Swords of Legends Online previews crafting mechanics and elaborates on Rampage PvP flagging
There will undoubtedly be monsters to fight and quests to complete in Swords of Legends Online, but sometimes you need to cool your jets, craft some items, yank some fish out of the water, and craft some tasty meals. Mercifully, there will be plenty of that sort of thing happening as elaborated on by a […]
Interview: Neverwinter's lead designer on the level squish and why the new cap will (probably) be 20 forever
Neverwinter is about to embark on a major retooling of its entire leveling curve, resetting level 80 players to a new hard cap of level 20 and adjusting all of the content in the game accordingly. It's a significant rethinking of the way the game works at this stage in its development, and it's had […]
Bless Unleashed will finally launch on PC August 6
Neowiz and Round8 dropped a big announcement for Bless Online last night: The PC version of the console game born in the ashes of the original PC MMO will finally launch on Steam on August 6th. "The game will be available on Steam first, with the official platform launch following afterwards," the studios say. "Pre-download details […]
Elder Scrolls Online's endeavors reward system finally goes live
After holding it back from the launch of Blackwood, ZeniMax has finally rolled out the new and highly anticipated endeavors system for Elder Scrolls Online. This is basically a reward track that pays out in currency used to purchase lockbox items without having to buy the lockbox itself. "Endeavors are straightforward daily and weekly tasks […]
The Daily Grind: Do you use the same name in multiple MMOs?
A friend of mine uses the same name in every single MMO he plays. To protect his identity, I'm going to claim that the name in question is "BigDragonTickler." Now… as a roleplayer, I don't really understand on an essentially level why you'd want to name your character BigDragonTickler. For one thing, it seems like […]
The Stream Team: Concluding Star Trek Online's Klingon Civil War
Star Trek Online's year-long Klingon Civil War story arc is now concluding with the final chapter, House Reunited. After the twist and turns that took Massively OP's MJ from hunting the traitor J'Ula to fighting alongside her to oust the true traitors, she is ready to wrap up this story by eradicating the division among […]
Jedi have arrived to Star Wars Galaxies' Empire in Flames rogue server
We talk a lot about Star Wars Galaxies Legends and the SWGemu here on MOP, and we even covered the… let's call it tumultuous launch of SWG Restoration III, but there are plenty of other SWG emulators and rogue servers rolling around the galaxy. Today I want to point to another one that I've tried […]
Overwatch outlines how to get crossplay working across the board
Ready to play Overwatch with everyone who has the game everywhere across the globe? Because the designers are ready to let you very soon with crossplay functionality, allowing users on consoles and PC to play with one another freely in a cavalcade of… well, whatever the single word is that means "hero characters shooting one […]
Kakao Games' survival sandbox Dysterra will begin global closed beta testing July 7
If the idea of being plunked onto an Earth that's now a prison world to scrounge for survival sounds like your idea of a good time and you missed out on the March alpha test, then we've got some good news for you: Dysterra, the survival sandbox coming from publisher Kakao Games and developer Reality […]
Age of Empires II Definitive Edition begins testing co-op campaigns
E3 saw the reveal of an October release date for Age of Empires IV, but its much beloved predecessor is not being left behind. Age of Empires II Definitive Edition has begun public testing of its co-op campaign missions via the Public Update Preview on Steam. To start with, the PUP will include several Historical […]
DC Universe Online asks players to help it fight toxicity… by sending emails
Daybreak is apparently cracking down on toxicity in DC Universe Online. Senior Community Manager Mepps penned a letter to the community this week asking for help in cleaning up the chat. "Ultimately, we want everyone in our community to treat everyone else with excellence," Mepps writes. "Targeted harassment, hate speech, and inciting toxicity (as well […]
Albion Online's Call to Arms 7 patch touches on everything from resource rates to zerg debuffs
Albion Online's big news just keeps on coming this week as today is patch day. No, it's not the promised massive open-world update; that's coming later this year. Today's patch, Call to Arms 7, is actually focused on prepping the game for competitive play in Guild Season 13. Notably, Sandbox Interactive has tweaked castle layouts […]
Sea of Thieves drops new teaser gallery for A Pirate's Life
