The Daily Grind: What's the newest class you've played in your oldest MMO?
I don't know about you, but I am not always that adventurous when it comes to picking a new class to play in an MMORPG. I will settle on my favorites early on and choose those again and again, even if I've played them to death. But as of late, I've been challenging myself to […]
Betawatch: Starbase enters early access alpha
At long last, it's happened! Starbase has moved into early access, allowing everyone to… well, access the game. But early. Look, we've had kind of a blur of various games testing or moving test phases or even launching lately; you kind of run out of things to say at some point. Hey, that's a good […]
Battle Bards Episode 198: Final Fantasy XI expansions
Return with us to the lands of Vana'diel, as the Battle Bards dip into the ocean of Final Fantasy XI expansion music. While Syl might be chiding Syp over his inappropriate attire, at least these amazing tunes can overcome all hostility! Battle Bards is the world's first, best, and only MMO music podcast. Biweekly episodes alternate […]
Genfanad is a browser-based 'nostalgic' MMORPG that also seeks to shake up RPG tropes
Reading up about the old school-styled browser-based MMORPG Genfanad, I'm brought to mind another certain MMORPG that tries to both mirror the classics while adding some of its own humorous and unique twists. Read this snippet from the game's fact sheet and see if you don't feel the same way: "Genfanad is a nostalgic browser-based […]
Lineage 2 Revolution's Valakas' Fury expansion marked the opening of two new servers
The Lineage franchise is having one heck of a summer thanks to the revitalization of Lineage II with the impending Aden server, but Lineage II isn't the only game under the Lineage umbrella that deserves a look-see, as Lineage 2 Revolution is busy tearing up mobile too. The Netmarble-backed mobile spinoff MMORPG rolled out what it's […]
EVE Pulse recounts the Grand Heist, visual updates, and recent events ahead of the series' fall refresh
Busy followers of EVE Online will be happy to note that the game's latest episode of EVE Pulse is available for viewing, letting players catch up on the most recent goings-on in New Eden. In this episode, CCP Games draws attention to the Grand Heist update, new visual filters, the game's 16th CSM, and the […]
Valheim showcases additional new decor items arriving with the Hearth and Home update
Last month we got word about the Hearth and Home content update coming to Valheim, which is planning on bringing a variety of home decor and home building items to the Viking-themed survival sandbox sometime in the third quarter. Things had been a bit quiet on that front since then up until a Friday update […]
Fortnite's Rift Tour promises a 'musical journey into magical new realities'
It would appear that Fortnite is ramping up for another in-game concert event. This past Thursday saw the game put out an announcement about an event known as The Rift Tour, which will run between Tuesday, August 6th, and Thursday, August 8th, where attendees will get to "take a musical journey into magical new realities […]
Path of Exile tweaks balance and Expedition drop rates ahead of Royale weekend
Path of Exile's hardest core fanbase has been roiling for a few weeks now, unhappy with the proposition of, launch of, and state of the game and its Expedition League. Reddit, for example, is still grumpy over everything from perceived population dips to drop rates. Grinding Gear hasn't been sitting around twiddling its thumbs, however, […]
Massively on the Go: Pokemon Unite is genuinely fun – for new and casual MOBA players
When Pokemon Unite was first announced, I had severe doubts I'd even give it a shot. I know I'm the local Pokemon guy, but there are many games in the franchise I've never even touched, and PU being a MOBA partially for mobile by a Chinese company had me worried. I don't have any particular beef with Chinese games or studios, but […]
An Activision-Blizzard worker was arrested for bathroom peeping in 2018
We're on day 10 of the Activision-Blizzard scandal – 10 days since we first learned California had filed a massive sexual discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit against Activision-Blizzard following a two-year investigation. The last week and a half has been a non-stop parade of leaked memos, press statements, apologies, and nonpologies from Activision-Blizzard leaders old […]
Neverwinter's new character boosting event is extended for a day after a broken release
Neverwinter kicked off its Jewel of the North release on PC, which certainly got its fair share of attention, but there was another event kicked off this past Tuesday as well: a returning Neverember Recruitment event, which offered newly crafted characters some extra rewards for every level earned and some account-wide goodies that could be […]
Massively Overthinking: Has Blizzard's sexism lawsuit changed your gaming plans?
