Lineage II Aden brings the Orc Fortress and World Olympiad with today's patch
We hope you're ready to fight Flag Guardian Greg in Lineage II Aden. Yes, that's his name. He's Flag Guardian Greg, and he guards the flag to the Orc Fortress, which players need to claim in order to capture the fortress as part of the daily battle for control of this particular fortress. That explains the […]
Black Desert launches Conquest War pre-season, sets Season+ server launch for next week
Conquest War has returned to the world of Black Desert as the pre-season has begun. MMO players will recall that this mode is basically mass territorial PvP. "Conquest War is a large-scale PvP feature in which guilds compete over territory. The guild that takes over a territory is given dominion and the right to collect […]
World of Tanks community rep resigns in protest over firing of fellow Wargaming staffer
Wargaming, the studio behind World of Warships and World of Tanks, is garnering the wrong kind of attention all over again, this time for firing a member of the Tanks community team following weeks of bad press and botched apologies in the wake of a massive influencer exodus. Eagle-eyed players noted yesterday that Elias K. […]
Guild Wars 2: I'm a lich, I'm a lich, oh the lich is back… as this week's Living World freebie
While longtime Guild Wars 2 veterans are looking ahead to the DirectX 11 beta and next End of Dragons elite spec beta events coming on September 21st, there's a little something for lapsed players in the meantime in the form on the ongoing Return to Living World revisits. The repromote of Season 4 got underway […]
Diablo II Resurrected addresses chat, parties, TCP/IP support, and big honkin' monitors
With Diablo II Resurrected's remaster release right around the corner and more or less expected to carry Blizzard through the rest of the year, the developers are aiming to get it right – and that means adjusting the way players play together. In the studio's latest dev blog, it addresses both the difficulty of joining […]
The Stream Team: Reloading the repeaters for a dive into Dauntless
The most recent update to Dauntless brought on a few new things to the game, but one of the bigger additions is a change to the repeaters ranged weapon. That means that Chris, MOP's resident monster hunter, has to hop into the Shattered Isles to try them out! Join us at 2:00 p.m. EDT for […]
Albion Online previews the upcoming addition of War Gloves
In the high-fantasy battlefields of Albion Online, players need access to new skills, new abilities, and new techniques. One such technique is the time-honored art of socking someone in the jaw. The new War Glove weapons are coming with the game's next patch, and they will allow players access to 15 new abilities as part of […]
Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis has banned over 1,600 accounts for hateful behavior
The devs of Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis are letting players know that hateful or discriminatory behavior in the game will not fly. A tweeted image touches on the subject, mentioning that over 1,600 accounts have already faced discipline for engaging in such behavior while also admitting that more will be done to continue […]
Bless Unleashed PC promises improved UI and class balancing, shares a content update arriving September 15
Bless Unleashed's producer Koven Park has taken to Steam to pen a three part letter to PC players, offering up a number of updates coming to the MMORPG in the near future. The letter's first part is generally short and sweet, announcing that the game's sixth battle pass will give away its premium reward track […]
Global Chat: World of Warcraft's kick in the pants, Guild Wars 2's choice paralysis
What happens when an MMORPG gets a big kick in the pants from both critical lashings and a company-wide scandal? It may actually get back on track — or at least make noise about doing so. In An Age notes that there seems to be a strong connection with all that's been happening at Blizzard […]
Blade & Soul's Unreal Engine 4 update goes live today — here are the patch notes
We've been covering this update's arrival for a long while, and now it's finally arriving. It's Blade & Soul's big Unreal Engine 4 upgrade update, and it's launching today, bringing with it a whole lot of new content on top of the expected visual upgrade as the patch notes can attest. On top of the […]
Fallout 76 releases Fallout Worlds but postpones Season 6
It's a big update day for Fallout 76 — but not quite as big as originally intended. While the post-apocalyptic game is pushing out two new allies and the Fallout Worlds servers today, Bethesda announced yesterday that it made the call to delay Season 6 due to an issue with the current season. "We've discovered […]
World of Warcraft renames achievements in patch 9.1.5 and hotfixes faster Conduit Energy refills
If the theme of patch 9.1.5 for World of Warcraft is "please love us again," the subtheme is "we're removing the stuff that really shouldn't have been in the game nearly this long." Case in point, two of the game's achievements are being renamed in the next patch, with "My Sack is Gigantique" redubbed "My Storage […]
Lost Ark on localization, latency, and the Striker's western release
Last week, Amazon admitted that it has delayed the western release of Lost Ark from this fall to next year; the studio said it was down to improving the quality of the title, though most gamers had already decided Amazon just didn't see see the wisdom in making Lost Ark and New World fight. But […]
Jagex stamps out an Old School RuneScape mod prior to release, players organize a protest [Updated]
(We've updated at the end with Jagex's latest statement.) An Old School RuneScape modder is steaming after Jagex sent out a letter demanding that the project be shut down, despite the game being open-source. RuneLite HD is one of several graphical mods apparently being targeted by the MMORPG developer, which posted that it sent out […]
Crowfall confirms layoffs, attributing them to switching to a 'live service' op
On Labor Day, we reported that Crowfall team ArtCraft had suffered a round of layoffs. While ArtCraft itself declined to comment on the record about the extent of the damage, one affected developer was more candid on social media, blaming a lack of marketing and describing layoffs that came without notice: "[T]he guys that made […]
The Daily Grind: Should there be an MMO 'caretaker' company for unwanted titles?
