The internet lost its mind over this week’s announcement that Rockstar is working on Red Dead Redemption 2, complete with a multiplayer online component and a new trailer to go with the launch date of next fall. Whether it launches on PC or not is still a mystery.
Meanwhile, MMOs from Guild Wars 2 to Elder Scrolls Online kicked off their Halloween events — don’t forget our guide to MMORPG Halloween 2016!
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Red Dead Redemption 2 announced for fall 2017 with ‘online multiplayer experience’ - Rockstar made it official this morning: Red Dead Redemption 2Â is on the way this time next year. https://twitter.com/RockstarGames/status/788363842329903104 Why are we writing about it here? This blurby right on the…
Rockstar releases Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer - Earlier this week, Rockstar formally announced that it is working on Red Dead Redemption 2, due out fall of next year. "Developed by the creators of Grand Theft Auto V…
Hyperspace Beacon: Examining SWTOR’s contentious 5.0 endgame gear grind - If you didn't watch the Star Wars: The Old Republic livestream on Monday, then you missed Creative Director Charles Boyd, Producer Ben Irving, and Community Manager Eric Musco give a…
Massively OP’s guide to MMO Halloween 2016 - "Two things I did on Hallows Night: / Made my house April-clear / Left open wide my door / to the ghosts of the year."  ~ "All Hollows Night" by Lizette…
The Nintendo Switch would like to be your new BFF - Nintendo has just released a first-look trailer for the Nintendo Switch, a new handheld gaming device for people so obsessed with gaming that they need a toy that can be brought everywhere and…
Return to Karazhan in World of Warcraft on October 25 - Blizzard announced this afternoon that World of Warcraft's first major post-Legion patch, 7.1: Return to Karazhan, will launch on October 25th. During this afternoon's livestream, newly minted Game Director Ion…
RIFT: Starfall Prophecy aims for a November 16 launch - [AL:Rift]Now that Starfall Prophecy's open beta is underway, Trion Worlds seems comfortable with setting a launch date for RIFT's third expansion. The studio revealed the big date as November 16th,…
LOTRO releases Update 19: March of the King with new premium housing - [AL:LOTRO]Mr. Frodo, the word is given: Lord of the Rings Online is rolling out Update 19: March of the King today. Update 19 is a major content release for the…
Trion’s Scott Hartsman: The MMO market is ‘in very good health’ - In a new interview on MCVUK this week, Trion Worlds CEO Scott Hartsman dishes on the state of the MMO industry and making inroads into the Chinese market. For starters,…
Here’s a first look at Guild Wars 2’s animated legendary armor - [AL:GW2]ArenaNet has this afternoon released a brief look at the legendary armor -- or at least, the heavy armor version of it -- promised for Guild Wars 2. Producer Paul…
The video game voice actor strike is on - The strike that U.S. screen actors guild SAG-AFTRA was threatening against video game studios will be going forward as planned, with the strike starting just after midnight this morning following a round…
ARK: Survival Evolved introduces procedurally generated maps - Studio Wildcard is touting a big update to ARK: Survival Evolved this week that ought to come with a trigger warning for people who hate procedural generation. Yes, patch 248…
Perfect Ten: Ten ways to bond with your kids over MMOs - Back in 2009 I made the transition into parenthood, an advanced class that I still don't think I'm quite qualified for. Since then I've seen four small children enter into…
Pokemon Go smashes through $600M revenue barrier in record time - Most game app designers can only dream of their title taking off and raking in millions of dollars in revenue. It's almost a laughable pipe dream to hope that your…
WoW Factor: Sargeras, the Legion, and World of Warcraft lore on the cosmic scale - Patch 7.1 is just around the corner for World of Warcraft, and it makes me just a little bit anxious. Why? Because the expansion has been out for a pretty…
Blizzard releases free voice chat functionality for Battle.net - The Battle.net launcher -- while we're still calling it Battle.net -- now has a new way for friends to pester and poke each other. Friends can use the new Blizzard…
Massively Overthinking: Real solutions to the MMO toxicity problem - Toxicity. It's plagued online spaces since long before there were MMORPGs and other online video games, as any old school BBS user can attest. But it's a problem we deal…
Star Trek Online previews its next featured episode, Echoes of Light - [AL:STO]You can try to hide from the rest of the galaxy in Star Trek Online, but even though the galaxy is a very large place, it can also be very…
EverQuesting: EverQuest II’s public quest event — fun or flop? - Last year when EverQuest II had a prelude event before the launch of its expansion, it was a two-parter. And thanks to logistics at the time, I ended up missing…