Following last week's disturbing revelation that Blizzard has been covering up more than a decade of abuse and that the state of California is attempting to hold it accountable, there's been a distinct rift in the online gaming community about what gamers themselves can do about it. While some players and content creators and even […]
Wizard101's summer update reworks the newbie and grouping experience
Wizard101's summer update is promising to be an enticing one for fans of the family-friendly MMO thanks to its revamped tutorial that KingsIsle has been teasing for months. They're calling it the FTUE – first-time user experience – that should help ease newbies into the experience. "The Summer Update not only enhances the experience for […]
Star Citizen features upcoming dynamic loot generation system in latest video
After its usual quarterly hiatus, Star Citizen is back once more with its latest Inside Star Citizen episode, and this one is all about something that up to this point wasn't a thing in the game's alpha: loot, and the finding thereof. CIG is building a loot generation system that will let the devs set […]
Final Fantasy XIV changes the Sage job icon in response to trypophobia sufferers
Today's vocabulary word is "trypophobia," which refers to a feeling of fear or disgust when seeing a small cluster of holes or bumps. Not familiar with it? Then you probably don't understand why there could have been any issue with the design for the job icon for Final Fantasy XIV's upcoming Sage job, which is […]
Lost Ark previews the Assassin and its Shadowhunter and Deathblade elite versions
So you want to be a stabby rogue in Lost Ark? You're gonna have to roll an Assassin. That's the class under the spotlight in the latest dev blog on the upcoming MMO from Amazon and Smilegate. "Assassins are mysterious combatants use a combination of blades and demonic abilities, channeling dark powers in the name […]
Destiny 2 is on the verge of full cross-play between all platforms
If you've stuck it out with Destiny 2 for this long with the hopes that one day you might be united with your friends on other platforms, then get ready for the biggest party this side of the solar system. Bungie said that full cross-play is just about here — and that it will be […]
Facebook is building a multi-billion dollar virtual universe
Normally, the announcement of a new MMO or virtual world would elicit nothing but excitement from our quarter, but there's something ominous in hearing that Facebook is getting involved in the future of online worlds. And this isn't a mere side project, either: Facebook announced a multi-billion dollar metaverse that it's creating to "blur the […]
The Daily Grind: Rename your favorite MMO, only worse
All right, MOP readers, every discussion up to this one has been a warm-up to the main event. Wake up, swig that energy juice, and tell your brain to activate its creativity, because your time is… now. Simply put, today we will rename our MMOs with a much, much worse name that is still appropriate […]
Grand Chase returns from the dead to soar on Steam
Just about nobody remembers the demise of Grand Chase, a side-scrolling online RPG that shut down all the way back in 2015. But it appears that a whole new generation of players are digging the title now that it's relaunched on Steam. Developer and publisher KOG re-released the game yesterday, and so far, it's done […]
MapleStory M introduces the Angelic Buster as part of its three-year anniversary festivities
What's the best way to celebrate three years of operation for MapleStory M? Is it the addition of a new character with a sugary sweet aesthetic that even gets called out by the official video as such? Because that's what the developers have gone with, and the new Angelic Buster has flapped into the game […]
Post-apocalyptic sandbox Xsyon makes big changes to gathering and crafting
While it may be one of those smaller survival sandboxes that you forgot existed, Xsyon has continued to plug along with the occasional update. In fact, one of the biggest patches of the year for the post-apocalyptic MMO arrived this week to bolster the game's gathering and crafting systems. Dubbed the Workshop and Resources Update, […]
Life Beyond talks about positive co-op gaming, open development, and update phases in Q&A video
Darewise Entertainment, developers of the survival sandbox title Life Beyond, brought on the company's Chief of Staff Nathan Martin to answer a few questions posed by players and share the answers in a Q&A video. Martin pulled three questions about the studio's development ethos, the game's open development, and some broad strokes future update plans. […]
Dual Universe explains changes coming to weapons and structures for PvP balance
Are you still making everything out of gold in Dual Universe? You might want to stop when the game's next update arrives for the alpha, as changes to balancing will make gold honeycombs still have the highest HP but come at a serious price in sheer mass to hopefully make other choices more viable. This […]
Lineage II previews Aden's pet system
