The Stream Team: Newbing it up in the all-new Trove hub tutorial
Have you seen Trove's all-new hub tutorial? Massively OP's MJ hasn't. Obviously, she needs to fix that! And if she wants to celebrate Halloween in-game, she'd better get to it quick. So tonight it is all about being a newb again. Join us live at 9:00 p.m. to experience this new Hubdate. (Maybe we'll learn […]
Star Wars Galaxies Legends' community honors a fallen player developer, Irish
One thing I've learned over the past many years of dabbling in emulators is that their communities and teams can be as tight or tighter than any game played fully in the light. Case in point: The Star Wars Galaxies community came out in force to pay its respects to a fallen player dev from […]
Red Dead Online celebrates Halloween with a new game mode, new legendary panthers, and a new pass
Things are getting spooky in Red Dead Online as the Halloween season is arriving in full force. One of the marquee features is a new Dead of Night mode, where four teams score points for taking down risen dead to score as many points as possible while also fighting one another. There are also two […]
Braving Britannia: Tales of Melancholy, Malice, and Peril in Ultima Online book chronicles player experiences in the seminal MMORPG
Back in 2018, we ran an interview with author Wes Locher about his book that was all about "Life, Love, and Adventure" in Ultima Online. Now, two years later, there's a second volume that recounts even more player experiences titled Braving Britannia: Tales of Melancholy, Malice, and Peril in Ultima Online (Not an affiliate link). […]
Indie MMO Inferna adds guilds and greatly improves game performance
It's been a good long while since we last checked in with Inferna, an indie fantasy MMORPG that's being crafted by a small development team. It's been in early access since last December, and so far it hasn't altered that status. So what's been going on with this title? For much of 2020, it's been […]
Trove's Shadow's Eve Halloween events are live as the Hubdate patch hits console
Trove joins the ranks of MMORPGs getting spoopy this week as its Halloween event, Shadow's Eve, is officially live as of today. The only caveat is that you need to have done the new Hubdate Qubeslick questline – then you can pop into the Halloween fun. Until November 4th, you can do themed dailies and […]
Blade & Soul just kicked off its Halloween event, Blade & Ghoul, running through November 18
Just because you're some kind of martial arts master with a giant sword doesn't mean you can't enjoy the fine art of gathering candy in Blade & Soul during the game's Halloween event. Collect some taffy to be used as currency, along with letter tiles and the unimaginative but functional Halloween tokens to get both adornments […]
Ship of Heroes' Casey McGeever on the innovation of the indie MMO scene
The process of creating the MMO Ship of Heroes has apparently been enlightening to Heroic Games' CEO Casey McGeever according to an interview between him and his contracted PR rep Justin Roberti, which takes a closer look at what has changed when moving from a fan of City of Heroes to a developer of his […]
ARK Survival Evolved is coming to Google Stadia early next year
File this one under Who Asked For This: Studio Wildcard and Google announced today that ARK Survival Evolved is porting to Google Stadia. It's a joke, Stadia fanboys. Calm down. ARK is already on almost every dang platform, including Steam, the Epic Games Store, the Xbox One, the Switch, and the PS4. Heck, it's even […]
Crowfall shares more specialization changes for the Cleric, Frostweaver, Druid, and Templar classes
Last week, we noted that each of the classes in Crowfall started getting deep dives into upcoming specialization updates due with the MMO's next beta version — you can get those briefs here. It now looks like all 11 of the game's classes got their breakdowns, so it stands to reason that we should continue […]
Canadian class action lawsuit argues EA's lootboxes constitute illegal gambling
Ah, it's a good thing for the companies relying on lockboxes that people have completely forgotten about those this year, isn't it? Turns out not so much. People have definitely not forgotten, as evidenced by a new class action lawsuit against EA in Canada in which the plaintiffs argue that the lockboxes found in the […]
Black Desert begins Halloween on PC and Guardian pre-creation on console
The middle of the week once more is offering up another gaggle of Black Desert updates, this time for both the PC version of the game and the console version. With that in mind, let's dive in. The lion's share of news comes from the PC version, with another series of events added in the […]
Perfect Ten: A small sampling of literary offerings from MMOs
