EverQuest II brings back its (renamed) summer event and kicks off the prelude to Visions of Vetrovia
Panda, Panda, Panda! No, that's not a remake of the film Tora! Tora! Tora! but with adorable fluffy bears; it's the new name for the Days of Summer event in EverQuest II to more accurately reflect the fact that the event primarily features the Hua Mein and Yun Zi. In this year's event, players are […]
Fractured invites MMO players to test its fall alpha starting tomorrow
As we've been covering, indie MMO sandbox Fractured is preparing its big fall alpha phase, which kicks off tomorrow, September 22nd, and runs through October 13th. "The update introduces a number of new abilities, world events, an overhaul of its equipment progression system, and much more," Dynamight Studios says. "The three-week Fall Alpha phase gives […]
Elder Scrolls Online tests Deadlands DLC and new armory system
The big fall release for Elder Scrolls Online is on the way — and is in fact being tested as we speak. ZeniMax announced that Update 23 is on the test server right now for players who want to get an advance look or put the patch through its paces. Update 23 will bring a […]
Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons testers can play with the Vindicator, Bladesworn, Catalyst, and DX11 update now
Hear that hum? It's the distant rumbling of the hype train to Cantha, and it's getting a little bit closer with this week's Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons beta event. As of this afternoon and running through September 25th, Guild Wars 2 players – yes, even freemium players – can log in and roll […]
Choose My Adventure: The further adventures of a twin pistols gadgeteer in DC Universe Online
So, the powers that be said that keeping to my twin pistols in DC Universe Online was the way to go, and I have to say that I wholly agree with the move, especially since I'm now starting to feel like I'm getting a hang of things in combat. As one of the commenters in […]
Star Citizen kicks off a week-long free fly event featuring the four finalists of its community ship showdown
Those who follow Star Citizen closely are likely familiar with the Ship Showdown, an annual community event where fans pick the best ship in the game's roster through a series of polls. That in and of itself isn't really much to write about, but it's the event that's being used as a reason for another […]
Jagex attributes lag spikes during Old School RuneScape's Deadman finals to 'direct network attacks'
Over the past three weeks, Old School RuneScape has been running its Deadman Reborn PvP competition, which hit its zenith this past Friday with a finals event to determine the ultimate winner. However, the whole affair didn't go quite so smoothly as the event started suffering from lag spikes. Initially, Jagex announced that it believed […]
Hearthstone promises a mix of RPG and roguelike when Mercenaries arrives October 12
There's a new game mode coming to Hearthstone on Tuesday, October 12th, which seeks to blend the CCG's characters with RPG and roguelike elements. It's called Mercenaries, and at the very basic level, it's a PvE mode that lets players form a party of mercs to take on bounties for rewards and to build up […]
Final Fantasy XIV details the process of deprecating belts ahead of its next expansion
Final Fantasy XIV is going to remove your belt. Not like that; get your mind out of the gutter. The game is removing belts altogether with the launch of Endwalker, and the newest posting on the official site details exactly how this is going to work. The short version is that when the update's early access […]
Activision-Blizzard is now being investigated by four state and federal regulators as its top legal VP departs
Yesterday, we covered the news that the US Securities and Exchange Commission is now investigating Activision-Blizzard in the wake of its ongoing sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit and associated scandal. As we noted, the feds have subpoenaed Activision along with executives including Bobby Kotick, seeking everything from personnel files and board meeting minutes to termination […]
Corepunk adds Diablo-style loot piñatas to its gameplay world
If you've been craving the sweet-and-salty combination of Orcs and high-tech gadgets, the wait for Corepunk must be agonizing. And while it was a bummer to hear that the studio delayed the closed beta until this December, at least we're starting to get more communication on this game as we head down that stretch. Artificial […]
The Daily Grind: Is Blizzard right to 'desexualize' art in World of Warcraft?