Are you tired of your pets following you into battle in other MMOs just to look cute flopping around on the ground? Lineage II's new pet system is about more than that. You bring your cute little baby animal into combat, it's going to get ripped and tear people apart. Just check out the preview […]
Fallout 76 outlines a fix-filled patch for August 3, announces another Gold Rush weekend, and shares radio plays
While many players of Fallout 76 are understandably looking toward the Fallout Worlds custom server feature, there are other things to look forward to in the West Virginian wasteland of the game, all of which is outlined in the latest Inside the Vault news bulletin. Top of the list is a smaller update arriving on […]
Cyberpunk multiplayer shooter RPG The Ascent has officially released on Xbox and PC
Publisher Curve Digital and Swedish indie studio Neon Giant are offering up some twin-stick shooting ARPG goodness for yourself or a few of your friends with the launch of The Ascent, a game we first caught notice of back in January of this year. For those who don't remember, The Ascent drops players into the […]
Finnish sci-fi MMO Starbase has entered early access alpha on Steam
"The long wait is over and early access is here!" Starbase developer Frozenbyte declares this morning, and the studio is not kidding. The MMO-ish space game was announced in 2019 and set to hit early access the same year, but it was delayed no less than four times. Fortunately, the Finnish developer has finally pulled […]
Massively on the Go: The Witcher Monster Slayer shows why Pokemon Go is still the best
Nearly a year ago, Niantic employees did a GDC presentation on Augmented Reality design practices, though it seemed a bit more like best practices than exactly what the company does in reality. While I may complain about Pokemon Go design issues, I wouldn't be playing if the game weren't good. It can always be better, […]
Star Wars: The Old Republic's Jedi Sentinel is the next class getting a combat style testing on PTS
As we've reported on before, the Legacy of the Sith update coming to Star Wars: The Old Republic is slowly going through the testing motions, with particular focus on the combat styles feature coming in the expansion. Earlier this month, the Jedi Guardian was put through its testing paces, and now it's time for the […]
WoW Factor: Why does this latest Blizzard scandal feel so different?
I think anyone who has been a fan of World of Warcraft over the past two decades has been trying to parse out some difficult feelings this past week, and they're difficult feelings that don't entirely make sense. If you're anything like me, you've found yourself feeling bad in unfamiliar ways, feeling like you've lost […]
Elite Dangerous Odyssey gets better planet visuals, rendering performance boosts, and a host of fixes today
Today is the sixth update for the PC version of Elite: Dangerous Odyssey, bringing with it some feature adjustments, performance improvements, the improved camera suite, and a list of bug fixes. A couple of these new features have been discussed by developer Frontier Developments previously, such as better planetary textures and new planet surface types, […]
Guild Wars 2's Flashpoint is free as players welcome WoW refugees and debate End of Dragons
If you need a lil break from the latest Blizzard fiasco, Guild Wars 2 is one of the MMOs that stands ready to welcome you in with open arms. Throughout the spring and summer, it's been unlocking past living story episodes for free so players who missed out can give them a try and veterans […]
Crowfall begins testing The Shadow update, plans capacity testing tonight
Can you believe Crowfall's been live for three weeks now? It has, and ArtCraft is back with another weekly blog – and a tease for the upcoming patch. "Our next major gameplay update, The Shadow, moved to public testing on the Test Server last week featuring a first look at The Shadow (home to our […]
New World beta player snags the name AmazonOfficial, uses game's chat to troll Amazon
As anticipated as the game New World may be, we do have to bear in mind that Amazon, the company that's funding Amazon Games' development of the title, has been behind some pretty egregious labor practices for its rank-and-file warehouse workers (and let's not forget that AGS has been up to some awful practices of […]
Pearl Abyss has delayed Crimson Desert indefinitely
Earlier this month, when Pearl Abyss emerged from over six months of silence on Crimson Desert to post a mocap video, we speculated that the original "winter 2021" release date on PC seemed unlikely. It turns out that assumption was right, as early this morning the studio announced a delay for the upcoming MMO. "We […]
Blizzard Day 9: Ubisoft stands in solidarity, Ashes of Creation buys Blizzard workers lunch
Blizzard Entertainment isn't the only video game studio experiencing backlash from its employees over sexism and abuse. The Division 2 maker Ubisoft has long been weathering its own parallel scandals stemming from years-long instances of misconduct and discrimination. Over 500 current and previous employees of Ubisoft-owned studios signed a letter this week that both proclaimed […]
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite single MMO expansion?
