Massively OP Podcast Episode 336: Bards and battleships
Justin and Bree discuss World of Warships, Roblox, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, Elyon, and Neverwinter, with adventures in LOTRO, FFXIV, GW2, and SWG Legends, plus mailbag topics on repurposing nostalgia and transplanting MMO systems.
EA's 'patent pledge' openly shares tech patents in an effort to increase game accessibility
Everyone, regardless of physical or medical issues, should be allowed to enjoy gaming, and Electronic Arts is attempting to facilitate as much by openly sharing five tech patents with all game devs, promising in a so-called "patent pledge" that studios using these listed tech patents will not face any legal repercussions from EA. "Through our […]
Black Desert Mobile sets sail on the Great Ocean with today's expansion
The mobile version of Black Desert requests your oars, as it's finally getting the Great Ocean expansion today. Readers will recall that the expansion rolled out as Margoria back in 2017 on PC, but mobile players can finally get their feet wet too. "The Great Ocean is a new region players can discover after they […]
Multiplayer co-op shooter Aliens Fireteam Elite officially launches
It's been a very weird and winding road to get to this point, but Cold Iron Studios' long-teased co-op shooter Aliens: Fireteam Elite has now officially launched, arriving as a buy-to-play title to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. "Set in the iconic Alien universe, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a […]
DC Universe Online takes you to the House of Legends tomorrow
Where do you go to hang out when you've got a pair of spandex tights, unlicensed superpowers, and a desire to hobnob with fellow caped crusaders? If you're in DC Universe Online, you're going to want to book it over to the brand-new House of Legends, which will go live tomorrow. This definitely sounds like […]
Choose My Adventure: A quick spot of building and crafting in Trove
I have to admit, this one didn't take long at all to get through. I sort of assumed that building things in Trove was a generally simple affair, owing to the big boxy voxels that this game's world operates on, but I also wasn't really expecting the building segment to be… well… so quick. For […]
Book of Travels has delayed its early access launch for the fourth time
Ah dangit, there goes our other August launch: Might and Delight has delayed Book of Travels for the fourth time. MOP readers will remember that the game was crowdfunded back in 2019 and set early access for last fall, then delayed to Q2 of this year, then to Q3 and more specifically to August 9th for the "chapter […]
Neverwinter's Jewel of the North is live on console with the Bard and level squish
Jewel of the North has officially launched in Neverwinter's Xbox One and PS4 versions as of today – yes, the same update that went live for PC at the end of July. As readers will recall, the release includes the epic new Bard class and a complete overhaul of the game's leveling systems. "The game's […]
LOTRO Legendarium: Ranking LOTRO's Rhovanion zones from worst to best
A while back, I amused myself by ranking all of the Eriador zones in Lord of the Rings Online. It was a fun exercise and one that I wanted to continue by looking at further regions of the game. So today, I want to do the same for Rhovanion. If you can't easily wrap your […]
Bless Unleashed suggests Xbox players who duplicated cash shop currency may be 'required' to buy it back
Evidently there was some dirty pool going down in the Xbox version of Bless Unleashed. The game's official Twitter account noted that there were players on the platform who were duplicating things found in the game's founder's packs, including items and Lumena, the game's cash shop currency. A number of accounts were temporarily suspended but […]
Final Fantasy XIV sets the entire Aether data center to congested
The massive influx of players in Final Fantasy XIV has continued unabated, prompting another update from producer and director Naoki Yoshida regarding the situation. Yoshida once again apologizes for the congestion issues and notes that the team is still working on larger-scale solutions like adding new servers… but in the interim, he also notes that […]
Guild Wars 2 counts 16M accounts, drops fall roadmap, teases End of Dragons fishing and skiffs
Remember how excited everyone was to get the Guild Wars 2 summer roadmap out of ArenaNet earlier this year? Prepare to get excited all over again because as of this morning, the studio's released a fall and winter roadmap, including an infographic and anniversary details. Communication, we dig it! First, the roadmap itself. We already […]
Destiny 2 Witch Queen expansion leaks ahead of today's stream [Updated]
[We're updating at the end with confirmation.] Bungie is gearing up for a big stream for Destiny 2 today, with plans to reveal The Witch Queen, one of a pair of expansions it's been teasing since 2020. It was originally set to launch this year, then pushed into 2022, and we didn't know a whole lot […]
The Daily Grind: Do you have a 'white whale' in MMOs?
