What a great time to be a sci-fi MMO player! Star Citizen wowed even long-time backers with its procedurally generated planet system trailer this week, and Elite: Dangerous launched phase one of its Horizons expansha-season-thing before amping up the class by offering a salute to rivals like Star Citizen and No Man’s Sky. All of that and it’s Star Wars week to boot. Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions!
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Star Citizen’s breathtaking procedurally generated planet system trailer - OK, Citizens. Put down your joysticks and listen up. Star Citizen's holiday hype trailer "From Pupil to Planet" has arrived and demands your eyeballs as it introduces the in-development procedurally generated planet system. Glide along with…
Hands-on: Blade & Soul’s early beta has solid mechanics, but not much else - I've had some time to think about Blade & Soul, and I'm still not sure exactly what I want to say about it. I enjoyed my time in the beta, yes. There are some kind of…
Leaderboard: What was the best new MMO of 2015? - Yesterday, we announced our award for MMO of the Year -- it went to Final Fantasy XIV. But we deliberately expanded the category to include MMOs that launched before 2015, primarily in the hopes of avoiding a…
The Game Archaeologist: Asheron’s Call - It's hard being the youngest child -- you get the hand-me-downs, suffer through swirlies by older siblings, and eventually develop such a neurosis that it requires seven different brands of horse tranquilizers to make it through…
Guild Wars 2 e-sports team ragequits over design meta, technical issues - Here's a bit of MMORPG e-sports drama for you: A major Guild Wars 2 e-sports team bailed from competition last night. Competing in the game's ESL Guild Wars 2 Pro League for a cut of $200,000 in prize cash,…
Overwatch’s theatrical teaser will give you goosebumps - "We are hope. We are honor. We are courage. We are justice. We are compassion. We are determination. We are harmony. We are Overwatch!" Thus sayeth the new Overwatch theatrical trailer. As these stirring words are…
WoW Legion aims to flatten the PvP gear curve - Last night, Blizzard posted a dev blog to explain just how World of Warcraft Legion plans to drive a wrecking ball into the game's existing PvP paradigm. For starters, honor and conquest currencies are being replaced…
Guild Wars 2 teases world-vs.-world tweaks - ArenaNet offered Guild Wars 2 world-vs.-world fans an early Christmas present this evening in the form of a sneak-peek at a set of changes on the way at some point in early 2016. Objectives upgrades will…
Elite: Dangerous offers training vids, support for Star Citizen - Elite: Dangerous is busy celebrating the launch of Horizons this week, but if you've never played before, you could probably use some training, and that's exactly what Frontier has on deck in the latest newsletter. The studio…
Funcom announces new Conan game - Funcom has just announced that it's creating a new video game based on the Conan franchise. Funcom is excited to announce that the company has entered into an agreement with Conan Properties, making it the preferred…
Take a tour of Star Citizen’s $10,000 club - Chances are that you and pretty much everyone you know won't be allowed in one part of Star Citizen: its Million Mile High Club. This special area is reserved for backers who dropped $10,000 on a…
Elder Scrolls Online reportedly lays off 300 support staff [Updated] - Bethsoft has reportedly laid off a large number of Elder Scrolls Online support staff from its Irish base. The Connacht Tribune says that 300 customer service representatives have been let go from the Galway offices. "It is understood…
Massively Overthinking: The next big Star Wars MMORPG - In honor of Star Wars week (and rumors that EA is working on another Star Wars game), let's talk Star Wars MMOs. Star Wars Galaxies is much beloved around these parts, and I think most of…
Elite: Dangerous’ Horizons goes live today - Elite: Dangerous' Horizons - specifically, the 1.5 ships update - is set for launch today. Horizons is considered the next season for the game's original version, which launched a year ago. That makes today's launch, Planetary Landings, the…