Last week, there was a big social media hubbub over World of Warcraft, as Blizzard quietly changed out a pair of obscure paintings in the game. Once changed a blurry portrait of a woman into a sharper version with less visible cleavage, while the other changed an obvious tongue-in-cheek homage to a reclining female nude […]
Niantic is shutting down Catan: World Explorers after a lackluster early access run
Not everything Niantic touches turns to gold — or becomes an instant hit. Case in point, Catan: World Explorers has been kind of a dud ever since coming to early access in 2020. While the board game is a legitimate hit, the thought of running all over the real world to pick up sheep and […]
PSA: Closers is handing out free level 85 boosts until November 3
Want to play Closers but can't be bothered to do all of that leveling up or playing the game? Then you're going to jump for joy for the game's returning Jumping Character event, which is dishing out a ticket to boost characters up to level 85 and a whole bunch of related goodies for doing […]
Wild Terra 2 adds over 25 new peaceful skills, plans to open Plague Island seasonal content October 14
Wild Terra 2 would like players to both enjoy new peaceful skills and prepare for Plague Island. Both of these things sound diametrically opposed to one another, but that's basically the thrust of the game's content updates, starting with the game's most recent update, which has introduced over 25 new passive and active abilities for […]
Starbase introduces new modules, replenishes asteroids, and makes various fixes in latest update
Starbase's latest patch is being flagged as a "major" patch, but reading the notes you might be let down by the fact it doesn't bring anything game-changing to the table. That said, there are still a lot of things being added with the update regardless. At the top of the list are the addition of […]
The feds are now investigating Activision-Blizzard as the SEC subpoenas execs including Bobby Kotick
Early on in our coverage of the Activision-Blizzard sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit scandal, we noted that the company's response took some ineffective swipes at the state of California bureau heading the investigation and all but threatened to leave the state over the suit. Activision-Blizzard may want to set aside that posturing now, as it'll […]
Uncharted Waters Online hopes to boost visibility with its 'first' official trailer
It's safe to say that Uncharted Waters Online isn't the name that's on every MMO player's lips. The quirky seafaring title has labored in obscurity for many years now under several different owners, most recently Papaya with a 2017 relaunch. Getting eyes on the game's been a challenge for the current owners, so any excuse […]
MapleStory M adds the Dual Blade class and the Victoria Road region in recent patch
If your MMO doesn't have a character that can expertly wave two bladed weapons about with precision, guile, and agility, then what are you even doing with yourself? Luckily, MapleStory M isn't suffering from such a shortage as the game received the Dual Blade class this past Thursday, along with a new region to check […]
MechWarrior Online is tweaking weapons, chassis, and a map as MechWarrior 5 unveils its next expansion
Tomorrow will see a fresh update to the online Mech battler MechWarrior Online, bringing with it some revamps, reworks, and tweaks including a new version of the Caustic Valley map, adjustments to several weapons, and changes to 'Mechs like the Flea, the Vindicator, and the Hatamoto-Chi. The patch will also add a second set of […]
SEED shares blogs about multiplayer appointments, economy, Seedling interactions, and horrifying mutations
Well, I did it to myself. Last time I reported on SEED, I remarked with surprise that the devs at Klang Games only kicked out one dev blog. The fates heard me, smirked among themselves, and saw fit to send a muse to the devs so that they may release another deluge of blog posts. […]
EVE Online players speculate at least 110K players are subscribed based on the August economic report
Last month we reported on some number crunching done by a Redditor that took a stat from EVE Online's July economic report to tease out some possible subscriber numbers. In that report, the Redditor known as Angry Mustache noted that the data had imperfections and that a clearer picture may be available once August's econ […]
Diablo II Resurrected devs talk about maintaining the core experience and hint at post-release content
Remastering a game as venerable as Diablo II has got to be something of a tightrope walk. On the one hand, you're expected to maintain the core experience of the game, but at the same time it's also 21 years old and things have progressed. Toeing that line was a big part of an interview […]
Fight or Kite: Spellbreak's wizardry battles wage on with new content
It's been a hot minute since I spent any time playing Spellbreak. When it first launched, it was a nice part of my nightly gaming rotation. It has a lot of the things that I typically enjoy in my PvP: nice cosmetics, build customization, and intense combat moments. When last we saw our hero (in […]
World of Warcraft makes the Ignore function account-wide in patch 9.1.5
