LOTRO's Classic server 'wouldn't work' with current tech, SSG says
Standing Stone Games is probably getting sick of being asked all of the time about a Lord of the Rings Online classic server. Despite the studio not officially taking such a discussion off the table, SSG's Rob Ciccolini said this week that it's most likely too difficult and ambitious a project for the resources on […]
Kickstarted MMORPG Crowfall officially launches today
It's been a very long road, but Crowfall is finally launching today. Yes, a crowdfunded MMO with a real launch! MMO readers will recall that we've been covering this game since its original Kickstarter back in 2015. It's undergone multiple delays along the way, but those have come with big boosts in investor funding and major […]
The Daily Grind: How important are invisible zone lines in your MMO?
A while back, Pantheon promoted a player thread about zone lines, in which a Visionary Realms developer is paraphased as saying that the zone lines in the game will basically be present but invisible to the player, such that the team can "stream the entire world around the player as they walk around." There's still […]
Final Fantasy XI adds a new high-tier battlefield with its next version update
Bad news for anyone hoping that the next update for Final Fantasy XI would continue the story arc of the ongoing Voracious Resurgence, as the preview of the next update explicitly notes that this month is taking a break from the story. But good news for people who want new challenges to face, as the […]
Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem adds quality-of-life in latest patch and outlines updates for the rest of 2021
Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem is continuing to introduce quality-of-life updates with the ARPG's most recent update, which now allows health, rage, and willpower potions to be used at any time without any delay or breaking a channeled skill, scales items sold by Havar and Mohabi up to the maximum unlocked expedition level, and introduces a […]
Wild Terra 2 developers outline plans for the new continent, healing, and horses
Development on Wild Terra 2 is ongoing, but where are the development resources going at the moment? The team behind the game is glad you asked, because that's literally the focus of the latest dispatch explaining the current state of development. On the top of the list is a whole new continent for players to […]
Profane provides a closer look at cloth creation in latest Twitter thread
Making cloth in video games seems like hard work, so there's perhaps some interest in Profane's newest development Twitter thread that's all about the challenge of making "a viable way for two people to be able to create hundreds of different fabrics with the least amount of time possible while maintaining quality." The need for […]
OrbusVR is going fishing for the game's summer festival as the devs fix bugs and improve voice chat
It's just virtual you, your virtual fishing pole, and the virtual bounty of the virtual sea in OrbusVR's summer festival, which recently went live. As one would expect from the lede, there's plenty of fishing to be had as players are being tasked with helping the Fisherman's Guild bring in its haul. Players will naturally […]
Star Citizen talks about upcoming medical gameplay, FPS hacking and radar, and inventory updates
This past episode of Calling All Devs was primarily about planned updates to the core gameplay loops of Star Citizen — primarily, injury and death mechanics, hacking terminals, and personal inventory features. A lot was made about the game's planned health, respawn, and death mechanics that CIG discussed previously. In essence, each individual limb will […]
Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore talks about the challenges and benefits of its newly installed weather system
It's not always sunny in Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore. Namely because the game now has a day/night cycle, but also because the devs introduced a weather system and they would like you to know that putting it in the game was really hard work, you guys. The developer's blog admits that Ethyrial's weather system is […]
Lego Universe rogue server pushes out huge update with beta still on the way
If you don't even recall LEGO Universe, don't blame a faulty memory. The short-lived MMO was only on the scene from 2010 to 2012 before NetDevil shut it down. However, there are those who have kept the plastic torch lit by diligently working on a revived version of the game called Darkflame Universe. Back in […]
Space Punks is a top-down multiplayer looter shooter that promises a 'living, breathing, ever-changing game world'
Two things struck me when I was watching the reveal trailer for Space Punks: One, the game basically looks like a Borderlands ARPG; and two, I hadn't heard that particular Offspring song in a long while. Oh, also, the game looks like a pretty good time. Space Punks comes to us from developer Flying Wild […]
Shroud of the Avatar fixes 'several mount issues' and closes an overly lucrative item sale loop
There are some bug fixes that have been applied to Shroud of the Avatar, which normally wouldn't really be something that lands in our news rotation, but these recent patches are at least a little interesting or amusing. Ideally, anyway. As of this past Sunday, July 4th, the game should now have less mount issues […]
Wisdom of Nym: What will Final Fantasy XIV add to its tanks?
