Battle Bards Episode 200: Battle Bards Bicentennial!
Can you believe it? The Battle Bards have hit 200 amazing episodes! Join Steff, Syl, and Syp as they take a victory lap around the field of MMO music, sharing their personal soundtrack discoveries and listeners' favorite tracks. It's a Battle Bards Bicentennial! Battle Bards is the world's first, best, and only MMO music podcast. Biweekly […]
Guild Wars 2 teases its next elite spec as leaked filenames provide clues for new class weapons
ArenaNet is ready to keep on drumming up the hype for further Guild Wars 2 elite specs, starting with the newest teaser image featuring what appears to be a Norn-shaped character who was beaned in the face by a balloon filled with yellow paint, prompting him to unsheathe some sort of combination between a gunblade […]
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen discusses production and communication in latest VIP roundtable podcast
Care to listen to a couple of devs from Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen talk about production and communication matters for the MMO? Then you've got an action-packed hour's worth of podcast waiting for you with the game's August developer roundtable podcast. This episode features project producer and director of communications Ben "Machail" Dean and […]
Fallout 76's Fallout Worlds Update includes Unstoppables reward track and two new allies
Superheroes and other comic book figures might initially seem at odds with Fallout 76's post-nuclear wasteland, but fans of the series know that there's a particular love in the remaining culture of the world of these characters. So it shouldn't raise eyebrows to hear that the game's sixth season is focused around The Unstoppables. This […]
The Game Archaeologist: SOE's many MMO spin-off digital card games
One thing that I deeply admired about old Sony Online Entertainment was that it strove to experiment, innovate, and take risks. Sometimes those special projects panned out, sometimes they did not — but it was always a wild ride, giving us things like Player Studio, SOEmote, and pizza integration with EverQuest II. Another thing that […]
Embers Adrift announces plans for pre-orders in October, plots testing windows and final release timing
Remember how Embers Adrift, the game formerly known as Saga of Lucimia, said it had raised enough money to launch? Well the devs at Stormhaven Studios have put that money where their mouth is with a new announcement that effectively outlines the game's path to release. First off, Embers will open a pre-order store this […]
WRUP: Kylie stole my lightsaber edition
All right, Master. You're angry. I understand that. I'm angry, too. Not at you, obviously, but at the situation. See, I know that you're not going to believe me when I say this, but Kylie actually stole my lightsaber. I didn't forget it or anything, I know right where it is. Kylie has it. But […]
The Daily Grind: When was the last time you slowed down to enjoy your MMO?
It hasn't escaped my attention that, in MMOs, speed is everything. If we're not running somewhere, we're sprinting. If we're not sprinting, we're on rocket-powered mounts breaking Mach 7. The faster we can get to our objectives, the faster we can Get Stuff Done and Make Progress. And while I do appreciate convenient transportation, I […]
Betawatch: TitanReach suspends development
Exeunt TitanReach, pursued by former backers angry that the game is no more. The studio behind the game announced this week that development was being suspended due to a lack of funds, meaning that the packages sold since the game's early access began weren't enough to sustain ongoing development. That doesn't mean that it's impossible for the […]
MMO Business Roundup: Clockwork Labs' sandbox startup, NPIXEL, LOTRO's community, and more
Welcome back to another quickie roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news. Business business business! Clockwork Labs: Brand-new indie game studio Clockwork Labs has raised $4.3M US for its "upcoming unannounced community sandbox MMORPG." According to the press, the studio is "dedicated to building massively-multiplayer "societal games" that are less focused on pure combat and […]
League of Legends announces a virtual concert for the band Pentakill and previews its newest hero Vex
Care for a bit of heavy metal with your MOBA? Then you probably enjoy Pentakill, the virtual heavy metal band from the League of Legends universe. The band is soon releasing its third album, Lost Chapter, which was first announced at the end of an ARG that kicked off on August 29th, and Riot Games […]
Pokemon Go's 'postponed' Safari Zones going hybrid, still no party hats for Japan, Korea, or Italy
Niantic is still trying to get Pokemon GO players outside despite backlash and ongoing hashtag tomfoolery, though right now it's doing so in a hybrid fashion. The original 2020 Safari Zones were set to be held in-person starting March 2020 during what became lockdown periods for COVID-19, leading the events to be both postponed and active […]
Final Fantasy XI announces its September update and continues its anniversary interviews
It's the start of September, and that means Final Fantasy XI fans know it's just about time for the game's next version update to arrive as usual. This means another installment in the ongoing Voracious Resurgence storyline, with this serving as the final installment in the Aht Urhgan portion of the tale. What will it involve? […]