So let's say you ignore someone on World of Warcraft with the poetic name of Clownfart. This is probably a sensible reaction just to the name chosen for the character, but Clownfart was actually being an annoying troll so you doubly didn't want to hear from him. Undaunted, Clownfart logged over to his alt, Clownorgan, and […]
Wisdom of Nym: Reactions to Final Fantasy XIV's job changes from the live letter
One of the things that excites me every time about Final Fantasy XIV is the way that the game can tell you up-front exactly what it's going to be revealing to the point that you know the reveals beyond a shadow of a doubt going in… and yet at the same time it can still […]
Warhammer Online: Return of Reckoning finally adds capital cities that Mythic axed
So a little Warhammer Online history lesson for you today: Originally when Mythic Entertainment was developing the game, it had plans to include up to six capital cities that would be the culmination of the RvR siege experience. However, prior to the game's release, the studio cut that number back to just two. What's interesting […]
Mobile 4X strategy MMO Star Trek Fleet Command makes its debut on PC today
Did you know that there's a massively multiplayer 4X strategy game based in the Star Trek universe? Perhaps it's because you're one of those who shuns all things mobile gaming, but indeed there is such a game. It's called Star Trek Fleet Command, which first made its launch to mobile devices in November 2018 with […]
TitanReach plans its comeback after suddenly receiving full funding from a mysterious benefactor
Apparently, some beneficent soul descended upon Square Root Studios' TitanReach and saw fit to bring the game back up from the dead. After the devs announced in August that development was being suspended due to a lack of funding, studio co-founder Unravel announced on Discord yesterday that the game has suddenly been fully funded by […]
The Elder Scrolls Online is getting new Nvidia anti-aliasing tech in Update 32
When Update 32 of Elder Scrolls Online goes live, it's not only going to be bringing changes to combat to address power creep, it will also apparently be bringing in some shiny new tricks to make things look smoother. Creative director Rich Lambert unveiled the addition of Nvidia's Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing, or DLAA, which works […]
The Daily Grind: Are there MMOs with simply too much to do?
MMO blogger Bhagpuss recently penned a solid article about his time in Guild Wars 2, arguing in part that the game's problem isn't that it doesn't have enough to do but that the content is "designed to be consumed and forgotten" – and there's almost too much of it. "[T]he problem is never not having […]
MMO Week in Review: Elder Scrolls, End of Dragons, and Endwalker
Guild Wars 2 continued its rollout of major End of Dragons reveals this past week, including three new elite specs as we head into the upcoming second beta, which includes DX11 testing. Plus: Mortal Online 2 scrapped its early access plans and pushed launch to 2022, EverQuest II announced Visions of Vetrovia, New World teased […]
Destiny 2 adds a new exotic rifle, shares a calendar of events, and tweaks Trials of Osiris
Bungie is once again full of information about Destiny 2 in this week's newsletter, leading off with the recently added quest for the exotic Ager's Scepter, a Stasis trace rifle full of frigid features. The weapon can be chased now, while its catalyst will be available after reset on Tuesday, September 21st. The newsletter then […]
The MOP Up: Ravendawn's PvP system goes down in infamy
Ravendawn's newest dev blog tackles the meat and potatoes of the MMO's player-vs.-player conflict. Basically, the game is trying to pave the way for open world player killing with an infamy system. It's never been done right before, but hey, maybe the 1,000th time is the charm? "The Infamy System is what keeps the devious […]
Global Chat: New World beta pleases some, fails to grab others
The buzz around MMO Town these days is on New World, and specifically, the open beta that wrapped up last week. So far, the verdict seems pretty positive! SparkoMarcoGaming said, "Overall my first impressions of the game were good, it looks nice even on low settings, and the quests were straight-forward." Alysianah Noire noted that "it […]
The Stream Team: Another attempt at peeking into Voidtrain's early access
Aw snap, here we go again. Last time he tried this, MOP's Chris ran into some technical issues that cut the stream off at the knees, but this time will (hopefully) be different as he peek into the intriguing early access survival sandbox of Voidtrain. Tune in today at 12:00 p.m. EDT to check out […]
Dual Universe outlines changes to warping and docking coming in the Ares update
Earlier this week Dual Universe started writing up details about adjustments planned for the Ares update, with the first post discussing stress a stress system for construct cores, shield changes, and the closure of a couple of PvP exploits. Novaquark has now kicked out a second dev blog covering changes to warping and docking that […]
One Shots: Boom, said the world
You'd think that a world that's already been nuked into a radioactive wasteland wouldn't need any additional bombs lobbed at its surface, but several Fallout 76 players disagree, seeing as how they do it at a regular cadence. For some, like Greaterdivinity, a nuclear explosion is kind of like a fireworks show. Break out the […]
The Daily Grind: What feels like a sufficiently interesting central MMO expansion feature to you?