A couple of weeks ago, I watched through the entirety of Vanguard's Jeff Butler's three-hour interview concerning MMO projects that he worked on and the genre in general. One part stood out to me, when the two gentlemen were speaking about a strong desire to see a company or companies become caretakers of MMORPGs that […]
T3Fun is shutting down its version of Granado Espada this month
Considering that no updates or even maintenance has been done on Granado Espada (also called Sword of the New World) over the past year, most players probably saw the writing on the wall long before publisher T3Fun announced this week that it was closing down the game's service in a couple of weeks in North […]
PlanetSide 2's inbound patch makes map adjustments for low and high population situations
PlanetSide 2 has a big PTS patch in store for later this week, Daybreak announced just ahead of the long weekend. While the new player experience will be a large chunk of the patch, the studio has a dev blog up on what else players can expect. Notably, the studio is retooling the Koltyr map […]
Jagex addresses Old School RuneScape's Group Ironman mode development
Last week, Old School RuneScape unveiled plans to launch a group-based version of its Ironman mode, allowing small teams to come together to face its myriad challenges. Players have had some things to say about the reveal since then, prompting Jagex to update the announcement post with some responses to that feedback. First off, the […]
EVE Online is running another 'no-downtime' experiment this week
Shall we play a game? EVE Online's Senior Live Director Erlendur S. Þorsteinsson aka CCP Explorer would like you to play forever. OK, maybe not forever, but definitely without any downtime. That's the focus of his latest blog, which heralds a second "no-downtime experiment in EVE." His ultimate goal is to get the current 3:40 […]
Profane splashes its new digital water everywhere in latest Twitter showcase
I recall a time during the Nintendo 64's early life cycle when devs were excited to show off new water animation tech. Sure, it was groundbreaking at the time, but since then water simulation has come a lot farther from "gelatinous cube trying to do a belly dance." Just take a look at Profane's latest […]
AA indie sandbox MMO Galaxies of Eden discusses classic vs. action combat switch and skill balancing
A month ago, we covered a new sandbox MMORPG under development by MIR Cybernetics Corporation: Galaxies of Eden. It's absurdly ambitious, with an alpha planned for early 2022 and a social-gameplay-friendly features list as well as obvious homages to Star Wars Galaxies. And as we noted, the game isn't asking for money just yet. MIR […]
Starbase pushes back moon bases, capital ships, and station siege gameplay in newest roadmap update
It sucks when a game has to delay a bunch of features, but that's just what the crafting-minded sandbox Starbase is forced to do. Developer Frozenbyte has laid out the sad news in a roadmap update, admitting that "bugs and the numerous launch issues have pushed back [the studio's] development schedule," which in turn has […]
Minecraft mod Mammoth is meant to allow more than 1000 players to play together
We're probably not going to blow anyone's mind with this revelation, but here it is: Making a lag-free environment for a bunch of people to play together in an MMO is actually really difficult. A lot of studios struggle with games precisely because of this. Minecraft is no exception when it comes to player counts… […]
Nightmare is a new F2P pixelart MMORPG that's launched on Steam today
Happy Tuesday, and welcome to the launch of a new MMORPG! We're talking about Nightmare, a new open-world retro pixelart MMO from the indie Magework Studios, which just fully launched as a free-to-play title on Steam. The game boasts character customization with "hundreds of style combinations," a main plot, eight classes, diurnal questing and PvP, […]
