ArcheAge and ArcheAge Unchained announce Rise of Nehliya for November 12
If you caught Gamigo's teases earlier this week on Twitter, you might have wondered what ArcheAge was up to. Wonder no more: The company announced today another update for ArcheAge and ArcheAge Unchained. It's called Rise of Nehliya, and it launches on November 12th. "Daring adventurers can look forward to new quests in the previously […]
Dungeons and Dragons Online: Fables of the Feywild launches
It's like your Trapper Keeper covers have come to life, only in MMO form. Dungeons and Dragons Online's Fables of the Feywild expansion is launching today, bringing players into a more fantastic realm of mythical beasts and terrible legends. Today's Update 48 is bringing a huge chunk of content to the long-running MMO: "Fables of […]
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands explains legendary item crafting, shows off the Maw
Legendary items have been a contentious topic for World of Warcraft players ever since Legion made them easier to acquire. Blizzard's been struggling to figure out the best way to dole out these super-powerful pieces of gear ever since, and with Shadowlands, it appears that the approach will be to let players simply, you know, […]
Guild Wars 2 teases November 17 'Truce' living world content chapter with brand-new trailer
As promised, Guild Wars 2 has dropped the new trailer for its next chapter, The Icebrood Saga: Champions, Chapter 1: Truce. Is it possible to have too many colons in a title? Should we just call a truce and call this one just Truce? Let's do it. And yes, last week, ArenaNet postponed its Steam […]
The Destiny 2 community rallies behind dev whose house burned to the ground
If you thought it couldn't get any worse than a pandemic, election, and riots wrapped up in one moment, just imagine your house burning down in the middle of it all. That's apparently what happened to one unfortunate Bungie developer: Matt Findley, Design Director for Destiny's scenario team. And now the Destiny 2 community is […]
Kakao Games' Q3 2020 investor report suggests late 2021 western launch for Elyon Ascent Infinite Realm
Kakao is a hard company to cover, largely because the gaming segment we care about is only a tiny piece of the sprawling Korean company's portfolio, which ranges from music to ecommerce to an Uber clone and even a blockchain platform. But it's also got investments in everything from Tencent to Krafton, and that means […]
The Daily Grind: What's the worst mount in all of MMO land?
During the MOP Podcast at the top of September, Justin and I answered a fun question from Aldristravan about terrible MMO mounts. It turned out to be a hard one – do you pick based on functionality? Or based on aesthetics? Or what about absurdly priced mounts? Or impossible drop rates or mounts locked behind […]
The Repopulation talks up its new inventory system and plans to remove character model bones
The Repopulation closed out its October updates with talk of containers and bones, which seems thematically appropriate, except the containers in question are related to character inventory and the bones are linked to character models. So it's not all that spooky when you look at it. On the subject of the game's updated inventory system, […]
Mortal Online 2 adds a new city, armor and shield crafting, and archery in its latest update
There's been another patch applied to Mortal Online 2, and this one has some fresh new things for players to do, whether it's firing sharp, pointy sticks at people from a distance, crafting new equipment, or visiting a new location. That means archery, armor and shield crafting, and the city of Meduli and its surrounding […]
Aion EU adds a PvPvE battlefield, a new dungeon, and new gear in the Prison of Time update
Welcome to the Prison of Time, EU players of Aion. Or, more specifically, the Prison of Time update, which has introduced some new encounters, new gear, and new glyphs among other features. The tentpole content pieces of the new update are the PvPvE Tempus Fugit battlefield that sees players battle their way through the area […]
Siege Survival: Gloria Victis adds a trebuchet, balances the economy, and adds a scenario editor
Siege Survival: Gloria Victis, the standalone survival and resource management game set in the world of Gloria Victis, has had its free-to-play "prologue" version up and running since its August release, so there's been plenty of time for the devs at FishTankStudio to gather up player feedback and act on it, as reflected in a […]
Starbase opens Russian community channels, shares player guides, tunes weapons, and improves in-game jobs
