The Stream Team: Hatching Guild Wars 2 griffon eggs
After scouring the lands for griffon eggs in Guild Wars 2, Massively OP's MJ is ready to deliver them to the roosting griffons so they can be cared for and hatched. And once all that is completed, she'll be able to glide through the skies with her own feathered friend. Join us live at 8:00 […]
Which Star Wars Galaxies rogue server is for you? Here's the best list we've seen
The MMORPG rogue server industry is booming lately, you might have noticed, particularly for much-loved MMOs that were sunset for dumb reasons in the first place – and that includes Star Wars Galaxies. Just this month, we've been covering the Bespin expansion for SWG Legends and the impending launch of SWG Restoration III coming up […]
Survival management game Siege Survival: Gloria Victis officially launches
What would you do if you were responsible for managing a keep and its people during a siege? You can now more accurately answer that question thanks to Siege Survival: Gloria Victis, the standalone game set in the universe of sandbox MMORPG Gloria Victis that sees players trying their best to keep themselves alive long […]
Path of Exile promises its graphical improvement patch is coming this week
There isn't a way for Path of Exile to fix every graphical and display issue the game has with a single patch, but the team is certainly hoping to make some notable headway with the game's next major patch that's due out in the very near future. The officialy notes specify that the game will now […]
Massively OP Podcast Episode 322: New World, old problems
Justin and Bree discuss New World, FFXIV Endwalker, WoW Classic's backtrack, and City of Heroes streaming, with adventures in WoW, New World, and SWG Legends, plus mailbag topics on guild housing and MMO economies.
Guild Wars 2 starts its return to Living World Season 2 on May 25
The overall Guild Wars 2 story has been moving through a lot of Living World content since the game's initial launch, and so it's possible you might have missed certain installments along the way. Considering that all of this is pretty important to understanding where the game is now, it can be a bit of a problem. […]
The Elder Scrolls Online confirms that the 12-person group limit is about performance
Some people are not terribly happy about the 12-player group limit in The Elder Scrolls Online for understandable reasons. It makes anything you'd want to do with more people pretty well impossible, including more social experiences like housing tours. So what's the reasoning behind it? A lot of players had speculated that it was based on […]
MMO Business Roundup: Discord, Ubisoft, Twitch, WB Games, Starfield, and more
Welcome back to another quick roundup of MMO- and MMO-adjacent games industry news! First, let's talk about Clyde. He's got a bit of a makeover. Discord: The platform that pretty much everyone in the western world uses for organized gaming is seeing a birthday and a branding overhaul this week. The company has changed up its […]
GTA Online and Red Dead Online unveil new content updates as GTA Online arrives to PS5 and Xbox X/S on November 11
Rockstar dropped a big 'ol announcement from the top rope onto fans of both Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online, unveiling some new content for each game's multiplayer open worlds and confirming a launch on the current crop of consoles for GTA. In GTA Online, players can look forward to eight new stunt […]
The Stream Team: Taking care of Star Trek Online's Tholian Trouble
The Tholians have brought more trouble to Star Trek Online. This time, they are launching a two-pronged attack: capturing a Romulan flotilla in the Azure Nebula and assaulting the the Vault. Massively OP's MJ is joining in the rescue efforts and to neutralize the Tholain threat. Tune in live at 1:00 p.m. to take on […]
NCsoft Q1 2021 financials: Overall revenues are down 30%, but Guild Wars 2 is perking up
NCsoft is not having the best couple of quarters. According to the company's first quarter 2021 report, its revenue has fallen 30% compared to this quarter last year, which was clearly buoyed a bit by last year's lockdowns and massive mobile launches in the preceding period. How about some good news, then? Guild Wars 2's […]
Casually Classic: Fondly looking back at World of Warcraft's Burning Crusade beginner zones
Whenever discussion about Burning Crusade turns to which zones players like the best, it's almost always focused solely on the seven additional Outland regions (for the record, I'm a big Zangarmarsh fan). But let's not forget that when Blizzard released this pack back in 2007, it came with 11 zones, as four new areas were […]
World of Warcraft: Classic launches The Burning Crusade pre-patch today
