Ubisoft announces shutdown dates for several of its older online titles
Today's bad news for legacy online support is that some of Ubisoft's older titles now have a firm date of online shutdown. If you've still been enjoying the online features of Might & Magic X, Assassin's Creed 2, or Anno 1404, you should be ready to wave farewell to those games once the servers get […]
Gamigo reveals another upcoming game: Mobile turn-based arena battler Heroes of Twilight
Last week, we noted that Gamigo's parent company's investor report talked up an "increased number of game launches" on its 2021 roadmap – one of which was revealed as Kinship Entertainment's 4v4 MOBA hybrid called Skydome. Today, we're being treated to yet another one of them, though this one is also not an MMORPG – […]
Squad-based WWII shooter Enlisted makes its open beta debut on all platforms
Looking for a new multiplayer squad shooter set in WWII? Wait, really? Well then publisher Gaijin Entertainment and developer Darkflow Studio has your number as their game Enlisted officially entered open beta on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S last week. The game's open beta touts two campaigns set in the Battle for […]
TitanReach's latest early access patch update adds character customization and a PvP island
Good news, TitanReach players, you can now head to an island to kill your friends. Why are you doing this? Well, we assume they're not very good friends. Or maybe they are and this is just how you show affection (you did all pay a bunch of money to get into this game's testing phase); […]
Pokemon Go promotes its 'Sustainability Campaign' with project seed money and game rewards
We've known since Pokemon Go's April event details that Niantic had an Earth Day-related event on deck, but this week's preview shows the event is far more inclusive than you might have expected. Gameplay-wise, the new details revealed that Binacle will make its debut in POGO for the event (April 20th through 25th), as will shiny Trubbish. There'll […]
PlanetSide 2 pushes back Chapter 3 and focuses on Containment Site updates after enthusiastic testing
Judging by reports from PlanetSide 2's lead designer Michael "Wrel" Henderson, the upcoming Containment Site battlefield is going over a treat, so much so that the devs will be focusing on updating the area and make it ready to go for the final week of April while pushing back Chapter 3 content for the week […]
Phantasy Star Online New Genesis plans global closed beta for May 14
Hey, so remember how Phantasy Star Online 2 is supposed to be reinventing itself as New Genesis this year, not all that long after finally launching in the west? Yeah, it's been a whirlwind for this antique MMORPG, and it's only going to get more exciting as SEGA has just announced when we can expect […]
Path of Exile releases patch notes, passive tree data, and item filter information for the Ultimatum update
While the Ultimatum League for Path of Exile is still two days away from arriving to PC players, the folks at Grinding Gear Games have very helpfully allowed fans to pass those two days by reading some exhaustive patch notes and filing through passive tree and item changes. How thoughtful. In true GGG fashion, the […]
Black Desert adds Sage and cooking content on PC, character tagging and item copying on console
Hey cooks and likeminded lifeskillers! It's your time to shine in Black Desert, as the PC version of the core MMORPG has today launched Martina Finto's Cooking Festival. Players will want to take a character over level 30 and mosey on over to Finto farm to kick off the questline. Get cooking – we're hungry! The […]
Star Citizen announces October 9 date for all-virtual CitizenCon
This won't surprise anyone, I suspect: Cloud Imperium has once again opted for an all-virtual CitizenCon for Star Citizen fans this year. "As circumstances continue to keep us from gathering in person, we're bringing that electric CitizenCon energy to your homes in the form of an online show that's open and accessible to everyone on […]
Blade and Soul releases the patch notes for today's Mischief Makers update
I didn't know I needed a class spec that involves a cat in a flying saucer shooting goofy weapons at enemies, but luckily the folks at Blade and Soul knew better and have added this option to the Summoner class as part of the Mischief Makers update, which is launching today. The main attraction of […]
Perfect Ten: How to deal with MMO burnout
I remember the first time I got hit hard by the powerhouse slugger known as "burnout." It was during my second stint in World of Warcraft, oddly enough, which by then had extended to a year-and-a-half of continuous play. I was clocking in three to five hours of game time on a daily basis (this […]
