The Stream Team: Plundering a pirate fort in Neverwinter
Shaben Shortcloak found a likely cache of treasure in Neverwinter's Pirate's Skyhold, and he's not moving a muscle until he can plunder it! Of course, he doesn't want to try for it alone, so Massively OP and her team will be lending a hand. (And that means they will take a cut!) Tune in live […]
Massively Overthinking: Contemplating in-game advertising
Last week, EA announced that it would finally be removing all the in-game ads from UFC4 after a few days of intense complaining from fans. Not only were the ads fundamentally annoying, but this was a $60 title, and the studio turned on full commercials in-game a few weeks after the launch, after all the […]
Torchlight III delays its next patch once again to next week
Remember when we were young and innocent and were looking forward to the next early access patch for Torchlight III this week? How foolish and naive we were. It turns out that the next patch and its changes to Dusk Mages, training dummies, and other systems will be waiting for a bit longer, as September 8th […]
Last Oasis introduces the lava-slurping Camelop Walker in its latest update
Harvesting lava has got to be tough, whether in real life or in the survival sandbox of Last Oasis, but as of the latest update that job has gotten a bit easier thanks to the introduction of the Camelop Walker. This unique new machine is specially designed to pump up large amounts of lava or […]
Final Fantasy XI delivers the second installment of the Voracious Resurgence today
Black-clad beastmen, a mysterious threat, and also the meta level of new story content in Final Fantasy XI should be more than enough to excite players about today's patch introducing the next part of the Voracious Resurgence. Of course, there's more to the latest update than that; the addition of Sheol C to Odyssey provides new […]
MMO gamers held an inspiring memorial for a fallen friend on Warhammer Online's Return of Reckoning server
As part of our Massively Uplifting column this past week, we covered an emerging story on the Warhammer Online Return of Reckoning rogue server, as a veteran player named Gary aka biploargary shared that he had terminal lung cancer and wished to say farewell to the Warhammer community he loved so much. That community sprang […]
Albion Online player steals an in-game billion's worth of assets from a guild in a self-described 'long con'
On the one hand, you have to respect a good caper, but on the other hand, this particular bit of thievery that happened in Albion Online saw assets stolen from Fricks, a guild that reportedly tries to help new and inexperienced players through the game. So that kind of sucks. According to a report of […]
Black Desert counts 40M players as its PC version buffs music and adds new Shai instruments
Pearl Abyss has officially turned 10 years old today, and it's brought some hard liquor to the party. Did I say hard liquor? I meant hard numbers, which might be less entertaining short-term but is significantly more interesting long-term! Specifically, the Korean company says that Black Desert counts 40M players across four platforms and 150 […]
SMITE's design director confirms one more new god in 2020, outlines early plans for 2021's Season 8
If you're not among those who are following SMITE design director A.J. Walker on Twitter, then you might have missed a thread with some pretty important details about the game's future moving in to the rest of this year and the early party of next year. In it, he discusses how the dev team has […]
World of Warcraft: Afterlives highlights Ardenweald – if you can bear it
We are happily resurrecting old memes with the latest installment of the World of Warcraft Afterlives animated shorts because watching this video should aggro every bears within a 40 yard radius. It only makes sense, you are watching a video about their best friend. Yes, it's time to go to Ardenweald, and that means looking at a […]
Ubisoft's long-delayed Skull and Bones promises new 'vision' and a 'comeback' next year
If it seems as if you've been hearing about Ubisoft's Skull and Bones for an absurdly long time without a game to show for it, that's because you have. It was announced and demo'd at E3 all the way back in 2017 – we even played it! But it's been delayed and delayed more in […]
Corepunk is aiming for a 'WoW Classic difficulty level,' with housing and farming in the works
With closed beta on the way for this December, Corepunk is generating some degree of interest among cyberpunk MMO fans. To feed the hype machine, Producer Eugene Kiver appeared on Reddit this week to tackle an AMA about the upcoming game. Kiver said that the team is aiming at "WoW Classic difficulty level" for Corepunk, expecting […]
Perfect Ten: How to speak with your family members about playing MMOs
The nice part about growing up with serious social awkwardness as "the weird one" in my family is that really, every strange fixation I had was more or less already covered by all of my other issues. When you have a hard time being around other human beings for more than half an hour at […]