Notorious e-sports team boss Martin Shkreli arrested for securities fraud - Martin Shkreli, chairman of League of Legends e-sports team Imagine and CEO of real-life company Turing Pharmaceuticals, was arrested in New York today. He stands accused of "engaging in a complicated shell game after a hedge fund…
Chaos Theory: Inside The Secret World’s Issue #13 before launch - It never fails. I am too weak to resist a Secret World dev tour! Even knowing that spoilers will abound, I cannot help myself -- I must see what's in store. I call it my civic…
Black Desert’s first English closed beta starts today - The advent of Black Desert's first English-language closed beta test does not mean that the wait for the game is nearly over, since the testing process will take some time. But it does mean that if…
World of Warcraft’s Legion testing is taking a holiday break, too - We hope you weren't planning on playing any of the World of Warcraft: Legion alpha during your own holiday break (assuming you have one). Blizzard has announced today that the alpha test will be going on…
Tamriel Infinium: Elder Scrolls Online predictions for 2016 - Speculation can be dangerous because I tend to be too hopeful for the MMOs that I play. I've been critical of The Elder Scrolls Online in the past, but I do like the game, and I’m hopeful for…
Guild Wars 2 plans post-Heart of Thorns balance changes - On the Guild Wars 2 official forums today, ArenaNet's Gaile Gray has outlined a number of balance changes heading to the game, once again shifting the meta and generating salt from the usual suspects. [O]ur strategy for…
SWTOR lets former subscribers play first chapter of Knights of the Fallen Empire for free - [AL:TOR]As many of you know, to get in on Star Wars: The Old Republic's recent expansion, Knights of the Fallen Empire, you at least have to subscribe for a month to unlock the first batch of chapters.…
Tencent buys up the rest of Riot Games - [AL:LOL]League of Legends developer Riot Games has a new owner this week. Well, really it's the same ostensible owner as before, China's Tencent Holdings, only now Tencent has gobbled up the last 7.22% of the company. Riot announced the…
Student lands jail time for 2012 RuneScape robbery - Way back in 2012, Fordham University student Humza Bajwa was busted by New York cops for holding a pair of RuneScape players at (what they believed was) gunpoint while he forced them to transfer RuneScape cash…
OUR COMPLETE AWARDS
Massively OP’s Best of 2015 Awards: Most Underrated MMO
Massively OP’s Best of 2015 Awards: Biggest MMO Story of the Year
Massively OP’s Best of 2015 Awards: Most Improved MMO
Massively OP’s Best of 2015 Awards: MMO Studio of the Year
Massively OP’s Best of 2015 Awards: Biggest Disappointment of 2015
Leaderboard: What’s the most overrated MMO?
Massively OP’s Best of 2015 Awards: Pseudo-MMO of the Year
Massively OP’s Best of 2015 Awards: Most Likely to Flop
Massively OP’s Best of 2015 Awards: MMO Trend of the Year
Massively OP’s Best of 2015 Awards: Biggest MMO Blunder of the Year
Massively OP’s Best of 2015 Awards: MMO Expansion of the Year
Massively OP’s Best of 2015 Awards: Most Anticipated for 2016 and Beyond
Massively OP’s Best of 2015 Awards: MMO of the Year
Leaderboard: What was the best new MMO of 2015?
Ask Mo: Massively OP’s 2015 awards debrief
Massively OP’s 2015 Blooper Awards: Best Worst MMO Headline
Massively OP’s 2015 Blooper Awards: Best MMO Milking Sim
Massively OP’s 2015 Blooper Awards: Longest MMO Newsletter
Massively OP’s 2015 Blooper Awards: Most Predictable MMO Delay
Massively OP’s 2015 Blooper Awards: Most Nonsensical MMO Title
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
WoW’s Hunter Artifact weapons allow you to dual wield pets and more
You need to see the new Sugar Plum Sylvanas skin right now
New mount, pet, and more arrive in WoW’s Winter Veil
Every week, get caught up on the MMO genre’s latest news and Massively OP’s best content in our MMO Week in Review! Want more roundups of content? Try Monday’s Not So Massively for MOBA and multiplayer news, Friday’s Betawatch for MMO testing highlights, Saturday’s Make My MMO for MMO crowdfunding updates, and Sunday’s The MOP Up, which mops up all the little bits of news we didn’t cover anywhere else.
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