Make My MMO: Elite's Odyssey is a beautiful mess
This week in crowdfunded MMOs, our own Stick and Rudder columnist Chris got his paws all over Elite Dangerous' Odyssey alpha this week, finding the alpha label to be extremely accurate indeed, with plenty of rough edges, balance issues, and a weak test intro – but also one with enormous potential. "Odyssey is a new […]
Lord of the Rings Online leaks Brawler class details
Trust MMORPG players to poke around where developers wish they wouldn't, especially when it comes to prying all of the secrets out of upcoming patches. Thanks to time spent on Lord of the Rings Online's test server, online detectives uncovered a wealth of information about the upcoming Brawler class, even as it's still in development. […]
Torchlight III unveils the new Cursed Captain class arriving with the next update
Pirates and curses just go together like peanut butter and chocolate, so it's not necessarily a surprise that the Cursed Captain is a thing. What might be a surprise is that the Cursed Captain is a new class that's coming to Torchlight III as part of the ARPG's next update, which is due to arrive […]
The Stream Team: Astroneer's second great scrap event
The EXO Salvage Initiative has returned to Astroneer, and Massively OP's MJ is ready to clean up the planets. What? The fact that there are cool new cosmetic rewards is merely a coincidence! Cleaning up is just a rewarding experience. And for any new folks, that includes nabbing last year's rewards on the way to […]
The Game Archaeologist: The ballad of Fansy, EverQuest's famous bard
It was summer, 2001. EverQuest had just rolled out Sullon Zek, a no-rules "penal colony" server where the realm was as lawless as the PvP was ruthless. Ganking, PKing, and corpse camping were rampant, all the more so for anyone who dared roll on the "good" side, as "evil" players made up the vast majority […]
Trove is coming to Nintendo Switch this year, Wizard101 and Pirate101 may get a console port
Whether you are a dinosaur tamer, a ruthless pirate, or a dashing superhero, you soon will have another platform to enjoy the antics of Trove. Gamigo parent company Media and Games Invest Group released a report, first noticed by Troveasaurus, that indicates the studio is bringing Trove to the Nintendo Switch some time this year. "We […]
WRUP: How to make a giant mess out of the inside of your car if that's your goal for whatever reason edition
What you'll need: A box of plastic disposable forks. Four bottles of foaming shaving cream. Rubber bands. Glitter. A Roomba. One full set of golf clubs. A car. Duct tape. Seven pairs of scissors. A complete lack of any sensible reactions to the things you're about to do. Construction paper. Personal injury insurance. How to […]
The Daily Grind: What cancelled MMOs deserve a rogue server?
As a historian, game preservationist, and general MMORPG geek, it does my heart good to see players do their best to restore and operate titles that were kicked to the curb by studios years ago. There are so many rogue servers out there, from Star Wars Galaxies to Free Realms to The Sims Online to […]
The Stream Team: Chillin' with some villains and man-eating mimicsin AdventureQuest 3D
In AQ3D, you have the big baddy Vain the Void King, who is the nemesis of the entire story. However, there are plenty of other villains to defeat on your way to vanquishing Vane. All those boss challenges had to come from somewhere, right? And sometimes, Massively OP's MJ just wants to spend a day […]
Betawatch: Pantheon aims high for alpha test and hits low with NFTs
Ah, Pantheon, you're aiming high for your still-undated alpha test! That's a really good thing. It's why we're rooting for you as a scrappy underdog! Or it's why we were rooting for you before you started selling NFT artwork, thus turning yourself into a simultaneous villain for Batman and Captain Planet in one fell swoop. […]
Astellia Online makes Miodan Mine tweaks, adds dungeon gift boxes, and introduces multiple item upgrading
Astellia Online, aka the version of the game that's not Astellia Royal, has recently gotten an update with a variety of new things to check out. At the heart of this update are several changes to the Miodan Mine zone, with nerfs to monsters, increases to daily rewards, the addition of new Miodan's upgrade treasures, […]
Aion EU's next update brings back Pangaea, reworks Legion contribution system, and adds a Labyrinth
As fans of Aion often know, what arrives to the EU version of the game usually is a precursor for the NA version. With that in mind, players will want to note that update 7.9 is soon to arrive to Aion EU, bringing with it a few marquee features. First on the list is the […]
Darkfall Rise of Agon launches in China as the western version revives player cities
Remember back in February when the two devs working on Darkfall Rise of Agon announced they were making a huge move: partnering with an investor to bring the game to Asia and heavily expand the dev team? Not only is it still happening, but it's happening today. The game's new Chinese website says that the […]
Grinding Gear Games collects Path of Exile 2 reveals ahead of April 8 livestream, doesn't see beta until 2022
