MMO Week in Review: Betas for Magic Legends and WoW Classic Burning Crusade
Magic Legends soft-launched on PC this week with an open beta that attracted a lot of attention and lot of grouching too, culminating in a weekend promise from Cryptic meant to pacify the grumbling. Meanwhile, MMO players were enraptured by WoW Classic's Burning Crusade beta, the stress test for Mortal Online 2, Raph Koster's latest […]
RuneScape will begin returning accounts next week, outlines compensation and events arriving in April
The road to this point for RuneScape has been a long and bumpy one that we've been highlighting over the past few weeks, but now it looks like normalcy is coming to the fans and the devs. A lengthy post on the game's website has confirmed that wider account restoration is now set to begin, […]
The MOP Up: Red Dead Online is off to the races
Whether you head off to the horse races or play in a posse in Red Dead Online, you're going to get extra rewards for the next few days. Additionally: "Frontier justice is a fickle thing, cold and ruthless when applied out in the open. Whether you're helping the widowed Jessica LeClerk and her right-hand man […]
Mortal Online 2 adds tutors, fixes mount murdering guards, and makes several Haven adjustments
One of my new favorite pastimes when looking through update notes for Mortal Online 2 is trying to pluck out some of the crazy-sounding edge case issues that have been fixed; it's a lot like reading Sims 3 patch notes sometimes. This latest set of beta patch notes offers a fun gem in that regard, […]
Global Chat: Giddy over SWTOR's Dark Descent
For MMO blogs that only cover a single game, an announcement of an upcoming content release is like a mini-Christmas all to itself. This was definitely the case for Going Commando, which got to peel back all the delicious layers of Star Wars: The Old Republic's reveal of Update 6.3: The Dark Descent. "Update 6.3's […]
Fallout 76 promises more PvP elements, details legendary crafting, and confirms aliens returning in AMA
As we covered previously, this past Tuesday saw Fallout 76's project lead Jeff Gardiner and design director Mark Tucker take to the game's subreddit for an AMA, and while some of the larger points were touched on previously, a recent update post on the game's official site has shared a few more tidbits about what's […]
One Shots: Dearly beloved
If you gotta get married in an MMORPG and don't want to spare any expense, Final Fantasy XIV has the most luxurious and extravagant setting for you. The flowers alone will set you back six years' wages, but it'll be worth it when your dearly beloved dies of pollen overdose. "So I got married in-game," […]
The Daily Grind: What informs your cosmetic choices in MMOs?
The days in which it was an active debate whether or not a given MMO should have a system of cosmetics have passed us by, thankfully. Now, it's just a question of how your game of choice handles matters of cosmetic outfits. It varies from game to game, but no matter the title, you can play dress-up […]
Pantheon aims high for its undated Alpha One test
Considering all of the crowdfunding invested and time spent waiting for Pantheon to be built, supporters of the upcoming MMO are undeniably eager to get their hands on the title — no matter how unfinished it may be. Visionary Realms attempted to set proper expectations for the upcoming Alpha One test in hopes that people […]
Last Oasis Season 3 breaks the map into Small Realms and brings the survival sandbox to Xbox Game Preview
It's been one year since the woodpunk survival sandbox Last Oasis arrived to early access, and this time around the devs at Donkey Crew are looking to shake things up with the arrival of Season 3. Most notably, the game's large world is now being broken up into Small Realms, which will hopefully allow the […]
World of Warcraft increases Brazil and Russia sub prices, defends Classic drums changes
If you're a World of Warcraft player in Russia or Brazil, you have our sympathies when you look at your bill next month. Blizzard announced that it's had to roll out significant price increases for both regions. According to Wowhead, Brazil players will see (for example) a one-month subscription go up by nearly 25%, while […]
LOTRO Legendarium: Finding purpose in Lord of the Rings Online's Wildwood
In what promises to be quite the busy year for Lord of the Rings Online, the game's first content update — Wildwood — arrived earlier this month. New content is always welcome, but this is a particularly curious addition to the game. It's the first time that we've seen the dev team add in a […]
The Stream Team: Checking out Mortal Online 2's beta stress test (plus some extra keys!)
