MMO Week in Review: Astellia Online gives up, Guild Wars 2 gets classy
Classy as in elite specs, that is. Yes, Guild Wars 2 fully revealed its first three End of Dragons elite specs this week, making fans of the Mesmer, Necro, and Guardian happy. Or not happy; it's really hard to tell with GW2 players. Meanwhile, Astellia Online threw in the towel, Blade & Soul set a […]
Battle Bards Episode 199: World of Warcraft tavern tunes
At the start and end of a long day of adventurin', the Battle Bards love to kick back with a frosty mug of (ginger) ale or a stein of (root) beer at their favorite taverns. And what watering holes have better music than World of Warcraft, which actually released a full album of it? In […]
The MOP Up: Warface's Hidden War is revealed
This week, Warface kicked off its Hidden War season: "The season update adds a new PvP-map called Ruins for capture mode where players can use traps against their opponents to change the map topology and gain a tactical advantage. Two new series of weapons and a set of armor complement the collections of players. Soon, […]
Lineage W is yet another mobile version of the MMO series 'strategically developed for global users'
At this point, the Lineage series is going to undergo so much mitosis that it will finally become a multi-cellular organism that will randomly wander the world and unleash massive AOEs on the planet. Until that time, there's word of another mobile entry in the MMOARPG series known as Lineage W. And as the lede […]
The Stream Team: Firing up the transdimensional steam engine of Voidtrain early access
When news of the early access survival sandbox Voidtrain crossed our desk, it perked a few ears in the staff. One of those perked ears belong to MOP's Chris, which is an anomaly because survival sandboxes usually aren't his bag, but who doesn't love trains? Interdimensional ones at that? Join him at 12:00 p.m. EDT […]
Destiny 2 covers changes coming to armor and mods in Season 15
Last week, Destiny 2 offered players a look at PvE changes due for Season 15, and this week the game's newsletter focused in on armor and mod changes that the new season will be bringing. The post goes through a variety of adjustments, including some tuning to Exotic armors that refund Super energy and buffing […]
One Shots: Flying into bugs at 90 mph
Flight may look cool on the superhero travel powers selection screen, but what they don't tell you in the shop is that it comes with a whole bunch of drawbacks: neck cricks, sun damage, collisions with amateur drone conventions, and a face full of bugs smacking into you at 90 miles per hour. You keep […]
The Daily Grind: What's the dumbest thing you've seen an MMO dev do on social media?
The great thing about social media is that it can be a great medium for people to communicate in real-time and let everyone know what you're thinking. The worst thing is… exactly that. But however bad it is when you accidentally say something that a bit more thought would have told you that it was […]
EVE Online creates the Fleet Up program to support IRL community events, starts testing its Mac client
Some people are starting to feel confident enough to meet up and gather in real life again, whether it's for smaller get-togethers or some larger events like, say, a community-run meetup for fans and players of EVE Online. CCP Games is hoping to facilitate and support player events for the spaceship MMO, and it's willing […]
World of Tanks celebrates 11 years with new tank presents and the return of Frontline
Dang, does it feel as if World of Tanks has been around 11 years already? Apparently it has, otherwise celebrating its 11th birthday would be a really weird flex. Anyhow, Wargaming got you a present. You're not gonna say no to a present. "World of Tanks' August Heat is hotting up even more with their […]
ZeniMax goes into detail on Elder Scrolls Online's latest graphics upgrades
If you haven't heard this already, Elder Scrolls Online is about to roll out some very nice graphical and performance upgrades to both its console and PC editions when its Waking Flame DLC drops at the end of the month. It's the sort of announcement that prompts several follow-up questions, which is exactly what WCCFtech […]
Book of Travels explains how its skills work for players in new video
Skills! Who doesn't like skills? People who don't have any skills, that's who. Book of Travels will have skills just like any other game, although some of the uses of those skills will be quite different from how other games use them. A new video explains how the game's skills are meant to work, with […]
LOTRO Legendarium: Exploring Lord of the Rings Online's choose-your-own-ruleset
Earlier this summer when Lord of the Rings Online kicked off its second batch of progression servers — the slow Treebeard and speedy Shadowfax rulesets — I wasn't on board with it. I hadn't really returned to LOTRO yet, for one thing, and felt as though I had gotten most of what I wanted from […]
Guild Wars 2 deep-dives elite specs, previews August 17 balance changes
If you were looking to find out more about the three elite specs that were revealed by Guild Wars 2, then you might want to set aside about an hour of your time to check out a beta preview livestream that talks all about the classes. The stream effectively provided a deep dive into the […]
WRUP: Forward and back edition
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The Daily Grind: What SWTOR class story and combat style will you combine with this year's expansion?
The announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic's upcoming expansion certainly seems to have called more than a few lapsed Jedi and Bounty Hunters back to its fold. I've seen a lot of renewed excitement in BioWare's MMORPG because of Legacy of the Sith, but not because of anything to do with the continued story. […]
Betawatch: Ship of Heroes rolls out its public mission beta event
It's time for Ship of Heroes to go full-on into beta testing for a while as it runs its mission beta event. If you're curious about how the game feels at this point doing actual content? Good news, we've got a whole write-up for you! There's also discussion from the developers about strategies and difficulty […]
Bless Unleashed plans weekend events, patches fixes to frame-limiting and chat
Bless Unleashed's newly launched PC version is a flurry of activity and events this weekend. First, Round8 is running a "push" event that essentially rewards players for logging in. If you log in each day this weekend within the right time periods, you'll walk away with a reward chest and as many as eight tickets. […]
Final Fantasy XI has kicked off its Return to Vana'diel and discount campaigns
Why not come back to Final Fantasy XI? The developers will be your friends! Well, maybe that's a bit far to go, but it's a remarkably active game for a title that was supposedly in some kind of maintenance mode at one point, and that will never stop being hilarious. And you can laugh right […]
Ragnarok Origin opens NA preregistration and teases free Tesla giveaway
Ragnarok Online is a classic MMO that doesn't get nearly the attention it deserves, but maybe it will get its day in the sun again as Gravity Co. is rolling out a mobile entry in the franchise called Ragnarok Origin. Pre-registration for North America has begun already, and it's running a pretty unusual giveaway: If […]
AdventureQuest 3D invites players to celebrate Friday the 13th with new content at the House of Oddities
Regular players of AdventureQuest 3D know that Friday the 13th is something of a beloved holiday in the game, and while the Camp Gonnagetcha content will still be making a return next week, the game is seeking to start a new tradition focused entirely on the House of Oddities. This new "seasonal" content will see […]
New World kicks off the Tales of Aeturnum series with the Angry Earth
It's going to be a little longer until you get to try out New World, but the development team is doing its bets to keep you entertained with a new video series, Tales of Aeturnum. The whole idea here is to show off the lore and setting information behind the game's various enemy factions, with […]
Project M is a mobile shooter from NetEase that strongly resembles Valorant
As the old expression goes, if you can't beat 'em, make something extremely close to what they're making in order to infringe on the market share of 'em. That seems to be the motivating philosophy of NetEase's Project M, which looks enough like a mashup of Valorant on a mobile platform that you could be forgiven […]
The Elder Scrolls Online promises 'a peek at what is on the horizon' at digital QuakeCon 2021
Bethesda will be hosting the digital QuakeCon 2021 event on its Twitch channel next week, and fans of The Elder Scrolls Online are apparently going to want to tune in to the event, as there's promise of some details, reveals, and more slated for the MMORPG's portion of the show. ZeniMax Online studio head Matt […]
Nexon CEO blasts crunch and the 'charade of launch timing'
It's Friday, which means it's time to play one of my favorite weekend games: Check out what a top-tier gaming executive is saying about the industry. Today's subject is Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney. Readers will recall that Nexon posted its second quarter earnings earlier this week, admitting that it had performed poorly because of a […]
Mortal Online 2 will launch early access October 26 – apparently with a sub