Well, it's been some time since we've had a look inside the development progress of Starbase (considering progress is generally incremental), so it's high time that we all got caught up on what's been happening with that most granular of internet spaceship creation sandbox titles. First off, we'll look to the community newsletter, which offers […]
Ahead of Bless Unleashed's PC closed beta, Round 8 Studio says it 'learned a lot of lessons' from Bless Online
Round 8 Studio is just about ready to roll out the Bless Unleashed closed beta for PC: In fact, if you're reading this from North America, it's actually kicking off this very evening at 7 p.m. EST, running through the wee hours of the morning on November 9th. Ahead of the test, we spoke with […]
The Stream Team: Soaking up Samhain in Secret World Legends
The Secret World used to be synonymous with Halloween; nobody did the holiday better than TSW in its prime. Thankfully, Secret World Legends still has some of that same Samhain magic. Massively OP's MJ can't let the season go by without delving into the land of spooky atmosphere and Super Jack, so tune in live […]
Black Desert on PC kicks off mount and enhancement boost events and adjusts enhanced skills
The PC version of Black Desert is once more busy with events and adjustments in its latest update, which should be online by the time you're reading this. Of note in the patch notes are changes to a variety of enhanced skills for classes, almost all of which land on the buff side of the […]
Star Wars Squadrons' 2.0 update tackles controls, cheesing, and forfeit mechanics
It's patch day for EA's multiplayer dogfighter Star Wars Squadrons, and there's quite a bit of alteration going on for the way battles work in the game, along with a ton of bug fixes, joystick fixes, rank resets, better AI functionality, anti-farm code in fleet battles, and tweaks to nerf mosquitoing/cheesing. "This will reward the […]
Ashes of Creation offers a close look at the alpha one Cleric as it preps for an Extra Life charity stream
You want a healer? Ashes of Creation has got your healer right here. Or it will once alpha one kicks off, and it's that classic of the healing archetypes, the Cleric, which was given its own alpha one showcase. Nothing about the Cleric class breaks type here, wielding divine light to hurt foes and heal […]
Perfect Ten: 10 reasons MMOs struggle with underwater content
In Final Fantasy XIV, players could fly before they could swim. There's no joke there. The game's first expansion added the ability to fly through the expansion zones on a mount, but it was the second one that added the ability to swim anywhere. And there are still a lot of places where there are bodies of […]
Path of Exile is adding stash tab folders and sorting in what will hopefully be today's patch
Grinding Gear Games is apparently stepping back from explaining its new cadence and the delay of Path of Exile 3.13 and focusing on what's coming in the immediate future – as in today, if testing has gone to plan. That'd be the changes to the stash tab and affinities systems. The new stash tab folder […]
What's going on with Epic Games' lawsuit against Google?
Ever since Epic Games took its festering feud with Apple to the courts back in August, lawsuit news has focused on that specific fight – and the willingness of both companies to grandstand in filings (and elsewhere). But if your memory goes back to August – or you've noticed our tag for these stories is […]
Crowfall aims for a 'revival' with this month's update
Crowfall's next big patch is coming soon to the beta with the optimistic title of The Revival. And hey, maybe it will inject a greater deal of excitement into the game's beta, especially with more options and better character diversity added to the mix. ArtCraft said that this patch is responding to testers' desires to […]
Dungeons and Dragons Online (slightly) delays this week's expansion
Dungeons and Dragons Online players who hoped to jump into the game's new Fables of the Feywild today are going to have to develop a measure of patience, as Standing Stone Games announced that it's had to delay the expansion. Happily, it will only need to be a small measure of patience, as the pack […]
World of Warcraft multiboxing just got a whole lot harder thanks to Blizzard's new policy
World of Warcraft players who use multiple accounts simultaneously will find their favored gameplay much harder going forward, as last night Blizzard announced that "the use of input broadcasting software that mirrors keystrokes to multiple WoW game clients will soon be considered an actionable offense." The studio explains that the decision is "in the best […]
The Daily Grind: What does your gaming space look like?