Have you been curious about Mortal Online 2? Are you interested in taking a sneak peek? Massively OP's MJ is on both counts — and she's doing it! Thanks to this weekend's beta stress test, she'll get a glimpse of this new game that's currently under development. And she isn't planning to go in alone: […]
Magic Legends offers compensation for missing battle pass items, addresses performance and monetization issues
(This post has been updated at the end with the promised announcement about monetization and performance feedback.) Magic Legends might be calling its current version an open beta, but since it is offering things to purchase like a premium battle pass, it's more like a soft launch, and one thing you don't want to see […]
WRUP: Ham hunters edition
Ham hunters! Hunting ham! Not pigs. Pigs are where you get ham. They're just hunting actual ham. Why would you think they were hunting pigs. That's disgusting. It's wrong. They're just in this to hunt that delicious ham. Here are some kinds of ham: honey glazed, uh… actually I just know about honey glazed. Maybe […]
The Daily Grind: Do you take the path of least resistance in MMOs?
It's been a long-held axiom in the gaming industry that players will always, always pick the path of least resistance toward a goal or desired reward — even if said path is less enjoyable than another one that is longer or more complex. This issue certainly been the bane of MMO developers, who always have […]
The Stream Team: Starting up the new Sandsea story in AQ3D
Massively OP's MJ has been eagerly awaiting new story in AQ3D, and now it's here! The Sandsea story is starting in the town of Bastion, and she's ready to dig right in. There's rumor of an artifact she needs to find to face Vane again, and MJ will excavate the entire desert to find it. […]
Betawatch: Magic Legends hits the open beta soft launch
If you're worried about your launches being too hard-edged and solid, consider a nice soft launch like the one Magic Legends has done. The open beta is here, and since the game isn't planning another character wipe, that means that the game is in soft launch state now. It has, uh… been a bit of a […]
Genshin Impact has made a billion dollars in its first six months of operation
For a while there it seemed like no one would stop with the Genshin Impact memes, huh? But six months out from launch, it seems that the game has genuinely made quite an impact, as analyst SensorTower is reporting that the game has hit $1 billion in player spending six months after its release in September. […]
Starbase talks up planetary atmospheres and adds a ship diagnostic scanner, eyes early access for May 2021
Starbase has a number of updates to share, but one of the larger ones that we'll be leading off with is a more narrow release window for the space building sandbox's early access. Developer Frozenbyte is now eyeballing an early access launch for sometime in May 2021, with a date to be announced sometime in […]
Wild Terra 2 patches in the ability to brew alcohol and get drunk
Huh? What? What do you want? What's the problem? Oh. Right. News items. We've all been playing some Wild Terra 2, you know? The new patch added… it added… it added beer. So much beer. You can get, like… you can get drunk now. You can brew some beer. And other liquors. Gonna… gonna make some […]
The Stream Team: Warframe's Space Ninjas turn eight
Do Space Ninjas celebrate birthdays? Of course! And Massively OP's MJ is ready to party with all the space ninjas in Warframe. With eight years under its belt, there's plenty do do, so MJ has her pick of many activities. Tune in live at 3:00 p.m. to help us celebrate in space. What: Warframe Who: MJ Guthrie […]
Final Fantasy XI gears up for a lighter patch in April
The bad news for Final Fantasy XI fans is that the next version update for the game in early April will be a little bit thinner than it has been in recent months. The good news is that it's not for any reason more elaborate than just having less development time and thus opting to spend […]
Destiny 2 launches a new Strike, adjusts PvP lobby balancing, and swings a banhammer at cheaters
The Season of the Chosen continues to roll on in Destiny 2, and the latest addition to the game's content cadence is the Proving Grounds Strike, where players must face the Champion of the Cabal in a Rite of Proving. The latest patch has also introduced Crucible adjustments for Stasis abilities, added some PvP functions […]
Tencent is launching multiplayer survival game Undawn on PC and mobile this year