Warframe brings back the Plague Star event and introduces Nidus Prime on September 8
Much of this isn't exactly news if you watched the last devstream for Warframe, but just so players are aware, this coming Wednesday, September 8th, will be bringing the multiplayer shooter's next update, which is reintroducing the popular Plague Star event and releasing the game's newest Prime 'frame. One of the highlighted features of September […]
VR MMO Zenith hypes up its physics model for swords and new hires to the dev team
What's coming next to the in-development VR MMO Zenith? According to the game's latest press release, physics. While that might sound a bit like old hat or a nod back to Nvidia's PhysX tech demo videos, developer RamenVR promises that the application of physics in VR carries a bit more weight. Get it? Physics jokes; […]
DC Universe Online is fixing episode 41's endgame source marks situation
As surveys for DC Universe Online continue rolling in, Daybreak and Dimensional Ink are forging ahead with plans for future development, as catalogued in the latest dev blog. Notably, the team is already hard at work fixing up episode 41 based on feedback already collected from players. The studio says it aims to return and […]
Final Fantasy XIV posts another anniversary story while scheduling its next live letter
The celebration of Final Fantasy XIV's eighth anniversary in fiction continues to roll on with a new side story for players to enjoy. This time, it's time to take a peek at the backstory of the head of Limsa Lominsa, Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn herself, recalling the early summoning of Leviathan and the moment when she had […]
Inside Star Citizen offers a look at several new ships, new weapons, and new locations in development
When we reported on Star Citizen's August development report, we noted that the ship development team was extremely busy with a number of vehicles moving through various stages of the pipeline. That has been expounded upon a bit more in this week's episode of Inside Star Citizen, which shows off some of these new ships […]
SWG Legends is letting players demolish over 13K houses in latest pack-up event
People put a lot of effort into their MMORPG houses, but that only enhances the amusement when it's time for the community to blow them up, right? I'm mostly kidding, but not entirely: As of today's update, Star Wars Galaxies rogue server SWG Legends has initiated one of its intermittent housing demolition/house pack-up events. Here's […]
Global Chat: Returning to Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2's new (old) leadership, uptick in communication, and upcoming expansion have a lot of MMO players returning to the game lately — including Why I Game's Jeromai, who wrote an essay on the state of the game and its activities right now. "Guild Wars 2, as a horizontal progression game, is filled with […]
WoW Factor: What's behind the turning of the tide in World of Warcraft's patch 9.1.5?
There's some interesting stuff going on right now when it comes to World of Warcraft's next major patch, due in no small part to the fact that it's clearly the patch all about pulling the ripcord. Indeed, it's a patch that is pulling that cord so hard that I suspect the cord is going to come […]
Book of Travels attributes its latest delay to an 'unholy trio' of bugs, promises a new early access launch date soon
When Book of Travels saw its early access release date pushed back a fourth time to date, there was perhaps some concern about just what is happening. Developer Might & Delight has thankfully provided some honest context, and it turns out to be a good thing there was a delay, all things considered: The game […]
World of Warcraft patch 9.1.5 kicks off testing with a number of new customization options for Nightborne, Lightforged Draenei, and Void Elves
We've said it before and we'll say it again: World of Warcraft wants you to love it again. Can you come up with another reason for the game suddenly adding a lot of additional customization options players have requested? You might not actually care about why, though; you might just be happy that you've got […]
Playable Worlds' Raph Koster has all but said he's building a metaverse
If you've been listening to companies like Epic Games yammer about the "metaverse" over the last year and wondered whether it's all just a lot of simple tricks and nonsense, then you might want to read up, and who better to offer that reading than someone who actually built and ran one? That someone would […]
Wizard101 celebrates its 13th birthday with free gifts and zone samples
There's nothing that strikes as much fear and trepidation in the heart than seeing someone officially become a teenager, unless that newly minted teen has access to an unparalleled magical arsenal of destruction. Then it becomes a party! That's right: Wizard101 turned 13 years old this month, and KingsIsle is raring to celebrate. For the […]
Daybreak parent Enad Global 7 plans a Q&A presentation for next week
Hey, do you have questions for the owner of Daybreak Game Company and Standing Stone Games? Get in line, then, because so do a whole lot of people, especially after the recent change-up in corporate leadership. Perhaps to quell some of the concerns that investors and players have had about the company's leadership, finances, and […]
The Daily Grind: How long a commitment are you willing to make to an MMORPG?