Salutations are in order once again for our most literate and eloquent readers of Massively Overpowered! I bid you welcome to our numerical column of weekly merriment, Perfect Ten, because this week I take on a topic near and dear to my literate heart as we tackle a variety of tomes released that one may […]
Path of Exile retools expansion cadence and scope to avoid struggling from another 'black swan event' like COVID
If you followed our coverage of Path of Exile's Heist expansion, you already knew the fun fact that Heist was originally being worked on in March with a planned June launch, a schedule that was turned entirely around when COVID sent everyone into lockdown, including gaming studios. According to Grinding Gear Games, it's not letting […]
First Impressions: OARPG Torchlight III just hasn't click-clicked with me yet
Since it never hurts to be honest, I should say upfront here that Echtra Games' decision to radically retool Torchlight III from a F2P MMO to a buy-to-play multiplayer experience greatly disappointed me. I saw a lot of potential for this franchise in the massively multiplayer space, but I was also willing to give this […]
Albion Online's midseason patch, Brimstone & Mist, is live with new dungeon mobs
It's patch day for Albion Online – hope you like demons and fire and fish! Yes, the midseason update – Brimstone & Mist – is live on the official servers today, introducing new baddies, new traps, smarter queues that won't split up your parties, a combat balance pass, new recipes, tweaks to crafting, and yes, […]
Gamigo officially announces the Atlas Reactor rogue-lite co-op PvE title Atlas Rogues
So let's review: In the middle of October, the Atlas Reactor Twitter account suddenly sprang to life with confirmed activity from several official Twitter accounts, fueling speculation that the game was coming back from its June 2019 sunset. Then, a couple of days later, some former devs of the title took to the game's community […]
WildStar composer Jeff Kurtenacker signs on with Blizzard
We've made no secret over the fact that we absolutely love the WildStar soundtrack — and you have too, with the MOP community previously voting it as the greatest MMO score of all time. Even though the game's been shut down for years now, the music lives on (and in one case, is being expanded). […]
World of Warcraft's new wings have the community in an uproar
Hey look at that, Blizzard is running another promotion to try to lure players into enlisting for a six-month tour in World of Warcraft. What's the shiny incentive this time? Another mount? No… it's wings. Oh. Oh no. The wings-deprived community kicked back, hard, at the sight of this transmog set that's locked behind a […]
The Daily Grind: Are you playing MMOs more or less than you were five years ago?
Cast your mind back — way back — to the year 2015. Obama is still president, Hamilton is becoming the hottest Broadway show in town, The Force Awakens made us hope in Star Wars once again, and people were going about in a world without looking like there was a planet-wide ninja convention taking place. […]
The Stream Team: The Headless Horseman haunts EverQuest II's Nights of the Dead
Massively OP's MJ has been hoping for something new in EQII's Nights of the Dead celebrations, and it looks as if she got her wish: Hello, Headless Horseman! Along with the new public quest featuring said icon, there is also a new overseer questline and new treats to collect — both bought and crafted. Join […]
Mortal Online 2 on how it's improving combat and server latency
Whether it's an action combat MMO or a multiplayer shooter, having your attacks miss due to latency never feels good. Mortal Online 2 recognizes this and so is doing everything it can to make sure its revamped combat feels as good as it can be, as detailed in a recent developer blog. The focus of […]
EVE Online dev discusses how communities and lasting friendships form in the sandbox
Let's all ignore the 15 weeks' worth of explosions, bubbles, and fighting going on in EVE Online and instead talk about friendship. Or more specifically, let's hear developer Tryggvi Hjaltason talk about friendship, which was the subject of his talk at this year's Devcom Digital that elaborated on the way players form bonds. Hjaltason references […]
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning attacks a host of bugs in its latest patch
So, how is Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning treating you? Are you finding it a pale reboot of an otherwise OK game? Are you playing it to try to make Project Copernicus come back? Or are you just enjoying the final vestiges of 38 Studios? And if you are, how many bugs have you run in […]
Massively OP Podcast Episode 293: Passing the Torchlight
Justin and Bree discuss Torchlight III, World of Warcraft, Dungeons and Dragons Online, EverQuest, Atlas Reactor, Pantheon, Ashes of Creation, TERA, Legends of Aria's new sibling, and StarCraft II, with a mailbag topic on difficulty modes.
