Massively Uplifting: Giving while giving thanks as ARK, Ashes of Creation, Rainbow Six Siege, and more support charity
Around these parts, November highlights giving thanks (though no country has a monopoly on the practice!), and this past month not only gave us many things to be thankful for but also as shared expressions of thanks. Thanksgiving Day may be over, but giving and being thankful need never end. Give yourself a moment to […]
The Stream Team: Burning through Elder Scrolls Online's Banished Cells II
The Undaunted Celebration is happening in Elder Scrolls Online, and that means Massively OP's MJ can earn more tickets (ergo more Indriks!) by delving into dungeons. So today her goal is her very first run through Banished Cells II. Will the Death Counter feast tonight, or can MJ and her group sail through smoothly? Tune […]
Star Stable and Habbo Hotel celebrate the winter season with unique events
I'm going to call this the "Habbo and Horsies news update." Hey, if MMO studios can come up with fun yet low-effort titles for their updates, then so can I. Specifically, both Habbo Hotel and Star Stable are ringing in the winter season with their own unique updates. In Star Stable, there's an entire winter […]
SEED's Klang Games disseminates the results of its first community playtest
The colonization MMO SEED has survived its very first community playtest, so naturally the results of that test are fresh on the minds of the developers at Klang Games. It also is the prime subject for the game's latest video. Because why write your findings and share them in a blog when you can have […]
Final Fantasy XI details its Starlight celebrations starting on December 16
Final Fantasy XI is planning to celebrate Starlight by going all out as it does every year, and that means there are lots of places for players to participate. Want to bring some smiles around the realm, for example? The application fee for Smilebringer boot camp is waived during the celebration, with seasonal rewards available […]
Citadel: Forged with Fire promises a new world and new features in its winter update
It's been a minute since we checked in on Citadel: Forged with Fire. When last we peered in on this survival sandbox, it had released its Godking's Vengeance update. Since then, the game has made some quality-of-life improvements, released a second part of Godking's Vengeance that added a new dungeon, new monsters, and mastery level […]
Katia Sae's record-breaking journey through all of EVE Online is charted in a video
If you've read that title and are wondering who Katia Sae is and what record was broken, our own Brendan Drain will be happy to remind you: She is the Capsuleer of EVE Online player Ethan Richards who successfully visited all 7,805 systems in the game's universe without losing a single ship. The character was […]
Lineage II EU celebrates its anniversary through the month of December with free gifts and events
It's a time of celebration all December long for Lineage II's EU version, as the MMOARPG celebrates the first opening of servers in the region with a whole bunch of goodies for players to collect. Both Lineage II and its sister version Lineage II Essence are marking a nine-year and one-year anniversary respectively with server-wide […]
Grapecard's Atlas tweaks armored docks and trading with its most recent update
The latest update for pirating survival sandbox Atlas has armored docks and trade changes. That reads quite a bit like the last update made to the game, but this one is notably different, owing to the fact that it's brought a smaller armored dock and made some minor adjustments to trade that (hopefully) aren't going […]
Last Oasis adds a Poaching Hut and hard maps in its latest update
Let's say you're looking for some resources in Last Oasis but aren't so keen on that whole contributing bonuses to clans that own an oasis thing. Then you're going to just adore the latest update, which has introduced something called a Poaching Hut. This new structure will let players reap bonuses from others that are […]
MassivelyOP Podcast Episode #300: Live on Twitch!