So while we don't yet have the full picture of how masteries will look for Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons, thus far I am not impressed. I am the opposite of impressed. Fishing is a feature I usually take pains to avoid in MMOs, so the prospect of having various things focused on fishing as […]
Guild Wars 2 stream previews End of Dragons' Vindicator, Bladesworn, and Catalyst
Guild Wars 2 players are getting no shortage of new expansion info lately, between last week's fishing and skiff stream and last month's preview of the first three elite specs. If you are still waiting on info for your favorite class's new elite spec, perhaps you will see it in this week's Guild Chat stream, […]
Diablo II recaps the backstory leading to the start of the game
While it is not like Diablo II's lore is exactly fresh, new stuff in the gaming world, it's entirely possible that you and everyone else has forgotten about the actual backstory to this classic action-RPG. Ergo, to freshen memories and get people hyped about the upcoming launch of Diablo II: Resurrected, Blizzard posted the full […]
DokeV dev talks about world size, finding Dokebi, multiplayer features, and the pivot away from an MMORPG
There are a great number of us who are intrigued by DokeV, the colorful multiplayer open world game being crafted by Pearl Abyss full of battling monsters and interesting modern vistas. While it does appear that we're going to be waiting a while before this one comes out, there's an interview with lead producer Sangyoung […]
Age of Empires IV's stress test is open to all this weekend
There are few titles more anticipated in 2021 than Microsoft's Age of Empires IV. Fans of the series are crossing every digit they have that the studio has made a sequel worthy of this legendary franchise. And if that's you, then you can satisfy your curiosity right now. This weekend only, Microsoft is running a […]
LOTRO Legendarium: Why do we know so little about Fate of Gundabad?
Over the past few months, my general sense of rising hope for Lord of the Rings Online has been tempered by a nagging disquiet about one area in particular. Considering that we've known for two years now that Standing Stone Games was working on a Gundabad expansion for the game, I'd say it's gone from […]
Final Fantasy XIV reveals job actions and battle changes in its latest live letter
The are changes coming to Final Fantasy XIV with the next expansion, and that includes a whole lot of changes to job actions for all 19 of the game's jobs. (Well, changes for 17 of them; two of them will be completely new.) Last night's live letter from the producer went into detail on all […]
WRUP: Photos I will skip over on my phone's camera roll as we talk edition
A blurry shot of my feet that will be excused with "oh, not that one." Seventeen pictures of my cats. A picture of an advertisement in a video game store (I will not explain myself to you). Another blurry shot of my feet that I will pause on for several minutes before saying "oh, right, […]
The Daily Grind: What makes an MMO map amazing?
I love maps. Love love love maps. I spend a stupid amount of time exploring the world on Google Maps, and no, that's not a typo. Not Google Earth, Google Maps. I love following roads and seeing how places are tied together. I love MMO maps. Love love love MMO maps. You could show me […]
Betawatch: Book of Travels begins teasing early access, again
In the long saga of Book of Travels doing almost everything other than actually entering its promised early access state, this week marked an odd departure as the freeform roleplaying sandbox insisted that its early access isn't so far away. It also doesn't like gamers describing the delay as "indefinite," in spite of the fact that […]
MMO Business Roundup: Discord's funding, Bungie's lawsuit, and harassment in online gaming
Welcome back to another roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent business news. Discord: Investors love dumping money into Discord, and they're continuing the trend, as the chat company gamers know best raised another $500M in its latest funding round. That apparently puts the company at a value of $15B, significantly more than the reported $10B Microsoft […]
Sea of Thieves teases underwater adventuring arriving with Season 4 on September 23
Looking forward to more underwater excursions in Sea of Thieves? No? Well too bad because underwater stuff is going to be happening with the game's fourth season if this teaser trailer is anything to be believed. Underwater exploring. Underwater combat. What fun. Details on what exactly is happening with Season 4 are a bit sparse […]
