MMO Week in Review: Burning Crusade, Odyssey, SOLO, Bless, and New Genesis
It's been a positively massive week for the MMO genre, with launches and betas left and right: WoW Classic rolled out the Burning Crusade pre-patch, Elite Dangerous launched Odyssey, Swords of Legends Online began its first beta, and we offered impressions of both Bless Unleashed PC and PSO2 New Genesis. Plus, we recapped Guild Wars […]
Neverwinter brings back the mechanized crafting of the Wonders of Gond event on May 27
If (for whatever reason) you have global chat on in Neverwinter and you start seeing players shouting for grommets, gears, and doohickeys, it's not because people have forgotten more specific terms, it's because the Wonders of Gond event is underway. Unless, of course, you are seeing those terms outside of the event, in which case […]
The MOP Up: World of Warships opens a book of German mythology
Weird things are afoot in World of Warships, with a German mythological event, more German destroyers, and reworked commander skills hitting the game world! "For the next four weeks, players can align themselves with one of four mythical beasts from German mythology, and complete personal missions to earn better rewards for their team," Wargming explained. […]
Destiny 2 offers an explanation for seasonal challenge XP payouts
"We know XP in Destiny 2 can be confusing – sometimes to the point that we miss things ourselves," admits Bungie in a recent dev blog, which offered some explanation about seasonal challenge XP rewards in order to clear the air and explain what some miscommunication on the devs' part. It all started with a […]
SMITE community mourns the passing of a star Hi-Rez esports caster, halts league events
On Friday, Hi-Rez startled the SMITE community by abruptly postponing all of its esports events for the weekend, a move made more bizarre by the fact that the company wouldn't say why. That had led to speculation about everything from a possible legal scandal to a bitcoin snafu. But I'm sorry to report today that […]
Allods Online adds the Suslanger zone, increases the level cap
We know that there are still some strong fans of Allods Online in our readership, and so we hope that it makes them happy to receive a huge content update from the long-running MMORPG. Update 12.0 landed this past week, bringing with it a level cap increase to 95, an overhaul of the artifact system, […]
One Shots: 100 miles up and climbing
When you find yourself soaring past the outer limits of the atmosphere in DC Universe Online, you best have a spacesuit or superpowers. Or both. Let's hope that Hikari has a plan for re-entry. In the meanwhile, our space hero has a few words to say about an MMO pet peeve: "I can say with […]
The Daily Grind: What's the earliest test phase you've ever played for an MMO?
An early test phase for any MMO has one major drawback, and that's the simple fact that it's not anywhere close to being ready for public release. You're almost inevitably dealing with half-assembled systems and placeholders that have yet to be filled in, and that's in the unlikely event that most of the game's content […]
Global Chat: Feasting on Guild Wars 2's Icebrood Saga
Nerdy Bookahs is pretty dang delighted to come back to a "feast" in Guild Wars 2, thanks to all of the new content in the game after an extended absence. I can relate to this. "One of the good things of returning to an MMO after not having played it much for a longer time […]
Path of Exile launches its graphical improvements patch, discusses the 'clear cache' function and performance matters
Are you ready for some hard-hitting, face-melting, blast processing-fueled game visuals guaranteed to scare your mom and upset your parakeet?? Then you're ready for Path of Exile's X-TREEM GRAPHICAL UPDATE PATCH aka patch 3.14.1d, which dropped on your weaksauce gamer faces this past Thursday. What's that? You're not ready? Too late, shortcake! It's here. If […]
Kakao and XL Games' mobile MMORPG Moonlight Sculptor launches globally May 25
In mid-April we shone a light on Moonlight Sculptor, a new mobile MMORPG from publisher Kakao Games and developer XL Games (of ArcheAge infamy) that sees players enter the virtual realm of Royal Road as one of five preset classes or enter the game without a class to become a Sculptor later on. At that […]
Fleet Carriers can once again jump in Elite Dangerous Odyssey as Frontier boss David Braben apologizes for launch issues
David Braben, CEO and founder of Frontier Developments, would like to offer his apologies to the wider Elite: Dangerous playerbase for the ongoing rocky launch of the Odyssey expansion, which is still seeing a wide variety of issues plague an otherwise active launch experience at the time of this writing. "First and foremost, I would like to […]
LOTRO gets a new producer, finally allows Anor transfers
Hey, you know what kind of slipped under the radar Lord of the Rings Online this week — at least unless you were reading the forums? The MMO just got a new producer, who moved over from working on mobile games at a different studio. Raninia posted an introduction while clarifying that he's not replacing […]
New Blizzard analysis chronicles the studio's five-year decline and developer exodus
The slow decline of Blizzard has been exhaustively covered over the last couple of years, but sometimes, it's more jolting to see it all in print in one place, which is exactly what IGN has done in a new "special report" that characterizes the studio as a "company at a crossroads." Blizzard's narrative is that […]
WRUP: What's in the bitey surprise bag edition
What's up, folks, today's What Are You Playing is all about opening up the bitey surprise bag! The last one of these we opened had some broken glass, an old newspaper, unidentifiable slime, a live raccoon, spoiled milk, a non-functional smoke detector, three pounds of hair, and a rotten apple! I'm really excited about this […]
The Daily Grind: Are Final Fantasy XIV's classes too restrictive?
