This week, Funcom has been revving up for the early access launch of Conan Exiles, a long-awaited new entry into the multiplayer survival sandbox genre. Day-one players will be paying a base price of $29.99, on up to $59.99 for the CE. See you Tuesday!
Meanwhile, Asheron’s Call franchise fans have been steeling themselves for the sunset of one of the oldest games in the genre, or they would be if they weren’t dealing with DDOS attacks from e-thugs. Assuming Turbine gets the games back up on Monday, you can count on us to report from inside as the clock ticks down.
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Conan Exiles gets $59.99 ‘Barbarian Edition’, launch times - Funcom has announced Conan Exiles: Barbarian Edition, a special edition of the upcoming survival sandbox that boasts a crapton of extras, including a t-shirt, digital comic book, six actual comic…
Black Desert’s Margoria expansion sends gamers to the high seas today - Suit up and man the decks, me hearties: Black Desert's Margoria expansion is going live today. "The Margoria Expansion pushes the limits of what is possible in current-day MMORPGs with…
SWTOR launches 5.1 Defend the Throne with new trailer - [AL:TOR]Landing in Star Wars: The Old Republic today is the 5.1 update, Defend the Throne, the headlining feature of which is a set of five brand-new Uprisings: small-group instanced content.…
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR’s Creative Director on Uprisings and Update 5.1 - [AL:TOR]We are a couple days early with the Hyperspace Beacon this week for a reason you're going to love: We had an exclusive conversation with Creative Director Charles Boyd about…
Asheron’s Call appears to be suffering DDOS attacks - If you've been trying to get into Asheron's Call this weekend for one last look ahead of its sunset -- and failing -- you're not alone. Multiple readers and writers…
Lord of the Rings Online lays out its 2017 roadmap - [AL:LOTRO]Get ready to assail the foundations of Mordor, Lord of the Rings Online players, because it's going to happen this year. Standing Stone Games published its producer's letter today, delivering…
Guild Wars 2’s living world season 3 episode 4 will launch in February - Guild Wars 2's next living world episode is due in February, ArenaNet's Mike O'Brien told players on the forums today. "We’re wrapping up work on Episode 4 of Living World…
In appreciation for post-apoc Dereth: The life and times of Asheron’s Call 2 - On the left in the screenshot above is a windmill in the town of Cragstone in Asheron's Call. On the right is, well, the same windmill, but in the ruins…
WoW Factor: The state of professions in Legion - The state of World of Warcraft's professions in Legion is a weird one because it's obvious how much work has gone into crafting for the expansion. So much of it…
Overwatch celebrates 25 million players to date - Blizzard is popping the bubbly this week, as the studio is celebrating Overwatch reaching the impressive milestone of 25 million players. The team shooter crossed 10 million in June 2016,…
World of Warcraft helps you get your pilot’s license for Legion - Remember how a while back Blizzard told fans that it was looking at eliminating flying from all World of Warcraft expansions going forward? Yeah, so that went down as one of…
Mark Kern offers Em-8ER credit to Firefall players and founders - If you're a former Firefall player -- or a current one, since technically it's still alive -- and you are looking forward to Mark Kern's next big thing, then there…
Ashes of Creation might end up paying you to play it - One of the interesting aspects of Ashes of Creation's business model is how the game will let you subsidize your subscription by earning money via referrals. In a brief post,…
Star Trek Online’s Season 12 Reckoning is live today ahead of 7th anniversary hoopla - [AL:STO]Season 12: Reckoning is live in Star Trek Online today, just a few days ahead of the iconic MMO's seventh birthday. "To commemorate this achievement, captains can experience a brand-new…
Choose My Adventure: Nice things about Lord of the Rings Online - [AL:LOTRO]The thing about the level of Lord of the Rings Online that I'm playing at is that they are not exactly replete with choices. I am reliably informed (by you…
Star Wars: The Old Republic explains the Bolster changes in Patch 5.1 - [AL:TOR]Players who logged in to Star Wars: The Old Republic after patch 5.1 and jumped right into PvP probably noticed right away that their Bolster effects were working a bit…
World of Warcraft is bringing back Southshore vs. Tarren Mill for patch 7.2 - At this point in World of Warcraft, Southshore is a plague-filled crater and Tarren Mill has gotten a complete architectural overhaul. But back in the older days, Southshore was an…
WildStar explains shift in dungeon reward philosophy - Don't look now, but WildStar has incited an underground revolution involving its dungeon reward philosophy. In the upcoming Power of the Primal Matrix update, the sci-fi title will be making…
Blade & Soul’s Wings of the Raven February 8 update includes two huge raids - [AL:BaS]Two weeks from today, Blade & Soul is getting what surely has to be its thousandth patch by now since launching here in the west a year ago. February 8th's…
Daybreak: ‘We have not given up’ on H1Z1’s console launch - Daybreak has posted up an H1Z1: King of the Kill Q&A last night that sheds some light on the state of the game, in one of many planned for the future.…
Perfect Ten: MMORPGs that walk on the weird side - In third grade, my teacher sent home a report card with the note that "Justin is wonderfully strange."Â Ever since then, I never found the terms "strange" or "weird" to be…
Mei’s slim waistline is a bug, Overwatch team says - If you're a big fan of Overwatch's Mei, you might have noticed that following yesterday's big Lunar New Year patch, Mei's Chinese New Year-themed skins didn't quite match her regular…
Riders of Icarus launches its Sandstorm update - There's a giant raid boss named Sandstorm wandering out in the world of Riders of Icarus, so naturally, players are expected to go kill it. What are you even playing…
In appreciation for Dereth: The life and times of Asheron’s Call - Imagine a game where magic was actually rare, complicated, and often underwhelming in terms of time vs. efficiency -- a game where players actually needed to study a language to…
Marvel Heroes devs gush about new update while Lunar New Year arrives - There are two things for certain in regard to Marvel Heroes' "biggest update ever:" It was quite comprehensive indeed, and it has received mixed reviews (to put it kindly) from the player…
Wisdom of Nym: First impressions of Final Fantasy XIV’s patch 3.5, part one - [AL:FFXIV]I can't think of the last time I've played through a patch of Final Fantasy XIV as quickly as I played through patch 3.5. That's not a mark against it,…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 101: Marvelous heroes
The Stream Team: Out on Black Desert’s expanded ocean
The Stream Team: Not letting ARK’s sleeping dinos lie
The Stream Team: A newbie’s first look at Asheron’s Call 2
The Stream Team: An Asheron’s Call adventure in paradise
The Stream Team: Looking at Landmark’s builds
The Stream Team: SWTOR’s Skytroopers assault the Gravestone
The Stream Team: EverQuest naked Gnome races
The Stream Team: Beginner’s luck in Asheron’s Call
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
WoW Patch 7.2: First look at pet battle dungeons
Pick up your very own dragon costume from WoW’s Lunar Festival
Officers’ Quarters: Coping with a guild leader’s passing
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.