Neverwinter kicks off its Halloween festivities with the Masquerade of Liars starting October 22
Is it really fair to call everyone involved in the annual Halloween celebration in Neverwinter a liar? Is wearing a mask enough to make someone a liar? Maybe not, but the event is still dubbed the Masquerade of Liars, so you're just going to have to cope with the fact that participating on October 22nd marks […]
PSA: Fallout 76 is offering a free trial, Fallout First trial, and an atom sale
Some games celebrate the day their games hit early access, or funded on Kickstarter, or actually launched. Fallout 76, however, is celebrating a lore day: October 23rd, "the day the bombs fell" – in the fictional 2077, of course, the nuclear apocalypse that defines the franchise. And this celebration will offer more than cake and […]
Enter to win a Star Trek Online PC Klingon Dahar Master Faction Pack or Klingon Defense Force Elite Starter Pack from PWE and MOP
With Star Trek Online's House Shattered patch live for PC players, PWE has kindly granted Massively OP some bundles to pass along in honor of the release: five codes for the Klingon Dahar Master Faction Pack and 50 codes for the Klingon Defense Force Elite Starter Pack, specifically for our PC readers. The Klingon Dahar […]
Star Wars The Old Republic's GU 6.1.4 update is live with the Feast of Prosperity
Who's hungry? Star Wars The Old Republic players better be because the Feast of Prosperity is live today in the just-launched GU 6.1.4 update. "Over the years, the Hutt Cartel's reputation has taken a hit. The once powerful organization no longer instills respect and fear. To restore the Cartel's influence, two up-and-coming Hutts, Gaboorga the […]
New World has kicked off its fall alpha test today as patch notes point to reduced leveling speed
You might have forgotten, but Amazon has one more big New World alpha test lined up this year, and it's creeping up on us. "Equipped with a ton of data and feedback from Preview, we are back in development and heading forward into Alpha Testing," the studio says in a dev blog today. "Like previous […]
Researchers argue Pokemon Go caused a discernable increase in car accidents, injuries, and deaths
What is the deadliest video game in existence? If a scientific whitepaper is to be believed, at least in the case of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, that game is Pokemon Go. The Purdue University paper, titled Death by Pokemon Go: The The Economic and Human Cost of Using Apps While Driving, documents an increase in vehicle […]
Choose My Adventure: Good friends and bad player behavior in Star Wars Squadrons
Well, I was hoping for this to be more fun than it actually was. I adore the heck out of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, it should be pretty evident that I absolutely am in love with space flight sims and sim-lites, and I most certainly like playing multiplayer and MMOs with friends. So it certainly […]
Final Fantasy XIV shows off its items for patch 5.35 alongside its upcoming Gold Saucer event
It's been a week since Final Fantasy XIV patch 5.35 arrived on the game's live servers, and now the patch notes have gotten a little bit of an update. It's not a major one, to be sure, just listing all of the new items added with this particular update as well as all the new […]
Grab a key for three months of Dual Universe beta time courtesy of Novaquark and MOP!
When sci-fi MMORPG sandbox Dual Universe launched its beta this past August, it did so with an unusual caveat: While early backers would be able to access the beta freely, folks who picked up a copy of the game after it was up would be expected to pay a small subscription fee, which may have […]
Cliffy B now states he might return to game development after all
In November of 2018, Cliff Bleszinski (or "Cliffy B" if you prefer) stated that he was never making another game ever again, for real, never. Many people responded to this by posting that bit from The Cabin in the Woods with the enthusiastic, "The evil has been defeated!" Especially people who had dealt with the […]
Whatever happened to Saga of Lucimia?
Sometimes the development of a title goes so dark that months go by before anyone really notices. Such is the case with the group-centric Saga of Lucimia, which has been mostly running silent since this past spring. Back in April, the team posted a video to highlight some of the world-building for Release 13. Since […]
Kickstarted MMO Zenith wants to be 'the Ultima Online of VR'
We've reported a couple of times about Zenith, the in-development VR MMO that soared through crowdfunding to lock down over $280K and is slowly making its way to alpha. But just what is the game about? That's touched on in an interview with developer Andy Tsen, who discusses more about what features are coming to […]
Lord of the Rings Online's $20 quest pack, War of Three Peaks, launches today
It's a strange and uncertain new era in Lord of the Rings Online, as Standing Stone Games has moved to start selling quest packs to everyone — including its subscribers. Update 28: War of Three Peaks arrives today in the game, but you won't be experiencing it unless you shell out some cash — not […]
The Daily Grind: What explorer-friendly mechanics should be in more MMOs?