Final Fantasy XIV temporarily disables world visits and housing demolition after patch 5.5
If you wanted to get some content done in Final Fantasy XIV yesterday, it was the perfect day to do it, as the arrival of patch 5.5 meant tons of new stuff to do. If, however, you wanted to go visit your friends on another server – or go back to your own because you […]
Swords of Legends Online's Spellsword class will literally throw swords at your face
The class previews for upcoming action MMORPG Swords of Legends Online continue to roll on. Following video previews of the Reaper and Berserker classes comes the Spellsword, which one would assume would be about swinging a sword and casting spells right until the video showcases the first spec, Sword Artist, which is actually a ranged […]
Warframe rolls out to the Xbox X|S with multiplatform Call of the Tempestarii, now live
If you love the railjack experience in Warframe, you're going to want to follow the Call of the Tempestarii, which is live on all platforms, including the Xbox Series X|S, as of this week. Digital Extremes is calling it a "new defining moment" for the game, both because of the new railjack and the launch […]
EVE Online plans testing for its native MacOS client tomorrow and releases its industry update
Players of EVE Online on a Mac are one step closer to getting their own native client for the game. The devs at CCP Games will be holding a playtest for a native MacOS client, which runs between April 15th and April 21st. As one might expect, this is not a finished product, requiring players […]
Hellgate is back yet again, this time as a terrible VR game
It's the corpse that refuses to be buried — and it's back to take a stab at virtual reality gamers. That's right, Hellgate London has returned for the billionth time. Developer T3 Entertainment and publisher Hanbitsoft, which simply refuse to let this property rest in peace, adapted the title for VR and pushed it out […]
World of Warcraft posts Update 9.1 notes and raid test schedule
The patch notes for Update 9.1 are up in anticipation of the test realm opening its doors, and you can hear the collective sigh of World of Warcraft's community: "Finally." The long-overdue post-expansion content release is called Chains of Domination and include a whole lot of class changes, additional covenant campaign chapters, new soulbind tiers, […]
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite MMO public transport system?
We talk about mounts an awful lot in this space, but what about the other ways that MMOs help us get around? Most all of these games have some sort of public transport system, whether it be City of Heroes' subways, World of Warcraft's flight paths, or EverQuest's boats. One of my personal favorite was […]
The Stream Team: Silly shenanigans in Guild Wars 2's Super Adventure Box
Life can get too serious, so Massively OP's MJ is getting a dose of silliness in Guild Wars 2's Super Adventure Box! Bopping around with bumble pugs while searching for glitches, farming ooze, and facing fantastical giant frogs are just the shenanigans she needs to lighten and brighten her day. (I mean, have you seen […]
RuneScape begins 'awesome April' with a week-long boost to gathering skills, welcomes in the final wave of locked accounts
It's time for April to be awesome by RuneScape's reckoning as the MMORPG's latest update has kicked off Skilling Week for players. Between now and April 19th, players can enjoy 50% more XP for a variety of gathering skills like Divination, Farming, Fishing, and screening and excavating in Archaeology, as well as a 50% bonus […]
Path of Exile writes a development manifesto for game balance changes arriving in Ultimatum
Path of Exile fans know that the devs of Grinding Gear Games love to write their development manifestos, and with the Ultimatum League arriving later this week for PC players, there's a recently released manifesto that's all about balance plans for the expansion. The post calls out a variety of changes for life-costing skills and […]
MMO Business Roundup: Roblox prank, Hi-Rez, Wargaming, Epic's funding round, CCP's metaverse
Welcome back to another roundup of MMO (and MMO-adjacent) industry news! A Roblox player from a goofy political meme group apparently pulled quite a stunt on the White House. Politico reports that a gamer going by Kacey "Lego" Montagu whipped up a fake persona as a White House pool reporter, along with a popular Twitter […]
Massively OP Podcast Episode 317: Stay awhile and listen
Justin and Bree discuss MMO Kickstarters, Path of Exile 2, Global Agenda 2, Dual Universe, and Wizard101, with adventures in WoW Classic, Fallout 76, Diablo 2 Resurrected, and Guild Wars 2, plus mailbag topics on Steam and FOMO, Diablo 3, and No Man's Sky.
