Baldur's Gate 3 has officially entered early access – with multiplayer (kinda)
With Cyberpunk 2077, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, and Baldur's Gate 3 coming out this fall, it's certainly shaping up to be the season of the RPG. And speaking of Baldur's Gate 3, the long-awaited follow-up to BioWare's 2000 masterpiece has just gone into early access. Why does this matter to our crowd? It's because players […]
The Daily Grind: Does gacha have a place in MMO business models?
Just so, so many of my friends are playing Genshin Impact these days — and not just playing, but gushing over the fun, the beauty, and the gacha business model. Wait, what? Yes, I've actually seen many people both defending and approving of the game's use of the controversial gacha model of character acquisition and […]
The Stream Team: Frolicking in EverQuest II's moon forest
As beautiful as the crystalline structures are, Massively OP's MJ can't help but love the lushness of the Aurelian Coast in EverQuest II's Blood of Luclin. Who said the moon can't be forested? Tonight she continues her signature quest for the expansion… assuming she isn't distracted by all the side quests again or the pretty […]
Neverwinter allows for cooldown-free power swaps on console with its latest patch
Don't you hate when you're playing Neverwinter on your PlayStation 4 and you realize you need to change your power setup but don't want to deal with the inevitable cooldown? Now you won't have to. The newest patch for the game's console versions today changes the system so that you will no longer incur a cooldown […]
Shroud of the Avatar will introduce expanded teleporter functionality in Release 83
Release 83 for Shroud of the Avatar is going to make fast travel significantly more convenient for those players who own certain teleporters in their player-owned towns. In the latest Avatar update post, fans get a look at expanded features for the teleporters to Ardoris, Central Brittany, and Owl's Head. All three of these location-specific […]
RuneScape begins mental health charity drive, plans Orthen digsite launch for October 19
October's destined to be a solid month for RuneScape fans, thanks to the release of a new archaeology digsite rolling out on October 19th. It's called Orthen, and players are encouraged to complete the Desperate Measures questline and secure level 90 archaeology before attempting the new content. "Orthen, our mysterious sixth dig site, was once […]
Massively OP Podcast Episode 291: Day of Delays
Justin and Bree discuss WoW Shadowlands' and Magic Legends' delays, Torchlight 3's planned launch, PlanetSide 2's big patch, Skyforge's Switch announcement, and HEX's sunset, with a Daily Grind lightning round and mailbag topics on feelung untethered from MMOs, live podcasts, and MMO dailies.
Path of Exile begins the process of improving heists with its latest update
The devs of Path of Exile know that the titular heists of its recent League could use a bit of improvement, and with the most recent patch update, they seek to do just that. This latest patch introduces tweaks that should make heists shorter like reducing the maximum length of a Heist in higher level […]
Ghost of Tsushima's multiplayer Legends mode will arrive to PS4 players on October 16
The spectacular single-player adventure of Ghost of Tsushima would be a lot better with other people around, but I suppose we're all going to have to settle for a lack of co-op in lieu of a completely unique and separate four-person multiplayer mode where players get to fight against oni together. Oh woe. The mode […]
Star Trek Online's House Shattered is live on PC as the game heads to the Epic Games Store
Star Trek Online's new season is called House Shattered, but it is not in fact about shattering actual houses, as satisfying as that might be. Instead, it's a continuation of the Year of the Klingon storyline, and it's live today for PC players just in time for the game's official launch on the Epic Games […]
World of Warcraft shares its survival guide for the Shadowlands pre-patch next week
You still have another week before World of Warcraft releases its Shadowlands pre-patch, which marks the end of the game's Battle for Azeroth phase and moves into the pre-expansion period more completely. But if you're curious about what's going away, what's changing, and what you'll be able to do to get ready for the full expansion launch, there's […]
Guild Wars 2's Halloween festival, Shadow of the Mad King, returns October 13
On today's podcast, Justin asked me which MMO NPC needed more screentime, and I don't remember whom I picked but it was wrong. Obviously, the only correct answer is Mad King Thorn, who rules over Halloween in the Guild Wars universe every year. His jokes always slay the audience! And he's back again for Shadow […]
Activision-Blizzard is reportedly shuttering its Versailles, France, office
Activision-Blizzard is apparently closing down one of its offices, specifically the one in Versailles, France. The news comes from Bloomberg, which this morning reported that staff have been told that the studio, which at one point employed around 400 people, will be closed. According to the report, the office covered customer support, localization, and marketing […]
Choose My Adventure: How Spellbreak kicked my butt