Did the world need another multiplayer survival title? Maybe not, but nobody's gonna be sad to get a good one from a solid publisher sitting on a giant pile of money, I suspect. And that's what's happening, as this week Tencent – under its Lightspeed & Quantum banner – took the wraps off of Undawn, […]
Aion NA is offering players a limited-time free boost to level 80
Let's say you're curious about what's been happening at the tippy-top end of Aion, but you're not exactly keen on climbing the 80 levels to get there. If that's the case, then the game's new level 80 boost event has your number. This event will grant players that have at least one level 10 character […]
Star Citizen talks up the new reputation system arriving in alpha 3.13
This week, Star Citizen's regular video series is all about earning that rep, outlining the reputation system that's arriving in alpha 3.13 as well as detailing what the system means for the game and how it will evolve and grow. At its core, reputation in Star Citizen is about filling up two bars with NPCs […]
Blue Protocol shares some selfie time with a preview of photo mode
If it wasn't really obvious, we love screenshots taken in MMOs. We also love when those MMOs offer a way for players to take dynamic screenshots, and that's just what Blue Protocol will let its players do thanks to its photo mode. The feature was showcased by the game's Japanese Twitter account, which offered a […]
Bless Unleashed details planned changes coming to field combat and dungeon mechanics
Bless Unleashed is planning some changes to its overall experience according to the latest dispatch from the development team. A lot of changes, really. For example, out in the field players can look forward to a smoother overall quest flow as well as a variety of new NPCs to meet and interact with while exploring the […]
WoW Factor: Why aren't we getting more customization options in Shadowlands?
You might be surprised that I haven't written a piece in WoW Factor yet about the BlizzConline announcement that we would get no new customization options in World of Warcraft throughout this expansion. But the reason is that there's not actually much to write about there. This was a bad choice that ultimately hurts the […]
Elite Dangerous shares an on-foot tour of an Odyssey starport, planetary missions, and alpha test schedule
Last night was an absolute info dumping from Elite: Dangerous regarding its upcoming Odyssey expansion, with announcements, livestreams, and videos galore shared over a couple of hours. Heading off the list is a detailed roadmap for the Odyssey alpha test, which will roll out in four phases. The first three phases will have testers starting […]
Hands-on with Monster Hunter Rise: Well-worth the cost of admission
Well, as Monster Hunter Rise is finally out. We received a pair of review copies at the last minute, so with about 10 hours under my belt, I think it's safe to to start things out with a gut-reaction to the release, reflecting naturally on the game's preview, predecessor, and past titles. While late-game or […]
Playable Worlds' Raph Koster posts a manifesto on the future of MMOs
Believe us, we here at Massively OP are dying to know all of the details about the online game project that Raph Koster and his team at Playable Worlds is making. We'll probably be waiting a while to see what the Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies creator is up to, but at least Koster […]
World of Warcraft is altering the deal on game time purchases, settling on just 60-day increments
Players who obtain their World of Warcraft game time through Blizzard's shop have fewer options this week, as the studio announced that it has removed the 30- and 180-day pre-paid time purchase options from the store. "We recently conducted a review on the available services in all currencies. Based on this, we have decided to […]
The Daily Grind: How do you push for change in a broken MMO?
The Path of Exile community has been roiling over the past couple of weeks, first because of the Harvest crafting nerfs and then because of a massively upvoted Reddit post that argued POE is an "abusive" game that is destined to be overtaken by other titles that better respect players' time and health. Obviously, POE […]
The Stream Team: Helping Historian Thrimbul fight fire lords in Neverwinter
Where there's fire, there are firefighters. And in Neverwinter, Massively OP's MJ is the fire fighter! Historian Thrimbul needs her help to make the volcano safer, and she'll be fighting the fire lords (who are not the friendly sort). Join us live at 9:00 p.m. for a smoking hot time. What: Neverwinter Who: MJ Guthrie […]
Massively Overthinking: What are your MMO character customization dealbreakers?