One of my absolute favorite things about Final Fantasy XIV was the baked-in ability to switch out classes (jobs) on the same character. This saved so much time in rerolling alts while giving players a lot of flexibility. Bravo, I say. I wish more games would do this. But I always did feel restricted no […]
Betawatch: Swords of Legend Online kicks off its western beta
As it was foretold with the pre-loading, so it has come to pass! Swords of Legend Online has opened up its beta testing, and that's going to run until the 25th if you'd like to take part in this early test phase. The game is still planning on a launch at some point over the summer, […]
Battle Bards Episode 193: Tribal jams
Strike up a drum, flourish a flute, and howl to the moon — it's time to get funky with some tribal jams! In this episode of the Battle Bards, the intrepid crew enjoy a wide range of chanty, drummy, and peppy tracks from MMORPGs. Battle Bards is the world's first, best, and only MMO music podcast. […]
MMO Business Roundup: Valorant esports, South Korean politics, Netmarble, Nexon, and EVE Echoes
Welcome back to another quick roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news! Valorant: It's been an ugly week in esports, as Riot Games suspended esports pro Jay "sinatraa" Won for the next half a year for what it characterized as his refusal to fully cooperate with the company's investigation into his alleged sexual assault and […]
Dual Universe adds optimization updates as the first part of the incremental patch 0.25 rollout
Dual Universe does its release patching a little bit differently than most MMOs. It doesn't unleash one large update and then iterate or adjust it as things go; it puts out updates in smaller pieces bit by bit. So it will be with the start of the patch 02.5 update process, which has introduced a […]
Star Wars: The Old Republic recaps the making of the Secrets of the Enclave flashpoint
So what precisely goes on in writing a Flashpoint story for Star Wars: The Old Republic? If you're curious about that, you can get some insight from an internal debrief of writer Caitlin Sullivan Kelly. As the woman responsible for the story behind the Secrets of the Enclave flashpoint, she has some commentary on the overall […]
Black Desert announces digital Heidel Ball convention for June 19
Black Desert's gearing up for a summer convention of its own as Pearl Abyss announced this morning the return of Heidel Ball. As in 2020, the 2021 version will be entirely online, which ensures everyone can actually watch the whole shebang. "During the 2021 Heidel Ball, not only we will announce the current development progress […]
Skyforge is launching Hunters of Terra for multiple platforms on June 2
If you're playing Skyforge on the Nintendo Switch, you have a good reason to peer out at PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One players with a single tear running down your cheek as all of those platforms (along with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S) get access to the game's 19th class on June 2nd. […]
Here's how Blizzard is changing Overwatch 2's tanks, group size, and meta
So, did we learn anything useful from yesterday's Overwatch 2 stream from the newly minted team leads at Blizzard? We did indeed, though whether it makes you happy or not will depend on what you think of the current meta, as the devs just can't stop messing with things like tank roles and team size. […]
Star Citizen outlines the free flyable ship schedule for Invictus Launch Week, debuts the RSI Scorpius
It's Invictus Launch Week in Star Citizen, and since the event is ostensibly about the UEE Navy flexing its military might, it's also more directly about ships: ships to ogle over, ships to fly, and ships to see coming in the near future. As with other free fly events in the game, this year's Invictus […]
Working As Intended: Touring my new SWG Legends houses (and looking at Bespin deco!)