MMO expansions are a wonderful thing. No, seriously, I love expansions immensely. I love the feel of logging into a new expansion and hopefully finding amazing new landscapes, quests, challenges, experiences… you know, all of that fun stuff. It's amazing. And I don't think any long-running MMO with more than one expansion to its name […]
Tower of Fantasy is a new MMO from Perfect World Entertainment with a sci-fi bent
Ah, Tower of Fantasy, a perfect title for a game that actually looks to be more science-fiction inspired than fantasy-inspired. Here, let's get your consternation out of the way up front, as the game is being published by Perfect World Entertainment, it's a Chinese game, and it's on mobile as well as PC apparently. For […]
Thunder Tier One is a multiplayer top-down tactical shooter from a PUBG dev, and you can play test it this weekend
Evidently, one of the developers of battle royale shooter PUBG, the head of action and gunplay unit Pawel Smolewski, has been working on a little passion project since 2016, and now that passion project is being picked up by Krafton Inc. and is headed for its first major public test. Say hello to Thunder Tier […]
Albion Online tweaks several weapon skills and reduces zone skip waiting time
Balance balance balance: That's what Sandbox Interactive is going for with today's Albion Online update aka Call to Arms patch 9 aka the Season 13 balance patch. There are quite a few changes for several weapon lines and some armor pieces too. • Axes: Bloody Reap reworked into AoE execution tool; Rending Rage and Adrenaline […]
Elite Dangerous outlines the changes to the camera suite arriving in the next PC update
While it might not be the highest priority fix needed for the Elite: Dangerous Odyssey expansion, those who love to take screenshots of the game or otherwise join in the #StellarScreenshots feature (or even our own One Shots column) will be happy to know that Update 6 of the PC version is adding a whole […]
Bless Unleashed opens up with its founders packs ahead of launch
All right. So we have a release date on PC for Bless Unleashed (specifically, August 6th). We have a clear picture of any and all changes coming to the game at launch. We have various Q&A sessions in which players have asked for something and been told they will not receive it. What are we […]
The Elder Scrolls Online preview's Waking Flame's Dread Cellar dungeon
As intimidating dungeon names go, "The Dread Cellar" doesn't rank highly. You kind of think your next objectives will be the Pantry of Doom or the Evil Coat Closet. But seeing as how this particular dungeon in The Elder Scrolls Online will see you venturing into this former prison now filled with monsters summoned by […]
Lost Ark reveals all of its 'normalized' founder packs and perks
Amazon and Smilegate have released a detailed blog post this afternoon focused on the upcoming Lost Ark's founder packs. And cats. The cats are the star of the show here. While the game itself is planned as a free-to-play title when it launches in the fall, the founder packs are loaded with cosmetics, beta, access, […]
The Stream Team: Tackling the Thunderdeep Drask and more in Dauntless
MOP's Chris is back once again in the world of Dauntless to take on some fresh foes. This time around, there's a Thunderdeep Drask lurking about and possibly a new Heroic Escalation to take on. Either way, the monster slaying will begin today at 2:00 p.m. EDT! What: Dauntless Who: Chris Neal When: 2:00 p.m. […]
Amazon addresses New World crashes, stability, and approach to exploits post-launch
Amazon Games has penned a letter for New World testers addressing the state of the game and its impending fixes. "[W]e created several test builds over the weekend and discovered the problem with the help of a few servers, so as of Monday morning Pacific Time, we have the entire service running with that updated, […]
Oculus pauses sales of the Quest 2 to address headset foam issue
If you were abut to buy yourself an Oculus Quest 2, you can't. Not right away, anyhow. A new notification from the team indicates that Oculus is temporarily pausing sales of the headset to ensure that instead of the original foam face cover, all units are shipped out with a new silicone face cover. This […]
Activision-Blizzard walkout organizers respond to Kotick, Kotaku exposes 'Cosby suite' attendees
In response to Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick's letter to staff last night, organizers of today's walkout have issued a response arguing that his letter "fails to address critical elements at the heart of employee concerns," including their demands for forced arbitration, worker oversight of hiring and promotion, pay transparency, and third-party auditors not chosen by […]