So, you're first of all likely all wondering what happened to the voted-for Fallout 76 that was supposed to be part of this column. I ran into some technical issues, I'm afraid: I was able to get the game as part of my Game Pass subscription and assumed that I could just play the thing […]
World of Warcraft addresses LGBTQ storytelling: 'Whatever your background is, there's a place for you in this world'
TechRadar has an interview up this week with Blizzard's Steve Danuser, currently the lead narrative designer on World of Warcraft, and Johnny Cash, senior game designer and LGBTQ+ Advisory Council member, and no, it's not just another preview of Shadowlands' story. Instead, it homes in on Blizzard's new push into being more LGBTQ-inclusive with its […]
City of Heroes Homecoming rogue servers kick off Halloween with today's patch
If you miss the spooky times in City of Heroes, whether you were there for some of the first ToT teams or experienced Dr. Kane's trial, you'll get your chance to re-live it all over again with the Homecoming rogue servers' Halloween event, which has kicked off as of this morning. The entire collection of […]
World of Warcraft updates players on the major changes being worked on in the Shadowlands delay
By this point you have no doubt heard that World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is being delayed past its initial October 26th date to an as-yet-unstated point in the future. The development team is at least being transparent about what is changing within that extra development time, however, with a new post outlining what the team is […]
Star Citizen opens update 3.11's PTU build to all backers, with cargo decks, new weapons, and more
The test build before the alpha test build of Star Citizen — a super alpha, if you will — has now opened up to all backers of the space sandbox. It's time to kick the tires of alpha 3.11's PTU version, which introduces a variety of the features that the Inside Star Citizen video series […]
Secret World player publishes fifth 'unofficial' novel
For Secret World Legends fans, one truth is pretty evident: They're not getting any new stories in the game — at least, any time soon. So for more of the spooky, conspiracy-laden tales that they crave, they might have to go outside of Funcom's provision to the community itself. We've been following one SWL player, […]
Torchlight III tempts you with a banner to stress test its servers today
With just one week to go before it officially launches, Torchlight III is striving to get its house in order. And by house, we mean the servers, which need to get stretched out and tested like a new pair of underwear before they're due to be worn for good next week. As such, Torchlight III […]
The Daily Grind: What's the goofiest not-an-MMO acronym you've seen an MMO try to adopt?
There was a phase our genre went through about five or so years ago when every new MMO – even the ones that most people would've agreed were pretty standard MMORPGs – were trying to rebrand themselves with brand-new acronyms and genres. It wasn't a new trend, of course; ArenaNet tried it with CORPG (competitive […]
The Stream Team: Filching is funnest with friends in Path of Exile
Filching is funnest with friends! A life of crime is apparently much better with companions at your side (of either the undead or live variety)… at least in Path of Exile. Massively OP's MJ is enjoying heists in the new league, but only with company. OK, it helps that friends act as a diversion! But […]
Massively Uplifting: Shattering mental health and disability stereotypes while increasing gaming inclusivity
Back to school? That quintessential September mantra may not be a given for everyone this year. However, what is still a given is the goodness of so many in the gaming world! No Man's Sky and Sea of Thieves supported charity initiatives, while gamer Steven Spohn has declared a goal of raising $1 million dollars […]
Fall Guys season two brings medieval fantasy-themed costumes and rounds on October 8
The phenomenon battle royale title Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is about to get medieval on its players. While that certainly can be taken literally considering the hard-hitting slapstick nature of the title, that also means thematically when season two arrives on Thursday, October 8th. This upcoming new season will introduce a bundle of cosmetics styled […]
Wizard101 and Pirate101 get into the Halloween mood with Crown Shop items and quests
Both Wizard101 and Pirate101 have begun to celebrate the Halloween season in their own individual way, though one game is offering more than the other; Pirate101 is mostly focused on the Crown Store as it brings back a number of thematic items including mounts and pets as well as a Haunted Galleon ship while also […]
Final Fantasy XI previews a lighter update for its October patch
Here's the bad news for Final Fantasy XI fans: The game's October version update is going to be on the lighter side. The good news, on the other hand, is that the November update will be significantly larger, and the lighter update now is a direct result of loading the bases (so to speak) for next […]
Xsyon introduces mounts and a variety of additional social features in latest patches