Perhaps the most surprising announcement to come out of E3 2021 for MMO and multiplayer gamers was the news that Sea of Thieves is collaborating with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean-themed narrative update for the game called A Pirate's Life. Moving beyond the E3 preview, Rare has now posted a stack of new […]
Dungeons and Dragons Online is testing a revamp of the Epic Destinies system for one day only on PTS
The devs of Dungeons and Dragons Online haven't even finished working on Update 50 yet, but they're still looking ahead to a major feature of Update 51. Namely, a full revamp of the Epic Destinies system, which has arrived to the game's Lamannia PTS in early preview form. This preview will only include seven of […]
A Kingdom Divided, Old School RuneScape's 150th quest, is officially live today
As of now, Old School RuneScape has 150 quests for players to experience with the official release of A Kingdom Divided. "In A Kingdom Divided, players go behind the Kingdom of Great Kourend's façade of peace and prosperity to unravel allegations of corruption at the heart of the ruling Kourend Council. However, the Council's political […]
Dual Universe introduces hauling missions, the job board, and solo challenges in the Hermes update
Is your quanta purse feeling a little light these days in Dual Universe? Then get ready to rake in that space cheddar with the latest update to the game, which is opening up a bunch of new money-making opportunities. Ideally, anyway. The new patch, subtitled Hermes, introduces the mission system Novaquark discussed back in January, […]
Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis addresses bugs and offers apology items
Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis is sorry. Really sorry, you guys. No, the team behind the game means it. Despite the fact that "the game is so popular that it's difficult to log in and play" is the sort of problem that most developers are happy to have, the whole "difficult to log in […]
Desert Oasis: Black Desert's Atoraxxian dungeon is a good idea, but will it last?
Burger and Fries, Mario and Luigi, Garfunkel and Oates. Are there any other iconic pairs? Oh yeah! RPGs and dungeons. Be it the sprawling 100 floor Via Infinito from Final Fantasy X-2, the Abyss in the Wild Arms series, or the forgotten tower in the original Phantasy Star, there's a lot to choose from. It's such a major part of […]
Character creation and name reservation for Aion Classic begins today
Quickly! Get home and get ready for Aion Classic! There's no time to explain why! Oh… wait, it turns out that's actually our job, so we'll take a little time to explain why. See, as previously covered the classic version will be arriving in the Americas on June 23rd, allowing players to experience the game […]
Anarchy Online celebrates its 20th birthday with daily logins, events, and sub deals
There aren't a whole lot of MMORPGs that make it to 20 years old, but Anarchy Online is joining those hallowed ranks this month. Even better, Funcom hasn't forgotten about the event, even cheekily acknowledging the game's rough launch back in 2001 (it's still considered one of the worst MMO launches of all time). But […]
GTAO is sunsetting on the PS3 and Xbox 360 at the end of the year
Call it death-by-old-console: Rockstar announced today that it's shutting down two versions of Grand Theft Auto Online on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 along with various other online tools for those platforms. Players on those two platforms will continue to be able to play the GTAV story mode, and of course, GTAO marches onward […]
Black Desert teases Heidel Ball reveals including a Dark Knight figurine and the Corsair class
As we've reported before, Black Desert's Heidel Ball will once more be a digital affair, but that doesn't mean there won't be plenty of reveals to look forward to. The latest tease for the event, which incidentally continued the "new tide" motif that was first alluded to last week, points to a couple of headlining […]
Lord of the Rings Online closes the doors to its Ithil progression server
Today the sun sets over a small part of Lord of the Rings Online's Middle-earth, as Standing Stone Games is closing down its underpopulated Ithil progression server. Players have the option of transferring their characters from Ithil to the other progression server or regular servers until the end of the year, however. This closure coincides […]
WoW Classic triggers Burning Crusade's first arena season
It's finally time for World of Warcraft Classic to step into a new (old) era of PvP, as the legacy MMO activated the first season of arena battles this week. "Burning Crusade Arena Season 1 has begun calling forth the finest combatants in all of Outland to converge and compete in three arenas: Ring of […]
The Daily Grind: Should more MMOs offer class swapping?
