Funcom’s older MMORPGs, Anarchy Online and Age of Conan, both made headlines this week with new patches: AO’s update added a controversial membership award scheme that’s annoyed some players, while AoC’s patch added a new arena but didn’t quite soften the blow for crafters, who were told that the crafting revamp promised years ago is not happening.
Meanwhile, it was a pretty good week for veteran MMORPGs, as RIFT celebrated its fifth anniversary, Guild Wars 2 prepped its spring patch, and Lord of the Rings Online’s latest update brought players to Pelennor Fields. You guys, I think they’re actually going to make it to Mordor for real.
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
WoW hit by DDoS attacks attributed to Lizard Squad [Resolved] - Bad news for players looking to log into World of Warcraft or Blizzard's other online games. The studio shared that it's been weathering DDoS attacks this evening that have caused…
Guild Wars 2’s spring update launches April 19; watch the teaser trailer - We've just received an interesting little sneak peek at a teaser trailer for the upcoming Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns Spring Quarterly update that's now been confirmed for April 19th. The…
EVE Online World War Bee update: The Imperium shatters - Recently we've been following the story of the biggest war in gaming history kicking off inside EVE Online and its far-reaching consequences for the EVE universe. The conflict that has come…
BBC news reports on World of Warcraft Nostalrius server shutdown - The shutdown of Nostalrius is not going quietly into the night. The wake of the World of Warcraft vanilla emulator's closure under the threat of legal action has rippled out…
RIFT pledges better communication regarding its business model - You might recall that a few months ago, RIFT made some abrupt and significant changes to its business model. Between swiftly taking away the ability to unlock certain gear categories…
Marvel Heroes’ frustration over Emma Frost feedback - The problem with getting feedback from a game's community is that sometimes the community's passion overrides the desire for useful feedback. That's part of the takeaway from a frank discussion…
Massively OP’s guide to the Project Gorgon starter island - If you get past its (hopefully improving) looks and to the substance of the long-in-development Project Gorgon, you'll find that this game is a gem in the MMO field. It's…
Massively Overthinking: Reconsidering the MMORPG daily quest - Dailies. The word evokes pure hatred from some corners of the MMORPG world. And yet games without dailies are dinged for not having enough content or "glue" to pull people…
What to expect from Atlas Reactor’s closed beta launching today - [AL:Atlas]Atlas Reactor, Trion's turn-based, MOBA-esque PvP game, just finished up its final alpha testing this past weekend, and today, the studio officially kicks off its closed beta. Before I tell you how you can…
The beta for Elite: Dangerous’ long-awaited Engineers update arrives in May - Frontier has just announced the beta for Elite: Dangerous 2.1, better known as The Engineers, will open for beta access players the week of May 8th. We learned back in…
The harsh lesson City of Titans learned from Kickstarter - When fans bankrolled a project to bring a superhero MMO to live to the tune of a little over $678,000, it wasn't without a significant misstep. While the money was…
Anarchy Online’s new subscriber rewards program is live today - Funcom has just pushed live Anarchy Online's previously announced membership awards in today's patch. You'll need to manually claim your rewards, Funcom says, because "after this update, Veteran Points will stop accruing…
Has WildCard reached a settlement with Trendy? [Update: Probably.] - Is the Trendy versus Studio Wildcard legal sparring nearing an end? A recent tweet from Susan Claire Stieglitz Browning, co-founder and former business manager for Studio Wildcard, would indicate that's…
EverQuesting: First impressions of Landmark’s new story system - When I shared my first impressions of Landmark's big spring update, I admitted that there was sadness to be had, but I also noted that the one aspect of the update…
Vette gets a big gun in SWTOR’s next chapter, Profit and Plunder - [AL:TOR]Hot on the heals of last week's producer livestream announcement, we've gotten a look at the next Knights of the Fallen Empire chapter for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Profit and…