So we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Endwalker will add new tricks to every job in Final Fantasy XIV. We don't know what just yet, but it's a given that we're going to get another slate of new abilities, and it's probably going to be a grand total of five for each […]
TitanReach answers questions about development, items, and future content
The devs of the indie MMO TitanReach decided that it was time to pluck a few player questions and provide some answers to those questions, which cover a pretty wide arrangement of specifically selected topics. A number of the early questions are related to how developer Square Root Studios builds the game, from software tools […]
Not So Massively: Magic Legends had all the right ideas and all the wrong choices
This is the worst kind of column to write. Not only am I reporting on the closure of a game, but it's a game I enjoyed. I can't pretend to be too shocked by the news, of course. Even as I appreciated it, I have to admit Magic: Legends was a deeply flawed game. This […]
Mortal Online 2 adds new enemies and improved PvE AI behaviors in newest patch
If the preview video from Mortal Online 2 got you excited at the prospect of being smashed by a giant troll, your moment of thrills is now here as patch 0.1.3.9 has introduced what are being called "tier 2 encounters," which will require player groups to take down. In addition to the troll, the patch […]
Swords of Legends Online's AMA addresses monetization, content, and name reservation SNAFU
At the tail end of June, Swords of Legends Online threw out a whole bunch of event dates including a livestream and an AMA, and since we've covered the livestream, reason would stand that we would also cover the AMA that took place bright and early this morning. Several of the very first questions were […]
U.S. Department of Justice investigates Overwatch League over salary concerns
While Blizzard wants as many eyes as possible on its Overwatch franchise, the studio could probably do without the recent gaze of the U.S. Department of Justice. According to a Kotaku report, the DOJ is probing the studio's handling of its esports scene — in particular, how it pays its players. While the DOJ isn't […]
Zenith now lets players wave to NPCs in order to start dialogue with them
If you're going to be playing Zenith, the VR MMO being developed by Ramen VR, you'd better make sure you have your controller straps tied to your wrists because the game now lets players start NPC dialogue by waving at them. As in literally flapping your paws in a back-and-forth greeting motion. The feature was […]
The Daily Grind: Do you plan your MMO play around bonus experience mechanics?
Rested experience mechanics are actually one of my favorite systems in online games. They've taken many forms over the years, from Ultima Online's power hour to City of Heroes' patrol experience to what is now the genre standard in the form of World of Warcraft's rested experience. Essentially, these systems grant accelerated experience or skill […]
MMO Week in Review: Delay of Dragons
Any other week, the news that Magic Legends is closing down and laying off the team before it launches, SWTOR is getting a Christmas expansion, and LOTRO has launched two new progression servers would've dominated the MMO new cycle, but this week, Guild Wars 2 delayed End of Dragons into next year, which rather took […]
Legends of Runeterra releases Rise of the Underworld expansion as Riot Games offers free music for streamers
Legends of Runeterra is inviting its players to the seedy underworld of the game's fiction with the launch of its new expansion. Rise of the Underworld went live this past Wednesday, bringing with it a number of new cards and introducing the Lurk keyword, which grants new Lurker followers a boost when allies attack and […]
The MOP Up: PUBG Mobile snaps its fingers and bans millions
This may well be one of the largest banhammer strikes we've ever seen: PUBG Mobile announced that over the course of a week, it kicked 3,884,690 accounts to the curb for cheats and hacks. Impressive, but that's not a good sign that a game had nearly four million cheaters infect its landscape before being caught. […]
Iron Harvest lore interview sheds light on Usonian history
A new interview at VentureBeat delves into the lore of multiplayer RTS Iron Harvest 1920. In the interview, game designer Elliott Verbiest talks about the history of Usonia, the America-inspired faction added in the recently released Operation Eagle expansion. Like much of Iron Harvest's lore, it parallels real world history closely, but with some fascinating […]
The Stream Team: Continually crashing into the Chronovore in Dauntless
It's been a while since MOP's resident monster slayer has been live with some Dauntless gameplay, but this time Chris is on a mission: try to beat up on the recently added Chronovore monster and make pants out of its skin. Will he succeed in getting the wing tips he needs to finally fashion some […]
Frozen Flame's latest update adds angry ghosts, mystical cubes, more spells, and Ancient Valley changes
The multiplayer survival RPG Frozen Flame has put together another new update and it has a little bit of everything for players. Especially those who like ghosts, airdropped cubes, new spells, and infested forests. And if you are that kind of person, you have some very unique tastes. Back to the update: The Ancient Valley […]
One Shots: Fantasy splash pad
I'm oddly fascinated with water effects and physics (what little there is) in MMOs, especially when games try to portray large lakes or oceans. So often it feels very fakey when you really examine it, but some games — like Elder Scrolls Online — get passing grades in this area. Water's probably not what Lethia […]
The Daily Grind: How much does freedom to experiment matter to you in an MMO?
