ALL THE POSTS
Global Chat: Are MMO classes too similar to each other?
Blogger Yeebo Fernbottom has a beef with MMOs, and maybe you can relate. The issue, as the Yeebs sees it, is that in the endless pursuit of class balance, we've ended up with a field of boring professions that are too close to each other.
"However I also can't help but feel like we have lost something that originally...
Dual Universe AMA talks about beta, sanctuary moons, and free money
With the end of Dual Universe's NDA and the start of beta later this month, you can expect to be hearing a lot more about this space sim sandbox. And at the forefront of the game's chatter is the dev team, which hosted an AMA on Reddit this past Friday.
Speaking of the beta, Creative Director JC...
WRUP: Dril edition
new rule for makin a character in an MMO is that you must be personally willing to kiss them on the mouth. with. tongue. no exceptions to this rulle time to french with the lizard boys ("crying" finally)
every1 is too dang HORNY to be allowd to play Lord of the Rings Online the way it is MEANT TO BE...
The Daily Grind: What was your most awkward MMO roleplaying experience?
Back in the early 1990s, I glommed onto Star Trek bulletin board systems in the hopes that I might connect with some fellow Trekkies. It was there that I discovered an ongoing roleplaying game that took place on a starship with numerous decks and rooms. I thought it was the niftiest thing, so I created a character and joined...
Betawatch: Torchlight III does its final pre-launch wipe
Gosh, what a strange road it has been for Torchlight III. Like... at one point that wasn't even its name. But the important thing is that the game has just had its last major update and character wipe that's expected before the game's full launch, which means that launch is probably not too far off. At least...
MMO Business Roundup: GDC 2021, Netmarble, NYCC, voice actors, Gamescom, Steam’s autumn festival
Welcome back to another roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news!
GDC 2021: Fresh off the digital GDC Summer 2020, Informa Tech announced that its 2021 event will be a hybrid event, offering in-person content in San Francisco and online content too, from July 19th through July 23rd. It looks as if this will be a permanent change to the...
Atlas adds Warehouses to store all of your Farmhouse resources
Picture this: A pirate in full piratical garb is marching across a sandy beach with armfuls of wheat, slipping along the sand as he stumbles toward a storage facility. Tripping on a crab, he falls over and sends wheat scattering everywhere, then looks at the camera in exasperation and says, "There's got to be a better way!" Sadly, this...
Black Desert’s Shadow Arena unlocks all heroes this month and adds a new one
"A new warrior eyes the battlefield, wielding her battle axe and shield of revenge."
While we here at Massively OP only have battle axes of indigestion and shields of Netflix binging, Black Desert's Shadow Arena spin-off is bringing a fierce new fighter into the fray. Her name is Igrid, and she will end you. By blocking and...
Elite Dangerous adjusts overlapping hotspots and tritium performance
Fleet carriers are big and they cause balance issues in Elite Dangerous. Not unfixable ones, mind you; just ones that have to be adjusted over time. For example, one of the existing problems in place was that overlapping hotspots for resources were overwhelmingly powerful, so that was patched to no longer be the case and ensure that...
Pagan Online rebrands as Pagan: Absent Gods after jettisoning multiplayer
If it escaped your attention last month, Pagan Online is, well, no longer online. Studio Mad Head said that the multiplayer servers were "not sustainable" and that it didn't have plans to add more content in any case, especially once it was cut loose from Wargaming's publishing arm.
Now, Mad Head has rebranded the action RPG as
Red Dead Online opens up two new legendary coyotes for players to hunt
Inside of you there are two wolves. Inside of Red Dead Online there are two legendary coyotes. What you should do is get the two wolves inside of you to fight the two legendary coyotes because that would be kind of awesome, but what you can actually do is work to track down the Red Streak and...
Leaderboard: Why do you ‘work’ in MMORPGs?
A while back, WAPO put up a piece called Why do we enjoy games that make us work?
Proficiency, control, fairness, escape. This is a topic I have come back to over and over through the years, a search through our database shows me. But I can't help it: There was the one about workification vs. gamification, the...
Aion outlines its balance update in the wake of Shadows of Balaurea
There is not a great deal of new content in the next patch for Aion in North America. There is some, of course; for example, players will have access to two new ultimate transformations (Tiamat and Ereshkigal) with associated collections. But most of what next Wednesday will bring involves changes to balance, like how every class will...
GDC Summer 2020: Better living, climate awareness, and citizen science through games
Way back during GDC 2018, I covered several panels relating to gaming for good. Things like citizen science projects, games as medicine or for health education, charities, and more. Considering how much COVID has impacted our societies, it should be no surprise that some of this year's GDC Summer 2020 panels addressed that...
When the COVID dust settles, Nexon hopes to be among entertainment’s winners
Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney recently gave one whooper of an interview to GamesIndustry.biz arguing that the games industry is reaching a "major transition point" for a "new generation of major entertainment companies." To prove his point, he invokes no less than the Mouse House and the impact of COVID.
"Think about it: On January 1, who was the king...
Massively Overthinking: Jumping the shark in MMOs
I'm sure those few people out there still bearing a grudge over the Rune-keeper would disagree with me, but one of the things that attracts me to LOTRO is my sense that it's never jumped the shark and done something truly out of whack for the game. It's fantasy, but it's pretty low for fantasy, at least from...
Fallout 76 starts testing its One Wasteland leveling revamp
One of Fallout 76's more significant design flaws has a big fix in the works -- and you can test it out right now.
On the PTS, Fallout 76 is putting its One Wasteland revamp through the paces. This update will make the whole game accessible to all players. "Creature levels throughout Appalachia will now adjust up or...
Nexon’s V4 plans new zones and quests August 25, web-based minigame now
MOP's Carlo has been obsessively playing one game for the last few weeks: Nexon's brand-new crossplatform MMO V4. The game rolled out toward the end of July with its flashy Unreal Engine graphics and PvPvE and nobile-friendly automated gameplay. And now, Nexon has announced the game's next content launch is on the way for August 25th.
"V4 is...
Epic Games could lose almost $50M every month the Fortnite Apple/Google lawsuits go on
Yesterday, we covered the emerging legal drama between Epic Games and... well, everyone with a platform trying to take a cut from transactions inside apps. Epic implemented discounted direct payments inside its mobile apps, inciting Apple and Google to ban Fortnite from their marketplaces, which in turn allowed Epic to drop its prepared "Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite"...
Into the Super-verse: Early impressions of Valiance Online
When I heard that Valiance Online was going to be running an open beta this week to coincide with the PlayNYC convention, I knew I had to get in and check out what this superhero MMO had going on so far.
Valiance Online's always seemed like it's been trailing the other two serious City of Heroes spiritual successors...