Today's the day for WoW Classic players to start leveling their Blood Elves and Draenei because the game's pre-patch ahead of The Burning Crusade is going live today. That means the two new races are available for players to make and play, along with all of the talent and mechanical changes going live, with two weeks […]
Flameseeker Chronicles: The disappointing second half of Guild Wars 2's Icebrood Saga
Welcome to part two of this overview of Guild Wars 2's The Icebrood Saga. Last time, I talked about how the first half of this Saga was largely about readjusting expectations. Not so much about disappointments, but about feeling out what was and wasn't going to be included in this new brand of Living World […]
EVE Online adjusts nullification and warp core stabilizers, tests a tool to counteract cloaked campers
Capsuleers of EVE Online that like to be sneaky out in space are going to want to take notice of some changes to the game. The latest update has made changes to nullification and warp core stabilizers, turning them from passive features in certain ships to active modules that run for a very short time […]
Elite Dangerous adds further clarity on what features players of Odyssey and Horizons can and can't share
Earlier this month, the devs of Elite: Dangerous announced that PC players of the game would not be able to share the same instance with friends if one player owns Odyssey and the other owns Horizons. Apparently, it wasn't quite so black-and-white as that, as Frontier Developments have put out a new forum post that […]
Ashes of Creation drops verbal NDA, triggering deluge of public tester feedback
Ashes of Creation may have delayed its Alpha One test until later this summer, but the upcoming MMO isn't surrendering its voice until then. In fact, Intrepid Studios lifted the verbal NDA for the May alpha test, allowing players to talk about — but not show — their experiences in the game. Probably the biggest […]
Lord of the Rings Online starts testing Update 30's 12-player raid
Oh, Azog, will you never change? That long-running adversary is a naughty chap indeed in need of stern discipline. A preview of that spanking is happening this week, as Lord of the Rings Online is testing Update 30 on the Bullroarer server. While there are some balance changes and other adventures to check out with […]
The Daily Grind: Do you play MMOs as the designers intended, or do you go your own way?
Today's Daily Grind topic comes courtesy of MOP's resident meme-maker, Schlag Sweetleaf, who urged me to write about this after the piece we did on the player-organized Crashcog Cup in World of Warcraft, which relied entirely on player "dungeon masters" to guide the race along. In other words, it was basically players looking at the […]
Final Fantasy XIV puts out a survey about the digital fan festival experience
This year's Final Fantasy XIV Digital Fan Festival was a new thing for the game to try. It was filled with a lot of stuff, including big reveals of new content and big emotional reveals that made everyone cry on stage. And now Square-Enix wants to know how it worked for you with a new survey […]
The Stream Team: Another Path of Exile Atlas run
Even with new Path of Exile leagues every three months, Massively OP's MJ can't help but look back longingly on many of her previous characters. (OK, Witches. And a Ranger!) So she has to break away and go back to standard once in a while. Today is that once. There is much more of the […]
Leafling is an indie 2-D action MMORPG that hopes to provide 'a nostalgic, old school RPG feeling'
This one crossed our news desk by way of a call for other players on Reddit. It's called Leafling, and it's a 2-D action MMORPG styled in a 16-bit aesthetic that wants to "deliver a nostalgic, old school RPG feeling" while also providing some modern gameplay beats. Leafling comes from the team at Celtaria Productions […]
Profane talks about the Primordial Elements of Life and Instinct
Yep, it's another tweet thread from Profane all about its in-development game's systems. This time we have a look at Primordial Elements — magic by any other name. The elements showcased in the thread are Life and Instinct. Life, as one would expect, can be a beneficent force that can heal or restore someone from […]
Netmarble announces release plans for several mobile titles, including new MMOs
For those out there that get their gaming through mobile (and there a lot of them out there, whether any of us wants to admit it or not), there's a lot of good news coming out of Netmarble. The publisher has put out an announcement confirming several game release windows, all of which are mobile […]
Final Fantasy XI celebrates 19 years and promises new job progression and storage options
It's been 19 years since Final Fantasy XI first launched, and yet the game is still going strong with an update cadence the envy of titles not in alleged maintenance mode. Producer Akihiko Matsui took the opportunity to pen a thank-you letter to the community, noting once again that a big part of why the game has […]
