GDC 2021: How smarter AI could build characters and decks to help new MMO players
There's a bit of a theme at GDC 2021 concerning online card games, especially TCGs, and smart tech/deep learning AI. At a panel this week, NetEase's Yiheng Zhou noted that bots in general have a long history of use in games. Behavior trees combined with turn-based games lend themselves quite well to the realm of […]
Ubisoft's sexual harassment and racism scandal extended to Skull & Bones studio in Singapore
We realize that Activision-Blizzard's horrifying sexual misconduct and discrimination lawsuit stole all the headlines last night and will probably dominate the news cycle for a while, but it's just not the only video game company beleaguered by damning allegations of abuse right now. The Ubisoft sexual harassment scandal has been brewing since 2020, leading to […]
Warcraft III: Reforged was sabotaged internally by low budget and shifting priorities
If you're still waiting for Warcraft III: Reforged to deliver on the basic functionality that the game's prior version had 18 months after launch… don't be silly, the game still doesn't even support custom campaign functionality. What the heck happened? According to a new piece from Bloomberg, the short version is that the game required […]
GGG's Chris Wilson says Path of Exile reached a 'breaking point with power creep' that Expedition will help fix
Yesterday, we noted how Path of Exile players were responding with dismay to the proposed Expedition expansion and league changes, under the belief that the expansion was being designed to nerf what fun is left in the game. The game's subreddit, for example, was a solid wall of disgruntled memes, dejection, and attempts to get […]
Players sound the alarm over faction balance in World of Warcraft: Classic
Well, World of Warcraft might be struggling right now, but at least everything's going peachy over on WoW Classic, right? Not so much, really. If the same-faction battlegrounds didn't tip you off, the game is suffering from a pretty serious problem in the form of a faction imbalance that appears to be getting worse rather […]
Star Citizen addresses alpha 3.13, stability, delays, bugs, and communication
As is tradition with CIG, the devs are looking back at the release of alpha 3.13 and the Invictus Launch Week event of Star Citizen and offering some thoughts on updates that worked, things that fell short, and lessons learned with each feature's release. The post offers some acknowledgment of missteps such as problems with […]
Lost Ark shares breakdowns of advanced mage and warrior classes
While potential players of Lost Ark already know that the game will have five classes at launch that branch out into different classes, it might not be immediately obvious just what some of those advanced classes actually are. Luckily for us, the game has pushed out a couple of dev blogs to get us acquainted […]
NCsoft prepares 'solo-friendly' edition of Lineage 2 for an August release
Come August 11th, Lineage II will boast not one, not two, but three separate versions of the game. In addition to the regular Lineage II and the legacy Lineage II Classic, NCsoft is preparing to launch something called Lineage II Aden, which — despite first impressions — is not a '90s R&B group. Lineage II […]
Guild Wars 2 will showcase End of Dragons' story, elite specs, beta info, and trailer next week
So we already knew that ArenaNet is taking the wraps off Guild Wars 2's End of Dragons next week – that's on July 27th, in spite of the fact that the expansion itself has been scooted out of 2021 and into 2022. But what we didn't have before is a time and a description of […]
The Daily Grind: What little touches make you happy in an MMO?