As we've reported, this coming Thursday, April 8th, will have a new livestream for Path of Exile, which will showcase a new look at Path of Exile 2. If you've forgotten all about that game somehow, the devs at Grinding Gear Games have rather helpfully pulled together all of the reveals, videos, and details that […]
MechWarrior Online is bringing a first pass of weapon adjustments in April
The month of April is going to see continued tweaks to weapons and equipment in MechWarrior Online. That in and of itself isn't too surprising if you've been paying attention, but the method in which these changes are coming is perhaps a bit different than expected. Essentially, the devs at Piranha Games were hoping to […]
Battle Bards Episode 190: Genshin Impact
It was the FOMO title of last fall, and now Genshin Impact is in your ears! On this episode of the Battle Bards, Syp, Steff, and the Other One explore the varied and delightfully cheerful soundtrack to this online RPG. Unless you have headphones made of live kittens, it'll be the most adorable thing you'll […]
Final Fantasy XI updates with the latest part of the Voracious Resurgence
It's time for an update of dour elves with the latest patch for Final Fantasy XI, bringing in the final part of the Voracious Resurgence storyline in San d'Oria. Of course, that's one of the biggest pieces of this particular update, which the developers already stated would be a bit smaller due to naturally less […]
The Soapbox: How Magic Legends went wrong with the Dimir Assassin class
Cryptic and Perfect World Entertainment are known for their love of lockboxes as a monetization strategy. Therefore it was not wholly surprising when Magic: Legends open beta launched with a whole character class exclusive to its paid, randomized "booster packs" (lockboxes by another name). What was surprising was that the pushback was so intense that […]
Elder Scrolls Online opens Blackwood prologue during its free-play event and birthday season
If this week's Elder Scrolls Online console and Blackwood reveals have you itching to play the game, well, ZeniMax's marketing team can congratulate itself on a job well done. But this post is about you and what you can get out of the game right now, and as it turns out, it's quite a bit. […]
WoW Factor: We're waiting how long for Shadowlands' patch 9.1, now?
So it looks like World of Warcraft's next patch is going up for testing on the week of April 12th. What the heck is happening? At best, this just explains that the reason for such a threadbare presentation during the whole BlizzConline event was because there was very little to actually reveal at that point, given that we're […]
Dual Universe delays its missions system, opens tutorial portal
The March newsletter for Dual Universe is out, containing a wrap-up of how this space sandbox fared over the course of the month. Update 0.24, with its better jetpacks and improved graphics, was the highlight, but there are a few other tidbits to sift through. In the newsletter, Nova Quark said that it's going to […]
Stick and Rudder: Shaky space legs and promising potential in Elite Dangerous' Odyssey alpha phase one
Yep. This certainly was an alpha test. For those who are curious, yes, I bought my way in to the Elite Dangerous Odyssey alpha, as did my good friend Britarnya and my husband. The three of us were more than eager to make our first steps and have been excited for this first phase of testing […]
Mimic chests are causing havoc in Dungeons and Dragons Online's new permadeath server season
Players who were dipping in to the recently opened permadeath server of Dungeons and Dragons Online were likely expecting a challenge, but it appears that they got more than they bargained for this time around. Apparently the Mimic Hunt event, which makes every chest opened after level three a potentially hungry monster instead of a […]
Final Fantasy XIV shows off a trailer for patch 5.5, Death Unto Dawn
The next patch for Final Fantasy XIV is not far off at this point, arriving on April 13th, and players can now feast their eyes on the trailer for the patch from today's Letter from the Producer LIVE. Producer and director Naoki Yoshida shared a number of details on the changes coming with the patch, […]
Chronicles of Elyria team hopes to avoid the 'one-man economy' pitfall
At this point, it's anyone's guess what's actually going on over with Chronicles of Elyria and its supposed single-player spin-off. But hey, the blog posts still talk a good talk, and this week Soulbound Studios CEO Jeromy Walsh is chatting up how gathering and resources are being designed for the franchise. As one of the […]
Playable Worlds' Raph Koster on the player-driven economies at the heart of virtual worlds
Playable Worlds' Raph Koster is back with another blog post that serves as a tip-off for what kind of MMORPG he and his team are building. And once again, if you've ever played a Koster MMO, you know what "E" word is going to be at the heart of it: economy. But Koster hammers over […]
The Daily Grind: What argument does your MMO's community have that would make no sense in other MMOs?