And no, I don't mean whale in the sense of MMO players who spend way too much money on games. I mean in the original metaphorical sense of a difficult or obsessive goal, the one that got away, the thing you're always chasing and can't quite catch. I feel like I've been chasing the perfect […]
World of Warcraft will add solo island expeditions in patch 9.1.5
While it doesn't actually have a title, it seems that World of Warcraft patch 9.1.5 could be unofficially titled "Here's That Stuff You Wanted, Please Come Back." We already discussed how the development team has revealed that the patch will reverse course on its prior plan and will add more customization options to underserved races; […]
A3: Still Alive's latest update adds a mode that pits three guilds against each other for control of a fortress
The fortress added to the mobile MMORPG A3: Still Alive ain't big enough for three guilds. So that means it's time for all sides to settle this the only way possible: through madcap PvP. The game's latest update has introduced what it's calling a "Server-integrated Guild Battle mode" that will have three guilds of up […]
Exploration-centric multiplayer RPG The Warhorn adds new areas and items, shares a three-stage roadmap
Do you remember The Warhorn? It has been a while since this one returned to our radar since we first covered it in January 2019; it's an early access multiplayer RPG that leans in on exploration, puzzle solving, and village building and management. The devs at Pigeons Interactive first reckoned early access would wrap up […]
SoulWorker kicks off a collab event with light novel series KonoSuba in recent patch
Are you at all familiar with the light novel series KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! Legend of Crimson? If you are, then you might want to also become familiar with the anime action MMO SoulWorker because the game's most recent update kicked off a collab event with the IP. From now until September […]
RuneScape adds an Elder Gods-themed Yak Track and unveils next part of the Elder God Wars dungeon
This week in RuneScape, it's almost entirely all about Elder God Wars-related things. This week's newsletter leads off with the newest Yak Track, which offers a variety of Elder Gods-themed cosmetics, animations, and pets that players can chase after, as well as a 25% boost to all skill XP and a little narrative to follow […]
ArcheAge Unchained links up former fresh start servers' PvP, auction halls, and more
As we all know, that "fresh character" smell can't last forever — and neither can a fresh start server. ArcheAge is famous for rolling these brand-new servers out of the door, but have you ever wondered what happens to them after they've been around for a while? Other than being abandoned for the latest new […]
Space Punks updates talent trees, revamps the main hub, and introduces gear upgrading in recent patch
When I took a livestreamed first look at Space Punks, the early access multiplayer looter shooter from developer Flying Wild Hog and publisher Jagex, I came away a bit underwhelmed by the amount of content in the game's initial build, which was extremely shallow — particularly for the $30 asking price. As of recently, however, […]
10-year-old Allods Online is (briefly) selling another batch of 'collector's editions'
It is always a little weird to see an MMORPG release a collector's edition well after the launch of a game, but hey, marketers have to justify their salary somehow! And so we come to Allods Online, which last week announced two new collector's editions that'll be sold through tomorrow. Basically, these are two relatively […]
Final Fantasy XI offers players a shot at the Shadowlord's swords
Is it fair that the Shadowlord in Final Fantasy XI gets to have cool swords you don't have immediate access to? No. It is not fair at all. You should rectify this unfairness by getting a shot at his swords, which is actually the center of the event starting on August 30th. Players who take […]
Fight or Kite: How Guild Wars 2's Harbinger, Willbender, and Virtuoso stack up in PvP
Guild Wars 2 has always been my go-to home for MMOs. There's just so much the studio did right when designing the game. But over the last few years, my time in game began to fall off. I just wasn't super interested in a lot of what ArenaNet was doing. The hype had faded – […]
Vampire MMO Shadow's Kiss shows off upcoming Steam page and confirms soft launch date revisions
Do you remember Shadow's Kiss? If you don't, just know that it's a mature horror-themed vampire MMO that we first started covering in 2016, when it first arrived on Patreon for funding and then hit Kickstarter a year later, landing its funding goal from the very start and ending with 300% funding and a number […]
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV's cash shop and the existential horror of monetization