Elder Scrolls Online's final DLC of the year is now called Markarth, not Darkstorm
Elder Scrolls Online's chapters and DLC run almost like clockwork every year, so we all knew there was one last DLC comning in 2020, and now we know its name: Markarth. In fact, it's apparently been renamed because the team "just like[s] it better" than Darkstorm, which is what was announced back in July. Skyrim […]
Final Fantasy XIV posts a new anniversary story and prepares for an online Tokyo Game Show
The third of four anniversary stories for Final Fantasy XIV has gone up today, and it covers an old friend. And an old enemy. An old everything, as it turns out. The latest story puts the reader in the shoes of Emet-Selch, he of the sassiest backhanded wave ever, and it covers a few memories of a […]
New World's director talks genre blending, release cadence, and Twitch integration plans in an interview
The interviews just keep on coming from the devs of New World. This time around we've got one from GamesIndustry speaking with game director Scot Lane about things that make the upcoming MMO stand out as well as plans for the game's future. Lane's own love for a variety of games including WoW, Black Desert, […]
XLGAMES finally confirms ArcheAge 2, a next-gen large-scale AAA MMORPG
ArcheAge 2 is more than a rumor now – it's a sure thing. The news comes according to Korean website Ruliweb, which reports that Jake Song has put together a team of 50 devs to work on the Unreal Engine 5 sequel under the XLGAMES and Kakao banners. The gist is that the game is […]
World of Warcraft struggles to come up with a Covenant compromise
With less than two months to go until World of Warcraft: Shadowlands releases, it's not a great time to be making major adjustments to the expansion's (arguably) tentpole feature. But that's just what Blizzard seems to be doing with the controversial Covenant system. In response to a lot of heated debates and rants (or as […]
The Daily Grind: Have you ever had an accomplishment in an MMO you didn't realize until later?
Back when vanilla World of Warcraft was a new thing, I soloed Hogger on my Paladin. This did not strike me as all that weird. After all, it was just another gnoll. Sure, he had a fancy frame around his portrait and it took a little while longer than I expected, but it wasn't all […]
Funcom reveals Conan Exile Isle of Siptah expansion, offers free Steam weekend and sale for original
Back in January, Conan Exiles players were wary when Funcom told its investors about "continuing to develop the game with a paid map DLC"; after all, players were promised free content and only cosmetics in regular DLC. In February, we postulated that Funcom would do better by fans making a real expansion instead of a […]
For science: New UK study finds that video games improve the mental health, reading, and writing skills of kids
So this one's fun. The results of a study performed in the UK between November and December of 2019 have just been released. The study's goal? Surveying children to find out the effects that video games have on their lives. And the findings? It turns out that video games are a net positive, as 85% […]
Minecraft Dungeons releases a frost-filled new DLC and a 'Hero Edition' for Nintendo Switch
We're only in the early vestiges of autumn in our part of the hemisphere, but in the co-op roguelike world of Minecraft Dungeons, it's already Creeping Winter. Or at least it is with the launch of the latest DLC. Creeping Winter, as the title suggests, adds some frosty new mobs, some new ice-related items, and […]
Iron Harvest 1920 plans co-op campaign and ranked multiplayer features this month
It looks like the surprising RTS title Iron Harvest 1920 is going to be doing a whole lot of growing over the course of September. A roadmap shared by developer King Art has provided confirmation that there will be new content updates every week this month. Week two is adding a new 3v3 map and […]
RuneScape assumes responsibility for the oddment 'exploit,' discusses Penguin Hide and Seek rework
Yesterday saw the devs of RuneScape offer up another weekly livestream about a rework to Penguin Hide and Seek, but before it launched in to that, it circled back around to an update regarding the punishment of a few hundred accounts due to what was thought to be an exploit of oddment pricing but was […]
Phantasy Star Online 2 starts a new campaign for players to complete ultimate quests
The name "ultimate quest" brings all sorts of possibilities to mind, like having to bring items to an NPC who in turn wants you to bring something else to another NPC for two full years, or driving a normal field monster to extinction, or something. They're actually just a particular sort of quest in Phantasy Star Online […]
Grab an Echo of Soul Phoenix Bronze Griffon and beginner's pack key from Gamigo and MOP