I'm sure that a number of you are trying out Crowfall's beta and experiencing its special design of allowing players to jump into and out of different "vessels" — or classes — much in the same way that online FPS titles might allow for player choice. Class swapping is certainly one way to extend player […]
E3 2021: Everything multiplayer from Nintendo Direct
Well, Animal Crossing: New Horizons fans may remain disappointed after today's lack of update info, but Nintendo's 2021 E3 news did have a lot of surprises, not just for the single-player crowd but for the online multiplayer crowd we focus on here on MOP as well. We've got updates to Smash Bros Ultimate and Monster Hunter Rise, ports […]
Final Fantasy XIV plans its next Producer's Letter for July 9
It hasn't been that long since the Final Fantasy XIV digital fan festival, has it? Long enough that it's time to get producer and director Naoki Yoshida back behind the camera for another session of talking about the game, at least. Or almost long enough, as the next live letter from the producer has been […]
RuneScape updates familiar behaviors in latest patch, OSRS announces testing for new game client features
We're off to another week of news bits from RuneScape and Old School RuneScape. That's it. That's the lede. I've got nothing more to add this time around. Starting with RuneScape, the weekly patch has applied a Ninja Strike on several familiars' behavior, including a combat mode summoning setting with several options, familiar duration standardized […]
BioWare promotes Gary McKay to studio boss after tumultuous year
After a year of shakeups at BioWare, the game developer now has a new general manager… who is the same as it's old general manager. Sort of. BioWare announced that it was promoting interim general manager Gary McKay to full-time, super-awesome studio general manager. McKay replaced Casey Hudson, who departed the company studio last December, […]
Massively OP Podcast Episode 326: Lost Ark is finally found
Justin and Bree discuss E3 2021, Book of Travels, Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76, Diablo II Resurrected, Sea of Thieves, Riders Republic, Transformers Heavy Metal, Albion Online, Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis, Lost Ark, Aion Classic, and LOTRO, with adventures in Sims 4, WoW Classic, SWG Legends, Crowfall, and Albion, plus a mailbag topic on difficulty walls in MMOs.
Trove's new Bard class is live on the PC servers with tons of new costumes
Gamigo has pushed the new Bard class to Trove's PC servers today in what it's calling the Tune-Up update. Yes, it's slated for console too, though we don't have an ETA. The Bard essentially uses fist weapons and lutes to sing and dance and smash its way through combat. "Our little musician – with his […]
Astroneer is adding a hoverboard, new vehicles, and new missions this month in the Jet Powered update
Few games can't be improved with the addition of hoverboards. Think about it. How much better would traversing the world be? And mounted combat? Forget about it; taking down baddies while pulling sick tricks is everything my inner '90s kid would want. This isn't to suggest that the survival sandbox of Astroneer is getting these […]
Guild Wars 2 Seeds of Truth and Point of No Return are freely claimable ahead of Dragon Bash next week
This week's Guild Wars 2 freebies are up for grabs: Everyone can log in and snag two season two living world episodes, Seeds of Truth and Point of No Return, yes even free-to-play accounts. The episodes have been updated with new meta-achievements and rewards; the more achievements you do, the more goodies your account will […]
Choose My Adventure: Dipping a toe in the vast ocean of Star Wars Galaxies crafting and gathering
"Crafting in Star Wars Galaxies was the greatest thing ever in MMORPGs." How often have you read a comment like that? I know I've seen remarks similar to this one cross my eyes on a variety of comment sections and social media. It's been mentioned so often that it's kind of easy to brush it […]
New World begins new teaser video series dubbed Legends of New World
Amazon is kicking off a new video series leading into New World's big launch later this summer. Called Legends of New World, it's somewhere between a tone piece and a lore tease, as the short clip sets the mood for your trip to Aeternum, why you're there, and what exactly you're up against. Spoilers: Conquistador […]
Chronicles of Elyria previews Kingdoms of Elyria gameplay, outlines the path to alpha
Soulbound Studios CEO Jeromy Walsh is back once again to talk about Kingdoms of Elyria in another video, this time providing an extended look at gameplay and talking about how the Chronicles of Elyria spinoff will move through alpha. Alpha backers of the original MMORPG they were expecting to get will soon be invited to […]
Activision-Blizzard extends contentious shareholder vote on executive pay
MMO readers will recall that earlier this year, the industry erupted over a public relations fiasco Activision-Blizzard failed to adequately counter: In the midst of yet another round of layoffs for the company, CEO Bobby Kotick, already one of the highest-paid CEOs in the country, was poised to take advantage of a dodgy clause in […]
E3 2021: Blankos Block Party launches PC early access, announces partnerships with Burberry, Deadmau5, and Marathon Clothing
So apparently the earlier "early access soft launch" has decided to drop the soft launch part. Blankos Block Party, the multiplayer game-building title with NFT character designs, confirmed at E3 that the game has officially started early access on PC as a free-to-play title. Above and beyond that, the majority of the game's announcements were […]
Casually Classic: What if you don't want to raid in WoW Classic Burning Crusade?
