US and EU trading bodies both approve Microsoft's $7.5B buyout of ZeniMax Media
It's been a few months since Microsoft acquired all of ZeniMax Media's studios to the tune of $7.5 billion back in September of last year. There hasn't been much news on the front outside of Phil Spencer and Todd Howard both assuring fans that there won't be major changes in ZeniMax's cross-platform strategies (while Microsoft's […]
Final Fantasy XIV bans over 5,000 accounts for RMT activity
Trading real money for gil in Final Fantasy XIV is expressly forbidden. Players shouldn't do that if they want to keep their accounts. Apparently more than 5,000 people didn't get that message, as the latest dispatch from the development team has announced that 5,037 accounts participating in RMT have been terminated as part of the ongoing […]
ArcheAge posts mysterious teaser that 'something is coming'
Usually the phrase "Prepare yourself — something's coming" would be of great excitement to any MMORPG player. But we can't help but think that when this is applied to the oft-controversial ArcheAge, it has the potential to be a terrifying omen. In any case, Gamigo posted a "coming soon" video teaser that shows insects fleeing […]
Jagex continues work on RuneScape login issues through the weekend, promises no accounts are lost
This past Friday we reported on some issues with RuneScape's login servers, which were so bad that the devs had to roll back the servers to a few hours and were forced to postpone this week's update. As of right now, it doesn't look like things have gotten any better as problems persist through the […]
World of Warcraft posts full notes for tomorrow's Patch 9.0.5
Like a murloc bum-rushing the unwary adventurer, World of Warcraft's Patch 9.0.5 is sprinting toward the live servers. Tomorrow's update is a mid-range patch, but even so, it's throwing a whole lot of changes and quality-of-life improvements into the mix. That's why it's helpful to read the full patch notes, which Blizzard thoughtfully posted this […]
The Daily Grind: Do you miss free return events in MMORPGs?
Eliot was writing a piece about Final Fantasy XI's return home event a week or two ago and I suddenly had a pang of nostalgia – not for FFXI, which I never really got into, but for the idea of MMO freebie events period. Most MMORPGs are now at least partly free-to-play, and I have […]
MMO Week in Review: Blade & Soul's revival, ArcheAge's fresh starts
At this point, it seems as if Gamigo has entirely given up on trying to appease disgruntled ArcheAge fans, as smack in the middle of its ongoing server merges and land rushes, the studio announced new fresh start servers. Meanwhile, Blade & Soul's Revival is happening, Daybreak and Cold Iron finally revealed Aliens: Fireteam, Crowfall […]
SEED talks about its latest playtest and how testing is utilized in a video
Klang Games, the developers of colonization MMO SEED, has once again put together a new dev vlog that takes a moment to discuss testing, including the game's latest playtest and what the devs use testing for. The last test, known as Pioneers Phase 1, brought together a variety of gameplay mechanics for the first time […]
The MOP Up: Champions Online plumbs the Midnight Depths
The game is afoot — the Champions Online game, that is! Cryptic pushed out the second part of the Midnight Depths story arc this past week, giving costumed crusaders another challenge. "Without the good doctor's help, you and Ladyhawke find yourselves in desperate need of answers, and she's only in the mood for one way […]
Battle Bards Episode 188: World of Warcraft Shadowlands
While the Battle Bards tend to agree that World of Warcraft: Shadowlands isn't as strong of an expansion soundtrack compared to the last few, it's still WoW, and it still has some gems worth uncovering. Join Syl, Steff, and Syp as they journey into the afterlife and see what the freshly dead listen to in […]
Global Chat: What can fill that 'new MMO' void?
MMO blogger Digital Visceral asked the question, "Where have all the good MMORPGs gone?" but the underlying question isn't one of scarcity or burnout. Rather, it's a search for new games to fill the still-burning desire to play online games in an era that seems more hesitant than ever to make them. "It's easy to […]
Diablo II Resurrected will allow old save file transfers, will likely be Blizzard's last remaster
I have to wonder who would be hanging on to an old Diablo II save file but then I check myself as I look at a screenshot folder that still has old shots from WildStar, so maybe it's not so fargone a conclusion that there are plenty of folks hanging on to their old ARPG […]
One Shots: Never crowd surf over cats with claws
If you ever find yourself at a heavy metal concert where most of the crowd is made out of bestial cat-things, trust me: Don't crowd surf. You're going to end up with unintended acupuncture if you do so. I'm not sure if Miol is full of holes now, but this Guild Wars 2 concert seemed […]
The Daily Grind: Would you play an MMO on console with crossplay?
