MMO Week in Review: Endwalker
It's not the end, but it is an end: Final Fantasy XIV announced its Endwalker expansion this past Friday during its showcase. Launch is fall 2021, and that's not all, as the game is also rolling out to PS5 this spring! Read on to catch up with the very best of this week's MMO news […]
Battle Bards Episode 186: Lineage
While Lineage II is one of the absolute favorite soundtracks of the Battle Bards, the first game in this series has been shamefully overlooked on the show. No longer! In today's episode, Syl, Steff, and Syp dig into this rather lovely and expressive score for an MMO that's been around longer than some of their […]
Make My MMO: Chronicles of Elyria backers lodge lawsuit, Wagadu snags more funding
This week in MMORPG crowdfunding, the backers of Chronicles of Elyria have officially lodged their class-action lawsuit against Soulbound Studios and Xsolla in a California district court. The suit alleges that Soulbound raised over $14M in crowdfunds and sales, almost half of which were conducted through Xsolla; that Soulbound misled backers about the state of […]
Jukebox Heroes: Secret World Legends' soundtrack
As a video game music collector and lover, I am frustrated by how very few MMO soundtracks ever make it to a proper release. Sure, I know it's a niche interest within a niche hobby, but it's still maddening to think of how many great games have no soundtracks out there whatsoever. Considering how going […]
First impressions of Skyforge on Nintendo Switch: A messy port of a solid MMORPG
I played Skyforge briefly when it first launched on PC in 2015, but only put a few hours into it. My short stay there was not because I found anything wrong with it, but it had the unfortunate timing of launching around the same time as new content in some of my other favorite MMOs, […]
OrbusVR celebrates three years of operation with a scavenger hunt
It's hard to believe that OrbusVR has been running for three years now, but the numbers don't lie and it's true. And it's been a busy third year, too, with players killing more monsters, making more characters, and collecting more loot than the first two years of operation combined. To celebrate, players can pick up a […]
One Shots: Giant envy
Last week's call for screenshots of MMO giants brought out some big responses. Hefty contributions, if you get my drift. And we'll kick off with Utakata's adventures in Blade and Soul where this bold warrior met a giant gorilla who can dress himself in armor, apparently. "The bigger they are…" Utakata said. …the larger their […]
The Daily Grind: How much effort do you want to put into MMO housing?
Housing! It's fashionable, it's fun, it's extensive, it gives your character in a given game a place to spend time other than milling around the auction house. Housing in MMOs is a fun thing, and the MOP writers and readers are generally pretty enthusiastically pro-housing. But there are still a lot of different tiers of […]
The MOP Up: Valentine spirit sweeps through MMOs
MMO Love Bear, shine! Warm fuzzies and romantical notions are washing through various online games this month in anticipation of Valentine's Day this month. Ultima Online is giving out gifts on the 12th — but it warns players that these presents will be allocated according to karma. Habbo is getting way into flowers, because why […]
Rockstar letter: GTA Online 'shattered records,' Red Dead Online 2's $5 sale is ending soon
Rockstar was crowing about its two online virtual worlds this past week in a new letter to the community. Because of the support fans showed for Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online in 2020, Rockstar said that both games saw spectacular numbers. "GTA Online shattered its own records once again, with more players […]
LOTRO's upcoming Wildwood content drop won't be a 'mini-expansion'
Last fall's move to start charging every Lord of the Rings Online player — including subscribers — for what was a glorified content update has the community watching SSG like a hawk to see how it's going to be handling similar patches in 2021. The good news is that the studio confirmed that the next […]
The Stream Team: A second Astroneer anniversary
The cutest space survival ever turns two years old today! And Massively OP's MJ is ready to wish Astroneer a very happy second anniversary. Folks who launch into the game starting February 1st also get a special party hat to wear as they explore, mine, and dodge deadly plants. Join us live at 2:00 p.m. […]
LOTRO Legendarium: Ranking Lord of the Rings Online's Eriador zones from worst to best
Probably like many of you, I have gone through the initial zones in Lord of the Rings Online more times than I can count (confession: I can only count to eight). And probably like you, I have formed very strong opinions on which of these older regions are better and which have aged like moldy […]
Star Trek Online's players and developers pay tribute to the late Christopher Plummer
The movie-watching world lost one of its greats when actor Christopher Plummer passed away on Friday, leaving behind a legacy of notable performances including Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Sir Charles Litton in The Return of the Pink Panther, and General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. It's Plummer's portrayal […]
WRUP: Excerpt from my autobiography, 'The Sushi Bar Will Never Open,' available everywhere books aren't sold on February 30 edition
Chapter 3: "But I Never Asked About The Walrus" At this point, my options were basically limited to either buying my way into college, buying my way into the military, or covering myself in mayonnaise and establishing a kingdom within my kitchen in which I would be hailed as Lord Imperator by my cats. Naturally, […]
The Daily Grind: Do you hate going to MMO snowy zones in actual wintertime?