If you're a fan of MMORPG housing, Star Wars, Star Wars Galaxies specifically, or just chatter about MMOs, then this very self-indulgent Working As Intended video is for you. By popular demand (OK, it was like five people and I was going to do it anyway), I've put together an updated video that tours my […]
Hi-Rez just postponed SMITE's esports broadcasts for the weekend [Updated]
We've updated at the end with the unfortunate news that led to the postponement. Well, this one's weird and kinda ominous: Hi-Rez just just down all of its SMITE esports broadcasts planned for the entire weekend, saying they've been "postponed." "We know this is disappointing to our players and fans, and we are deeply sorry," […]
Torchlight III's spring update drops next week with a new class that summons ghost pirates
Magic Legends and Champions Online aren't the only PWE titles getting love this month: Torchlight III is destined for its spring update next week too. The highlight of the update is, as Echtra previously teased, the Cursed Captain, which is essentially the game's first full summoner class. Yes, you're literally summoning ghostly crewmates. "Anchored in […]
No Man's Sky's most recent Expedition rewards a claimable Normandy SR1 from Mass Effect
In the middle of May, No Man's Sky launched the Beachhead Expedition, which players will recall is part of the new multiplayer-focused Expeditions mode that was added to the survival sandbox in April. This new Expedition certainly read like a fun but unremarkable goal for players to chase, but there was a surprise awaiting at […]
WoW Factor: Are Heroic dungeons the original sin of World of Warcraft's current issues?
The launch of The Burning Crusade's pre-patch in WoW Classic has me thinking about the features that expansion brought to World of Warcraft. I know, really it ought to wait until the expansion has properly released, but especially considering what a mess this particular pre-patch launch has already been, it's kind of hard not to find yourself dwelling […]
Elite Dangerous Odyssey's launch sees new player number highs, Fleet Carriers forced to park, and hotfix attempts
It's been a bumpy ride out in the world of Elite: Dangerous. Wednesday's launch of the Odyssey expansion on PC has seen a wide swath of events for the internet spaceship sandbox ranging from the good to the bad. On the good news front, the launch of the expansion has seen the game break new […]
EVE Online has launched the EVE Academy to help new players find their footing
Entering the world of EVE Online for the first time can be daunting, to say the least. With a variety of systems, a myriad of career paths and gameplay styles, and a host of ship types to come to grips with, it's easy to appreciate why new player retention for the spaceship sandbox can be […]
Champions Online targets the Archery powerset for a revamp
Just when you thought that the powersets you got in Champions Online would continue on the same until the game's final day, suddenly there's a big change on the horizon. Cryptic announced that it's rolling out a major revamp for the Archery powerset in the near future. "For a long time now, the Archery power […]
Diablo IV internal test build pops up on PlayStation store
After getting a few juicy reveals about Diablo IV from this past February's BlizzConline, fans of the action RPG franchise have been champing at the bit to get their hands on this upcoming title. We've assumed that public testing (not to mention release) was a long way off — but perhaps it's not as far […]
The Daily Grind: When should MMO companies intervene in borky MMO economies?
On this week's MassivelyOP podcast, Justin and I answered a question about whether MMO studios have a responsibility to monitor and nudge the player economies inside the game. The example given was the Mystic Coin market in Guild Wars 2, which had been ballooning for unknown reasons. As it happens, those reasons were nefarious, and […]
The Stream Team: Pushing deeper into the Underdark in Neverwinter
After securing the Verdant Caves, Massively OP's MJ and her team are ready to help Davlin Hoth expand the safe area in Neverwinter's Underdark. Next up is heading to the Xorlarrin Outpost to get rid of any Drow there and rescue a guide. Tune in live at 9:00 p.m. to push deeper into the Underdark. […]
Massively Overthinking: How much should MMO subs be in 2021?
