The Stream Team: The perfect year for a Masquerade of Liars (in Neverwinter)
It seems like 2020 is a perfect year for an event called Masquerade of Liars — at least to Massively OP's MJ. Thankfully, these liars are in Neverwinter, and they are all about celebrating the Halloween season with tricks and treats. And MJ has been wearing a mask for quite some time now, so she'll […]
Massively Overthinking: Where is the line between buy-to-play, free-to-play, and subscription MMOs?
You might think this Massively Overthinking topic is way too obvious, but I assure you, it's not! Consider this: When the buy-to-play-with-no-sub Guild Wars 2 made its basegame a giant free trial years ago and kept a purchase fee only for the expansions (without which the game lacks basics like mounts and elite specs and […]
Battle royale Spellbreak added its chapter system and Clash deathmatch mode today
Where most new battle royales fizzle in the wake of the giants like Fortnite, Spellbreak seems to be doing pretty well for itself, to the point that it's counted up millions of players and has dropped a hefty new patch as of this morning. The centerpiece of the update is a 9v9 deathmatch mode called […]
Phantasy Star Online 2 forms an ARKS League and bans over 10K RMT accounts
Want to join the ARKS League? Players of Phantasy Star Online 2 are being invited to do precisely that in an announcement post of the event, which sees players that participate being sorted into leagues, then sent off to complete objectives like killing enemies, clearing specific quests, or collecting certain items for points. Players that […]
MechWarrior Online unveils 2020's annual rewards program, vaguely promises work on 'the next phase'
Ride-or-die fans of MechWarrior Online are getting plenty of rewards with the 2020 edition of the annual rewards program, which offers up 'Mech bays, cockpit items, C-Bills, or 'Mechs from previous years' programs depending on the number of matches played or purchases made. As for what else is happening in the game, the same announcement […]
Halloween festivities in GTAO, MapleStory, Aion, and Star Stable, plus a Halloween makeup collab in Elvenar
We'll have our complete Halloween roundup ready next week, but in the meantime, we have some spoopy events you might not want to miss out on. Let's roll: MapleStory: Maplers will return to the Prendergast Toy Company's mansion headquarters as Trick or Treat is live in the game as of this week. Players will be […]
Conan Exiles is testing its next patch, and it is all about crafting and customization
What is best in life, Conan Exiles? Is it to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their romantic interests? No. It is sitting in a camp and meticulously crafting a very nice end table you can use as part of a reading nook on the second floor of your […]
Final Fantasy XIV bans gilselling accounts as its free login event rolls out
Gilselling, also known as goldselling, also known as RMT, also known as "that thing you're not allowed to do in most games and especially Final Fantasy XIV": What happens when you do it anyway? You get banned. Another ban wave has hit the game, with nearly 400 accounts terminated for advertising these services and just over […]
The Stream Team: Another AdventureQuest 3D Mogloween dance party
Music and Mogloween: Two of Massively OP's MJ's favorite things have come together this Halloween! And of course, 'tis the season to show off your very best costumes. What better setting to combine all three than in AQ3D's new Raveyard? It's the perfect place to host a Mogloween dance party! Dress up in your favorite […]
Diablo IV offers a closer look at the creation of its reveal cinematic
Back in BlizzCon 2019, fans got their first taste of the upcoming Diablo IV by way of its reveal cinematic, which not only set the tone for the new ARPG but also illustrated once again that Blizzard's cinematics team is full of top flight creators. If you're the sort who appreciates the process of putting […]
PWE OARPG Torchlight III is live on the Nintendo Switch
As promised, PWE and Echtra Games' Torchlight III OARPG is live on the Nintendo Switch today, just a week after the game's official launch for PC, Xbox One, and PS4. The $39.99 pricetag holds firm on all platforms. "Perfect World Entertainment and Echtra Games are excited to announce that Torchlight III, the light-hearted and fast-paced […]
The Wagadu Chronicles reaches its Emere sub-culture stretch goal, looks to nomadic village totems next
The Kickstarter stretch goals for afro-fantasy MMO The Wagadu Chronicles just keep on getting met. With the project crossing the $160K funding threshold, the four sub-lineages of the Emere people have been officially unlocked. There's not much information on the Emere people, but there is some gorgeous concept art to ogle. With the Emere stretch […]
Vague Patch Notes: Kickstarter shouldn't be your investor demo funding
There are a few things that kind of make me see red about indie game studios. Generally speaking I'm of the philosophy that indie studios are very good for this industry. I want indies to get out there and succeed and so forth. But when I see something like Titan Reach failing at its Kickstarter and immediately […]
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands rearranges soulbinds and alters the Renown UI
Players might be a little bit bored in World of Warcraft right now aside from leveling alts. But have no doubt, Shadowlands is on its way with new content! The current testing phase is about ironing out the issues and delivering a polished experience, and this delay is not just rearranging the deck chairs! Let's look at […]
LOTRO Legendarium: Is LOTRO at war with Orcs – or with its playerbase?
Normally, I would be opening this column with my enthusiastic explorations of the brand-new content update for Lord of the Rings Online. After all, we only get a few of these every year, and so any such patch day is a big deal. Normally, I'd be sharing my first impressions and analyzing where the game […]
Dual Universe bans players who took advantage of an official construct's poor permissions settings
There's something of an uproar occurring in the Dual Universe community involving two players, the game's RDMS system that powers who has access to certain permissions for a construct, and a developer-built location in the game. Here's what went down: Two players, Ooberjuice and Scoopy, found that a dev-crafted base known as Market 15 had […]
Tree of Life spawns a survival MMO sequel named Oddria
A quick history lesson: Back in 2017, studio Oddone Games released a multiplayer sandbox named Tree of Life that didn't do so hot and eventually settled into maintenance mode by spring of 2019. Yet the studio didn't give up on the idea of this game world, however, because recently it announced that it's making a […]
A Black Desert node war bug dumped quadrillions of silver into the North American servers
Protip: If your Black Desert guild mysteriously manages to pull quadrillions of silver in tax from the guild incentive system, maybe just log out and report it instead of splitting the spoils amongst your guildmates. This is a lesson some BDO players on the North American servers might be learning today, and nope I didn't […]
Star Trek Online's newest bundle contains a defective starship, but Cryptic is fixing it
Star Trek's utopian future isn't without its hiccups, Prime Directive mishaps, and ships in need of a product recall. Case in point, Star Trek Online's newest bundle includes a mirror universe starship that's not quite as advertised. According to Cryptic, the Legendary Mirror Bundle "brings together some of the must-have items for any would-be mirror […]
The Daily Grind: Which doomed MMO would you love to play again from launch?
Good news! Your friend, Professor Hypothetical-Question, has developed a time machine! Unfortunately, it's pretty limited. It will allow you to do one thing and one thing only: Start an account for an MMO that is currently shut down in an official capacity back when the game initially launched. You will then be able to play […]
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 […]
