Black Desert formally launched in the west this week, bringing only mild to moderate launch drama, all rectified within the amusing “shitstorm matrix” that Daum crafted to pacify players whose launch wasn’t entirely to plan.
Don’t forget to check out our launch-day roundup as well as our new column, Desert Nomad, in which our columnist Matt Daniel will be chronicling his adventures in the fresh sandbox.
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
BLACK DESERT’S LAUNCH
Black Desert drops a minor patch for class balancing - The wait is over for everyone, Black Desert is out and playable, and if you've been looking forward to the game but still aren't playing it... well, that's really on you at this point. That doesn't…
Black Desert’s western launch arrives with new trailer - Welcome to Black Desert's official North American and European launch day! The servers are down right now for maintenance before the big rush, but we've got the launch trailer and our launch-day roundup of all the…
Desert Nomad: The Nomad’s guide to Black Desert - Hello friends, and welcome to a new installment of Choose My Adv-- HA HA, PSYCH! This puppet's strings have been cut, suckers! No longer will I take your orders, blindly charging headlong into whatever folly you…
Black Desert details headstart compensation plan with ‘shitstorm matrix’ - Black Desert has elaborated on the compensation and support it will offer players in the wake of its headstart issues: "We all know that every game launch is bound to have problems, but this does not negate…
Daum compensates Black Desert players for headstart server mixup - A goof-up on the Black Desert headstart servers over the weekend saw some North American players unintentionally placed on the wrong servers, and Daum decided not to move them. "[U]nfortunately the characters affected by this will…
The Stream Team: Raising a Black Desert black smoke buddy - Can that creepy little Black Desert black smoke buddy actually get creepier? Yes, yes it can, as MassivelyOP's MJ recently learned. She was just questing along, humoring the freaky little puff, when it suddenly sprouts teeth! That…
The Stream Team: Launching into Black Desert for real - The time has finally come: Black Desert has launched. At least the head start has. That means anything MassivelyOP's MJ does from here on out counts! But what shall she do? There are still so many…
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Guild Wars 2’s Colin Johanson leaves ArenaNet; Mike O’Brien takes over as game director - Game director Colin Johanson has been with ArenaNet on Guild Wars 2 for quite some time now, but nothing lasts forever. New game director (and ArenaNet president) Mike O'Brien announced via Reddit that Johanson was leaving…
Firor says Elder Scrolls Online’s success ‘has gone a bit under the radar’ - If you are hankering to see Elder Scrolls Online's Director Matt Firor squirm uncomfortably with the game being labeled as an "MMO," then have we got the interview for you! In a discussion with UK's Metro,…
Landmark is giving new players a slice of pioneer territory - Being flat and featureless isn't always a bad thing. For example, if you're looking to build amazing structures without a lot of hassle from a lumpy and uncooperative environment, finding a large level surface can be…
Get hyped for The Division with these TV spots - "When society falls, we rise." Are you ready for The Division? It's just a few short days until this entry into the Tom Clancy video game library releases across PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Chances are,…
Camelot Unchained: Picking flowers, rocking armor, crafting all the things - Camelot Unchained's latest dev update went up last night, and it's predictably dense. Along with the usual list of dev card updates, there's a look at some of the flora and terrains players will see depending…
WildStar systems lead Brett Scheinert leaves Carbine - WildStar is one fewer dev strong today now that Multiplayer Systems Lead Brett "Timetravel" Scheinert has left Carbine Studios. He had been with the company since 2011. "[I am] no longer an employee there," Scheinert confirmed on Twitter.…
World of Fishing aims for Steam’s casuals, hardcores, and MMO lovers - Why take up fishing in a traditional MMO when you can take up fishing in a fishing MMO? World of Fishing aims to be just that, and today it's announced that it'll land on Steam next…
Star Citizen pushes Alpha 2.2 to live - It's time to strap yourself in and put on your big captain boots, for Star Citizen's Alpha 2.2 is here, and it's bringing a new dimension to the game's dangerous universe. The core of the update…
Perfect Ten: Awesome (and unique) MMORPG classes - Class-based systems are one of those holdovers from tabletop RPGs that work surprisingly well in MMOs. I basically put up with class systems in exactly one tabletop game simply because Dungeons & Dragons is likely to…
No Man’s Sky launches June 21, $59.99 base, $149.99 limited-edition CE - Hello Games has announced that procedurally generated sci-fi sandbox No Man's Sky is officially launching on June 21st on PS4 and on PC through Steam and GOG This announcement arrives after a mistakenly published and hastily retracted PlayStation blog…
No Man’s Sky pricing leak rumour sends fans into a tizzy - There's been a huge degree of fascination with indie game No Man's Sky since it stole the show at E3 2014. The game promises seamless exploration of a massive procedurally generated galaxy filled with unique planets, weird and wonderful plants and…
Camelot Unchained passes ‘send more programmers’ stretch goal - Camelot Unchained just announced that it's passed its "$3,900,000 - Send more programmers" stretch goal, which enables City State Entertainment to hire "two additional mid-level, gameplay-focused programmers for the team" and further expand the core programming…
Star Citizen promises larger server capacity, talks about procedural tech - Seventy-seven episodes in, you'd think that Chris Roberts and the Star Citizen community would run out of questions about the game. But it looks as though there is no bottom to this well, as another batch…
Elder Scrolls Online DLC adds loot NPC, reinstates RvR forward camps - ZeniMax has a few last bits of PvP info to push out before The Elder Scrolls Online's Thieves Guild DLC goes live in March. Of note, the studio is adding a weekend NPC to faction gates in…
City of Titans has pubbed video of its ‘functional first pass’ build - City of Heroes-inspired superhero indie MMO City of Titans has hit a major milestone this week: It's created its "first packaged executable that [its devs] can call 'the game'," complete with recorded video of that "functional…
Massively Overthinking: The curse of player-generated MMO content - The influx of new player-generated-content-oriented MMOs might make you think that PGC is on the rise, but if you've been around the genre for a long time, you're just watching history repeat itself. Time and time…
MMORPGs celebrate The Revenant’s Oscars - If your MMORPG has a Revenant class, you'd best not be missing the opportunity to plug it today, as the movie celebrates its three Oscar wins from last night: one apiece for director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, actor Leo…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 53: The MMOs of winter 2016
The Stream Team: Airlifting ARK’s dinos
The Stream Team: Raising a Black Desert black smoke buddy
The Stream Team: The HEX battle bunny goes to the beach (and gives away goodies)
The Stream Team: Getting lost in Path of Exile’s labyrinth
The Stream Team: Peeking into Path of Exile: Ascendancy’s new labyrinth
The Stream Team: Having a hoppy Leap Day in Marvel Heroes
The Stream Team: Launching into Black Desert for real
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
WoW Patch 6.2.3 PVP hotfixes pushed live
Updated graphics for WoW’s Warlock pets
Weathering the storms of WoW: Legion’s Eye of Azshara dungeon
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 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.