I admit that I was never a huge fan of how easy resetting talents was after a point in World of Warcraft, but I will definitely say that being able to swap them in any rest area meant that you could almost always have a ready chance to try out new things. Unfortunately, this also […]
LOTRO producer talks Gundabad, Brawler, and LI revamp in new stream
Lord of the Rings Online's new producer, Oleg "Raninia" Brodskiy, is helping SSG make big strides toward becoming more communicative and transparent ever since his hire. As part of that effort, this past week Raninia appeared on an hour-long video interview with LOTRO YouTuber Louey7 to talk about the state of the game — and […]
Pantheon previews the Monk class and talks about its QA process
You've heard a lot about Pantheon and have seen plenty of its screenshots and concept art, but how about taking that next step to watching some class gameplay? Visionary Realms pushed out a huge preview for the Monk, showing off this martial arts class while the developers discuss how it's designed to function. "We are […]
Camelot Unchained crafts bandits, the Hamadryad race, cliffs, and inclement weather
We're starting off July, meaning it's time for Camelot Unchained to share updates for work done this past June. In the game's latest dev report, we have details about bandits being created for the Shipwreck Cove point of interest, animation work on spawning, the addition of flying NPCs (as in dragons, not bugged NPCs t-posing […]
Swords of Legends Online's name reservation dissolves into chaos
On Friday, Swords of Legends Online opened the doors to its name reservations. And just like Jurassic Park's initial tour, this event dissolved into frustration, chaos, and a T. Rex biting heads clean off. The chief problem was that some players couldn't get into the game due to an "invalid authentication ticket" bug, allowing others […]
LOTRO Legendarium: A tale of two progression servers
Truly, this is a momentous week in the history of Lord of the Rings Online, if for nothing else than the addition of two brand-new permanent servers for the game. Of course, it is more than that, but let's just pause and reflect how absolutely rare it is that this middle-aged MMORPG has increased its […]
Blizzard announces next Hearthstone expansion, sells a WoW 6-month sub bundle in its summer sale
There's quite the little bundle of news updates coming out of Blizzard's games, so we've elected to tie them all together into a nice little package for you. Do you like the bow? Please say you like the bow. It took me hours to tie that bow. I watched more PBS crafting programs than I […]
WRUP: Driving to work (radio edit) edition
So I get in my [BEEP] car, because I need my [BEEP] car to get to [BEEP] work. I need to [BEEP] go to [BEEP] work so I can [BEEP] [BEEP] [BEEP] [BEEP] [BEEP] with a [BEEP] hot dog. Once I [BEEP] the [BEEP] [BEEP] [BEEP] on [BEEP] [BEEP] [BEEP] [BEEP] [BEEP] [BEEP], then [BEEP] […]
The Daily Grind: Which MMOs don't love you back?