The early access sandbox of Xsyon just got a little bit friendlier thanks to the game's most recent patch updates. In early September, an update introduced mounts to the game, letting players train some of their pet types up to become rideable friends. Certain pets can also come along with players and fight alongside them […]
Minecraft reveals Caves and Cliffs update, Minecraft Dungeons unveils cross-platform play
We're in the age where it seems like every video game released under the sun has its own personal reveal show, and Minecraft was certainly no exception (cheers, COVID-19). That grousing aside, though, the recent Minecraft Live event did make a number of interesting announcements including a new update for the base game and for […]
Dungeons and Dragons Online shares the leaderboards for its third season of Hardcore League
The race to the top of the Dungeons and Dragons Online Hardcore League that kicked off in June has ended, and now it's time to congratulate the winners. Leaderboards have been posted that introduce players to the top earners of Favor and Reaper XP during the permadeath mode's third season. With the current season complete […]
Prep for WoW: Shadowlands with this story catch-up video
It's certainly no secret that World of Warcraft's storyline has been a hot, confusing mess of azerite, burning elf trees, and slumbering old gods over the past few years. So whether you're coming back to the game for Shadowlands after a long absence or simply got lost in the lore weeds somewhere in Battle for […]
Fallout 76 roleplay group had its Facebook account terminated for being mistakenly flagged as a hate group
Politically, things in the US are… charged, to say the least, and the impact of misinformation efforts across social media platforms is more in the spotlight than it ever has been before. However, one prominent roleplay group in Fallout 76 ran afoul of the efforts by Facebook to stop these digital groups with a brief […]
ZeniMax Online Studios appears to be ramping up development of its long-speculated new MMO
If you've been wondering what's going on with that new IP that's almost certainly in development at ZeniMax Online Studios… well, we don't know yet. But we do know that development seems to be ramping up, with more job listings and hiring offers looking for a larger number of people to round out the development […]
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV leaves the Deep Dungeon for now
We don't quite have patch 5.35 here yet, but we do know that the patch will add the Bozjan Southern Front to Final Fantasy XIV in lieu of prior expansions offering the Deep Dungeon at this point. This is kind of significant. For a long time, this was a feature that I just assumed we would be […]
Elite: Dangerous provides some deep detail about Odyssey's on-foot features in a developer livestream
Last week, Elite: Dangerous began to spill information about the upcoming Odyssey expansion with a video about missions and their move to on-ground locations like stations and NPCs. That subject was mostly the focal point for the latest Discovery Scanner devstream, which opened up further about the mechanics of finding things to do on foot. […]
Fight or Kite: Small changes (and one big one) to improve Spellbreak's balance
An inordinate amount of my time has been spent playing Spellbreak recently. I'm honestly not a gigantic fan of battle royale as a primary game mode, but I can barely put this one down. With all this time spent in game, I've begun to develop a few thoughts on how I would tweak and tune […]
The Wagadu Chronicles unlocks three stretch goals, including sea navigation and a new sub-lineage
Having raised over $145,000 in its Kickstarter campaign to date, The Wagadu Chronicles is tearing into its stretch goals like a lion enjoying a gazelle snack on the Serengeti. Already, the campaign has unlocked three stretch goals of additional features: a sea navigation system, the Swala sub-lineage, and an ancient African board came that can […]
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen's latest dev roundtable discusses about pledges and rewards
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has shared another monthly developer roundtable podcast for fans and followers of the game, but this particular topic might be a prickly one if some of the video's reactions are an indicator. In it, Ben "Kilsin" Walters sits down with customer service manager Michael "Artois" Butler to answer questions related […]
Rare and streamers tussle over Sea of Thieves community toxicity
The wild and untamed waters of Sea of Thieves' Caribbean are a little more choppy as of late — and not because of pirate vessels sailing through them. The game is currently in a bit of an uproar as developer Rare and prominent streamers are butting heads over the issue of toxicity. Despite the studio […]
VR MMORPG Ilysia ends its Kickstarter drive successfully with over $150K in funding and 13 stretch goals met
Clearly, many people are looking for more MMORPG titles in virtual reality. Or at least enough people that want to see Ilysia close out its Kickstarter funding campaign strong; the drive has recently wrapped up, raking in $159,312 as of Sunday morning, which is over double its original $60K goal. Of course, the original goal […]
The Daily Grind: Are you honestly having The Fun in your MMO of choice?