If you've ever wanted to listen to the MassivelyOP Podcast live so you can shout at us to tell us we're wrong in real-time as we record, today is your day: In honor of the 300th podcast since MOP was reborn, Justin and Bree will be streaming the podcast recording live today at 1 p.m. […]
PAX hopes to return in 2021 with a full slate of conventions
While it certainly wasn't the greatest tragedy of 2020, the cancelation of numerous game trade shows and conventions was felt among fans who enjoyed these events for their spectacle and reveals. And while this year is a wash, with most events ditched or taken to virtual only, there is some hope that 2021 will be […]
Wisdom of Nym: The highlights of Final Fantasy XIV's patch 5.4 notes
One of the things I still love about covering Final Fantasy XIV are the patches. These things are always bulky in terms of added content, often including a whole dump truck full of stuff that players can enjoy moving forward. It's kind of amazing, both in terms of sheer volume and just in the sense […]
Blankos Block Party announces open beta for December 10, end of founder's pack sales December 13
The beta testing for creation-minded blockchain-linked MMO Blankos Block Party has apparently gone over a treat. So much so that the game is ready to move in to open beta this coming Thursday, December 10th. As for what open beta will feature, there will be details shared in the future. According to the announcement, the […]
The Soapbox: Pet battles are one of the best things WoW ever did (which is why I've never played one)
Pokemon first burst onto the scene when I was in elementary school. I've always been lukewarm at best toward anime and "cute" things, so it never really interested me. My friends at the time, however, bought into it hook, line, and sinker. I thus found myself relentlessly bombarded by all things Pokemon for the next […]
World of Tanks and World of Warships mark the holidays with festive campaigns and Chuck Norris
Boy, remember a thousand years ago when all of those Chuck Norris jokes were everywhere on the internet? Well, either Wargaming is late to that party and isn't aware or it's looking to make them come back as World of Warships and World of Tanks are starting their respective holiday festivities. And Chuck Norris is […]
Final Fantasy XIV posts its full patch 5.4 notes during 24-hour patch maintenance
We hope you got anything you wanted done in Final Fantasy XIV yesterday because the game is currently undergoing maintenance. In fact, it'll be undergoing maintenance until December 8th, when players will have a whole new patch to explore from top to bottom. Hopefully you're a bit mollified by getting the full set of patch notes, […]
Star Citizen Evocati patch notes for 3.12 have been leaked by testers
The latest developer Q&A livestream from Star Citizen is once again talking about spaceships. Which probably is no surprise considering the game celebrated spaceships during its IAE event. That said, there were a number of questions answered regarding currently flyable craft, mostly discussing balancing matters, access points for certain spacecraft, which ships will have medbays […]
Gamers review bomb Monster Hunter World on Steam over Monster Hunter film
There's a clip from the current Monster Hunter film that's drawn a lot of ire particularly from Chinese audiences, which has resulted in some outcry aimed in the direction of Monster Hunter World. In the scene (footage of which has since been taken down due to copyright), a soldier played by Asian-American actor and rapper […]
The Daily Grind: Which MMO offered the best PvE experience in 2020?
Though Massively OP's annual awards kick off this week, one you won't see this year is an award for PvE. I've learned my lesson about a formal award for PvE simply because once we put it to a vote, all anyone really considered is combat versus mobs, which left the award down to a handful […]
MMO Week in Review: Unbreaking Daybreak
If Daybreak's been a bit of a punching bag in the MMO genre over the last five years, it's only because of its long line of failures and shenanigans, from dumping EverQuest Next to fibbing about who owned it (and fibbing about not owning SSG!). But now, thanks to Swedish company EG7 buying up the […]
TERA and Aion EU are among the Gameforge titles ready to celebrate the holidays
Please don't let the angry Shugo or the emotionally neutral humans in the header image fool you, there's lots of holiday cheer to be had in Gameforge's variety of titles, particularly in the case of Aion EU and TERA. In TERA, players can look forward to the return of the Winteria Snowfield, a PvP snowball […]
The MOP Up: Crossout drives onto an island
Here's a useful tip from Crossout: It's dangerous to drive your car in water! This comes from the game's newest "Clean Island" patch, which adds the titular PvP map and brings back ranked battles with the Survivors League. "'Clean Island' is the first map in the history of Crossout that shows what 'big water' looks […]
Jukebox Heroes: The quieter side of Lord of the Rings Online's soundtrack
Yes, I'm kind of nuts about the Lord of the Rings Online soundtrack. It could be because I've played this MMO more than most any other at this point, but I like to think that it's also due to a really well-done score that does more for world-building than most soundtracks. Today, I want to […]
Massively on the Go: The rollercoaster that is Pokemon Go's Go Beyond update
I've previously mentioned in this Massively on the Go column some unexpected bonuses popping up with the release of Pokemon Go's Go Beyond update. Considering the daily additions of new features and event announcements we've had starting the day of the update, I'm feeling like that's the theme here. Since September, Niantic had been rapidly dropping changes and […]
Neverwinter brews up a sweeping rework of its combat system
Considering how integral combat is to Neverwinter, you'd have to imagine that any changes that touch upon this system are going to be felt far and wide by the game's playerbase. Now factor in the phrase "combat rework," and you might start to understand how significant such an event might be. Cryptic's got a large […]
One Shots: Pledging Trekkie Trekkie Trekkie
So you know how Star Trek claims that it has a functioning futuristic society without money? Somehow? That's made me overthink how Starfleet Academy works. My theory is that instead of taking out a student loan to attend, cadets have to pay off their debt by going on six away missions wearing red shirts. There's […]
The Daily Grind: Do you actually consider yourself a good MMO player?