The fact that there's a cash shop in Final Fantasy XIV is something that is absolutely impossible to discuss in a value-neutral fashion. Simply mentioning it is going to inspire people in one camp to point out that the game already has a monthly subscription fee so the cash shop is wholly inappropriate, while the […]
Elder Scrolls Online's Waking Flame DLC and update 31 are live on PC, Mac, and Stadia
Dungeoneers, Elder Scrolls Online's latest DLC is yours for the buying, as Waking Flame is live on PC, Mac, and Stadia for 1500 crowns or free with your sub. As we've been covering since the DLC's announcement back in June, this pack includes two PvE dungeons that tie into the Gates of Oblivion arc and […]
First impressions: Elyon is a boring world with compelling gameplay and customization systems
I'm going to be perfectly honest, I went in to Elyon with some pretty low expectations. Watching it be transmuted from Ascent: Infinite Realm, an intriguing steampunk world with what looked like interesting airship vs. airship large-scale PvP combat and a neat-looking world, into what appeared on the surface as TERA 2, I was not […]
Wurm Online apologizes for lapsed communication, promises work on animal husbandry and VR support
It's been a little while since we've heard anything major out of Wurm Online, with the game's last big ticket feature being the addition of animal husbandry. After that, the promise of monthly updates fell away, leading many players to become worried about the state of the game. This worry was answered a few days […]
Former developers of 38 Studios are receiving a portion of their final paychecks after a nine year wait
The long, sad story of Curt Schilling's defunct 38 Studios has written its final chapter, and much like the entire history of the game studio, it ends in disappointment. The developers who worked for the company are finally getting the court-ordered last paychecks that Schilling owed them before he abruptly shut down the studio and […]
Blue Protocol begins highlighting various NPCs ahead of its theme song release
Every good game needs a catchy theme song, and the developing Japanese MMORPG Blue Protocol is certainly no exception. To that point, the game proudly crowed at the tail end of May that Japanese rock band L'arc-en-Ciel's song Mirai would be the theme for the game. On top of that, the song would be released […]
Bless Unleashed gets a boost from Chinese players as Round8 renames servers
If you've paid attention to the concurrency numbers that Bless Unleashed is doing on SteamDB, you might be wondering how a game that largely gets a shrug from most MMO fans around these parts is doing such gangbuster numbers – nearly 70K in the last 24-hour peak as of this story's writing. A video by […]
The Daily Grind: Which MMO is the most fun when you're losing?
The other day my guildies were chatting about their favorite shooters, and one of them pointed out that he'd rather play a quick pick-up shooter like Overwatch than a PUBG-style battle royale battleground. "I'd rather die in 10 close-up firefights than spend the same five minutes hunting fruitlessly for tiny, distant specks before dying once. […]
MMO Week in Review: World of Warships' blunder, Elyon's beta
Has World of Warships ever made it into the MMO Week in Review before? We don't think so, not even that time when Steven Seagal became its spokesman, but it can claim that honor now, just not for great reasons, as this week we reported on a massive monetization dust-up in the community that led […]
Gamescom 2021 touts over 70 devs and publishers, highlights panels on education and societal change
While this year's Gamescom is going to be different as it's forced to go all-digital due to COVID-19, the event itself is going to be no small affair. The event's latest presser touts over 70 developers and publishers are participating in the event and promises a whole lot of things for players and industry types […]
The MOP Up: Ankama, the studio behind Wakfu and Dofus, turns 20
This past week marked a huge milestone for the parent studio of Wakfu and Dofus, as Ankama turned 20 years old. To celebrate, Ankama unveiled a new logo and promised more gaming goodness in the years to come. "We'll continue to develop our various worlds: All the ones you know, love and take part in, […]
Bad news: Halo Infinite won't have co-op multiplayer systems at launch
It's been a grueling wait for 343 Industries' Halo Infinite to arrive, especially as the game was delayed from last year to this. And now we've learned that even when it launches this fall, it won't include the multiplayer features that fans had been anticipating, just the PvP. In a video announcement, 343 said that […]
The Stream Team: Playing games in the multiplayer 'virtual party world' of Tower Unite