This is a serious question! A few weeks ago, I was talking to one of our writers about a game he was playing and writing about. He was trying to have fun in the game's mining system, and I just kept laughing because I cannot think of a single MMORPG where mining is fun. Not one. […]
MMO Week in Review: Shadowlands postponed
World of Warcraft's Shadowlands delay – to later in 2020 – was by far the biggest news of the week, all but smothering news that Magic Legends' launch has been delayed until next year and HEX is sunsetting outright. But on the bright side, Torchlight III finally has a launch date, Skyforge is launching on […]
EVE Online tests feature to deprioritize 3-D visuals for 'extreme situations'
The oft-repeated lancing of EVE Online as "spreadsheets in space" (which is really more like "too many UI elements in space" in my personal opinion) is soon to get just that little bit more literal. A new feature on the game's test server has added an option that shuts off the 3-D visuals, leaving only […]
The MOP Up: FFXIV blasts out its first remix album
Final Fantasy XIV's soundtrack is downright legendary — and now it's gotten even better, thanks to the game's first "remix" album that was just released. "This work includes 14 songs carefully selected from the adventures of the warriors of light," Square Enix said. "Enjoy the music of FFXIV, which has been reborn in various genres […]
Battle Bards Episode 178: The Division 2
Washington D.C. has fallen to the plague, curiously well-armed agents are everywhere, and intriguing music floats. The Division 2 features a tense and action-packed synth score that distinguishes itself among online games — and is worth an investigation by the Battle Bards. Suit up, because today we're going to the musical dark zone! Battle Bards is […]
Jukebox Heroes: The best of SWTOR's launch soundtrack
I got so excited when Star Wars: The Old Republic included its soundtrack in the collector's edition back at launch. However, we all discovered that this really was only half the OST; the other half was given away for free by BioWare in the days leading up to the game's release. Making a Star Wars […]
Wandering Monster Games Twitter account suddenly surfaces with cryptic Just Survive hints, possibly from Daybreak
Back in July of 2019, Daybreak Games filed a number of curious trademarks that seemed to suggest that the MMO studios under its umbrella were all getting their own individual indentities, a rumor that was formally confirmed in January of this year and the followed up with the purchase of . The only dangling thread […]
One Shots: Watch where you're waving that thing!
Several Christmases ago, my mother actually bought me a giant pirate sword that was very metal and very, very sharp. I instantly became terrified of it and never took it out of its scabbard, having no idea what I'd ever use it for. Vincent? Vincent went another way with his giant sword in FFXIV because he's […]
The Daily Grind: Do you think MMO rogue servers could help with MMO identity issues?
Here's what got me thinking about this. At first, I was going to say that I would eagerly play on a WildStar rogue server because of course I would. But then it struck me that just getting the game running as it was wouldn't fix the issues that the game had where it was 50% a […]
Make My MMO: Wagadu and Ilysia breeze past Kickstarter goals
It's been a positively packed couple of weeks for crowdfunded MMOs new and old. A few of the highlights: Afrofantasy MMO The Wagadu Chronicles entered our lists; it's already fully funded and pushing on with stretch goals. Crowfall patched guild alliances and mounts into its beta. Ashes of Creation showed off underwater mounts. Elite Dangerous […]
Elite: Dangerous' latest community goal has players siding with Eurybia Blue Mafia or the Keltim Empire
Now that Elite: Dangerous has once more brought back community goals, it's time once again for players to pick sides to unlock rewards and shape the game's galaxy. Or at least a small pocket of it. In the goals for October, we find the Keltim Empire attempting to capture an engineer by the name of […]
