The Stream Team: Doing good deeds for Neverwinter's Dwarves
The Dwarves of Icespire Peaks are having a few different problems in Neverwinter, and Massively OP's MJ is all set to keep lending a helping hand. From slaughtering nasties to chiseling ice off of vents, there's no shortage of ways to aid. Tune in live at 9:00 p.m. as MJ does her good deeds for […]
Massively Overthinking: Does early access kill an MMO's buzz?
A while back on the Massively OP Podcast, Justin and I were flipping through Steamcharts checking in on Torchlight III, and we were a little dismayed at what we saw: At least on Steam, the game's launch peak exceeded its early access launch peak by only a few hundred players. Naturally, we wondered aloud whether […]
Phoenix Labs CEO announces future update plans and next-gen console launch for Dauntless
A letter from Phoenix Labs CEO and co-founder Jesse Houston has got plenty to say regarding the future of Dauntless, including plans for the game's next major updates and its arrival to the next generation of consoles. In the letter, Houston confirms that the multiplayer monster slayer will be arriving on day one to PS5 […]
Buckle up: Phantasy Star Online 2 has the mother of all escort quests for you
Armor up, Phantasy Star Online 2 fans, because you've got orders to deploy to your latest mission. This week, SEGA dropped a new urgent quest that could take you up to an hour to complete — if you have the chops to beat it at all. The quest in question is Queen's Nightmare: Earth Depths, […]
EVE Online reports on the war in Delve and the Triglavian-occupied region of Pochven
EVE Online has released another episode of The Scope, the in-universe news show that reports on the goings-on in New Eden, and this episode certainly has some things to talk about. The report opens up with the war in the Delve region, with P.A.P.I's successful creation of a Keepstar within Imperium space. Prior to this […]
Fallout 76 demos the quests and rewards of the Steel Dawn update
Bethsoft is pumping up Fallout 76 players for the December launch of Steel Dawn today with a new dev gameplay video. "The Brotherhood of Steel is returning to Appalachia in our Steel Dawn Update that's on its way to Fallout 76 in December," the studio says. "Alongside the group's arrival, we're adding the first part of […]
Pantheon studio Visionary Realms seeks a technical artist for its dev team
As Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen gears up for a momentous year of development and testing, the project needs additional help to get the MMORPG looking its best. As such, Visionary Realms posted a job listing in search of a temporary technical artist to join the team. "Visionary Realms is looking for an experienced Technical […]
Inactive World of Warcraft players can return for free starting today through the weekend
I dunno how your circle of friends is handling the World of Warcraft patch and Shadowlands expansion plan, but over here at Massively OP, several writers are toying with playing, going back, or even trying out the game for the first time. Good news for all of them, then, as Blizzard announced today that it's […]
Star Citizen's October report notes progress on Orison, job-specific armors, and new weapons and ships
The beginning of November means a wrap-up of October's developments for Star Citizen, which once more offers a few peeks at some of the features that are on the game's long-reaching and distant horizon. The report points to progress by the environment team regarding refinery decks, ship-to-station docking arms, and gas clouds, along with a […]
SWTOR on how Feast of Prosperity revives old planets and makes the galaxy 'feel more lived-in'
With Star Wars The Old Republic's Feast of Prosperity update out in the wild, BioWare has put together a dev blog interview from World Designer Allison Berryman discussing the studio's thoughts behind the patch. "There were plenty of reasons to make a new seasonal event, but one of the main motivators for me was to […]
Warframe is launching on PlayStation 5 this year with cross-gen play and upgraded visuals
Big news for Digital Extremes' Warframe today: The company is pushing the game to next-gen consoles a release on PlayStation 5 "this year" and Xbox Series X "later." The company is promising improved graphics, lighting, and textures for the 2013 MMOFPS, along with cross-gen play, which allows players to "move seamlessly between platforms, playing with […]
Vague Patch Notes: Managing the MMO message, volume two: How to shut up
It wasn't so long ago that we talked about managing the message when it comes to fans and the like, but today I want to talk about a more advanced and yet still simple technique. Something so obvious that you would think it doesn't need to be mentioned, and yet you also see so many […]
NBA 2K21 dips its toes into MMO territory with its City gameplay mode
Alright, who here had "NBA 2K21 decides to go MMO" on their 2020 bingo cards? Anyone? Anyone? Yeah, me neither, but here we are with a full-on MMO-like gameplay mode for a basketball game. This new mode is called The City, and it's essentially an extension of the series' Neighborhoods mode blown up to larger […]
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 […]