Yesterday, Mortal Online 2 developer Starvault announced in its Discord that it's planning a final stress test for the beginning of September with an early access slated to launch October 26th. But what has everyone on Reddit and the Discord buzzing is the revelation that the early access will be accompanied by a mandatory subscription, although […]
Star Citizen talks about the development of 'Jumptown 2' and Arena Commander updates
PvP is probably one of the larger portions of entertainment for players of Star Citizen (or one of the larger pain points, depending on who you ask), and the latest episode of Inside Star Citizen is all about PvP, talking up how PvP is overall good for PvE players since it helps the devs balance […]
Elyon talks up its skill system ahead of the MMORPG's second closed beta test
Skills. Skills skills skills skills skills. Skills for kills and thrills. Skills that go boom. Skills that go zippity-zappy. Skills that don't have any actual visual effects but provide boons because they're passive. Skills in Elyon. A video about skills in Elyon. Skilly skill skills. Skill time, skillets. As one might expect, classes in Elyon […]
Crowfall plans a new system for initiating sieges, shares another roadmap of content updates and additions
Crowfall's ACE Q&A livestream for the month of August has come and gone, and the devs are looking ahead to the RvR MMO's next major update. This new patch for the game will introduce a handshake system for initiating keep and castle sieges, which should hopefully prevent players defending a location from logging in en […]
Vague Patch Notes: The lesson hidden in the Astellia shutdown
A couple years ago, an MMO launched named Astellia. It was fine. It wasn't bad. It wasn't good. It was just fine. It was perfectly acceptable as a buy-to-play game, but a lot of people were waiting for the free-to-play conversion right out of the gate. It had nothing to stand up and make you […]
Mythic Legions Tactics: War of the Aetherblade is a multiplayer optional tactical game based on a toy line
So there's apparently a line of action figures known as Mythic Legions that has something of a large following; created by Four Horseman Studios, it's designed around the land of Mythoss and features six inch-tall, highly articulated, and very detailed figures, if the looks at some of them are anything to go by. We bring […]
Lost Ark previews the Martial Artist and its four advanced classes
Amazon is pushing onward with reveals and deep-dives for Lost Ark's classes: This round is all about the Martial Artist. "Martial Artists are quick-footed fighters who like to rush the enemy with combined attacks at lethal speeds that can only be described as breakneck. Players interested in the quick and nimble Martial Artists can pick […]
Overwatch League loses more sponsors as workers expose Activision-Blizzard's toxic culture
The fallout from the sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit against Activision-Blizzard just keeps on dropping. Yesterday, more sponsors of the Overwatch League pulled support from the esports giant. Kellogg told Polygon that it "will not be moving forward with any new programs this year, but will continue to review progress made against [Blizzard's] plans." Kellogg […]
EverQuest II's Toil and Trouble update brews up unholy dungeon runs
A dark and twisted summer treat arrived for EverQuest II players this week in the form of Toil and Trouble update. At the core of this patch are a variety of new dungeons, including raids, heroic, and solo editions, as well as additional collections and missions to accomplish. "In the Loping Plains' village of Somborn, […]
The Daily Grind: Are there MMORPGs you try to ignore?
I've joked before that several of our writers allow me the luxury of ignoring some MMORPGs. I don't have anything against Final Fantasy XIV, for example – I've even voted for it to be our GOTY a few times – but I'm extremely grateful that Eliot's expertise allows me to sort of tune out of […]
Massively Overthinking: What's your favorite type of MMORPG raid?