If you can excuse an abstract exercise in anthropomorphism, this morning I'd like to talk about how MMOs treat us. While these are games that aren't (to our knowledge) conscious of our actual existence, we do establish relationships with MMOs. We have feelings about these games, and we attribute feelings to them in turn based […]
Betawatch: Magic Legends gets discarded
The past few weeks we've usually wound up slipping into more depressing beta news toward the end, but this time it's just going front and center with the news that Magic Legends is getting shut down without ever having officially left beta. Of course, it had practically left beta, but… it's the principle of the […]
Battle Bards Episode 196: Project Gorgon
This time around, the Battle Bards cruise into the indie MMO known as Project Gorgon to see what musical landscape is being concocted in this usual realm. From dark dungeon crawls to dusty deserts, it's a trip around a world of fantasy, mystery, and deliberate old school musical cues! Battle Bards is the world's first, best, […]
Whatever happened to anti-grinding MMO Zeal?
Every so often, we are reminded about an MMO or online RPG that caught our attention years ago but then sank into the mire of forgetfulness due to lengthy development periods and a lack of publicity. One of those titles that bubbled back up to the surface of our memories this week was Zeal, an […]
Guild Wars 2 delays End of Dragons to 2022, brings Colin Johanson and Josh Davis back
Huge news out of ArenaNet this Friday in both the good and bad variety. And because we know you want to get the bad out of the way, here's the hit: Guild Wars 2 is delaying End of Dragons from 2021 to 2022, with a "first look" livestream still planned for July 27th. "As expansion […]
DC Universe Online makes for a legendary week with advancement boosts and a big sale
This week in DC Universe Online is going to be downright legendary. It's meant to be legendary because you can try every single Legends character for free, along with every single associated map. Not just that, but progression on the various Legendary feats is advanced by a factor of ten – 10x the increase on […]
City of Titans previews flight and combat animations ahead of testing
Not everything goes smoothly when it comes to testing things for an MMO. The City of Titans team absolutely wanted people to be able to try out flight this weekend for the 4th of July, a small way to celebrate the holiday by allowing you to glide all over the place. Alas, this just was […]
The Elder Scrolls Online improves companions and fixes quest issues with its latest patch
Companions in The Elder Scrolls Online aren't perfect yet, but the latest patch for the game shows that the developers are working on making them better. For example, these NPCs have learned to be a little more resilient and will no longer loudly mourn the demise of other players in your group, focusing instead on […]
Black Desert PC hands out a code for free boost items and makes several Corsair fixes in latest update
Black Desert on PC is all about raking in the booty this summer with the launch of the Corsair and the boost-filled summer season server, but now players of the MMORPG can haul in even more goodies with the application of a special coupon code — 2021-SEAS-ONIS-HERE — that grants Beginner Black Stones to boost […]
ARK: Survival Evolved celebrates the summer season with the return of the Summer Bash event
What do hula dances, an inflatable T-Rex costume, and a Spacedolphin have in common? They're all rewards in the Summer Bash 2021 event that's going on in ARK: Survival Evolved. Because who wouldn't want to potentially offend a literal T-Rex by wearing a goofy inflatable costume version of one? The event features not only a […]
Magic Legends turns off microtransaction costs ahead of its October sunset
If you were hopping that the announcement of Magic Legends shutting down this October was some sort of sick joke, we're sorry to inform you that the latest patch makes it very clear this is a real thing. The patch is a small one but also very substantial, changing all of the microtransaction store costs […]
Desert Oasis: The key takeaways from Black Desert's Heidel Ball 2021
It's been a busy two weeks for Black Desert Online. The past week saw another Arena of Arsha event, this time with trial characters. And while that was a blast to watch and saw around 30,000 viewers when I tuned in, the bigger story was the roadmap revealed during the Heidel Ball. And there's a lot […]
Destiny 2's Solstice of Heroes event introduces a boss-filled floating island and very shiny armor
The Guardians of Destiny 2 are all about the Light, but now they're also going to be about that glow. The Solstice of Heroes event looks to be very shiny indeed, with unique (and extremely luminous) Solstice armor sets that can be powered up through three tiers by completing armor objectives. It's not just about […]
WoW Factor: Why Blizzard's line about story beats is so frustrating
So the most recent roundup of interviews with World of Warcraft's staff deeply hurt me on a fundamental level. Like, this was the sort of hurting that doesn't go away; it just sort of roils in your gut and leaves you gently weeping in the bathtub for far too long after you've already drained all […]