Dungeons and Dragons Online will also end support of Windows XP
In news that will likely be not all that surprising considering Standing Stone Games already confirmed this move for LOTRO, the devs of Dungeons and Dragons Online have announced that support of the Windows XP operating system will also be ending, specifically on Wednesday, July 21st. For those who are affected by this change and […]
RuneScape starts spooling hype for the next Elder God Wars chapter, promises to grant wishes soon
When you wish upon a star in Gielinor, Jagex will eventually hear you. For realsies. That's part of RuneScape's weekly newsletter content, which confirms that the devs will be granting wishes as part of promised recompense for login server issues soon. These wishes will be locked inside of a Guardian's Gift that will be distributed […]
The Elder Scrolls Online characters can now be found in the Call to Arms miniature tabletop war game
Care to have a little bit of The Elder Scrolls Online in your meatspace? How about as part of a tabletop miniature war game? That's precisely what's being offered with the launch of a new set of miniatures that integrates characters from the MMORPG's cinematic trailers into the Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms tabletop minis […]
Lord of the Rings Online resets neglected account passwords
For those of you who haven't logged into your Lord of the Rings Online account for quite a while, the next time you head back into the MMO, you're going to face a small obstacle. That's because Standing Stone Games announced that it's resetting all passwords for accounts that haven't been touched for two years […]
Roblox is now referring to its 'games' as 'experiences' in light of Epic v Apple trial arguments
It would appear that Roblox is undergoing something of a branding shift, the timing of which is interesting to say the least. Apparently, the game has silently started to change parts of its verbiage, renaming "game" to "experience" and renaming the "Games" tab of the browser to "Discover" instead. According to a Roblox spokesperson, this […]
First impressions: Even in beta, New Genesis is the quantum leap forward the aging Phantasy Star Online 2 needed
Now this… this is more like it. When I was last spending time with Phantasy Star Online 2, I found it to be a fun game that was mired in a whole bunch of old console MMORPG nonsense. All of the fun was buried in menus and poorly laid-out pathing. After my time with the […]
Daybreak grants all of its employees a paid 'unplug day'
While it's important for us here at MOP to be a watchdog for bad company behavior, we also try to be fair in acknowledging when a studio does something right. And so today we pin a bright gold star on the lapels of Daybreak (yes, Daybreak) for making an effort to treat its employees right. […]
First impressions: Bless Unleashed's PC beta is just enough of an improvement over the original Bless
I'm not going to say I've had a great deal of time with the recent PC beta test of Bless Unleashed — that's why this is called "first impressions" and not "final impressions," and we don't do fully final opinions on MMOs anyway. Even so, I feel as if I've had enough time in the […]
Ashes of Creation boss criticizes New World's business model, argues for subs and cosmetic shops
New World's cash-shop snafu last week still has a wide swath of the MMO community up in arms, apparently. Readers will recall that a tester leaked info from the NDA-locked alpha that suggested Amazon was adding both cosmetics and leveling boosters to the test cash shop, which of course caused an uproar from gamers who […]
Wisdom of Nym: Recapping the Endwalker reveals from Final Fantasy XIV's Fan Festival
I ended the first night watching the Fan Festival a bit sad about how long it would be before Final Fantasy XIV's next expansion. I ended the second night a bit sad that there still wasn't any talk about All Saints' Wake, even though maybe that was just too far in the future. And I […]
Players begin leaking footage of The Division Heartland closed test
The Division: Heartland, the free-to-play game from the Division IP that was among the reveals that Ubisoft recently announced, has been undergoing a round of closed testing. While said testing is under an NDA, that has not stopped folks from leaking footage of the game. One such leaker's footage reportedly offered about 20 minutes' of […]
Phantasy Star Online 2 asks for New Genesis beta feedback
The May closed beta test for Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis wrapped up this past weekend, but the discussion of the client is ongoing. SEGA is asking all beta participants to deliver feedback through a website survey. Plus, there's incentive. That got your attention, didn't it? If you fill out the short survey, you'll […]
The Daily Grind: How do you manage your frustration with MMO griefers?
