One of my self-inflicted rules for our Week in Review mandates that I not feature the same game twice in a row, but I say today that Star Trek Online, which rarely gets featured at all, deserves the exception. After announcing a controversial original-series-flavored expansion pack for the sci-fi MMORPG earlier this month, PWE and Cryptic have now announced that the 2010 game will port to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this fall, no doubt in the hopes of emulating the success of MMOs like Neverwinter, DC Universe Online, and Final Fantasy XIV. Newsflash to grumpy PC gamers: An influx of console money is a good thing for the longevity of the game. You should be cheering!
Meanwhile, Blizzard kicked off World of Warcraft’s Legion expansion beta test (really beta this time), and NCsoft’s latest financials cast a shadow over WildStar.
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
WildStar loses more developers as Donatelli, Behrens depart - Update: We've updated below with Carbine's statement to Massively OP. WildStar appears to have lost more staff this weekend: Both Mike Donatelli and Chris Behrens told Twitter their time at Carbine…
Star Trek Online is launching on consoles this fall - [AL:STO]The big announcements for Star Trek Online keep arriving. Last week it was the reveal of the Agents of Yesterday expansion; this week it's the news that Cryptic is bringing…
World of Warcraft begins Legion’s beta testing - Alpha? That's so early 2016, you guys. Starting today, World of Warcraft: Legion is all about its beta test, which will run until the expansion's launch at the end of…
NCsoft Q1 2016: Blade & Soul is booming, WildStar is tumbling - There are good pieces of news from NCsoft's first quarter financial report. For one thing, the company's year-on-year sales, profits, and net income are all up year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter. Q1…
First impressions: Overwatch offers nothing new (yet), but I’m buying it anyway - I'm going to be blunt: I don't feel like a Blizzard fan. I know that may sound odd from the guy who plays Hearthstone more than any other writer on this site, but it's true. I…
Almost 10 million people logged into Overwatch’s beta - Overwatch has swallowed my guild. Ever since the Overwatch IV drop was shut off at the end of open beta earlier this week, my guildies have been moping around as…
Tree of Savior has officially launched - Tree of Savior is officially free-to-play and ready to download on Steam as of today's maintenance. "This means that our DLC products will no longer be available for purchase," says…
Crowfall delays features for more polish, looks at a ‘soft launch’ - ArtCraft came out yesterday and admitted that it will not be able to make its projected dates on certain Crowfall features without sacrificing quality, and as such the studio announced…
Perfect Ten: What your MMO character type says about you - Every MMO has character classes. Every single one. You might rail against this by pointing out that there are several games out there with open skill systems, and this is…
Black Desert gets a little patch and a big weekend compensation event - A spate of restarts across the servers in the last few days have prompted Black Desert studio Daum to grant players a 30% bonus experience weekend beginning today. https://twitter.com/BDO_News/status/731146732344610816 Earlier…
LOTRO Legendarium: Nine years in Middle-earth - [AL:LOTRO]There are always those gut-check moments in your life when you realize just how much time has passed. For instance, I'm going to look up into a mirror at the…
Leaderboard: Chronicles of Elyria’s Kickstarter funded. Did you back it? - On this week's Massively OP podcast, both Justin and I expressed surprise that Chronicles of Elyria's Kickstarter has done so well -- it certainly seems to defy the prevailing gloom-and-doom…
Star Citizen’s 2.4 alpha brings a flyable Starfarer and shopping to the PTS - Cloud Imperium's Sandi Gardiner is joined by Forrest Stephan for the latest installment of Star Citizen's Around the Verse. Alpha 2.4 is indeed on the test server. "Very exciting stuff,"…
Fight for your side in Marvel Heroes’ Civil War tournament - Marvel Heroes' "most unique tournament to date" has started up, offering teams of players the chance to prove which one is one the right side -- and which is sad…