Raiding is one of those very simple MMO concepts that has somehow become a contentious one in the broader discourse. A "raid" in MMO terminology is just a relatively large group of players engaging in some sort of coordinated PvE combat – that's it. There shouldn't be anything wrong with this idea; it encompasses everything […]
World of Warships adds submarines to ranked, a new Dutch cruiser to early access, and an anime crossover
It's been a long time since World of Warships first announced the arrival of submarines to the game in 2019, and over the course of many rounds of testing, tuning, and talking, the time has come for subs to finally make their way to the game in full. Sort of. Update 0.10.7 has indeed brought […]
Aion gets cat scratch fever with a cat magician event and two cat transformations
Aion is apparently feline very catty with its latest events. From meow until Septempurr 1st, players can take part in an event that sees them grow a humble Cat Egg into a fully grown Grand Magister Cat by earning Catnip Stones and purrgress their egg through eight diffurent evolution levels. If you're curious on how […]
Gamigo's multiplayer MOBA hybrid Skydome has entered founder early access
Last spring, Gamigo surprised everyone by announcing that it was plotting several new game launches across the span of 2021. One of them turned out to be Skydome, a 4v4 MOBA-slash-tower-defense multiplayer title from Kinship Entertainment, and it's surprisingly pretty. And as of yesterday, you can actually play it, assuming your account has the right […]
Bless Unleashed PC celebrates a new China server's opening and holds a contest for Japanese players
These are (hopefully) happy times for Asian players of Bless Unleashed on PC. For one thing, the China server list is getting a fourth server starting this afternoon, which is being marked by a server-specific celebration event with 10% boosts in XP gain and five free bag expansion tickets for those who hop into the […]
Krafton's IPO launch didn't go to plan thanks to China and Tencent
Yesterday was supposed to be a huge day for Krafton, the South Korean gaming giant behind everything from TERA to PUBG, as it launched its initial public offering. As GIbiz notes, its IPO share price was 498,000 KRW (about $430 US), but as the market opened, shares were already trading down 10%, sinking to 20% […]
Legends of Runeterra prepares for its Beyond the Bandlewood expansion's arrival August 25
It's very nearly expansion time for Riot Games' CCG Legends of Runeterra. This Wednesday, August 25th, will see the launch of Beyond the Bandlewood and the devs of the game are stirring up the hype with some preliminary details and a new trailer. Beyond the Bandlewood will introduce the game's last region of Bandle City […]
Ship of Heroes shows off the end boss fight of its mission beta while discussing difficulty
The smart way to take on the big showdown at the end of the Iris arc currently playable in Ship of Heroes' mission beta event is to take the time to pull enemies out of the central chamber one at a time. That's not the way the players choose to take on the content in […]
EA fires Apex Legends lead designer over past sexist and racist remarks
Daniel Klein, a lead game designer on the battle royale shooter Apex Legends, has been fired from his position by Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment as a result of sexist and racist remarks he had made in various blog posts across different websites as far back as 2007. The posts in question were discovered on […]
Blade & Soul is getting its Unreal Engine 4 upgrade on September 8
It's time for Blade & Soul to look better with the game's upcoming engine upgrade to Unreal Engine 4. That feels like it's been something that's been "coming soon" for half of forever, but it's really about to happen with the imminent arrival of the patch on September 8th. A better-looking and better-performing version of […]
The director for Riot Games' Runeterra MMO turns his mind to character customization
Mark Yetter, the director for the in-development MMO set in the world of Runeterra, has character creation on the brain, at least according to a couple of tweets from his personal account, where he poses a TDG-like question: "Being able to build your character identity that is just right for you is a rare 'have […]
WoW Factor: What do changes in Blizzard management mean for World of Warcraft?
Blizzard is going through some changes at the moment. This is a good thing, as Blizzard has made it clear that it is a gigantic open sewer long filled with vile predators and people who enabled those predators via inaction. You probably don't need to be reminded that J. Allen Brack is out and a […]
No Man's Sky hits five years with a 'stronger player base,' teases next update
Five years ago, No Man's Sky was the eye of a nerdstorm of unbelievable proportions. The highly anticipated title launched with many of its promised features missing and bugs abounding. Yet the team at Hello Games chose to stick by its product rather than abandoning it, slowly but surely shaping No Man's Sky into an […]
Astellia Royal has announced its sunset now too after less than a year online
Earlier this week, we passed along the sad but not unexpected news that Astellia Online, which had dwindled in playerbase and seen its forums overrun by spammers, was planning a sunset at the end of October. At the time, we noted that Astellia Royal, the free-to-play spinoff of the original title, was missing its Steam […]
Lord of the Rings Online hopes to start rolling out monetization changes in the next year
One of the longstanding criticisms of Lord of the Rings Online revolves around the game's antiquated and frankly expensive business model. We found out earlier this summer that SSG is drawing up plans to modify or replace the model (and we even gave SSG a few suggestions of our own). Happily, it sounds as though […]