I don't think it's possible to go a day on a City of Heroes server, back in the old days or now on the rogue servers, without seeing at least one fight in general chat about healers. CoH vets are proudly militant about the game's design, which makes things like damage mitigation and proactive defenses […]
The Stream Team: Fire vs ice in Dungeons & Dragons Online's Taming of the Flames
Some say the stream will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what Massively OP's MJ does desire she holds with those who favor fire. But unless the party will perish thrice We think she knows enough of fate to say that for destruction ice Is also great and must suffice. (Or else we'll […]
Massively Overthinking: Should MMOs sell exclusive items – in alpha?
MOP reader Randomness recently wrote to us about a Reddit discussion about games with exclusive item shops before the game comes out. The issue was two-fold: First, that an unreleased alpha game has a cash shop at all – in this case, one that's already sold more items than a comparable game that's been live […]
Albion Online patches in the moose for hunting, raising, and mounting
Moose! There are some big moose. There are moose in Albion Online now! You might get bitten by a moose, especially if you choose to fight the moose and then the moose fights back and it bites you. See, the newest patch adds in some moose for you to hunt for hides, but you might also […]
Star Wars Galaxies Legends teases Bespin creatures coming in the City in the Clouds expansion
If you're still anxiously awaiting the arrival of Bespin in the Star Wars Galaxies Legends rogue server, you're going to want to peek into the player team's latest dispatch, as the team says it's "starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel" in regard to its development. "We'd like to tease our […]
Not So Massively roundup: PUBG Lite's sunset, Astroneer's compass, SMITE's Gilgamesh
Welcome back to our occasional roundup of what's going on in multiplayer games that aren't really MMORPGs! There's actually a ton of news this week, so we'll make 'em quick. First, a bit of sad news: PUBG Lite is sunsetting on May 29th. That was the low-spec version of the game for folks playing on […]
DCUO makes its World of Flashpoint episode permanently free for all players as part of plans to remove content paywalls
For those who aren't big fans of the fact that some DC Universe Online content is locked behind a paywall, this announcement will be welcome news indeed. The devs have confirmed that the World of Flasphoint, the game's 40th episode, will permanently become free for all players, whether they're Members or not. This change is […]
Chinese police team up with Tencent to take down a video game cheating ring
It was an illegal organization being taken down by the Chinese police force in a concentrated operation. It involved $76 million being made, with $46 million of assets seized by police including a number of luxury automobiles. It involved multiple arrests and an international scheme. It has everything you'd expect to see from some sort […]
Genshin Impact announces plans to launch on PlayStation 5 'soon'
Genshin Impact is an open world RPG. As in there's no loading from one area to another (for the most part). That kind of makes the game a shoe-in for a PlayStation 5 release considering one of the console's biggest selling points is its SSD-powered ability to swiftly load game assets. With that in mind, […]
Elite Dangerous touches on Odyssey alpha feedback regarding taxis, on-foot NPCs, and mission details
With the alpha test of Elite: Dangerous Odyssey continuing to press forward, players of the expansion's test build have already provided a lot of similar feedback judging by a feedback response posted on the testing forums. In the post, Frontier Developments call out several pain points in the current alpha and outlines some promises to […]
Multiplayer shooter Outriders officially releases, is added to the Xbox Game Pass on day one
Today is the day that Outriders, the multiplayer action shooter RPG from publisher Square Enix and developer People Can Fly, is officially a launch title. Not only that, it's an official launch title added to the Xbox Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate right from the off, granting members of the service their chance to […]
Here's how Final Fantasy XIV players will access the game's PlayStation 5 beta
When the next major patch for Final Fantasy XIV arrives on April 13th, the open beta for the PlayStation 5 version starts as well. If you've already got the console and you're playing away happily on the PS4 version, it's time to upgrade, since the beta is open for everyone playing on the console version. But […]