Completing a duty in Final Fantasy XIV plays the traditional series victory fanfare. It's such a little thing, it doesn't need to be in there, it doesn't do anything or make the game good or anything like that. But to a long-time series fan who really loves that fanfare, it means a lot to hear […]
California sues Activision-Blizzard over discrimination and sexist, toxic work culture
Activision-Blizzard has had an abysmal couple of years, and it's about to get much worse, as the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing has filed a civil rights and equal pay lawsuit against Activision and Blizzard on behalf of their victimized employees. As first reported by Bloomberg Law, the DFEH alleges that its multi-year […]
New World has capped menu screen framerates to prevent video card fatalities
Earlier today, we covered the emerging news that users of some video cards, particularly EVGA RTX 3090 graphics cards, were having serious problems with Amazon's New World beta – to the point that the cards were being bricked. As the story developed over the day, it became more clear that even more cards are affected […]
Dual Universe details the tracking, mining, and fighting to be done for asteroids
Asteroids in Dual Universe! You know how to play this; you just rotate your ship a little bit and shoot at the asteroids while they come closer, but you have to – oh, wait, that's not how asteroids work here. No, instead they're resource-rich balls of rock floating through space, designed to be spontaneous hotspots […]
Overwatch launches 2021 Summer Games, the WoW Wrath of the Lich King pandemic boardgame is really happening
As the first Tokyo Olympics events begin today, Overwatch has opened the gates for its own Summer Games, running this year through August 10th. Expect the return of Lucioball and Lucioball Remix as well as the traditional lootboxes and cosmetics. "erve up some summer sweets as Sprinkles Mei, kick back with a chilly cocktail as […]
Blade and Soul 2 will be getting a South Korean launch this August
Up to this point, the mobile MMO prequel Blade and Soul 2 has only had the nebulous launch date of sometime this year, but a new press release from NCSoft confirms that the South Korean version of the game has moved from a release year to a release month: the month of August, to be […]
PlanetSide 2 adjusts infantry weapons, tweaks Javelins, and squashes bugs in today's update
Now that the NSO faction has been retooled, it stands to reason that PlanetSide 2 would need to adjust things a bit post-patch. That's just what this latest hotfix looks to do, offering some unremarkable but otherwise necessary tweaks to a few things in the PC version of the shooter. This patch buffs up the […]
Path of Exile posts the complete patch notes for the Expedition expansion
While the Expedition League for Path of Exile still has a couple of days to go before it officially launches on July 23rd, players are being granted a headstart on hoovering up all of the details of the update thanks to a set of fully available patch notes. Considering these notes are for an expansion-sized […]
GDC 2021: Navigating player behaviors and cheating in online video games
GDC 2021 has now offered several panels on player behavior and cheating that are aimed at devs but still provide some good information for regular players. Riot Games specifically was out in force, and Head of Player Dynamics, Weszt Hart, helped curb expectations, while Andrew Hogan, CMO and Co-Founder of Intorqa, drove home how rampant […]
The Stream Team: A first-timer's live exploration of the New World closed beta
We've been following the journey of New World for a while now, including providing several hands-on impressions pieces, but now it's time for MOP's Chris to have his turn, and this time it's not on a dev-guided tour! It's time for some closed beta exploration of the world of Aeternum – no guides, no rails, […]
Diablo II Resurrected explains its 'solve for one, extend to many' accessibility philosophy
Diablo II Resurrected has a new dev blog out touting its accessibility features, previously hinted at last week. Essentially, Blizzard is trying to update the game for modern sensibilities and expectations without actually taking anything away from the folks who are looking for the same hardcore experience from two decades ago. It's all about choices. […]
Perfect Ten: The 10 stages of returning to an old favorite MMO
In my illustrious career of sitting on my butt and mashing the 1-4 buttons over and over, I've returned to many MMOs like an addicted boomerang. I learned early on never to say those immortal words of, "I quit and I'm never coming back! This is it!" because that was only setting myself up for […]
Guild Wars 2 plans to make a permanent public version of Twisted Marionette after some tweaks
If you've been following the community buzz in Guild Wars 2, you probably noticed a name on a lot of players' lips: the Twisted Marionette, which readers will recall was being temporarily returned for a week. It turns out that this particular fight is a stern challenge for most public groups, meaning the attempts at […]