I like Star Trek Online. It'd probably be a pretty fun game to play on consoles during idle downtime, but there's a problem with that: I don't like it so much that I want to start up totally from scratch just to occasionally play on the PS4 instead of on my PC. I also like Final Fantasy […]
Blade & Soul opens a 'Revival' landing page touting visual upgrades, engine changes, and dungeon updates
Blade & Soul is very excited about its upcoming Unreal Engine upgrade to the point that a newly opened landing page is calling it a Revival. The page not only touts the overall engine's visual abilities but also outlines how the upgrade will improve things for the game overall and how the devs plan to […]
Take a look at 25 minutes' worth of Aliens Fireteam gameplay
Now that we know that Daybreak and Cold Iron Studios is finally launching that co-op shooter Aliens: Fireteam, there are likely more than a few folks that are curious about just what this game looks like in motion. Luckily, there's a whole mission preview video now online to sate that curiosity. Along with a look […]
Legends of Aria indefinitely delays patch, works on experimental server instead
We've certainly been wondering what's happened to Legends of Aria, which went really quiet in the early part of 2021 here. The last we heard, Citadel Studios had promised some sort of update or announcement for this fantasy MMO while working on a survival RPG called The End. Well, wait no longer: Citadel just posted an […]
The Stream Team: Doing the swamp thing in Valheim
Once Massively OP's MJ started trying to build in Valheim, she couldn't stop! But there is so much more to the game to see, so today she'll toss her tools aside and head into the swamp with her friends to explore. Tune in live at 2:00 p.m. to do the swamp thing in… What: Valheim […]
LOTRO Legendarium: How much value does a VIP subscription offer these days?
Probably the biggest question any Lord of the Rings Online player has to ask him or herself is whether to go subscription or free-to-play while making a way through Middle-earth. It's not as simple as you might suspect, as LOTRO's business model is a little on the convoluted side. Also, it really depends on your […]
The Division 2 is getting a new game mode late 2021, reruns of Year 2 season content in the meantime
Ever since Ubisoft Massive made the announcement that The Division 2 would be getting another content update this year after TU12, which was intended to be the game's last update, players have likely been wondering approximately when that new content will arrive. A recent post detailing the road ahead has that answer, along with word […]
WRUP: 101 uses for a hammer edition
Birds Big birds Small birds Nuthatches Fish Birds Fish Bats bats batty bay avast ye, this be the bay of bats hearken ye to my words, ye scurrilous nope this bit is dumb forget it Birds Again Titmice Titmouses Multiple Birds named "Titmouse" Geese Goose Glue Fish Tuna Fish Salmon Fish Salmon Tuna Two Salmon […]
The Daily Grind: Where would you live in an MMO if you could?