OK, today's topic is totally silly, but sometimes we ask these questions because we're curious if anyone is like us. At least near me right now, we've been sitting in a frozen wasteland of snow and ice for weeks with no immediate relief on the horizon. You'd think that I would find video game reminders […]
Final Fantasy XIV's fourth expansion, Endwalker, arrives this fall, with a PS5 launch set for April
The fourth expansion for Final Fantasy XIV has been officially announced during the evening's live announcement event as Endwalker, launching in fall of 2021. You can also catch up on our liveblog of the event or just skim the highlights below! The expansion is called Endwalker, and it's launching this fall. Expect two new jobs: a […]
Liveblogging the Final Fantasy XIV announcement showcase
Maybe you're excited about the Final Fantasy XIV announcement showcase, but you're currently at work and can't watch video. Or maybe you're on public transit and have to settle for text. Or you're watching but you want to share in the excitement of what's happening as it happens. Whatever the case may be, we've got you covered […]
The Stream Team: Bound for fishing and Warframe's Balor Fomorian event
Massively OP's MJ thought she had a break from events to wrap up some loose ends in Warframe, but it turns out the Balor Fomorian event has begun! Since it happens only a couple of times a year, she needs to take advantage of her chance to participate in this special archwing mission. However, the […]
Betawatch: Starbase plans to offer an easy build mode
The tricky thing about games that offer you a lot of freedom when it comes to building is that sometimes it's difficult to figure out where to start. That's the core idea behind the upcoming easy build mode in Starbase, which will hopefully make the art of putting together a ship feel less daunting and more […]
Mortal Online 2 adds the first taste of character customization and dungeons
Is there anything worse than not being able to customize your character in an MMO? Mortal Online 2 sure doesn't think there is, which is why the game's latest alpha patch adds in the earliest version of character customization for players to play around with. Sure, right now it's just skin, hair, and eye colors, but […]
Atlas Rogues brings back Blackburn and PuP in its latest update
At long last, the greatest Freelancer from the original game has returned to Atlas Rogues. The magnificent mechanical robo-doggo PuP has finally arrived to the rogue-lite PvE title in its latest update. Oh, also Blackburn has returned as well, which is cool I guess. Not only does this update bring the return of two characters […]
Pathfinder Online shares the final tally and rewards for its Pharasmin Sequences event
This past December, Pathfinder Online held a holiday event that involved… Escalation drops that ran in five sequences for materials. While the event had almost nothing related to holiday cheer considering its release timing, it does appear to have been pretty active according to a postmortem shared on the forums. In total, players completed 40 […]
Allods Online opened a new server, plus its winter events continue
It was a Christmas miracle, and it went almost entirely unnoticed by the MMO community: Allods Online opened a brand-new server on Christmas day. It's called New Dawn, and it's a free-to-play server (that's not always a given with Allods, as it does still have a sub server too) with some specialty bonuses. Specifically, there's […]
Champions Online brings the conclusion of its third serial story to PTS this week
The PTS of Champions Online will have a gift for players that have been working their way through the game's recent serial story. This week will bring the Midnight Depths, the final chapter in the MMO's current arc that promises a challenging new foe and a character from the game's lore that has yet to […]
The Stream Team: Come to the Carnaval in AdventureQuest 3D
If you have the urge to dress up in bright-colored costumes with feathers, come to AQ3D's Carnaval! This AQWorlds event (based on the real Carnival celebrated over 100 years in Brazil!) has finally made it into its 3D cousin, and Massively OP's MJ is so ready for this party. Join live at 2:00 p.m. in […]
OSRS expands the Isle of Souls and discusses equipment balance as Jagex's CEO talks about its new owner
We've got a tale from both sides from the same RuneScape coin — the gaming side and the business side — so let's get cracking. On the game side of things, Old School RuneScape has added more to the Isle of Souls with new areas, new monsters, a new dungeon, and new amenities, while a […]