I was hanging out in an MMO's Discord channel a while back when I skimmed through a convo where some folks were grumping about a griefer and demanding that the devs do something about it. Another player chimed in with a comment that absolutely changed my perspective. "Imagine how crap your life's gotta be to […]
Exclusive: Swords of Legends Online previews its frenetic mass PvP in new video
The field for new launches, patches, and betas is mighty crowded this spring, and while Swords of Legends Online is one of the newer titles vying for the attention of MMORPG players, it's fast become one of the more intriguing, owing largely to its fast-paced action combat. Gameforge and Wangyuan Shengtang are dropping a brief […]
Final Fantasy XIV's composer reveals he was battling cancer last year while working on the game
Final Fantasy XIV's digital fan festival has been full of moments; plenty of game reveals, some brilliant developer dancing, and a moment where composer Masayoshi Soken took the stage to deliver a rendition of the track Civilizations complete with Otamatones. It also was the place where it was revealed that Soken had been fighting against […]
Dauntless adds new radiant monster, opens a new location, and celebrates its 'Slayerversary' on May 20
If you've been following along with the Twitter account of Dauntless, you know that the previews and teasers have been churning out quite a bit recently. That's because the game's next update is looming on the horizon, bringing with it the promise of a new radiant Behemoth, new radiant gear, and a new Hunting Grounds […]
The MOP Up: Valorant fights against the smurf invasion
What is Valorant doing to fix its matchmaking? The studio explains its system in a community Q&A session, in particular addressing the problem of "smurfs" in the game. "Combating smurfing is not only about punishment, it's also about making Valorant more accessible so those without bad intentions no longer feel the need to smurf. Once […]
Destiny 2 brings back Future War Cult weapons, dates the next Iron Banner, and plans to sell baby Fallen plushies
The weekly Bungie newsletter is very often a stew of various things, but this week certainly seems more mixed than most as it outlines a variety of Destiny 2 tidbits from various points of interest for fans of the shooter. As players know by now, the Season of the Splicer has kicked off, bringing an […]
ZOS director says The Elder Scrolls Online will keep releasing content for as long as players stick around
What's the life expectancy of any MMORPG? Certainly there are games that have been around for decades, but those are edge cases at best. ZeniMax Online Studios director Matt Firor certainly seems surprised by The Elder Scrolls Online's lifespan of seven years, and he doesn't foresee the game ending its update cadence until players decide […]
Epic v Apple: Fortnite at 'full penetration' on console, more industry profit details, and text descriptions of trailers
It's the stupid gift that keeps on stupid giving. It's the lawsuit that might have industry-wide shockwaves. It's a trial that has seen whether a banana not wearing clothes is inappropriate was discussed in a court of law. It's the Epic vs. Apple trial, and once more there are a variety of news pieces to […]
One Shots: Flowers love the sun more than you do
Mental note: If I ever want the legions of readers to flood our One Shots comments with submissions, I merely need to ask for sunrise and sunset pictures. You guys went nuts (in the best of ways). We'll kick off today's submission tour with this stunning pic from IronSalamander8. "What better way to appreciate the […]
The Daily Grind: Would you rather be in a guild of strangers or alone in an MMO?
Back in my day when I started playing MMOs, I took it as pretty well understood that you were going to want to join a guild of some sort. The guild mechanics in Final Fantasy XI weren't very robust at all, coming down to just a chat channel, but the important point was that you were […]
Book of Travels delays early access again, this time to late summer
Have you been dying to crack open Book of Travels and see what stories lie within? You'll have to be patient, dear child, for Might and Delight announced that it's delaying the mini-MMO from its original June early access release window to sometime later this summer. "We can tell you Book of Travels really is […]
Diablo Immortal and World of Warcraft lead artist Glenn Rane leaves Blizzard
Blizzard suffered another high-profile defection this past week, as art lead Glenn Rane departed the studio. Rane joined several of his former Blizzard colleagues (along with some ex-Epic Game Studio ones) at Lightforge Games to be a co-founder and art director. Lightforge has yet to announce any of its projects, as it's currently prototyping roleplaying […]
Guild Wars 2 kicks off a week-long WvW bonus event and releases the full Icebrood Saga soundtrack
Whether you like smashing face in the zerg of WvW PvP or listening to pretty tunes, there's a little something for most fans of Guild Wars 2. Or at least something for fans of the game that like to do those two specific activities. Which I assume is a lot of those fans. Yesterday saw […]