Oh, I'd love to have rocket recliners and popcorn dispensers at hand, but the truth is that my gaming space is pretty tame. I only have one (1) monitor on a white table that is barely big enough to hold my computer, a lamp, speakers, and various cables. I do have a framed Chrono Trigger […]
The Stream Team: Helping open Haven Bound, EverQuest II's prelude event
We have an expansion incoming! Repeat: We have an expansion incoming! And that means Massively OP's MJ needs to get on the ball and work though the EQII's prelude event before it disappears at Reign of Shadows' launch. Join us live at 9:00 p.m. as she helps G.L.E.E.S.H. (Guild of Luclin Enthusiasts and Experts Supplying […]
Medieval survival sandbox The Black Death explains ongoing delays, insists development hasn't stopped
It's time yet again to check in on developing MMO and multiplayer games that have maybe fallen off of the radar because that's our duty to the genre and to you fine folks. This time around, we'll be peeking in on The Black Death, the survival sandbox set in a grimdark medieval backdrop that is […]
The Stream Team: Doing DC Universe Online's Witching Hour
It's that time of year again — the time when Massively OP's MJ gets to hang out with Klarion the Witch Boy in DCUO. And by hang out, we mean thwart his dastardly plot and break the spell! The Witching Hour event is still going, and MJ wants to revel in the spirit of the […]
Shadow Arena introduces a new trio mode with new mechanics
Speaking from personal experience, battle royale is more tolerable when you're with friends, if for nothing else than to have someone to complain to when you're taken out by someone you didn't see coming seriously what the heck happened the map was clear literally seconds ago. Enter trio mode for Shadow Arena, which lets three […]
Pokemon GO's Battle League Season 5 easing the ladder, adding more options
Tired of all the Pokemon Go updates that Niantic is constantly pushing out? Too bad for us, as there's another en route: In Season 5 (starting Monday, November 9th, at 4 p.m. EST, the climb to rank 10 will no longer be affected by losses. Instead, ranks 3 to 10 will be based on gaining a […]
Massively OP Podcast Episode 295: Reveals and roadmaps
Justin and Bree discuss Guild Wars 2, WoW Classic and Shadowlands, Blizzard's Q3, The Wagadu Chronicles, EverQuest II, and Elyon, with a Daily Grind Blitz and a pair of mailbag voicemails on starting out in WoW and subbing to MMOs.
SMITE launches the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles battle pass and updates its early surrender rules
The previously reported on mashup between SMITE and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is now officially online, letting players of the MOBA dress up Osiris, Loki, Mercury, and Sun Wukong as Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello respectively. In addition, there are Splinter Hachiman, Shredder Ravana, and a variety of other skins unrelated to the Turtles […]
EVE buffs up the Encounter Surveillance System to encourage player fighting even after taking out PvE bounties
The upcoming new Dynamic Bounty System for EVE Online gives players a reason to fight PvE pirates and earn bounties, with the game's multiplier system allowing each kill in more dangerous territories to be worth more. But there's an extra wrinkle added with the new version of the Encounter Surveillance System, which takes a portion […]
Pirates of the Burning Sea's new operators released a new launcher, patcher, and website, with plans for a legacy server
One of the feel-good stories of 2019 came from the corner of the MMOverse belonging to Pirates of the Burning Sea, when the remaining Portalus developers admitted they were being forced to sunset the game over a lack of financing and coding support. Players, however, stepped in behind a company called Vision Online Games to […]
Survival MMO Stars End flies under the Steam radar in early access
Despite going into early access earlier this fall, the space survival sim Stars End hasn't made a lot of traction with the Steam community. In fact, if you happen to buy the $15 and hop in, you're going to need to do a lot of scouting to find anyone, as the game is only populated […]
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen offers a look at its environmental art process
The environmental artist. One of the unsung heroes of game development. These folks are the ones that very often set the stage for how a game's areas and region will look, with the design and artistry creating an overall motif to tell the story of a world through visuals. This is some of what was […]
Choose My Adventure: Exploring a new world and new bugs in No Man's Sky
My goodness how things have changed. I have had a brief peek at No Man's Sky once before, but only the barest peeks, so being able to fully dive in has definitely been an experience. Particularly when one considers how much the game has added over the course of its now four year-long history. But […]
Bethsoft's Todd Howard on Microsoft, subscriptions, and the future of its IPs
When Microsoft walked over to ZeniMax Media with a big fat wallet and acquired all of the things, there was plenty of speculation on what it meant for the various studios' titles, from Fallout to Doom to the Elder Scrolls franchise at large. And while the oft-repeated line of whether new games arriving to non-Microsoft […]
Whatever happened to Valve's digital card game Artifact?