During a MOP Podcast back in August, our own Justin noted that he'd lost interest in the Lord of the Rings Online Treebeard server because of the time commitment. Treebeard, you'll recall, is a server that's set up so that players level quite slowly and the patch rollout is slow too, such that it'll take […]
Massively Overthinking: MMO ideas that were ahead of their time
I'm gonna say something wild right now: In some ways, CliffyB was ahead of his time. My husband and I came to this realization a while back when he was trying to find a replacement for Overwatch and dipped his toe back into Paladins and Apex Legends. I was watching him play and realized that […]
PlanetSide 2 kicks off the Summer Fun 2021 event for PlayStation 4 players
PlayStation 4 players of PlanetSide 2 who may have been looking on jealously at PC players of the multiplayer shooter as they had neon colored fun with squirt guns and water balloons now have the Summer Fun 2021 event is live on the platform. Yes, it's a bit late. Yes, it's summertime in September. Just […]
Dual Universe showcases the features of the Apollo update, teases Ares update
At the beginning of August, Dual Universe released the Apollo update, which featured a number of new system additions such as mechanics surrounding asteroid finds, shield generators, and more. None of this is exactly news to regular players or readers of patch notes, but Novaquark has decided to keep on drawing attention to this update's […]
Old School RuneScape makes adjustments to Deadman and unveils a Group Ironman mode
Last week saw the start of the new Reborn version of the Deadman tournament to Old School RuneScape, and already the mode has seen a number of adjustments based on player feedback. This past Tuesday saw adjustments to starter packs, several sigils, and a tweak to the mode's three life system to combat players abusing […]
ARK Survival Evolved made it to Google Stadia, counts 20M sales since 2015
It might almost seem an afterthought to put ARK Survival Evolved on Stadia at this late a date, given that ARK II is already under development and the original game isn't destined for any major upgrades in the future, but it's happening all the same. Studio Wildcard is putting the eternal-early access 2015 survival game into […]
Book of Travels devs discuss their Studio Ghibli and Baldur's Gate influences
At some point, developer Might & Delight should recognize that it's kind of repeating itself a bit. For instance, the latest video from the studio about TMORPG Book of Travels is all about the other artwork and creations that have influenced and shaped the game's design — something the devs have written about in the […]
12-year-old Champions Online kicks off four-week anniversary celebration
Does it seem as if Champions Online has been around 12 years? Well, recenter your internal clock because yes, yes it most definitely has. Cryptic's festivities include a historical tour from Top Ten, the return of Sapphire's concert, a freebie anniversary pack, and your chance to save the cats. "Happy Anniversary, Champions! It's been twelve […]
Star Citizen's August dev report notes progress on Pyro features, more vehicles, and a new mission type
September begins and August ends, which means that once more CIG has an end of month report for Star Citizen's development as per usual. Peppered throughout the report is information about Pyro developments; the narrative team is working on narrative content for the system, the AI team is working on a mobile vendor that players […]
Albion Online teases 'hideout HQs' and new weapon lines
Sandbox Interactive has pushed out a new dev blog this week focusing on upcoming balancing changes in Albion Online, all part of its push to "renew open world gameplay" in the PvP MMORPG. "The current strategic balance in the Outlands encourages large power blocks to form, and these power blocks in turn have an incentive […]
Massively on the Go: Everything we learned from Pokemon Go's post-backlash Task Force
While Niantic already reverted its Pokemon GO gym and PokeStop nerf in late August, the company said that more changes would be announced on September 1st, along with the rest of the "Task Force" findings. Those changes had been shared, but now we have the reasoning too. While they make sense, they also suggest company was […]
DC Universe Online has opened a survey to judge how players are feeling about the game
Are you happy with DC Universe Online at the moment or unhappy with it? The developers want to hear from you, and they're using the time-honored method of putting the whole thing in a comprehensive survey for players to take right now if they're so inclined. While it doesn't specifically say that this will influence the long-term […]