Back in February, when BlizzConline was at its height, part of the World of Warcraft community lost its mind over the revelation that Blizzard won't be adding new customization options between now and… whatever the next expansion turns out to be a year and a half from now. It was particularly galling for players of […]
Albion Online's first patch to Call to Arms increases the faction warfare point pool
At the end of the day, fighting in faction warfare in Albion Online is like fighting with your siblings over who gets the last piece of pie. There are limited resources and someone needs to get the most of them. So much like an exhausted mother trying to figure out how to cut a pie slice […]
Hearthstone retracts nerfs to cards in Wild, adds a Classic format, and prepares for its next expansion
March 25th – today! – and March 30th are two notable dates in Hearthstone as the online CCG will be getting a variety of updates and improvements, starting with today's update 20.0. This new update will introduce Classic format that lets players use the game's originally launched 240 cards, including replacements for Stonetusk Boar and […]
Dauntless normalizes Trials power, adds hunt level requirements, and brings back Springtide in latest update
You know how you can tell you mean serious business when hunting in Dauntless? When you sport a pair of bunny-faced repeaters in battle. That's one of the highlights of the multiplayer critter slaying RPG's 1.5.6 update, which brings back the Springtide Easter holiday event. During the event, players will once more need to gather […]
Massively of the Go: Pokemon Go's April events bring snakes, trash, and mysteries
Pokemon Go's St. Patrick's Day "had no effect" on at least one snake: Snivy! But fortunatelt, the Gen 5 pokemon is getting its own Community Day April 11th, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time. Frenzy Plant doesn't really do much to make its final evolution stand out in PvE or PvP unless you're […]
The Stream Team: Celebrating seven years of SMITE
SMITE commemorates its seventh birthday today, and Massively OP's MJ is ready to celebrate with the gods! And the fact that pets are invited makes it all the better. Part of the festivities is the new Talons of Tyranny event, which includes pet skins of fluffy kitties and pups. Obviously there is no way for […]
Spellbreak is adding 5v5 point control mode, ranked match league, and 12 weeks of story quests in April 8 update
There's a new chapter coming to the spell-shooting battle royale title Spellbreak, and this time it's bringing a new mode that isn't another variation on battle royale. Chapter 2: The Fracture is headlined with Dominion mode, a 5v5 point control battle where teams accrue points for keeping control of three different zones and taking down […]
Path of Exile will showcase its April 16 Ultimatum expansion and Path of Exile 2 in April 8 livestream
It's almost time once more for another round of expansion hype for Path of Exile. Developer Grinding Gear Games has put out an announcement of an announcement in trailer form, confirming that the game's soon to come Ultimatum expansion will be detailed in a livestream on April 8th. Players can look forward to new content […]
Elder Scrolls Online has three weeks of events planned thanks to its 7th birthday and April Fools'
It's hard to believe that almost seven years ago, Elder Scrolls Online finally lurched out of the gates into the hands of PC players. Though that launch was rocky, the game has come such a very long way in terms of quality and popularity, winning multiple awards from our staff and readers since then. So […]
ArcheAge's Akasch Invasion patch is live with the new Gunslinger skillset
As promised, ArcheAge and ArcheAge Unchained are getting a blast of new content today in the form of the Akasch Invasion. "With the new update Akasch Invasion, gamigo's online role-playing world of ArcheAge will receive a new ranged skillset, a breathtaking new zone with lore packed quests, and a challenging new raid that requires all factions […]
So, how did Magic Legends' soft launch go?
PWE's Magic Legends has been out in the wilds of soft launch open beta for two days now, so it's time for a check-in. And you know the Community gif with Donald Glover and the pizza and the fire? Yeah, the Reddit looks about like that right now. Multiple members of our own staff have […]
Desert Oasis: The problem with Black Desert's season servers – and how to fix it
Black Desert's had some exceptional growth over the past year. What I've always liked about this game is that it's never tried to be what it's not. It's always been a grindy MMORPG where killing mobs is the primary way of getting stronger. So most of its major content updates include more grindspots and better […]
Grab a Mortal Online 2 key for this weekend's beta stress test! [Added more keys 3/26/21]
So, who wants to play some Mortal Online 2 beta this weekend? Yep, the folks behind MMO sandbox Mortal Online have been working on Mortal Online 2 for the past year and change, and now, studio Starvault is finally ready for a big ol' stress test, which means it wants you! "The purpose of this […]
Vague Patch Notes: The fine art of shutting yourself up (so you can enjoy MMOs again)
This week, an unusual thing happened to me: I didn't really want to write this column. This may not sound all that unusual to you, but I assure you it is unusual. I enjoy my job for the most part (every so often there's something more depressing to write about and those days are less fun), […]