Gamers' class-action against Chronicles of Elyria studio proceeds, suit against Xsolla deferred
We now return you to the Chronicles of Elyria legal drama in progress. When we last left the story, the lawsuit levied against developer Soulbound Studios and Xsolla had been partially transferred from California to Washington. Xsolla had been accused of refusing to grant refunds for per its own terms of use, but the judge […]
Blade & Soul offers a preview of the Dual Blade class arriving on September 8
Blade & Soul continues to run down the feature list of its upcoming September 8th update, this time offering a closer look at the Dual Blade class that will launch with the new content patch. And yes, it has a bit more information beyond "it uses two swords" and "it's a melee class" (though it […]
The Soapbox: #DayOffTwitch illustrates how good intentions break under bad planning
Those of you reading this probably know me as someone who wears one of three hats here at MOP: a news writer, the Choose My Adventure columnist, and one of MOP's streamers. It's that third job that I wanted to talk about here today, specifically about the recent #DayOffTwitch boycott that happened this past Wednesday, […]
Lord of the Rings Online to preview Brawler class and Legendary Item improvements this week
Lord of the Rings Online fans are due for a preview of their future this week, as SSG is running a preview test for two highly anticipated features. Both the much-needed legendary item revamp and the brand-new Brawler class are going onto the public test server on Wednesday. This should allow for a whole ton […]
China's new kid gaming time regulations are already causing industry trainwrecks
At the end of August, we noted that China was following through on its plan to set extreme limits on minors' gaming time – limits that effectively ensured young gamers would be allowed to play games only between the hours of 8 and 9 p.m. on weekend evenings and public holidays. The move has apparently […]
World of Warcraft patch 9.1.5 allows you to unlock flight again by dying
People are dying to fly in World of Warcraft's upcoming next patch. You might be about to argue that flight isn't keeping with the theme of patch 9.1.5 ("baby, we changed, please love us again") because flight was actually unlocked back in patch 9.1, and that's accurate, but in this particular case that first line […]
Final Fantasy XIV brings back the Final Fantasy XV collaboration event on September 13
If you missed out on getting a suit of attire, Orchestrion rolls, or the flying four-seat car mount in Final Fantasy XIV the last time the Final Fantasy XV collaboration event rolled around, we've got good news for you. The event has been confirmed to roll around once again starting on September 13th, allowing players […]
Star Citizen backer reports CIG to the UK Advertising Standards Agency over ship concept sales
Are you among those fed up that Star Citizen can sell concept ships — internet spaceships that haven't even materialized in the game yet but can still be sold for hundreds of dollars — with no recourse? You're not alone, even among backers of the game, apparently. One Redditor by the name of Mazty received […]
Sony puts an end to free first-party PlayStation 5 game upgrades
Bad news for PlayStation 5 owners looking to upgrade their libraries: Sony said that it's putting an end to the practice of upgrading first-party PlayStation 4 games to the next generation edition for free. This appears to be a shift in corporate philosophy, as Sony previously said that it had "an upgrade path for PS4 […]
The Daily Grind: Which MMOs begin as they mean to go on?