Sometimes MMO developers and artists are so very good with creating welcoming and gorgeous zones that I think that I wouldn't mind moving there. You know, if the taxes and school systems were good and I wasn't in imminent danger of being eaten by a Level 3 Grue whenever I went for a hike. There […]
The Stream Team: Making music with Warframe's Octavia Prime
Once a music-making frame was introduced in Warframe, Massively OP's MJ has knew she had to have it. And now she has the Prime Frame! Will MJ be able to make sweet music with Octavia Prime, or will all her notes fall flat? Join us live at 8:00 p.m. to check this new addition out. […]
Betawatch: Zenith plans its alpha for April 16
Playing a game on a VR headset already feels kind of futuristic, but the upcoming Zenith is a bit more futuristic than even that. And the game has now set the alpha preorders for March 10th and beta for April 16th, meaning it's just over a month away. Hopefully that means the bits of radio silence […]
ArenaNet promises to fix the Guild Wars 2 GeForceNow account lockout issue
If you swapped to playing Guild Wars 2 through GeForceNow thanks to the deprecation of the game's old Mac client – or if you just wanted to play through GeForceNow for any reason at all – you might want to pay a bit more attention to the status of your game account. That's because multiple […]
LEGO Universe emulator Darkflame Universe outlines its next steps to closed beta
Let's say you were swimming around in the retrospective of LEGO Universe and it got you pining for the brick fjords, so you look in the direction of the player-operated emulator Darkflame Universe, which has been in closed alpha since 2017, to see where things stand. Lucky for you, there's some news on that front, […]
MMO Business Roundup: Theorycraft, My.Games, the FIFA fixing lawsuit, and Roblox's latest concert
Welcome back to another roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news. Theorycraft: Could you found a new games studio on $37.5M? Yeah, probably. A bunch of veteran devs are going for it, with a pedigree spanning League of Legends, Destiny, Overwatch, Valorant, Halo, Dota 2, and more. The fledgling company raised that nice chunk of […]
Interview: Camelot Unchained lays out its innovative alchemy system
One of the major slices of content being worked on in this current 90-day quadrant of Camelot Unchained development is its crafting system, specifically and initially the design of alchemy. During City State's afternoon stream, the studio explained that the alchemy craft will essentially allow players to mix "an almost unlimited number of combinations" using […]
Minimalist multi-user roguelike Apsis Online plans a Steam release this quarter
It's been a while since we brought up Apsis Online. This ASCII-styled title was first showcased in January 2019, calling itself a "minimalist MMO" before coming up again in November 2020 as a new style of game — the "multi-user roguelike" or "MUR." At that time we noted that the game had entered crowdfunding on […]
The Stream Team: Meeting the Son of Braken in AQ3D
Her friends wanted to take her to meet the Son of Braken in AQ3D last week, but Massively OP's MJ didn't qualify. She aims to remedy that! Today she'll work on fulfilling all the requirements to open that big boss up. Tune in live at 2:00 p.m. for some sea shenanigans. What: AdventureQuest 3D Who: […]
EverQuest II brings back Brewday with a new quest and new items
The adventurers of EverQuest II work hard, so if their preferred method of taking the edge off from all of that heroic work is knocking back some ale, then this is the most wonderful time of the year as Brewday 2021 has officially kicked off. Between now and Thursday, March 18th, players can find portals […]
Last Oasis announces a 'broken' update featuring improved UI and controller support in preparation for its Xbox release
The devs at Donkey Crew want to make one thing very clear to players of Last Oasis: the game's next update is going to be, by their own admission, "broken." That's because this upcoming update is rebuilding a variety of things from the ground up, so the next build needs some player feedback and multiple […]
Star Citizen shows off alpha 3.13's big new caves and previews new vehicle-based mining tools
CIG is very proud that it's made holes in the ground. That's the rather acerbic takeaway from this week's video update from Star Citizen, which offered a look at six new cave entrances coming in alpha 3.13 that are specifically designed for spaceships and vehicles to traverse. There's a little more going on than just […]
ArcheAge Unchained announces new Fresh Start servers arriving on March 25 as server merges continue
Who here would like to start from square one in ArcheAge Unchained? You're going to be getting your wish this coming Thursday, March 25th, because that's when new Fresh Start servers arrive to the game. More details are set to be shared soon, but the post confirms that there will be one NA server and […]
MMO company Perfect World Entertainment is working on a new game according to hiring post
So what does Perfect World Entertainment have in the works right now? We don't know, but it appears to be something new happening. A new posting on Twitter has announced that the company is recruiting a Live Producer for a project, with the specific call-out of shepherding a game through pre-alpha and into live service. The […]
WoW Factor: Will most WoW Classic players genuinely move on to The Burning Crusade?