Vague Patch Notes: MMOs are useless, and that's completely fine
When you play an MMO, you are developing a skill. That skill is playing that MMO. It's not a skill with a great deal of lateral application. But it doesn't need to be. We were having an interesting discussion in the MasivelyOP offices at one point about hobbies and the things that qualify as hobbies… […]
World of Warships finally issues apology for August debacles, addresses communication and monetization
World of Warships has really not had the best run over the last couple of weeks. As our own WoWS expert Ben has been covering, August saw a mass-exodus of dedicated content creators from the game over what they characterized as abusive behavior toward influencers as well as problematic and aggressive monetization. Russian devs then […]
Blade & Soul opens up pre-download of its Unreal Engine 4 update on the game's launcher
Let's assume that you're a Blade & Soul fan who was sitting on your hands, not double-clicking the NC Launcher icon on your desktop until the game's big Unreal Engine 4 update launched on September 8th. That's totally fine, all things considered, since you might want to wait until the new update goes live. However, […]
Embers Adrift, formerly Saga of Lucimia, says it's raised enough money to launch
Stormhaven Studios has been relatively quiet this summer since announcing that it was rebranding Saga of Lucimia as Embers Adrift following the bizarre departure of the game's original founders earlier this year. But it's got a state of the game update this week with some extremely good news as the studio says it's now fully […]
World of Warcraft removes references to former employees and removes the AoE cap in patch 9.1.5
The most immediate fallout of the ongoing Activision-Blizzard lawsuit has been the removal of numerous references to now-former employees directly named or implicated in the suit, and the latest hotfix has removed a number of such references in World of Warcraft. Jonathan LeCraft, Jesse McCree, and Luis Barriga have had the vast majority of their […]
Mortal Online 2 says that 40,000 players have beta tested so far
In advance of a final stress test coming next month, Mortal Online 2 announced that 40,000 players have streamed into the beta so far to get a taste of bloody combat and ruthless PvP fights. All interested parties are invited to sign up to try out the game for its final run at the beta […]
Dungeons and Dragons Online seeks out a new producer, improves its grouping tool
Seeing as how getting a producer has helped to kickstart communication and organization over at Lord of the Rings Online, SSG apparently figured that it was time to do the same for sister MMO Dungeons and Dragons Online. The studio posted a new help wanted ad for a DDO producer, saying, "The producer will primarily […]
The Daily Grind: Are there IPs you still want to see in MMO form despite failed projects?
My bitterness toward Jagex is entirely down to how the company handled its license to make a Transformers online game. Transformers Universe was first announced as an MMO set in one of the fictional universes for this property that I have a deep and inexplicable love for. Then it wasn't an MMO any more but a […]
Final Fantasy XIV shows you how to make its 8-year anniversary cake in painstaking detail
As part of the celebration for Final Fantasy XIV's eight-year celebration, celebrity baker Kim-Joy took the time to create an elaborate cake including cactuars, fat chocobos, spriggans, and even an appropriate moogle topper. It's quite the epic-looking cake. But if you want a slice of that cake, you'd be sadly out of luck… unless you're in […]
Pixel sandbox MMO RPG MO celebrates ninth birthday with a big ol' patch
It's been way too long since we checked in on RPG MO – 2016, in fact – so we're going to rectify that today, as the game turned nine in July. It's an open-world sandbox in the isometric pixel style aimed at adults, with 44 maps, 800 monster types, 50 bosses, gobs of skills, crafting, […]
Starbase's latest minor patch fixes crashing and crafting issues
Do you like approaching your own station in Starbase and being greeted by the calm, welcoming sound of the game crashing? The answer is "no" because no one likes that and it's not something that even was supposed to be happening. Fortunately, the most recent minor patch for the game fixes that particular crashing issue as […]
Trove's latest PC patch adds 'Depth Stepper' gates to elite delves
Gamigo has rolled out a fresh content patch for Trove, at least for PC. The studio's calling it the Depth Stepper update. What the heck is a Depth Stepper, and why is it so hard to pronounce? Well, we can't help with that second question, but as for the first, it turns out to be […]