Elite: Dangerous explains the details of the First Footfall system coming with Odyssey
With the upcoming Odyssey expansion, players in Elite: Dangerous will be able to take one small step for their characters and one giant leap for playerkind on a regular basis while disembarking on new planets. The first footfalls upon an available world will be recorded dutifully, and the latest preview from the team is all about how […]
See how Elder Scrolls Online's map has doubled since launch
While we are all aware that Elder Scrolls Online is one of the most consistently updated MMORPGs on the market, perhaps we don't realize just how far it's come since the game's 2014 launch. One enterprising Redditor helped us gain a new perspective on Tamriel's growth by contrasting the launch day map with the MMO's […]
Not So Massively: First impressions of Century Age of Ashes
Dragons are ubiquitous to the point of over-exposure in gaming these days. And yet for all that, there are still very few games that let us command the power of a dragon ourselves. I think we're all a bit sick of fighting dragons, but I know I for one am still hungry to play as […]
Crowfall discusses tutorial progression and campaign scoring changes in latest livestream
The devs of Crowfall — specifically J. Todd "Bono Glasses" Coleman and Thomas "Ultrabeard" Blair — had a lot to talk about in a recent Q&A livestream, discussing current and future plans for the throne war MMO's beta. One of the primary topics was onboarding new players, pointing out that the Infected worlds have been […]
WoW Factor: What I want to hear from World of Warcraft during BlizzConline
So hey, BlizzConline is coming up very soon, and that means more announcements about World of Warcraft! Within a fairly narrow lineup of possible bits of news, anyhow. Let's be honest, we all know at this point basically that we're going to be hearing about patch 9.1, which hasn't really been discussed thus far. We're not yet […]
Star Citizen breaks down the capital ships and shield tech of the Assault on Stanton dynamic event
Star Citizen continues to make a whole lot of noise about its first dynamic event, which sees players engaging with the Idris and Javelin capital ships, and this week's episode of Inside Star Citizen is further talking up the event as it discusses the creation of capital ships in battle and the shields that surround […]
Blizzard celebrates Lunar New Year in World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Hearthstone
Blizzard is no slouch when it comes to Lunar New Year celebrations: Its largest online titles have all gotten updates for the season. In World of Warcraft, the Lunar Festival has begun as of today, plus of course there's a cute flying bull mount, Lucky Yun, up for grabs if you jump into a six-month […]
Path of Exile rolls back Xbox One server to avoid 'significant economic damage'
Console players of Path of Exile were in for a nasty surprise last night following the launch of the 3.13.1, when Grinding Gear Games was forced to pull the server offline and roll it back to just before deployment. In its apology tweets, the studio said about an hour of progress had been lost. "Our […]
Here's how TERA Console's battle pass will work
The very first battle pass for TERA's console edition is coming out on February 18th, giving players a new way to spend money and chase rewards. YouTuber Sarumonin took an advance look at this system, finding it pretty typical compared to seasonal passes in other games. TERA Console's battle pass can be experienced in both […]
The Daily Grind: Which modern MMOs are the best at not exploiting your FOMO?
FOMO – the fear of missing out – has unfortunately become a foundational motivator in the MMORPG industry. I don't think it was always this way. Back in the early days of the MMO genre, my FOMO was self-generated, like feeling I needed to be in the game to accomplish my own goals: hanging out […]
The Stream Team: The Tide Turns is the real finale of DDO's pirate saga
Massively OP's MJ may have said that last time was the last time for DDO's pirate saga. However, today is the real last time! The finale quest, The Tides Turn, will wrap up the pirate adventure that MJ and the crew have been working through. And what a finale it will be! Just as House […]
Massively Overthinking: Do MMO players secretly just want 'another WoW'?