PlanetSide 2 hitbox hack gets called out, hotfixed by Daybreak - When it comes to multiplayer shooters, issues like hitbox detection and size are always hot button topics for the community. But what if you could change everyone else's hitboxes to…
Age of Conan launches Pit Master’s Arena, shelves crafting revamp, plans F2P improvements - Funcom today pushed live a new update for Age of Conan called The Pit Master's Arena. "Fight exotic and deadly beasts for fame and fortune within this Cimmerian Arena," says…
Working As Intended: Busting up the MMORPG nostalgia party - Last week, a clever Massively OP commenter, SC_Deadline, neatly summed up the ongoing Nostalrius emulator shutdown as Blizzard "bust[ing] up someone's nostalgia party," which stuck with me all weekend as…
Blizzard to WoW testers: Class orders will not be like garrison missions - If you've paid any attention to World of Warcraft during its present expansion cycle, you are probably aware that Garrisons have not exactly been warmly beloved as an addition to…
A tour of RIFT 3.6: Celebration of the Ascended - When an MMO hits its fifth anniversary, one hopes that the game's studio would pull out all of the stops to mark the occasion. Five years seems to be a…
EVE Online plans to add dailies with skill point rewards - Of all the ways to encourage players to engage with an MMO, two of the most controversial are daily quests and login rewards. Used in everything from World of Warcraft and Star Trek Online to Guild Wars…
Like skintone, Rust’s character gender is determined by Steam ID - Remember back when Rust added new skin tones and other secondary attributes that players didn't get to choose? Because the game just implemented another big variation between players: gender. Female…
TERA’s Secrets & Shadows update arrives next month - [AL:TERA]This should take some of the sting out of those layoffs: En Masse says TERA has a major update on the way for the game in the form of Secrets…
Hyperspace Beacon: Impressions of SWTOR’s Visions in the Dark for gamers still on the fence - After the last couple of lackluster chapters, I’ve lowered my expectations for the Star Wars: The Old Republic story. Not because I think that the BioWare writers are bad by…
CCP’s 2015 finances included year-over-year revenue decline for EVE Online - Hat tip to marketsforISK blogger croda for digging into CCP's 2015 financials, which were released to the public at the end of March. The good news is that CCP posted record post-tax profits…
Lord of the Rings Online mini-expansion brings Pelennor Fields and level cap increase - [AL:LOTRO]“Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden! Fell deeds awake, fire and slaughter! Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered, a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now, ride…
The Musa and Maehwa class pair joins Black Desert on April 20 - Daum EU has just announced a new class pair will join the Black Desert sandbox next week: The Musa and Maehwa. You might recognize them as the Blader and Plum…
Ascent: The Space Game formally launches from early access today - Players of Ascent: The Space Game have no doubt grown accustomed to the game being in early access, along with approximately every other title. Now the indie sandbox MMORPG is…
Bless Online strives to balance its PvE and PvP communities - This past weekend the Bless Online dev team sat down with the community in Seoul to talk about the state and future of the game. Wading through the translation of…
Derek Smart is pulling Line of Defense from Steam over review-bombing - In response to a question about Line of Defense's status on Steam, developer Derek Smart (yes, that Derek Smart) has told players that he has decided to pull the game…
ArcheAge players cry foul on a $100 in-game pool - [AL:Arche]It's been a cold April in parts of the US, but ArcheAge is addressing that with the addition of a new hot tub house decoration. It allows up to four…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 60: Nostalrius down
The Stream Team: Following the Issue #14 trail in The Secret World
The Stream Team: Starting SWTOR’s Shadow of Revan
The Stream Team: Back to battle bunnies in HEX
The Stream Team: Conquering more Chronicle: RuneScape Legends
The Stream Team: Happy birthday World of Tanks!
The Stream Team: Exploring with Elektra in Marvel Heroes
The Stream Team: Another round of Atlas Reactor alpha
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
Bonds of Brotherhood graphic novel to lead into Warcraft movie
WoW: Legion world quest details
First look at Hunter legendaries in WoW: Legion
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.