Elyon's western closed beta will run May 6 through 10 – without the cash shop
When Krafton and Krafton opened up Elyon's new English website and started tooting the beta horn, you had to know this announcement wasn't far behind: Today, the company has posted direct closed beta signups, which are live through April 25th. The closed beta itself will run from May 6th through 10th, with client preloading beginning […]
Elder Scrolls Online details Blackwood's multi-armed bosses, the ruinachs
As hype for Elder Scrolls Online's Blackwood chapter continues to mount, ZeniMax is pushing out more dev blogs exploring the lore behind the content. Today's piece focuses on the Ruinachs – literally the big bads that serve the daedric prince Mehrunes Dagon, and they're daedra-ish, but more like hulking scamps rather than the more reptilian […]
Neverwinter's Sharandar Soul Keeper episode makes undead elves creep again today
As promised, part two of Neverwinter's three-chunk Sharandar expansion is fully live for PC players. The follow-up to March's Iron Tooth release, today's Soul Keeper episode pushes players to the Mended Grove to continue the storyline. Spoilers: It's pretty much zombies. "In Episode 2: The Soul Keeper, the blight has receded in New Sharandar, yet […]
Derek Smart on the dormant Alganon: 'It will be back. I promise.'
If you think you've endured long server maintenance and downtime on a game, you have nothing on Alganon's playerbase. These loyal adventurers saw their game taken down for what was initially termed maintenance in November 2017 — and hasn't come back up yet. So it's been a thing we do to check back every year […]
Bless Unleashed sets final PC beta for May 12, will test UI and cash shop
Bless Unleashed is in the home stretch of its PC testing, as it's now preparing for its final beta. "The purpose of this test is to perform a final test of all the features in Bless Unleashed before the official launch," Neowiz and Round8 wrote on Steam today. "We will be performing final checks on […]
Grab a MU Online or C9 gift bundle in Webzen's 12th anniversary giveaway
Webzen is turning 12, and for the occasion, it's rolling out an amusement park theme for both of its live western MMOs: MU Online and Continent of the Ninth Seal (C9). Players will be darting around the games and social media collecting tickets. "Make sure to not miss the final rollercoaster ride!" the studio says. And […]
World of Warcraft introduces hotfixes to further increase Anima rewards in Shadowlands
Despite attempts by World of Warcraft to increase the amount of Anima rewards in Shadowlands, there's still been feedback from players that obtaining Anima is still too difficult. Hopefully, then, some recently released hotfixes will address the matter so players don't feel like spending 10,000 Anima on a feature upgrade is the wrong choice. These […]
Choose My Adventure: Warrior time and a more classical Cleric in RIFT
This week, I traded my shepherd's cane for a big honkin' sword in RIFT and found that… well, there's not too much different here, really. Just a matter of looking at a boss at distance or looking at its knees, really. The reason I feel this way is because, just like my NecroCleric, my forgotten […]
Elite Dangerous releases hotfixes to address Odyssey phase two stability issues
Phase two of the Elite: Dangerous Odyssey alpha has been pretty unstable if the patches applied over the course of the past week are any indication. To date, three hotfixes have been applied, all of which attempting to correct stability fixes for crashes and disconnect errors that have been cropping up during testing. The most […]
Casually Classic: Ranking WoW Classic's capital cities (through Burning Crusade)
Even more so than they are in retail World of Warcraft, WoW Classic's capital cities are the central bustling hub of commerce and staging for grand adventures. Chances are that your hearthstone is set to one of these, as they offer ideal places to resupply, train, bank, and encounter likeminded players. For today's "why not?" […]
Swords of Legends Online showcases the Reaper and Berserker classes
Last week we were pointed in the direction of Swords of Legends Online, a Chinese action MMORPG that made the surprise announcement of its impending westward arrival this summer via Gameforge. As reason would stand, the game wants to hype itself up, and what better way than by showcasing gameplay of the MMO's six classes? […]
Final Fantasy XIV patch 5.5, Death Unto Dawn, is out today
The date has finally arrived for Final Fantasy XIV to get a new patch. Patch 5.5 is now live on the game's servers, bringing with it a new dungeon, new alliance raid, new trial, new quests, new story, new mounts, new mechanical adjustments… in short, it brings a lot of stuff. You know, as patches […]
Classic Guild Wars players are in a delightful frenzy trying to unearth an easter egg from 2013
Combine a developer's hint about secret content and a much beloved MMORPG, and you've got the makings for a major treasure hunt – and that's exactly what's going on in Classic Guild Wars right now. According to the excellent recap of the situation over on Reddit, players on Discord noticed an anonymous hint buried in […]
Project_N is a new throwback MMO designed by an EverQuest lead game designer
We certainly have no shortages of MMO projects in which fans and developers alike are seeking to return to Ye Olden Dayz of game design, and while Project_N can be easily lumped in with this trend, there are a few things that set apart this relatively new MMO. First of all, its small team is […]
The Daily Grind: Should more MMOs offer 'season pass' style content?