Echo of Soul has been in and out of the news this summer following the release of another new version in Southeast Asia, but Gamigo's version, Echo of Soul Phoenix, is still kicking on this side of the ocean. In fact, Gamigo and Aeria are hoping to hook you all up with a welcome bundle […]
Albion Online makes changes to mobile, Demonic Shards in Corrupted Dungeons, and Satchels of Insight
While the latest update to Albion Online is a bit of a general update patch, there are still a number of things that players of the sandbox MMORPG will likely want to know about, particularly if you're among the many accessing Corrupted Dungeons. In this patch, Demonic Shards in said dungeons are seeing health pools […]
Star Wars The Old Republic finally adds Steam achievements with today's patch
When Star Wars The Old Republic surprise-launched on Steam back in July, it came with a few caveats – namely, that achievements weren't ready yet. But as of today's 6.1.3 update, they're in, and they're even retroactive: "Steam Achievements are now live! After previewing achievements on Steam for about a month, players will retroactively unlock […]
The Stream Team: To Hell with Honor in Star Trek Online
Massively OP's MJ has been laboring throughout the year to earn a special Star Trek Online ship reward, and the final phase of that endeavor has begun! To Hell with Honor is another chapter in the story of J'ula and the Klingon civil war. Join us live at 2:00 p.m. for as we start the […]
Snag a Conqueror's Blade Draconic Horse Attire bundle key from My.Games and MOP
There's a lot going on in strategy-MMO hybrid Conqueror's Blade right now: Twitch drops, a new competitive league, sales, the end of one season and the beginning of the next. And you know what you need? Badass armor for your commander's horse. Good news then, since My.Games has granted MOP a bundle of keys for […]
Sea of Thieves adds dog companions and timed vault raids with today's Vaults of the Ancients
It's time once again for another monthly update for Sea of Thieves, and as we've been reporting for the past few weeks, this one's pretty special, primarily because it has vaults to raid and doggo friends. The party piece, as the update's title would suggest, are loot-filled vaults that the Gold Hoarders have hidden across […]
Heroes of the Storm adds a new Nexus Anomaly and a StarCraft vs. Warcraft event
You know, it's been some time since we've had some patch notes news to write about for Heroes of the Storm, so consider this a happy (if rare) occasion where we look at some fresh new updates applied to the MOBA today. First off is the CraftWars event which melds certain heroes from StarCraft and […]
Desert Oasis: Checking back in on Black Desert Mobile, almost one year later
It's been a while since I checked in on Black Desert Mobile for Desert Oasis. In fact, I haven't really played it since my initial first impressions. I did play it when it came out, but I couldn't really get attached to it compared to the PC version. Don't get me wrong; it's not a bad […]
EVE Online raises prices on Steam, plans to expand its Abyssal Deadspace system
CCP Games and Pearl Abyss are making some tweaks to EVE Online's business model with price increases to some of the game's bundles on Steam and in-game. "The price increase impacts in-game products (PLEX, some bundles, etc.) for a handful of regions mostly due to changes in currency conversion over the past few years," the […]
First impressions: Small World of Warcraft is a fun boardgame with a touch of Azerothian flavor
One of the interesting things about this job is that I am pretty regularly presented with a new set of things to review and try out that I never would have expected before it became a thing. Seriously, the number of board games I would have expected to review had long sat at a nice […]
Star Citizen is holding another free fly event starting today
If you've been following the Twitter account of Star Citizen, you've likely been privy to this whole Ship Showdown thing that the devs at Cloud Imperium have been going on about, which is only really interesting if you've got strong opinions about certain ships. What might be more directly interesting, however, is another upcoming free […]
Apple's new countersuit decries Epic's 'subterfuge' and 'brazen' rule-breaking with Fortnite 'Trojan horse'
Another day, another pile of paper filed in the Epic Games v. Apple Inc. lawsuit. The latest is actually a counter-suit pressed by Apple against Epic, accusing Epic of essentially breaching its contract with the platform. Calling out Epic as pretending to be a "modern corporate Robin Hood" that used the App Store to make […]
Elite Dangerous compromises on Odyssey's VR capabilities, but 'walking in ships' won't make launch
When Frontier announced Elite Dangerous' Odyssey expansion earlier this summer, it came with a belated caveat: that the expansion wouldn't include VR compatibility at launch. VR players were understandably grumpy about this, leading Frontier to rethink its plans and come to a sort of compromise. "In Odyssey, players will be able to fly down to […]
Wizard101 is getting an Amazon Prime documentary. Yes, really.
