Were you too busy gaming this week to pay attention to MMOÂ news? Get caught up every Sunday evening with Massively Overpowered’s Week in Review!
You know what scared me the most about Daybreak’s ongoing drama earlier this year? John Smedley stopped saying wild things in interviews and social media. But don’t worry, guys; the Smed is back. This week he told a mainstream gaming publication all about the company’s enthusiasm for “chang[ing] with the times” to embrace console, mobile, VR, and abbreviated play sessions in a modern world where “the days of the WoW-style MMO are over.”
This, of course, terrified players of Daybreak’s current stable of MMORPGs as well as those awaiting the arrival of someday-sandbox EverQuest Next. Smed assured the throngs on Reddit that Daybreak “plan[s] on continuing to support EQ and EQ2 for the very long haul” and clarified that while EverQuest Next will have raids, they won’t be grueling, eight-hour affairs.
Of course, almost no one does those in WoWÂ anymore either, and I never did meet a WoW raid that wasn’t eclipsed by the fall-asleep-at-your-keyboard marathons invented by classic EverQuest, but who’s counting?
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns’ first elite spec is the Chronomancer - Let's talk history for a moment. Before Guild Wars 2 was a thing, before it was even an idea, the team at ArenaNet was working on the third Guild Wars standalone campaign. Like its last two predecessors, Guild Wars:…
Hyperspace Beacon: Hands-on with SWTOR’s Rise of the Emperor update - [AL:TOR]If you read the last Hyperspace Beacon, then you know that BioWare's announcement that Ziost is finally hitting Star Wars: The Old Republic excited me beyond reason. Ziost is one of those planets that really should…
Star Citizen’s April report contains some interesting persistent universe nuggets - Star Citizen fans, I hope you have a cup of coffee or some other caffeinated beverage, because it's time for the space sim sandbox's April monthly report. As per usual, Cloud Imperium studios from around the…
Elder Scrolls Online console versions getting ‘quick chat’ instead of text chat - Elder Scrolls Online probably won't have text chat functionality when it launches on consoles. We say "probably" because ZeniMax has sent mixed signals on this particular issue, as chronicled in a news blurb at Eurogamer. The latest…
Wisdom of Nym: How to catch up in Final Fantasy XIV (before Heavensward arrives) - [AL:FFXIV]Let's assume you've just recently gotten to the level cap in Final Fantasy XIV and you're ready to start in on catching up to the main scenario before Heavensward drops. Where do you start? I don't…
Camelot Unchained has a new wiki, newsletter, and more - As usual it's an eventful Friday afternoon for fans of RvR fantasy sandbox Camelot Unchained. There's a new newsletter, and CityState is also testing a new method for communicating about the project going forward. The format…
TERA turns three, preps for big month of May - [AL:TERA]Can you believe that TERA turns three today? Yep, it's true, and May is a big month for En Masse's action-combat MMO. There's the new Gunner class, a Steam launch (on May 5th), a leveling event with…
An aircraft spotter’s guide to GTA Online, part one - I love airplanes. I love the Grand Theft Auto series. A big reason I love the Grand Theft Auto series is its airplanes, and more specifically, the way they're basically comic book analogues of real-world craft.…
Eternal Crusade lead level designer is the latest in a string of desertions - Eternal Crusade seems to have a retention problem with its employees, as Lead Level Designer Steven Lumpkin just became the latest of a series of devs who have left the project this year. Lumpkin announced that…
Steam empowers studios to permaban players - Forget modgate -- the next controversial decision by Valve might already be here. The company announced that it will be allowing game studios to identify disruptive or cheating players and target them for permanent bans from…
City of Titans demos its first costume and combat prototypes - It's been a little quiet on the City of Titans development front for a while, but when you see the game's most recent video, you'll understand why. A spiritual successor to City of Heroes wants to hold something back…
LOTRO’s getting new dungeons with the Osgiliath instance cluster - Lord of the Rings Online's Update 16 is heading our way on Monday, May 4th, and with it comes the first new instance cluster in a very, very long time. The team penned a dev diary…
Blasting through a hands-on with TERA’s new Gunner - [AL:TERA]Are you tempted by TERA's new Gunner? I am. Admittedly it's been a long while since I've frolicked in the land of Arborea, but my interest is piqued. Basically, I'd never really felt a great affinity for my Priest…
EverQuesting: Daybreak expounds on Landmark’s postponed wipe - Some pretty big changes are on their way to Landmark, not the least of which is the final full character wipe and an extensive land reformation. Anticipation is certainly high for the new biomes, and to…
Pathfinder Online pushes for aggressive recruiting on media sites - What do you do when your in-testing MMO isn't drawing in the crowd that you need it to be? Pathfinder Online thinks that the solution is to command loyal followers to go forth and recruit on…
Massively Overthinking: Are boutique MMOs the future? - This week's Massively Overthinking question comes to us from Kickstarter donor Taemys, who just so happens to be a guildie of mine. He's clever, and so is his concern: "Are all the smaller, 'boutique' MMO's the…
War Thunder update celebrates Victory Day’s 70th anniversary - [AL:WarT]As we near the 70th anniversary of World War II's Victory in Europe Day, War Thunder figured that it would be a good time to pump out a massive update to mark the occasion. Today Gaijin…
ArcheAge releases the Dread Prophecies update - Ghost ships? An aggravated kraken? Just what in Sam Hill is going on in ArcheAge these days, anyway? Well, the fantasy sandpark has released one of its biggest updates yet with The Dread Prophecies. The sea-focused patch…
EverQuest emulator group gets a ‘written agreement’ with Daybreak - Who says MMO emulators are illegal? Not Daybreak, apparently, as the firm has entered into a "written agreement" with the creators of an EverQuest emu known as Project 1999. Co-manager Sean Norton posted on the emulator's forums today…
THIS WEEK’S STREAMS
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
World of Warcraft and minigame micromanagement