Today, we're doing a little something different for our OPTV viewers. MOP's Chris will be firing up Tower Unite, an early access game that, basically, is just a metaverse of games. Whether it's arcade games, bowling, a typing racing game, or full-on multiplayer games featuring zombie wave survival, racing in hamster balls or go-karts, or […]
LOTRO community Q&A asks about closed server transfers, graphics upgrades, and new events
It's not your imagination: Lord of the Rings Online really has been doing a whole bunch of interviews over past month or two. The barrage of questions being thrown at SSG is indicative of how much the community wants to know about the game and its future — and how happy people are to finally […]
One Shots: Catniss Everkeen
"The true endgame of FFXIV is fashion, but in the process of documenting my many many glamours sometimes I get a cool action shot," RimaHadley shared. And that's the great secret of the One Shotter: Sometimes you get that amazing screenshot by sheer dumb luck. So keep snapping away and trust to the law of […]
Complete coverage of Blizzard's sexual discrimination and harassment scandal
In the summer of 2021, Activision-Blizzard made headlines when the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a civil rights and equal pay lawsuit against the company on behalf of its victimized employees. The ensuing weeks saw a flow of leaked memos, terrible decisions, toppled executives, and crafty apologies that alternately denied, skirted, deflected, […]
The Daily Grind: Which MMO have you played with the worst voice acting?
There was a particular line from the male Norn back in the beta for Guild Wars 2 that made me laugh much more than it should have, an enthusiastic declaration of, "I will find these problems and fix them!" It was meant to establish how the game's overall flow was meant to work, but it […]
Make My MMO: Star Citizen 3.14, Ship of Heroes' mission beta
This last few weeks in crowdfunded MMOs, were actually surprisingly light, which is a good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it. Among the highlights: Ship of Heroes is well into its mission beta (and we had a surprisingly good time when we checked it out. Star Citizen is running a free-fly […]
Beta testing of EVE Online's browser-based EVE Anywhere client expands to more European countries
EVE Anywhere, the browser-based client of EVE Online that we first reported on in March, has been going through its beta testing phases rather swimmingly according to CCP Games. So swimmingly, in fact, that the beta testing is going to expand to more countries in Europe. Just in case you're not following along, EVE Anywhere […]
PlanetSide 2 offers a rundown of the new player experience arriving in the next update
The first few steps of life in PlanetSide 2 are about to get a big reset with the game's next update. Lead designer Michael "Wrel" Henderson has penned a pretty in-depth look at these changes, which will be affecting practically every aspect of a new player's experience The changes begin right at character creation, which […]
New World explains all those split-face statues and the race behind them
As we continue the seemingly never-ending wait for Amazon's New World to arrive, we can console ourselves with learning scraps of the game's setting and lore through dev videos. In fact, the latest one came out this week covering the Ancients — the very old and very extinct race of beings that apparently inspired all […]
LOTRO Legendarium: Why Lord of the Rings Online is worth playing in 2021
It has come to my attention that there are more MMO nomads than normal this summer who are casting about for a new game world to call "home." With so many shinier and newer alternatives out there, it might be a tough case to make that Lord of the Rings Online should be that pick […]
PSA: Aion Classic is handing out a three day-long subscription bonus to all players this weekend
Are you enjoying your time in Aion Classic but not enough to buy the buff-granting subscription? Then you'll probably want to know more about a weekend-long giveaway that's handing out the same buff that subscribers get for free, at least for a limited time. From now until Monday, August 23rd, all players can claim a […]
WRUP: Clipping edition
If you no longer wish to attend our sporting event, we are sorry, but the doors are sealed to prevent anyone from reaching the parking lot and shooting off fireworks during the event itself. However, you can clip through the terrain to exit the building if it becomes necessary. Please use one of the following […]
The Daily Grind: List your favorite expansion to every MMO you've played
Lists — we're doing one today. And it has the potential to be a really fun one! The challenge is fairly simple: Make a list of all of the MMOs that you played for any good length of time (i.e., not ones you tried for about six seconds before your morning coffee that one time). […]