So as much praise as I had for the WoW Classic side of the World of Warcraft equation last week, there's something that was interesting as part of the presentation that's been rolling over in my head the whole time. One of the recurring talking points that was raised was the idea that the staff expects the […]
RuneScape's login servers had a meltdown, forcing the game to roll back a few hours
RuneScape has been having a bad couple of days. Players of the MMORPG started running into issues logging in at around 9:00 a.m. EST yesterday, which were bad enough that the devs announced later that day that servers would need to be rolled back to a few hours earlier, specifically 9:15 a.m. EST. After the […]
Tamriel Infinium: Previewing Elder Scrolls Online's Flames of Ambition DLC and Update 29
It's that time of year again, fans of The Elder Scrolls Online! The new yearlong story is about to kick off with the first quarter dungeon update. This year, the plot centers around the dwelling place of the daedric princes: Oblivion. The first DLC, titled Flames of Ambition, includes two new dungeons and launches alongside […]
World of Warcraft's valor patch comes next week while WoW Classic flirts with #somechanges
A systems and balancing patch is hitting World of Warcraft's live servers next week as Blizzard fine-tunes Shadowlands before it brings Patch 9.1 out to play. The 9.0.5 update is focused on "improving systems, rewards, covenant and legendary tuning, and bug fixes," according to the studio. It's a rather extensive patch, but we want to […]
Valve ends Artifact's reboot dreams and shoves it into maintenance mode
BioWare isn't the only studio throwing in the towel after attempting a reboot of a promising title. Fans of Valve's digital card game Artifact were dismayed to hear this week that the company has decided to end work on Artifact 2.0, cease development altogether, and move the title into maintenance mode. "It's now been about […]
The Daily Grind: What's your primary reason for alting in MMORPGs?
Last weekend, I fell back into City of Heroes rogue servers as I do now every few months, and instead of making a beeline for my main characters, I found myself gravitating to the bottom of my roster. And I have a big roster – about 19 toons I consider active – and that's something […]
The Stream Team: Celebrating 15 years of Dungeons & Dragons Online
How old is your dungeon? Or your dragon, for that matter? DDO's are 15 as of this week. That's 15 years to celebrate! Massively OP's MJ and the D&D night crew are partaking in the party in-game, complete with dev dungeons, cake, and kobolds. Tune in live at 8:00 p.m. to join in the festivities. […]
Massively Overthinking: 'Dead games' in the MMO space
I had a laugh a while back when I spied this tweet in my feeds from a Bungie CM who was suggesting people mute the words "dead game" on Twitter. Forever. It's a whole mood. I hate seeing the phrase because it's seldom actually used for games that have actually been killed off or sunsetted […]
Final Fantasy XI announces more Voracious Resurgence and the pinnacle of Odyssey for March
Is March the cruelest month in Final Fantasy XI? You might not think so, but consider that players will be forced to contend with the most vicious possible boss in Odyssey when the game's March update goes live, reaching a new pinnacle of danger and offering concurrent rewards. There are four different augment paths available for […]
Blade & Soul Revolution's global edition hits mobile today
The Blade & Soul news just keeps on coming today, as Netmarble has officially released the global version of Blade & Soul Revolution to the AppStore and GooglePlay. "Players new to the Blade & Soul IP can look forward to an updated and streamlined experience in Blade & Soul Revolution, as in-game enhancements to the […]
Valheim players create a PvP tourney and take down a boss with 50 wolves as game sales hit 5M
While major content updates to the early access Viking survival sandbox Valheim haven't come out yet, that definitely hasn't stopped players from making their own fun. One such case is the formation of a Vikings of Legend PvP tournament, which sees two teams drop into one server, move into separate directions to initiate a one-hour […]
Star Stable announces new Wildwoods zone and releases ASMR video
Gather 'round, fellow horse girls and horse guys, because the kid-friendly equestrian MMO Star Stable is announcing big news for the game today, and it's just too adorable not to share. Star Stable Entertainment has taken the wraps off of Wildwoods, a brand-new zone for the game that represents the first fully new in-game land […]
Ultima Online's Publish 110 nerfs auction hall access for free-to-play players
As promised, Ultima Online's Publish 110 release has landed on the test server, offering players a first full glimpse into what this release entails. It's a relatively small update all the same, with the most notable positive bits being tweaks to dynamic events and a new round of Black Market rewards and veteran rewards, including […]
Fallout 76 plans to open its test server for the next major update in mid-March
Eager to try out the next major patch for Fallout 76? Well, you can't. Not yet, anyway… but soon. The latest dispatch from the development team explains that the team is very aware how eager people are to test things, but it's going to be a little bit longer. The plan is currently to open up […]
Check out this recreation of World of Warcraft's Stormwind in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
The human capital of Stormwind in World of Warcraft has endured a great deal, from the loss of its king to the attack of Deathwing to a stealth assault by the Horde. But now it faces a new challenge… the challenge of shredding. Yes, the user going by the name of Scrombles/Skramblez has recreated the entryway […]