The Division launches its next major patch on October 25th - October 25th appears to be the day of the month to launch new patches; The Division is joining the fun with patch 1.4. This patch brings with it the option…
AdventureQuest 3D launches open beta on mobile, Mac, and PC - The big day for AdventureQuest 3D has finally arrived with the game's transition into a persistent open beta state. While PC, Mac, and Android versions are now live, iOS players…
Hi-Rez announces turn-based strategy battler SMITE Tactics - [AL:Smite]We hope Hi-Rez's tease of a new title announcement yesterday didn't get your hopes up because it's definitely not the Global Agenda 2 some folks were gunning for. In fact,…
Cloud Pirates sails into its first closed beta test, shows off ship classes - Who doesn't like a flying airship, particularly when its heavily armed and given license to slug it out with the other traffic on its daily commute? Road rage has nothing…
Anarchy Online says that it is coming to Steam ‘soon’ - One of the oldest sci-fi MMORPGs looks like it will soon become one of the newest members of the Steam club. On the official forums, the Anarchy Online team said…
Hero’s Song on what to expect from next week’s backer alpha - John Smedley's enthusiasm for his indie MMOARPG Hero's Song hasn't faltered -- Pixelmage Games gets to keep the $94,231 raised through Indiegogo, after all, and he didn't have to go…
Skyforge’s game-rewriting Ascension update has finally arrived - [AL:Sky]Skyforge's Ascension expansion is fully live for everyone today, and make no mistake: This is no cheapie patch. Ascension is a massive overhaul to core game systems, a fundamental rewrite of…
Brazilian teenager accidentally dies following League of Legends loss - [AL:LOL]We have had far too many public service announcements on Massively Overpowered in recent months about things not to do around games. For example, you should not threaten a developer…
Hide and Shriek is coming on October 25, offers discounted pre-order - Funcom's 1v1 scarefest Hide and Shriek will be here in a few more days, as the studio set the date of next Tuesday, October 25th, for its launch. Players can…
The Elder Scrolls Online rolls out One Tamriel for consolers today with a new launch trailer - As promised, One Tamriel is live today in The Elder Scrolls Online on both PS4 and Xbox One, complete with the revamped zones, level scaling, new Craglorn, standardized loot, dueling,…
Atlas Reactor pushes out post-launch patch with new hero and Halloween event - Atlas Reactor's first post-launch content update is here, and boy is it a doozy (in the best of dooziest ways). The spotlight feature for the October 17th update is the…
Flameseeker Chronicles: Gaming playstyles, science, and Guild Wars 2 - [AL:GW2]I was curious recently about what specific personality traits or personal qualities lead to my enjoyment of MMOs in general and Guild Wars 2 in particular, especially after reading that Quantic Foundry has…
Star Wars: The Old Republic previews Galactic Command and unified gearing - [AL:TOR]When Star Wars: The Old Republic launches its next expansion, you can say farewell to the old rules about gear progression. The Galactic Command system is a new system that…
David Brevik becomes Path of Exile advisor - [AL:POE]While some people were clinging to rumors that David Brevik was returning to the Diablo franchise that originally made him famous, the truth is that the man and his magnificent…
RIFT says goodbye to CM Ocho, hello to CM Brasse - [AL:Rift]There's a changing of the guard this week in RIFT's community management team. Long-time steward Eric "Ocho" Cleaver has left Trion Worlds to be a director at an unnamed company, putting an…
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in review - [AL:FFXIV]Being at the Final Fantasy XIV fan festival was interesting for me on several levels because I wasn't just there to have fun, I was there to work... but I…
EVE Evolved: Controversy over gambling bans and charities - [AL:EVE]It's been a crazy, drama-filled week in EVE Online, starting with a controversial change to the EULA that will ban all gambling sites using in-game currency or assets when the Ascension expansion arrives on November…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 87: Rise of Stormblood Rising
The Stream Team: Cracking skulls in Elder Scroll Online’s Witches Festival
The Stream Team: Guild War 2’s evil Halloween jumping puzzle
The Stream Team: Sabotage racing CM Odonoptera in The Secret World
The Stream Team: AQ3D’s beta doors open wide and Artix is here to greet you
The Stream Team: Hobbits invade Lord of the Rings Online’s haunted burrow
The Stream Team: Celebrating Shade’s Eve in WildStar
The Stream Team: A Nights of the Dead killing spree in EverQuest II
The Stream Team: Happy haunting in HEX’s haunted harvest
The Stream Team: SMITE’s Bat God, Camazotz
The Stream Team: Landmark’s Halloween Island
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
Endgineer Omegaplugg is a new secret boss in WoW’s Gnomeregan
Is WoW’s Patch 7.1 coming too soon?
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.
