The Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities befell Turbine and its MMORPGs this week: The layoff monster struck hard. Though Warner Bros. told us Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons would “continue to operate as they do now” as the studio transitions to a mobile one, the company has yet to clarify just what that will mean for both games as well as the Asheron’s Call franchise.
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Turbine layoffs confirmed: Turbine is transitioning into a ‘mobile’ dev studio - [update]We've updated the end of this post with Warner Bros.' statement to us.[/update] [AL:LOTRO]It sounds as if Turbine may have been hit with another round of layoffs. Former Community Manager…
Interview: Cryptic on the launch of Star Trek Online’s Agents of Yesterday - [AL:STO]Today, players will get to go back in time in Star Trek Online. Only for your new characters, it's not actually back in time at all; it's just the present.…
Perfect Ten: The 10 components of a ‘fair’ MMO PvP fight - I spend a lot of my time thinking about MMO PvP. You might not realize it, but I'm actually a really big fan of PvP; it's one of those misconceptions…
Kakao argues that Black Desert is not pay-to-win - Yesterday, Daum -- or I suppose we should be calling it Kakao Games Europe now -- posted up a quick Black Desert FAQ with answers from the devs. There's a…
Elder Scrolls Online launches a $59.99 gold edition with DLC included in September - Bethsoft has just announced a gold edition of The Elder Scrolls Online, due out on September 9th for all platforms. It'll include all the game's core content, a palomino horse…
Lord of the Rings Online’s first raid in almost three years goes live today alongside housing tweaks - [AL:LOTRO]Lord of the Rings Online's 18.2 update goes live today; in fact, the servers should be up shortly after this article is published. Notably, today's patch introduces the game's first…
World of Warcraft teases the Legion pre-patch - When will World of Warcraft players experience the Legion pre-patch? Despite the fact that the opening lines of the most recent development dispatch promise to share more about when to…
Richard Garriott and Starr Long are literally selling their blood for Shroud of the Avatar - Remember last year back when Richard Garriott raffled off his rat tail to raise money for Shroud of the Avatar? Yeah, good times. Now the Portalarium boss is selling something…
The Game Archaeologist: Eight launch trailers from classic MMOs - When YouTube first became a thing, I dismissed it as a site that was mostly preoccupied with people talking into cameras in an attempt to stoke the fires of their…
World of Warcraft thieves are using a new chat script to scam players out of gold - World of Warcraft players beware: There's a new scam going on that requires a little bit of gullibility and action on the part of the account holder. Apparently some scammers are…
Trion has filed a Starfall Prophecy trademark – is it for RIFT? - [AL:Rift]Trion Worlds has filed a new trademark relating to video games this week: Starfall Prophecy. A thread on the official RIFT forums has led to a bit of speculation on whether this…
No Man’s Sky goes gold - The bad news for No Man's Sky fans is that the game took longer than expected to be finished and launch was delayed slightly. Some people do not take this…
TERA’s Aces Wild update is live today - [AL:TERA]You've heard a lot about TERA's next big update lately, haven't you? There's been all sorts of information about what's coming with the update, so much so that it's easy…
Pokemon Go is live in the United States - Have you previously tried to get into games using your phone's "augmented reality" features, but found yourself lacking an emotional connection to things that aren't small animals you can make…
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR’s clear message of indifference for its most loyal players - I don't like to rant. I like my opinions to be measured and thoughtful. But sometimes I need to cut loose and let something off my chest. Last week, I…
Blade & Soul plots Shadows of the Innocents update for July 20 - It's a day that ends in -day, which means Blade &Â Soul has another content update in the works. The update's called Shadows of the Innocents, and it lands on July…
DCUO plans larger, slower releases, Suicide Squad map, and boosted characters - [AL:DCUO]Daybreak has big plans for the development of DC Universe Online. Senior Community Relations Manager Ted Stone outlines what's in store in a hefty dev post today. For starters, beginning…
Blizzard sues Bossland again, this time for Overwatch cheat - Remember Bossland GmbH? It's the German company that makes bots like World of Warcraft's HonorBuddy for Blizzard's games, which Blizz has ardently argued violates its copyrights and costs Blizzard exorbitant…
R.I.P. PlanetSide - With barely a whisper in memory of its long-running MMOFPS, Daybreak closed down the PlanetSide servers this past weekend. The studio had previously stated that the sunset was due to…
Here’s everything that’s coming with Elder Scrolls Online’s Update 11 - It's hard to know what to be more excited for in The Elder Scrolls Online: the major update that's coming to the game in August or the long-awaited introduction of…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 72: The dog days of summer updates
The Stream Team: Slime Lords and Mo capes in AdventureQuest 3D
The Stream Team: Calming the enraged Gatekeeper in The Secret World
The Stream Team: Seeking Path of Exile prophecies
The Stream Team: Rooting out the Revanites in SWTOR
The Stream Team: Milking Black Desert cows
The Stream Team: Exploring Elder Scrolls Online’s Dark Brotherhood beyond the black door
The Stream Team: Get a Mo cape in AdventureQuest 3D!
The Stream Team: Life is dangerous on a newly launched ARK
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
Screenshot a demon, get a WoW Legion beta key
Know Your Lore: The rise of the Argent Crusade
The latest Overwatch patch addresses competitive play issues
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.