If I had to sum up what my WoW Classic guild is doing in these first few weeks of Burning Crusade, it would be "racing to 70, gearing up, and pushing hard to get attuned for raids." Within days of the launch, we had multiple 70s and people regularly announcing some sort of attunement progress […]
Elder Scrolls Online launches Console Enhanced today, addresses 'ESO 2'
Elder Scrolls Online's Console Enhanced patch rolls out to console folks today, as downloading began at the crack o' dawn this morning. As ZeniMax has previously noted, the update essentially allows the MMORPG to run natively and fully on the newer PS5 and Xbox X|S consoles, or at least it will once the kinks are […]
World of Warcraft shows off the new region of Korthia and the Mythic+ rating system
Looking forward to more adventures in the Maw in World of Warcraft's next major patch? No, come back, it's different than it used to be! See, look at this whole preview of Korthia from the official site. It's very different, see? There are factions to work toward, and no Eye of the Jailer, and mounts, […]
Albion Online's mobile launch drove its concurrency numbers to a new high of 270K
On the MOP Podcast that launches later today, I joke about logging into Albion Online this weekend and being assaulted by the sounds of thousands of footsteps from the wild rush of people playing in the game's newbie areas following the launch of the mobile version last week. That wasn't just my imagination; the game […]
E3 2021: Phantasy Star Online 2 releases a live action trailer for New Genesis
I always feel that it's a weird vote of confidence when a video game studio puts out a trailer for a game using live actors. It's that extra marketing push that also attempts to communicate, in an awkward way, that players are welcome into this game world. However you take it, Phantasy Star Online 2's […]
The Daily Grind: Have you ever fallen in love with MMO-ish content in non-MMOs?
Today's Daily Grind is inspired by a thread I spotted on the MMORPG subreddit a while back. The author was talking about stumbling into a non-MMO – Monster Hunter World, in this case – and finding some of the MMORPG content that he wasn't getting out of real MMORPGs, specifically a sense of progression, discovery, […]
Neverwinter prepares for the eighth Protector's Jubilee starting on June 17
The eponymous city in Neverwinter has some problems. Literally, the place is an adventure magnet, and that means it's constantly besieged by monsters, demons, demonic monsters, wildlife, fey arsenals… at some point we think there might have been a squirrel invasion. But the city is still (more or less) in one piece, and to thank […]
Microsoft executives talk about expanding game services, game accessibility, inclusivity, and first-party releases
The head execs at Microsoft have some lofty plans for the wider gaming world if several statements are anything to go by. The company held a pre-brief ahead of this year's E3 showcase featuring a number of gaming executives, all of whom talked up big strategies to expand Microsoft's reach into the gaming market – […]
Among Us outlines plans for more players, more colors, and more features in a roadmap
The popular multiplayer deception game Among Us has lots of plans for new content according to a recent video roadmap. In no particular order, according to the video. Leading off the list is a new Hide & Seek mode that appears to operate about the way one would expect, followed by the addition of Sheriff […]
Lord of the Rings Online previews its new speedy and plodding progression servers
Even as Lord of the Rings Online shuts down its underpopulated Ithil legendary server this week, Standing Stone Games is preparing to launch a pair of new progression servers for the community to enjoy. The twist? This time each one will come with a speed adjustment. According to SSG, Shadowfax — named after Gandalf's swift […]
SWG Legends begins Empire Day festivities, talks Bespin apartments and post-Bespin content
With Bespin already a month in the rear-view mirror, it's patch day for Star Wars Galaxies Legends. The rogue server's update on Monday kicks off the Independence Day-inspired celebrations of Empire Day and Remembrance Day, depending on whether you're a Rebel or Imperial character; players can expect new badges and collections for the event. The […]
Swords of Legends Online offers up videos of its Ancestral Records gameplay
Remember last week when Swords of Legends Online talked up its various gameplay modes in the Ancestral Records? Well, the good news is that you can check that out now in a quartet of new videos about the game. The first one is just about the Ancestral Record in general, but the other three show […]