Vague Patch Notes: Template
The other day, I was in the middle of a humanizing anecdote when something happened that was tangentially related to MMOs. This prompted me to start thinking about this particular tangential issue, by which I actually mean that this was a column I wanted to write for a while but finally had an excuse to […]
April Fools' Day 2021 across the MMOverse
Love it or hate it, April Fools' day is a Thing, and MMO companies seldom miss an opportunity to get in on The Thing. Let's take a peek into what they've brought us for 2021, shall we? Have you ever wanted to date your ship in Star Trek Online? No? Well you can anyway. Star […]
Stick and Rudder: Five potentially stupid yet fun Elite Dangerous spaceship builds
Even though I've logged a total of 112 hours of Elite: Dangerous at the time of this writing, I'm still pretty much a noob in the grander scheme of things. I've only just recently gotten into core mining. I've slowly started to crawl up the Trader ranks towards Elite status. I still haven't really gotten […]
Camelot Unchained showcases work on alchemy, movement, Ériu updates, and a video of the Verdant Forest
With the month of April just beginning, there's a lot to look back on in terms of development progress made in March for Camelot Unchained. First off, the latest Top-Tenish provides some updates on getting the alchemy system working in-game; some new movement updates that include increased movement speed, work on caravans, and promise of […]
Nielsen is closing down SuperData and its monthly gaming revenue peeks
I think I might have been the only person on the planet who noticed that March had slipped by without a monthly report on the relative earnings of the game industry from SuperData. As it turns out, it wasn't an error or a delay: It's because SuperData is being closed down. And that's not an […]
Blizzard is surveying WoW Classic players on character clone pricing
While the mere confirmation that Burning Crusade Classic will feature a level boost option, prompted a whole lot of debate in the community, another upcoming paid service seems to have escaped such controversy. Blizzard is going to be offering an option for player to shell out money to clone their characters so that they can […]
Magic Legends doubles spell drop rate, gives a week of free battlepass XP
Cryptic Studios is listening to — and acting upon — player feedback regarding Magic Legends following its recent soft launch. In the ARPG's second State of the Game report, Executive Producer Steve Ricossa shared many of the big changes that are coming to the game in today's update and in the near future. The most […]
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite April Fools' day MMO gag?
This year, we have elected not to do an April Fools' joke because we found ourselves with something more pressing to do. It turns out that copyright crackdowns in various places such as Twitch have become super aggressive, so from this point onward we'll be using gorgeous in-house artwork for our header images for all […]
The Stream Team: Droid party at Nar Shaddaa in SWTOR
Massively OP's Larry and MJ are closing in on the Shroud in SWTOR. Next up in the hunt: Nar Shaddaa, the big party planet (moon, whatever). It's certainly possible the duo will get sidetracked and start talking about favorite foods, funny foibles, and who knows what else while wandering among all the neon lights. Since […]
Runes of Magic celebrates 12 years with login rewards and a series of quests
Runes of Magic seems to be one of those MMO titles that continually flies under the radar but keeps on truckin' despite that. Case in point, the title has been operating for 12 years and is eager to celebrate the milestone with its players. Between now and Thursday, April 22nd, players can follow a new […]
New World discusses the 'vision' behind its alpha dungeons
"Expeditions" turns out to be a pretty popular concept right about now, but New World's might be a bit different from what you're expecting, as that's Amazon Game Studios' term for basic three-to-five-person dungeons. The studio penned a dev blog today detailing what players can expect from the content, specifically from the Amrine Excavation and […]
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen dates next pre-alpha test for next weekend, plans to talk balance and progression in April 1 livestream
Today's Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen news is all about the near future. As in the next couple of weeks or so. For those who are eager to kick the game's tires, the devs have put out an announcement that the game's next pre-alpha test will be running next weekend, Saturday, April 10th, and Sunday, […]