There is an assumption, for some reason, that most people who work as game journalists are pretty bad at playing video games. I don't know where this comes from. Certainly I've known some people in this field who are not very good at games in general, but it's hardly universal, and I myself know that […]
Battle Bards Episode 182: Last Oasis
What does the apocalypse sound like? That's the burning question, so to speak, that the Battle Bards are investigating this week as they dive into the soundtrack to Last Oasis. Michał Korniewicz's unique score is a haunting experience that must be heard to be believed. But at the end of it all, will it be […]
Wolcen's Bloodtrail Chronicle update is live as a massive 12GB update
Remember when Wolcen announced that its first seasonal Chronicle, Bloodtrail, would be coming soon– but didn't offer up a date? It turns out "soon" meant actually soon because Bloodtrail is already live. The flagship addition of this season is the new Hunts feature, which sends players to track down bosses and slay them for unique […]
SWTOR previews the login rewards and emote window of Update 6.2
This coming Wednesday is an early Christmas — or an early Life Day — for Star Wars: The Old Republic players, thanks to the projected arrival of Update 6.2. It's a smaller patch, sir, but it checks out. And one thing you definitely will want to check out are the new login rewards that are […]
The Stream Team: Going to see Conan Exile's Judge
Massively OP's MJ hasn't met many of the inhabitants on Conan Exiles' Isle of Siptah. So today, she's going to see the Judge. Don't worry! It's not as if she's in any trouble… yet. After that, she might go around and meet a few more "friends" around the isle. Tune in live at 2:00 p.m. […]
LOTRO Legendarium: What Daybreak's sale revealed about LOTRO
Just when I thought we were getting to a quieter point in the year where I could engage in a leisurely wrap-up of the year in Lord of the Rings Online. But nooooo. No, Daybreak had to go and get itself sold off to Enad Global 7 — and in so doing, pulled off the […]
Former Anthem studio director Christian Dailey promises 'talented' leadership is still in place
As people collectively adapt, digest, and armchair analyze the departure of two of BioWare's top executives, there is one rather important piece of the shift that might have slipped notice: the fact that BioWare Austin studio director Christian Dailey, the one who was leading the reboot of Anthem, was moved from his position to lead […]
WRUP: Transcript of pouring out an entire bottle of ketchup on a hamburger edition
Act I: The beginning. Click. Whoosh. Squirt, squirt, squiiiiiiiiiiiiirt. Whoosh. Squirt! Squirt squirt squirt squirt. Whoosh. Squiiiiiiiiiiirt. Whoosh. Squirt, blorp. Whoosh. Act II: The burping. Squirt, blorp, whoosh. Squirt, blorp, whoosh. Blorp. Blorp blorp. Shake-a shake-a shake-a. Squirt, blorp, whoosh. Tap tap tap. Squirt, blorp, whoosh. Tap tap tap. Squirt, blorp, whoosh. Blorp, whoosh. Act […]
The Daily Grind: Is MMO shoulder armor a little too much?