MMORPG blogger Wilhelm at The Ancient Gaming Noob has a fantastic piece up this month on the traditional $15 MMO subscription. He dips back into ancient history when the common subscription was actually $10 and then points out that the standard has been $15 for a really, truly long time, seeming "stuck" in that price […]
Old school-styled MMORPG Ethyrial offers a peek at a monster journal and plans for closed alpha testing
We're circling back around to the indie MMORPG Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore, which we aimed a spotlight at last month; it's an MMORPG from three-person Gellyberry Studios that takes its cues from classic titles like Ultima Online, promising a "high risk-reward driven game, where the player has a lot to lose, but also, much to […]
Iron Harvest shows off gameplay and story trailers for its Operation Eagle expansion
Multiplayer RTS Iron Harvest 1920 is ramping up the hype for its standalone Operation Eagle expansion with a pair of trailers. The story trailer gives us a tease of the new campaign. It's taking us out of Europe for the first time in Iron Harvest, but not in the direction you'd expect. While the new Usonia […]
Black Desert PC issues apologies and recompense for recent Node War issues, offers gifts to new and returning players on console
If you were among the PC players of Black Desert who experienced some problems with Node War and Conquest War this past weekend, Pearl Abyss has been paying attention and is offering its apologies as well as some rewards for those who were affected. According to the post, the problems were caused by a bug […]
Darkfall Rise of Agon's Chinese VIP-only server officially opens to all players tomorrow
We've waded through the waist-deep mire of Google Translate to bring you this Darkfall: Rise of Agon news. Readers will recall that the sandbox MMORPG announced its intention to expand into Asia this past February, which then saw a VIP-only server open up in China at the beginning of April. Since then, the devs announced […]
Blizzard is about to stream some Overwatch 2 PvP gameplay and a Q&A
MMO players are understandably concerned about the state of World of Warcraft after Blizzard's disastrous player losses over the last few years, but Overwatch is in far more trouble. You might not like WoW's updates, but it's making bank – and the same can't be said for Overwatch. (If it could be said, Blizzard would […]
Wurm Online showcases new animal feeding stations, better breeding features, and improved horse models
This news is for those Wurm Online players that are all about that farm life, particularly livestock and animal husbandry. The most recent Valrei International has offered a look at a variety of updates that should make livestock rearing a little bit easier and nicer to look at. First, the game will be adding hay […]
Desert Oasis: So Black Desert wants to be an esport now
Even though the San Francisco Giants threw away a 6-2 lead against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday, the real highlight of my weekend was watching Black Desert's Arena of Arsha Best-in-Class Championship. It's Pearl Abyss' answer to the age-old question: "How can we make our game into an esport?" And you know what? It wasn't bad. So […]
Here's how Geoff Keighley aims to improve on 2020's neverending summer of not-E3
I'm super grateful to all the organizations and games companies that did their level best to provide convention entertainment last summer when the pandemic closed everything down, but even I have to admit that it wasn't exactly thrilling; I believe we referred to it as the "neverending summer of not-E3." We're facing down a similar […]
Hands-on with Dauntless' creative and punishing Behemoth and Hunting Grounds location
It's been a very long time since Dauntless has had a new radiant-aspected monster to slay. For the longest time, the element was tied to the Rezakiri, and then the Valomyr arrived a while later, but beyond those two there haven't been a lot of new light-wielding Behemoths to face. With today's new update, however, […]
The Elder Scrolls Online teases a possible new tabletop game developed with Chip Theory Games
It would appear that The Elder Scrolls Online is keen to get all over gaming tabletops everywhere. Hot off the heels of the game's characters landing in the Call to Arms minis war game, there's now been a teaser from board game and TTRPG creator Chip Theory Games of what looks like a new game […]
Magic Legends' May patch is live with the Pyromancer, and you can get it for free
Following the reveal of the Pyromancer class yesterday, Magic Legends is popping off with its big May patch today – just as this post goes live, in fact, so if you're reading this, you can already leap in. As we've previously noted, the update includes the new class, the new storyline bit, battlepass touch-ups, and […]
Bethesda is shuttering its official forums and moving to Discord, Elder Scrolls Online's forums will remain
Whether you like them for communication, commiseration, and news, or despise them because they almost never seem like happy places, the point stands that official game forums are something of a legacy method for game devs to communicate with their playerbase, crafted at a time where things like Discord, Twitter, and Reddit weren't so widespread. […]
Vague Patch Notes: The self-made shadowboxing of MMO feuds
There's no actual feud between the development teams behind World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV. The two teams have congratulated one another on successful expansion launches. They've exchanged good-natured jokes on social media. Naoki Yoshida has said before that he'd love to do a crossover event with Blizzard's MMO. If there is any kind of top-level […]