When Final Fantasy XIV's Futures Rewritten patch arrives next month, it includes a nifty feature called explorer mode that will essentially allow players to wander back through your completed dungeons so you can explore, take pictures, and get up to all kinds of shenanigans. Imagine the video footage you can score in there! I personally […]
The Stream Team: Treasure hunting in Elder Scrolls Online
Massilvey OP's MJ know a thing or two about a full inventory. Much of her bag is crammed with various treasure maps. The solution? Go treasure hunting! Tonight she takes a break from Greymoor story to tackle the issue of too many unused maps. Tune in live at 8:00 p.m. to find out what she […]
Star Citizen Live discusses the features of alpha 3.11 and patch plans for the new build
This weekend saw yet another episode of Star Citizen's livestream with members of CIG, and this one's all about the release of alpha 3.11, or more specifically, the things that will be updated and adjusted moving forward. One of the marquee features of the new alpha build is the force system which sees player characters […]
Swords 'n Magic and Stuff adds a Halloween event, plans animal companions, and pushes back housing
Let's take a look back at the charming little single-player/multiplayer RPG Swords 'n Magic and Stuff, which readers will recall made its way to Steam Early Access at the beginning of September. Since then, there have been a number of hotfixes, but we're here to talk about two more substantial updates. First, an update added […]
Stardew Valley developer previews split-screen co-op and working chairs
We all know that chairs can be a pretty big deal, so consider this your important alert regarding Stardew Valley and its still-developing 1.5 update, which has had a couple of new teases from Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone on Twitter. The first from earlier in September offers a look at what seems to be a new […]
Blaseball is a text-based 'absurdist simulation of baseball' where players bet on fake teams
Whether you're a fan of baseball or not, there appears to be a place for you in Blaseball, a text-based browser game that ultimately has players watching descriptions of fake baseball games and betting on the outcomes. And while that might seem pretty blasé, there are a variety of random events that can happen during […]
Blue Protocol confirms NPC costumes for player characters in a preview
It is the season for costumes, and since the pandemic is likely going to put the kibosh on a lot of costume-centered gatherings, it's just as well that player characters in MMOs can let folks feed their dress-up good time needs. That's the segue I'm going with to point to Blue Protocol's latest preview tweet, […]
Path of Exile previews its next Heist patch with bug fixes and QOL improvements
The next noteworthy patch for Path of Exile should be deployed soon, and it's all about the Heist league (as is usual for the game when it's in the middle of a league, of course). It is a patch with a lot of bug fixes. Seriously, everything from bugs causing players to get stuck in Heist […]
Black Desert releases its 'Prestige Edition' on November 6
Ladies, gentlemen, and those who fall into neither category, we implore you to look to your physical video game collection. Does it mark you as a person of rare taste and admirable refinement? We have no doubt you have all of the basics in place, like that original boxed copy of the Burger King Xbox […]
Derek Smart's MMO shooter Line of Defense shows a brief sign of life after two years of radio silence
You know him as the self-professed "internet warlord" and Star Citizen critic, but we have to remember that Derek Smart is also someone who is trying to make a game as well: the sci-fi MMO shooter Line of Defense, which has had its own rocky development history. Consider us a bit surprised, then, that the […]
Pantheon talks pre-alpha 5, publishers, and properly funding the vision
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen producer Ben Dean recently did an interview with YouTuber Nathan Napalm touching on a wide variety of topics related to the game's development, its community, and its search for investors. Emergent gameplay, for example, is something Visionary Realms loves; Dean professed his love of it, noting that it's something the […]
Fractured shows off mining and blacksmithing, dates fall alpha for November 4
Ah, the pastoral life of a sandbox MMORPG. None of this combat stuff, just you, your tools, and a slowly filling progress bar as you fashion components into a shiny new item. It's something I always am drawn to personally, and will be something that Fractured will soon provide, at least if you like mining […]