Massively Overthinking: The minority playerbases inside MMORPGs - Earlier this week, World of Warcraft Lead Game Designer Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas weighed in on a player thread about Legion's in-game prices in a way the original poster probably didn't…
Rumor: Wizard101 and Pirate101 developer KingsIsle hit by layoffs [Confirmed] - [Update: KingsIsle has confirmed the layoffs to Massively OP; see end of post for statement.] Industry vets on Twitter have begun sending condolences to KingsIsle employees allegedly hit with "mass"…
ArcheAge’s new event is all about shipping (and plundering) trade packs - [AL:Arche]We want to make something clear: The new ArcheAge event which starts tomorrow, May 13th, and runs through May 16th is not specifically about piracy. At no time does the…
Daybreak polls EverQuest II players on ‘prestige servers’ - Daybreak's latest player poll has EverQuest II players scratching their heads. Launched with this week's patch, the poll asks EQII players whether they'd be interested in prestige servers and which type…
RIFT introduces the Mind of Madness as a new Intrepid Adventure - [AL:Rift]Your newest Intrepid Adventure in RIFT, should you choose to undertake it, is to take on the Mind of Madness. That seems like it would be better suited by an…
Surprise! The Secret World launches Issue #15 - Eureka, I've got it! That's what The Secret World fans are saying about Issue #15 now that the servers are back up. If this comes as a surprise, it's because…
Perfect World will publish Motiga’s MOBA Gigantic - Perfect World has just announced that it will be publishing Gigantic, Motiga's upcoming MOBA. "This partnership with Perfect World Entertainment expands the game’s reach, allowing us to support players with Win64…
How Guild Wars 2 will improve WvW scoring - The Guild Wars 2 community has been asking for improvements to scoring in the game's world-vs-world battles, and ArenaNet is moving swiftly to bring these changes to the game. In…
League of Legends loses social systems lead, bans three pro teams - One of the most notable developers for League of Legends has left Riot Games for a "new challenge." Lead Designer of Social Systems Jeffrey Lin announced on Twitter yesterday that…
How you dress in Star Citizen affects the galaxy around you - Cloud Imperium's Adam Weiser and Omar Aweidah have the bridge of this week's Star Citizen 10 for the Developers episode as they answer... 10 questions for the developers. It says…
How Elder Scrolls Online converts veteran ranks to champion points - ZeniMax has just posted a deep-dive into the veteran rank system obliteration coming with The Elder Scrolls Online's Dark Brotherhood DLC. "The goal for transitioning away from Veteran Ranks was…
World of Warcraft: Legion beta starts this Thursday - Say goodbye to World of Warcraft: Legion's "alpha" phase, boys and girls. Blizzard announced today on a dev stream that the expansion's beta testing is starting this week. To be…
First impressions of TERA’s Secrets & Shadows update and flying mounts - It's no secret: TERA's Secrets & Shadows update arrives this month! And many players are eagerly anticipating diving in to experience these changes for themselves. Besides two new dungeons and…
RIFT has a new reward system just for subscribers - If you haven't gotten the message lately, Trion Worlds is pushing very hard to encourage RIFT players to subscribe up with patron status. The studio buffed patron membership at the…
Empyrean is building ‘MMOs you can beat’ - Empyrean Interactive is coining a new acronym this season: PCA, which stands for persistent cooperative adventure, a "radically different" take on the MMO genre. Studio founders Geoff Virtue and Joe…
Nostalrius team surveys community about a World of Warcraft legacy ruleset - As we've been reporting, the team from the shuttered Nostalrius World of Warcraft emulator has been appointed as "ambassadors" of a sort to represent the vanilla-loving community with Blizzard's devs.…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 64: To boldly return
The Stream Team: Serving up ARK’s savory salmon steaks
The Stream Team: Friday the 13th frolicking in The Secret World
The Stream Team: Back to battle in MechWarrior Online
The Stream Team: Nab a Neverwinter boar mount key for Xbox One
The Stream Team: Choosing sides in Marvel Heroes’ Civil War event
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
WoW Legion: A snapshot of World Quests
Beware of WoW: Legion beta scams
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.