Casually Classic: Why it's so good to Zangarmarsh and chill in WoW Classic
Burning Crusade's Outland shows all the hallmarks of being a playground for developers to flex and try new things. I always was amused at how each of the zones feature a strong color theme and logically fit together only so much as a little kid might try to force-merge non-matching puzzle pieces. Plus, you have […]
New World turns RTX 3090 GPUs into bricks and bans a streamer for milking an in-game cow
I admit, that headline is going to require a little bit of explanation, so let's just get right into this odd little batch of New World news. We'll start off with a very specific problem related to EVGA RTX 3090 graphics cards, which the game is apparently absolutely frying, although as Kotaku notes, it seems […]
Black Desert's Atoraxxion dungeon is live for PC and console today
As promised, Atoraxxion has rolled out to Black Desert's PC and console versions today. What's Atoraxxion? Why, it's the game's first-ever traditional co-up dungeon. And when they call it a "party dungeon," well, it's true on a technicality – but not nearly as festive as the term sounds! "Atoraxxion, the last stronghold, requires five Adventurers […]
Book of Travels has delayed its early access a third time, now to August 30
Might and Delight has delayed Book of Travels yet again, though it won't be a dramatically longer wait: The new early access debut is happening August 30th. The studio says it will "use the additional time to make sure the upcoming build matches the team's vision." "Right now we're in a good place, but the […]
Crowfall outlines upcoming test patch, says marketing campaign begins this week
Crowfall has released its second big dev blog since launch this week, addressing the upcoming patch, which is due to land on the test server shortly. Players who jump in to test will pick up a tankard as a gift. "The most exciting additions you will see in this upcoming release on Test, is The […]
NCsoft hopes that Aion Classic will lure people back to Aion Prime
With some big new MMO shiny coming along every week this summer, it's perfectly understandable if you totally lost track that Aion Classic launched a mere month ago. At the very least, NCsoft hasn't forgotten — because NCsoft very much wants to convert those players to regular Aion. At least this is the sense that […]
Fallout 76 announces Fallout Worlds with (paid) customizable servers
Private customizable servers have been high up on the most-wanted list for a segment of Fallout 76's community. Now, they're here. Bethesda announced that it's started to test Fallout Worlds, a new game mode that lets owners create a custom ruleset and visitors experience that setting. Some of the ruleset options mentioned for Fallout Worlds […]
The Daily Grind: So what do we all think of New World so far?
Amazon's New World rolled into closed beta yesterday, and unlike some past test events, this one has no NDA, meaning the whole MMORPG community is weighing in. I got a chance to play a few hours yesterday, right as the server clusters were nearing around 200,000 peak players on Steam. Almost all of the servers […]
The Wagadu Chronicles devs consider the challenges of building an afrofantasy MMORPG
The world of upcoming sandbox MMORPG The Wagadu Chronicles has piqued a lot of interest, particularly because its afrofantasy setting isn't something we get to see a lot of in our genre, let alone gaming entirely. Tackling that challenge was the subject of a video presentation from Twin Drums founder and game designer Allan Cudicio, […]
Neverwinter delays its console release of Vault of Stars: Twisted Denizens
So there's some bad news for Neverwinter fans on consoles. Yes, Vault of Stars: Twisted Denizens is still coming, but the latest tweet on the official account has announced that it won't be arriving until July 27th. You may note that the maintenance and patch being announced is for tomorrow, July 21st, and that it […]
Fortnite declares 'Rainbow Royale' this week with free LGBTQ cosmetics and music from LGBTQ artists
While June was officially Pride month, Fortnite seems keen to keep LGBTQIA+ representation front-and-center in the game this week with the announcement of what it's calling "Rainbow Royale," which is giving away plenty of free goodies with a representative rainbow flair. All week long, players can snap up four different rainbow sprays, a rainbow-colored wrap, […]
Mobile MMO Moonlight Sculptor is adding new regions in today's update
Are you ready for more areas to check out in the mobile MMORPG Moonlight Sculptor? If not, it's time to brace yourself for the game's patch today, which will be introducing some new regions to the game. As one might expect with the arrival of new areas to an MMO, this new update will bring […]
Massively OP Podcast Episode 331: The transparency episode
Justin and Bree discuss Crowfall, Chronicles of Elyria, Camelot Unchained, Guild Wars 2, Final Fantasy XIV, Swords of Legends Online, Elyon, Warframe, and Path of Exile, with adventures in FFXIV, WoW Classic, LOTRO, and Albion Online, plus mailbag topics on Crowfall's marketing and its roleplay problem.