If you live and game outside of the Spiral, you may not have noticed that Wizard101 just celebrated its 12th anniversary this year. And despite the game entering its formative years, KingsIsle's MMO is going pretty strong. So strong, in fact, that it just warranted its own documentary that will be debuting next month on […]
The Daily Grind: At what point do you consider an MMO 'beaten?'
"They're MMOs!" I can hear you saying as you read the title up there. "They're designed to never be beaten or finished!" OK, OK, I understand that, but just hear me out here. While that is certainly true, sometimes we get to a point in our games when there is a sense of completion and […]
The Stream Team: Moon poetry and flames in EverQuest II
It's been a while since Massively OP's MJ has been able to advance her Blood of Luclin signature quest line in EQII. But today, she finally has the chance to return to the moon and pursue her next lead: moon poetry. Hulda shared a poem with MJ's Ratonga, and it following its lines might be […]
Shadow Arena's latest roster addition is the swift and dexterous ninja Sura
You know what Shadow Arena needs? More ninjas! This was likely said by someone while banging fists on the table, and that noise has been heard and answered by the devs of the Black Desert MOBA spinoff with the addition of Sura. Sura is described as a particularly daring melee combatant who counters his low […]
Animal Crossing New Horizons player recreates The Wizard of Oz in-game
With the variety of creation tools available to players in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it's not a wonder that this sort of thing was done (and is a nice refresher from penis-shaped fireworks). A player by the name of WilbosWorld has put together his own little version of Oz. In the first video we get […]
Path of Exile explains its structural changes for patch 3.11.2
The upcoming patch 3.11.2 for Path of Exile does not have a catchy name. It will also require a complete re-download of the entire game (although you won't have to manually uninstall and reinstall), which means you would kind of hope that it has a lot of neat stuff in it… but it doesn't. No, it's […]
Massively OP Podcast Episode 287: Rep grind
Justin and Bree discuss WoW Classic, WoW Shadowlands, SWG Legends, Fallout 76, Path of Exile, and Crypto Space Commander, with mailbox topics on MMO roleplay and a 10-part quick lighting round.
Shroud of the Avatar showcases new decorative walls and a flower-filled change to public gardens
This week's Shroud of the Avatar update newsletter is mostly about pretty things, so if you're here looking for content updates… well, I mean, the fact that this story is about decorative things was in the headline. Thanks for clicking, but at the same time, why are you here? For those who are here to […]
EVE Online rolls out the first phase of quantum cores with today's patch
Structures in EVE Online should not be haphazardly deployed as bait for confusion. That's the basic idea behind the addition of quantum cores, putting more stakes in the placement and maintenance of structures so that destroying them has a more substantial impact. Today marks the first phase of the quantum core rollout, so players can buy […]
Kickstarted multiplayer RPG Swords 'n Magic and Stuff goes into Steam early access
Maybe it's time to take a break from looking for the next big thing — and look at the next small thing. It may be tiny, chubby, and streamlined, but Swords 'n Magic and Stuff has potential to be an enjoyable diversion for you and a few of your best friends. Today, the game is […]
Trove begins testing a 'hubdate' that reworks the game's main hub on PC
Ah, the main hub. Landing point for new players, social space for veteran players, and generally the first impression made to all players. If you thought that the hub in Trove needed a bit of a touch-up, well so did the devs, hence the upcoming "hubdate," which recently arrived to the PC PTS. This new […]
Choose My Adventure: Mining misadventures in Wurm Online
Well, I have to say, following the advice of the poll from last week did help a little bit while also unfurling the multiple layers that are waiting in Wurm Online. The Wurmpedia is a vast repository of things as I found out, but not all of that knowledge is what I'd consider wisdom in […]