Its seems as if we've been fielding a lot of email and podcast questions about season passes the last month or two. Paid season passes that unlock content and have become a popular way for multiplayer game studios to monetize games that don't really have a virtual world or long-term progression hook. But we haven't […]
World War II Online delivers promised bomber loadouts and the Panzerjager, adds new terrain and features
Back in February, the multiplayer shooter World War II Online offered up a 2021 roadmap with promise of several new vehicles and quality-of-life features. With the game's recent version update, some of those mapped-out promises have been kept. The update introduces roadmap features such as the tank-busting Panzerjager 1, the ability for bombers to create […]
The Stream Team: World of Tanks turns 10 with attack geese and battle castles
Sure, World of Tanks has special coin-earning anniversary missions in the random battles to commemorate its 10th birthday today, but Massively OP's MJ is more enamored with something a bit more suited to her. Have you seen the cool goose tank that's available?! And another one resembles a red castle! Seriously how can MJ pass […]
Frozen Flame reworks cooking and finalizes the Cradle of Keepers in latest update
You're going to want to cook meals in survival-centric MMO Frozen Flame, and now the process of doing that is hopefully a little more user-friendly with the game's latest update, which has reworked the cooking system to include fueling a cooking fire, the requirement of cooking one dish at a time, and the ability to […]
Darksburg introduces a new progression system in latest patch, attributes update delays to COVID
If you've been wondering where the co-op rogue-like ARPG Darksburg has been, last week brought some good news as a recent update has arisen after a span of several months where the game saw no updates whatsoever. "With the current world situation, movements in and out of lockdown here in France, working from home and […]
The Realm Online shares details on its PvP-centric seasonal server opening April 16
Who says that an old game can't try new things? That's the case for The Realm Online, which we noted previously for having plans to open a "disruptive" PvP seasonal server. Now we have a release date and additional details for when that server opens: Friday, April 16th, until Saturday, June 26th. The announcement post […]
Circuits and Shields is an indie 'modern gamers MOBA' heading to Kickstarter
Circuits and Shields came across our desk this weekend: It's an in-development MOBA from novice developer Koza Games, with an elevator pitch promising a "modern gamers MOBA" with "no gimmicks; just smarter design and superior gameplay" that combines "the knowledge gained from over a decade of MOBA design and improving it in every aspect." "Circuits and […]
Final Fantasy XIV prepares for its next live letter on May 15
If Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers got you to feel a feeling, you have Natsuko Ishikawa to thank for that. And she's working on the plot for Endwalker as well, so players have even more reason to look forward to being hit right in the feels by the game's story. So it's probably for the best […]
Whatever happened to Otherland, Guns of Icarus, and Pixel Starships?
Whatever happened to those MMOs you – and we – have forgotten all about? We're going to dig into three of them today. First up, Pixel Starships – remember that one? It was a cute retro online RTS with an MMO-like persistent world "similar to World of Warcraft," according to developer Savysoda back when it […]
MMO dev sitcom Mythic Quest will premiere a bonus episode April 16 ahead of season two debut
Fans eager for the upcoming second season of the MMO development studio sitcom Mythic Quest won't have to wait until they get a taste of their favorite dysfunctional game devs. A bonus episode of the show is set to premiere this Friday, April 16th, on Apple TV+. The episode, called Everlight, sees the studio's devs […]
Wisdom of Nym: Some interesting bits from Final Fantasy XIV's 5.5 patch notes
Part of me has never been altogether clear on why I am so enthusiastic about seeing the fresh set of patch notes for Final Fantasy XIV when the actual patch itself is a few days away. I can give an abstract answer and I understand the principle of it, naturally, but the preliminary notes are […]
Orbus VR adds sheep, chickens, and competent Bards
Here's your fun fact for the day: Did you know that Orbus VR is over three years old at this point? While virtual reality hasn't been quite the fertile ground for MMORPGs as some hoped it would be, this Kickstarted VR MMORPG has been faithfully plugging away at adding new content and experiences for several […]