EVE Online's bank vault-breaking Grand Heist update arrives to the Singularity test server
Of all of the occupations a player can pursue in EVE Online, "bank robber" might not be one of the first things that spring to mind. However, there are big, fat, juicy reserve banks in-game that have been growing plump with bounty takes thanks to recent updates, and with the incoming Grand Heist update, players […]
Allods Online opens a tournament server for team vs. team battles as qualifiers begin today
What's a summer vacation if you don't come out of it with bloody knuckles, a busted nose, and a pressing need to make a dental appointment? An uneventful one, Allods Online says, which is why you totally need to grab some friends and get into a scrap with the MMO's new Blood Tournament. Open on […]
GDC 2021: Research on online video game voice chat has come a long way
Covering studies about video gamers often reveals a glaring problem with the science on the topic: Most of it looks has traditionally surveyed text chat rather than voice chat. But today we've got a story that could change that narrative, as Hank Howie, Director of Partnerships at Modulate, gave a quick overview of recent studies […]
XDefiant is Ubisoft's next Tom Clancy franchise arena shooter
Ubisoft is not having the best couple of years. It's been wrecked by a wide-ranging sexual harassment scandal and lawsuit, it's losing staff left and right, it's had to delay Skull and Bones so many times that nobody remembers what it is, and it even suffered a hoax bomb threat last year. The company has […]
Choose My Adventure: Wakfu may not be my cup of tea
You know how sometimes you really can't know for sure how you'll feel about a game until you fire it up? Those games where you sort of arrive to it with an empty skull, untouched by any sort of outside influence or opinion? This was the situation I found myself as I headed towards Wakfu […]
Not So Massively: Wolcen's roadmap is missing some important things
In the past, I've been pretty free with my praise for Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem. I've gotten nearly a hundred hours of good fun out of it, and I hope to see it continue to grow. But I am growing concerned. The team behind the game recently released a list of its planned updates for […]
Final Fantasy XIV's Naoki Yoshida addresses the 'staggering and unexpected' player population explosion and asks for patience
Everyone's eager to play Final Fantasy XIV's new expansion, and that's why the servers are full. You know, despite the fact that the expansion in question isn't releasing until November and it's currently July. Producer and director Naoki Yoshida has reached out to the FFXIV community explaining the limitations that the team is working around […]
Dual Universe shares update plans for summer and fall, brings the Apollo patch to PTS
Evidently, Novaquark Studios was so excited to share the latest developments for Dual Universe that it broke tradition and kicked out its next newsletter mid-month instead of waiting for the end of July. Why all the eagerness? For one, the devs have put out a new public roadmap, which offers several tenuous dates for new […]
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's outage analysis, simplified
For my day job, I'm a software developer, and all of my previous jobs have been IT related in some fashion. I still remember some advice that my supervisor at my first tech-related job gave me: "If we're doing our job right, no one will know we're here. When something does break, whether it's your […]
Final Fantasy XIV's newest patch abolishes more weekly limitations for loot and adds AFK timers
The two things that Final Fantasy XIV players were hoping to find in today's patch 5.58 were data center travel and the release of the long-awaited datamined Cruise Chaser mount. Neither of those is included in this patch. What is included is the removal of weekly limits on rewards from the Tower at Paradigm's Breach […]
Portal Knights studio gets $10M investment to make open-world sandbox
After selling over 3.5 million copies of Portal Knights, what's indie developer Keen Games going to do next? Make an even bigger game, that's what. Keen Games announced that it's working on a "spiritual successor" to Portal Knights that's less cartoony and more "grown-up." This unnamed title is an open world multiplayer sandbox that not […]
Blizzard further experiments with WoW Classic's same-faction battlegrounds
Implementing same-faction battlegrounds for some of the wildly unbalanced WoW Classic servers seemed to us to be a no-brainer, but Blizzard isn't fully happy with how the test runs have progressed thus far. While the studio notes that this change resulted in "drastically lowered queue times," issues such as premades and Alliance vs. Alliance BGs […]
Amazon's New World closed beta finally begins today – check out the trailer!
Happy beta day, New World! Yes, Amazon Games' long-awaited MMORPG is finally rolling into closed beta today as the last leg of testing – and hype – before its launch on August 31st. And it is indeed testing; there will be a wipe before launch. But there's no NDA, meaning that we're all going to […]
The Daily Grind: What's the single best way an MMO can keep a newbie playing?
A while back, MOP's own Ben tweeted that during his recent foray into EVE Online, a gamemaster messaged him out of the blue. The GM apparently offered his aid and sent over some starter equipment. As Ben noted, it's a rare thing in MMOs. I've seldom seen it from a studio's staff before either; it's […]
War Thunder fan accidentally shares classified military documents to make digital tank more realistic
No, that headline is not an Onion-style bit of satire because we genuinely live in a world so unapologetically stupid that satire is dying screaming. Apparently, an active member of the UK military and a fan of the online military vehicular battler War Thunder had some opinions about how the game's version of the Challenger […]
