events, celebrates fashion week with pokemon in top hats
Pokemon Go is embarking on the final part of the Mega September events we've previously covered, once again promoting its controversial Mega Evolution feature. Fortunately for players, the last and current event awards Mega Beedrill Energy, so if you want to participate and have a Mega Bee (or any Mega evolution) follow you around for 12 […]
Aion invites players to celebrate its 11-year anniversary through October
Hold on a moment. Eleven years of Aion? That can't be right, it was new when I started working in this field, it can't have been… oh. Oh no. Oh no. It is right, the game has been running for 11 years in North America. My life. What happened to my life? Um. Right. Anniversary […]
Shroud of the Avatar offers a sneak peek at a new adventure scene and crafting station surface decorations
It's been a couple of weeks since we looked at the newsletter updates from Shroud of the Avatar, so allow us to bundle up the past couple of highlights from the past couple of Avatar's Update missives. First up, we've got a new adventure scene offered to Episode 2 Access owners called The Well of […]
EverQuest II kicks off a prelude event for its next expansion and brings back Days of Summer for subscribers
Yup, EverQuest II is going to be expanding once again, and while players aren't getting a lot of details about this expansion yet, there is going to be some preparation to do in-game with a Haven Bound prelude event. Players are being asked to help the Luclinites reclaim the ancient city of Fordel Midst in […]
Path of Exile adjusts rogue equipment, alert levels, and chokepoints in Heist
Killing monsters no longer raises the alert level in Path of Exile as you roll through Heist content. Yes, this means that your heists will be more violent. That's how things are going now, it seems. Just go with it and enjoy all of the bliss of going in for a heist with swords blazing. […]