Valve's digital card game Artifact launched in much the same way that the Soviet R-16 test-launched at Baikonur. Since then, back in May the game announced that it was going into a second beta to make changes and improvements, with our last story about the game being a preview of its new Draft gameplay mode. […]
MechWarrior Online's CM promises more community input and a 'rough outline of a plan' for updates
Another news story about MechWarrior Online roughly two weeks since our last report? Yes, believe it or not, the lines of communication appear to be opening more than they ever have. As we noted in that last report in October, Piranha Games had re-hired Daeron "Bombadil" Katz as a full-time community manager for MWO while […]
Old School RuneScape breaks its concurrency record
Don't look now — well, yes, look now — but Old School RuneScape is greater than it's ever been. The 2007-era version of the classic MMORPG has proved to be even more popular than RuneScape standard, with its Leagues II: Trailblazer pushing it to new heights. In fact, Jagex trumpeted the fact that this past […]
World of Warcraft: Free BlizzCon, dev swap, and Revendreth preview
Blizzard President J. Allen Brack posted an interesting "fireside chat" yesterday to talk about what's going on with the studio and its games in these final months of 2020. Brack said that "over 95%" of Blizzard has been working from home since the pandemic and is putting the final touches on Shadowlands before its November […]
The Daily Grind: How do you feel about character boosting in MMOs?
To clarify right off the bat, I don't meant elo boosting as in MOBAs; I mean using character boosts, either paid or otherwise, in MMOs to bump your character up in level. They're not really uncommon anymore; gobs of MMOs have these options. Just off the top of my head, Guild Wars 2 offers level […]
The Stream Team: Witches are brewing in Elder Scrolls Online
If you've got a witch and you've got a cauldron, chances are something's brewing! Right now, that happens to be the Elder Scrolls Online Halloween event! Massively OP's MJ is taking another break from the story to enjoy the Witches Festival in Tamriel. Tune in live at 8:00 p.m. to stretch the season out. What: […]
Massively Uplifting: Supporting small businesses, grieving through games, and lending helping hands
Did you go trick-or-treating? There's still time! Here, have a handful of warm fuzzies! Take some full-sized good deeds! October has been full of treats in the form of uplifting and positive happenings throughout the MMOsphere. Have a look in your goody bag: You've got a a crew of mates in Sea of Thieves who […]
Star Conflict introduces an infectious game mode and a Plague Doctor DLC
It looks as if the digital space of Star Conflict is any more safe from a highly viral infection than the real world — at least in the case of the online spaceship battler's new brawl Curse of the Leviathan, which arrived as part of update 1.7.4. In Curse of the Leviathan, one random player […]
Final Fantasy XI announces its November update with a newbie channel and more story
The Voracious Resurgence continues along in Final Fantasy XI, and the game's November version update will start in on the second chapter of this new story arc. This installment brings players to Windurst and will feature a variety of familiar story characters along with a fair bit of… rolanberries. Yes, rolanberries. Of course, you'll still need […]
Apex Legends has already planned as many as 12 seasons, aspires to be 'more than just a battle royale game'
An interview with game director Chad Grenier has unveiled some interesting designs for the future of Apex Legends, not the least of which being to expand the game to new platforms, new players, and new ways to play outside of the battle royale sub-genre, though the shape of those plans isn't immediately obvious. "I think […]
Elder Scrolls Online's Markarth DLC and update 28 are officially live for PC players
If this week is all just a little too much for you to handle, you can try living in Tamriel for a little while, thanks to the release of both the Markarth DLC and update 28 in The Elder Scrolls Online on PC (and Mac and Stadia too). It's effectively the culmination of the year-long […]
Genshin Impact brings new stories, characters, and a city reputation system on November 11
Genshin Impact is bringing some new things for players to chase after with its update 1.1, which is set to arrive on Wednesday, November 11th, such as some new story content, more characters to pray to the Gods of Gatcha for, and a new city reputation system among other things. In terms of story content, […]
The Stream Team: Dodging shrapnel in Star Trek Online's House Shattered
The House is no longer divided — it's shattered! The next step in STO's Klingon civil war story is House Shattered, and Massively OP's MJ is wading into the mess and dodging the shrapnel. She'll join House Mo'kai in the shadows as rage and war rips through the Empire and J'mpok shows his true colors. […]