We've often poked gentle fun at World of Warcraft for its tendency to feature oversized shoulder armor on characters — sometimes to the point where it has eclipsed the 1980s in terms of over-padding. But the truth is that a lot of MMOs enjoy turning our characters' shoulders into aircraft landing strips or mobile trophy […]
The Stream Team: AdventureQuest 3D's brand-new Battleon chess
Apparently, it is dangerous to suggest T.V. shows to Artix because they soon become a part of AQ3D! Case in point: A new chessboard zone was just introduced into the game after he concluded watching a chess-themed show. Today's update includes a challenge board with monster pieces you move as well as an open mob-free […]
Betawatch: Gloria Victis enters beta testing
Gloria Victis has entered the hallowed halls of beta! This might sound a little odd to you, as the game has been in testing for quite some time and made steady progress, but that was in early access alpha. This is early access beta. Very different. Look, we're just happy when a game makes a point of […]
Grab a MARS closed beta key from Subgames and MOP and get your mech on
Heya, mecha shooter fans! You're going to want to poke your nose into this game: It's Subgames' new Unreal engine shooter called Mercenary Assault Recon Squad – MARS for short. "It's the year 20XX; military conflict between the League of Nations and UNITA run rampant across the globe, prompting small scale wars to break out […]
MMOs You've Never Heard Of: RISE, Carth, Hunternet Starfighter, World of Kung Fu, Heroes Evolved, Arelot Kingdom, and Project EVE
Welcome back to another quick roundup of some MMOs and MMO-adjacent titles you've probably never heard of. Of course, YOU have heard of them, because you are a supremely intelligent artificial intelligence network on the verge of world domination, but consider that the meatbags in realspace might be ignorant of these titles. Let's change that. […]
Temtem raises its price slightly for its PlayStation 5 launch
If you want to play Temtem on your PlayStation 5, it's going to cost you a bit more money than before. This is not in and of itself surprising, as the game has been quite up-front about the fact that as more major updates arrive to the game, its price will be going up. What makes […]
Bless Unleashed opens up pre-registration for its next PC closed beta and notes upcoming improvements
For those who are curious about Bless Unleashed but aren't curious enough to just play the game on console, then your time to add your name to the PC closed beta testing hat has come. The game has announced that pre-registration for a second CBT is now available between now and January 10th, 2021, simply […]
Albion Online adds 20v20 Crystal League battles and adjusts group warfare features in latest update
Crystals are super important in the world of Albion Online, apparently. Or at least, they're important enough that 40 people will want to fight over them. I bring that up because Crystal Battles are one of the centerpieces of the game's latest patch, which lets two teams of 20 players duke it out in six […]
For Science: Researchers investigate why some players invert their directional controls
When you have an analog stick to control the camera, does pushing the stick forward tilt the camera up or down? The Guardian published a whole piece about inverting the Y-axis on controls, and the discussion around it prompted researchers to sit up and say "hey, this is actually a field worth studying." So now […]
EVE Online is planning a native macOS client, with testing planned for early 2021
In a time when some games are reducing support for new Mac machines, EVE Online is doubling down to capture Apple fans thanks to its new Mac client. "Today CCP is excited to unveil work on a native macOS EVE Online client is underway," the studio wrote. "The native macOS client will enable native support […]
Crowfall's December ACE Q&A talks up active skills, shows off a new castle, and confirms some VIP benefits
The beginning of December for Crowfall means yet another ACE Q&A livestream video featuring J. Todd Coleman and Thomas the Beard. This month, both directors talked up the overall positive work with 6.200 testing and bug squashing, spent a vast majority of the stream discussing the replacement of passive skills with active ones, and showcased […]
Inside Star Citizen discusses the Perseus gunship and a multitool tractor beam
Star Citizen's shiny new Perseus gunship, which readers will recall debuted at this year's IAE as a $600 purchasable concept, once again gets a spotlight cast on it during this week's episode of Inside Star Citizen. The Perseus, as one would expect with its suite of weapons on-board, is meant to blow up other ships […]
Lord of the Rings Online boasts at least 11,000 quests
Maybe at this point, Frodo and Sam should feel some pity toward the rest of us. After all, Lord of the Rings Online players have gone on far more quests than the Fellowship could even conceive. Curious players petitioned developer Jeff Libby to help them figure out roughly how many quests that LOTRO has as […]
Star Wars The Old Republic announces December 9 release for GU 6.2, December events, and a new CM
It's almost time once more for Star Wars: The Old Republic players to find out just what Valkorion is up to. Again. The game's Twitter has confirmed that Update 6.2, aka Echoes of Oblivion, will be arriving this coming Wednesday, December 9th, bringing with it a number of features including a new storyline, a new […]
WoW Factor: The five paths forward for WoW Classic
Throughout its lifespan, WoW Classic has had an interesting relationship with the future. Not just because it is and always was an explicitly back-looking piece of World of Warcraft, but because the game was essentially launched as a complete product with the last-patch balancing all done. What remained to be seen was not what would happen […]