Last week, there was a provocative discussion on the MMORPG subreddit about the genre. I don't want to get tangled up in the whole argument about failed MMOs and why people play the successful MMOs that aren't World of Warcraft, but I do want to home in on the overall premise: "I've become thoroughly convinced […]
Trove introduces Deep Dragon mounts to console players in latest update
If you're the sort of Trove console player who likes to chase hard-to-find materials to put together an extremely shiny mount, then you're going to have an absolute blast with the game's latest update, which has introduced three Deep Dragon mounts to go after. And honestly, who doesn't want to ride around on a blocky […]
EverQuest launches Valentine's event, PlanetSide 2 begins Outfit Wars playtest, DCUO readies Update 110
It's the Daybreak Games News Bundle! Because it just makes sense to pool smaller stories together, we're going to outline several little updates made to EverQuest and EverQuest II, PlanetSide 2, and DC Universe Online. Which also means it's bullet list time! First, EQ has kicked off Erollisi Day 2021, which is all outlined in […]
Activision-Blizzard Q4 2020: Activision's revenues are up QoQ and YoY as Blizzard MAUs drop again
We've simply got to stop meeting like this exactly every three months. Yes, it's time for another round of Activision-Blizzard dissembling in the form of the company's investor report and conference call. Welcome to Q4 2020! It's been a weird couple of years for the company as 2019 saw mass layoffs, the Blitzchung boycott, a weak BlizzCon, […]
Multiplayer survival RPG Frozen Flame updates enemies, shares some music, and offers a demo on Steam
It's been a little while since we looked in on Frozen Flame, and lo and behold, there's been a couple of notable things going on with the in-development multiplayer survival RPG. One of the first major updates is… well, an update, which has tweaked the attack behavior of the Cursed to make them "more menacing […]
Skyforge launches on Nintendo Switch today with time-limited cosmetics
The time has finally arrived for Skyforge to venture onto a new console in the form of the Nintendo Switch. The game is live today on the platform, allowing everyone access to the game in semi-portable form as you take on the role of one of the game's many immortal deities fighting to defend your planet. […]
Magic Legends begins selling discounted cosmetics bundle ahead of open beta
If for some reason you're angling to buy cosmetics for a game that hasn't released yet – and let's be real, MMO players are known for doing just that – then you're going to want to peek at PWE's Magic Legends reveal today. The company is apparently selling a new Planeswalker Bundle for the game, […]
EVE Online commemorates the Massacre at M2-XFE with data and an in-game monument
We can now officially put a new marker on the annals of EVE Online history. The Massacre at M2-XFE, which was already shaping up to be a historic battle from initial reporting, has gotten a full and final report from CCP Games, outlining just how immense this fight ended up being with data and details. […]
Obituary: ZeniMax Media founder and CEO Robert A. Altman has died
I'm sorry to report that the founder and CEO of ZeniMax Media, Robert A. Altman, has apparently passed away. He was 74. The news came directly from Bethesda's Twitter account, where staff shared one of Altman's recent memos to the teams urging them to take time to care for themselves during the pandemic. We are […]
Preview: Dauntless' Frost Escalation will force you to fight frigid foes and frostbite
I've said before that I respect and love how Dauntless keeps trying to bring something new to the table with its major updates, and the Frost Escalation, which should be live as you're reading this, is most certainly no exception. I was granted the opportunity to preview this new content with PR manager Andy Burt […]
Enter to win a Star Trek Online PC Alliance Reborn bundle from PWE and MOP
Star Trek Online's House Reborn has been a huge hit for the game, as the 11-year-old MMORPG is seeing a boost in concurrency as players flock back to the game to celebrate its anniversary. If you're among them, you're definitely going to want to enter today's giveaway to get your captains properly outfitted! PWE has […]
Vague Patch Notes: If this MMO was so good, why didn't it succeed?
Your mission today, should you choose to accept it, is to participate in an experiment. I want you to write up a nice long piece about all the things WildStar did that were, in fact, really good. Suggested areas of focus include the housing mechanics of the game, the art style, and the uniqueness of its […]