In Eliot's open letter to new players and vets of Final Fantasy XIV last month, he noted that Final Fantasy XIV's endgame is not like the endgames of many other MMOs, specifically because it "begins as it means to go on." "The endgame is not where the game starts; level 1 is where the game […]
Craftopia arrives to Windows and Xbox Game Preview, plans its summer update for September 30
It's been a while since we checked in on the developing survival sandbox of Craftopia, and boy is it good we're peeking back in because there have been a number of updates to note. We start off with last week's launch of the game on Xbox and Windows Game Preview, granting players on Xbox One, […]
SoulWorker introduces a new four-player Violent Sun raid in latest update
Players of the action MMO SoulWorker have a new challenge to step up to in the form of the Violent Sun raid, a four-player encounter that sits as the tentpole attraction for the game's latest update. This new raid requires four players who are rank 72 and higher, and features a final boss with three […]
Life Beyond adds weapon upgrades in latest patch, plans new AI, Corruption mode, and public playtest 'gyms'
The survival sandbox of Life Beyond is continuing to grow. After a teaser tweet this past Wednesday, the game's latest release went live two days later on Friday, introducing the ability for players to upgrade their weapons and deployables by using special resources collected during expeditions. There have also been a couple of weapon and […]
Shroud of the Avatar addresses 'dozens of errors' in latest patch
Release 93 of Shroud of the Avatar apparently didn't arrive without some bugs in it. That seems to be par for the course for most MMOs unfortunately, but the bugs that arrived with the recent build of the MMORPG were apparently bad enough and numerous enough that they were causing some lag and hitching problems. […]
Wisdom of Nym: A look at Trusts in Final Fantasy XIV before Endwalker
Trusts are simultaneously one of the most important and most invisible features of Shadowbringers on a whole. A whole lot of work goes into making sure that Trusts are available and work for every single dungeon all the way through the expansion, and yet it's very possible for a lot of people to go through […]
Grab a key for Eden Falling's ongoing closed alpha 2 courtesy of Razor Edge Games and MOP
Yesterday, Razor Edge Games kicked off phase two of its closed alpha for Eden Falling, the "multiplayer sci-fi turn-based strategic survival RPG" we've had our eye on for the last few years. The game has been humming along through development and most recently pushed out its engine update that promises "more fluid gameplay, better fidelity, […]
Overwatch League plans an April 2022 start and confirms the use of an 'early build' of Overwatch 2
Are you eager for the next round of Overwatch competition? Then perhaps you'll be happy to note that Jon Spector, the VP of the Overwatch League for Blizzard, has put out a couple of tweets you should know about. First off, Spector announced that the league plans to kick off its next season sometime in […]
Crowfall studio ArtCraft has apparently suffered a round of layoffs
We've got some bad news for fans of Crowfall: It appears that the team behind the game, ArtCraft, is going through some layoffs. The news initially came from Valerie Massey, who was the Director of Community at ArtCraft at the time of its Kickstarter through June of last year; she's currently the Senior Community Manager at […]
The Daily Grind: What's the worst type of minigame in MMOs?
Today's Daily Grind was inspired by Roger over at Contains Moderate Peril, who penned a fun piece on minigames a few weeks back. Oh, did I say fun? I meant grumpy. But justifiably grumpy, in my opinion. He begins by pointing out that most MMO minigamers are harmless and even fun. But… "Then there's a […]
MMO Week in Review: Lost Ark's delay, WoW's carrot on a stick
This week, Lost Ark delayed its launch into next year, freeing up your MMO autumn for the likes of New World of Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker. Meanwhile, No Man's Sky launched Frontiers, Daybreak is a mess as always, and World of Warcraft continued trying to win back its alienated playerbase with patches and bribes. Read […]
Fortnite's Operation: Sky Fire plans to close out Season 2 Chapter 7 with an assault on an alien ship September 12
Fortnite players, mark the calendar date of Sunday, September 12th, as that will be the end of the game's current Season 2 Chapter 7, and in usual Fortnite style, it will end with a big ol' hullabaloo. Specifically, an invasion of one of the alien ships. Players are advised that the event will kick off […]
The MOP Up: Perfect World Mobile celebrates its second anniversary with extra bonuses
Perfect World Mobile just reached its second birthday, and with that comes a string of extra goodies, bonuses, login rewards, and even a special anniversary server. "When the pre-registrations reach the designated number, all Seekers (at level 30) in the server will get a reward of 900 Bound Gold Ingots. And all players who reach […]
Blade and Soul plunges into a new forest dungeon on September 8
With several MMOs pumping out patches on September 8th, Blade and Soul is going to have to work extra hard to get your attention. How about the addition of a sinister forest dungeon with tons of new rewards? That should perk up the ears of any adventurer, we should think. The Forest of Echoes instance […]
The Stream Team: Romping around the new build of multiplayer RPG Swords 'n Magic and Stuff
It's time yet again for another run around in something a bit different. Specifically, the adorable multiplayer RPG Swords 'n Magic and Stuff, which recently saw an update that added farming and more item crafting. It's a world of bright colors, cute combat, and a new world to explore, and MOP's Chris will happily show […]
