The Stream Team: Undead frolicking at Path of Exile Ritual altars
It's odd to Massively OP's MJ: Ritual is not her favorite Path of Exile league, but it sure keeps pulling her back! That tantalizing lure of maybe getting something good in the ritual loot again is just too enticing to resist. On the plus side, at least she also gets to enjoy her zombie army. […]
In-development MMO Profane outlines how dungeons might work in its PvP sandbox
You'd be forgiven for believing that a PvP sandbox like Profane wouldn't really be big on having dungeons in it, but that doesn't appear to be the case thanks to details shared by the devs in another Twitter-based info dump. The way the devs at Insane see it, dungeons could be done in three different […]
AdventureQuest 3D adds a new level cap, new dungeon, and new gear with the Sandsea Saga
It's time to get your feet in the Sandsea in AdventureQuest 3D as the MMORPG's latest update introduces a whole lot of desert-based goodness for players to explore. The whole update takes place in the titular Sandsea and the town of Bastion, where level 31 characters can now level themselves up to the new level […]
EVE Online outlines plans for a major manufacturing shakeup in April and beyond
Some big changes are coming to the industry side of EVE Online starting in April. The current plan is to reorganize and change the requirements needed for manufacturing ships of all types, with particular focus being paid to Tier I ships in this reorganization, as well as the resource requirements of battleships, capitals, and supercapitals. It's […]
Albion Online brings back the Rites of Spring Easter celebration
It's time once again to mark the Easter holiday and spring season in Albion Online with the return of the Rites of Spring event. There will be eggs. There will be goodies. And there will be the Eggsecutioner. That's right, the two-handed Eggsecutioner weapon skin, which "uses Heretic magic to fire three different types of […]
Ascent The Space Game is back from stasis with a big client update on Steam
Five or six years ago, indie MMO players were enthralled by Ascent: The Space Game, a sci-fi sandbox made by a solo developer. It was never the prettiest MMORPG, nor did it have boatloads of players, but it was incredibly ambitious and offered systems and mechanics AAA wouldn't dream of adding – plus it's been […]
EverQuest II's producer talks up incoming events, TLE progression, the PvP server, and GU 117
Spring is slowly arriving to our hemisphere of the globe. Birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, pollen counts are rising, and the producer of EverQuest II has put out her letter to talk about what's growing in the MMORPG. What a lovely season. Except for that pollen bit; my condolences, allergy sufferers. The spring producer's […]
Ramen VR CEO talks about Zenith's combat, social features, world scale, and potential to 'set a tone'
With "early bird" alpha set to arrive next month for the VR MMORPG Zenith, there's plenty for Ramen VR CEO Andy Tsen to talk about, and talk he does in a VR-powered interview with UploadVR. The beginning of the interview talks about how Zenith is a standout title thanks to its active combat model and […]
Project Gorgon swaps in new animation system, lays foundation for VIP program
Despite not being officially launched yet, Project Gorgon is already tossing out one system to replace with another. This week, the team announced that it swapped in a brand-new animation system that allows for more additions and improvements to how game characters move — and dance. You can even collect new dances during your adventures. […]
Fallen Earth's revival has been held up by a project backlog, Little Orbit CEO says
After its shutdown in the fall of 2019 for rebuilding and recoding under new management, Fallen Earth – and its revival – is still in development limbo. Players hoping to hear word from Little Orbit over the status of this project might be disappointed to hear that it still will be a while yet due […]
Wisdom of Nym: The experimental nature of Final Fantasy XIV's Blue Mage
One of my half-serious predictions during the initial batch of predictions for Final Fantasy XIV's big reveal showcase was that we'd learn about a new limited job. Obviously, that didn't happen. This in and of itself is not exactly a shocker; I hadn't seen it as a certainty by any means, but it did get […]
Elite Dangerous launches phase one of its Odyssey alpha test on PC today
Today is the first step of many for PC players of Elite: Dangerous in something of a literal sense, as the Odyssey expansion has officially kicked off its alpha test, granting Commanders their new pair of space legs to try out. As readers will recall, alpha testing will roll out in phases, with this first […]
PAX East 2021 has been canceled and replaced with PAX Online 2021 in July
PAX East has effectively been canceled for 2021, to no one's surprise, I'm sure, given the continuing global COVID-19 pandemic. "While we hoped PAX East could safely take place, we remained realistic and did not sell any tickets or space to exhibitors to avoid significantly inconveniencing our friends and partners. As we have shown via […]
Not So Massively: Magic Legends is messy, deep, and more of an MMO than you think
I can't remember the last time I struggled so much deciding whether I like a game or not. I'm a fan of ARPGs, and while I haven't played Magic: The Gathering since elementary school, I remember finding the world and lore really neat, so I've had no small amount of hype in my heart for […]
Ashes of Creation discusses the process for combat changes, promises up to eight dungeons for alpha
This past Friday saw another livestream from the devs of Ashes of Creation and you'll never guess what they were talking about. Go on, guess. Wait, you saw the headline and probably knew coming in here that they had a lot to say about the upcoming alpha one test. Or you've been following along and […]
Cyberpunk 2077's latest patch features a lengthy list of improvements and fixes
Cyberpunk 2077 has had yet another significant patch applied to the beleaguered RPG, with another wide swath of targeted improvements and bug fixes for a variety of missions and scenarios as the devs at CD Projekt Red build upon the foundation that the game's January patch laid. Readers will recall that this patch was delayed […]
Chronicles of Elyria espouses the purposes and mechanics of the fog of war in Kingdoms of Elyria
To read the latest dev blog from Chronicles of Elyria's side project-cum-parallel dev title Kingdoms of Elyria, you'd think they invented the fog of war. That's effectively what this post is all about, elaborating on how it works and why it's important to the game's overall feel. "In KoE, 'fog of war' is the way […]
Former Anthem director Jonathan Warner ejects from BioWare
Players aren't the only ones leaving in droves after BioWare effectively killed the future of its multiplayer sci-fi title Anthem. Perhaps after putting on a jetpack of his own, former Anthem Director Jonathan Warner announced on March 26th that he was leaving the studio "for new things" but said that the Dragon Age, Mass Effect, […]
The Daily Grind: What are some MMOs where 'bringing the player not the class' really works?
Back during BlizzConline, I wrote a piece on Overwatch 2 that mentioned offhandedly that it sounded like Blizzard was creeping toward a "bring the player not the class" attitude in the game. The way I phrased it, I made it sound like a bad thing, and I think what was going through my head at […]
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 […]
