Gotta love a big MMORPG week! Marvel Heroes is coming to console, Black Desert has huge plans for 2017, The Secret World weathered a massive leak, Ship of Heroes began and ended its Kickstarter, and through it all rolled EVE Fanfest in Reykjavik, from which Brendan’s been reporting on DUST 514 replacement Project Nova, EVE’s Project Discovery, Sparc, EVE Valkyrie, and more yet to come. In a normal week, any one of those might have had a Week in Review intro all unto itself, and yet here we are.
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Black Desert’s 2017 plans include Striker class, climbing, and airships - [AL:BDO]If you happen to be a Black Desert player, then this weekend is bound to be a time of joy and celebration for you. The team announced its development plans…
Marvel Heroes is coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as Marvel Heroes Omega - Remember all those rumors about Marvel Heroes maybe someday coming to console, right down to a screenshot of a possible console UI? It's happening! Gazillion announced this morning that the…
Secret World Legends beta leaks show a vastly changed game [Updated] - [update]Funcom has issued a statement about the leaks; we've included it in its entirety at the end of this post.[/update] For those assuming that Secret World Legends will be only…
LOTRO Legendarium: Playing second fiddle to the Fellowship - [AL:LOTRO]Back when Lord of the Rings Online was being developed as Middle-earth Online in the late 1990s, the original concept was to plop players into the Fourth Age after the…
City of Heroes-inspired MMORPG Ship of Heroes has canceled its Kickstarter bid - The team behind Ship of Heroes has just announced that it's canceling its Kickstarter. Since the crowdfund's launch on April 4th, it had raised only $35,138 of its $400,000 goal. "We’ve had…
ESL Gaming is shutting down Guild Wars 2’s e-sports section - ESL Gaming announced this afternoon that following two last e-sports cups next week, its Guild Wars 2 division will close. "It's the end of an era - sadly, the GW2…
Star Wars: The Old Republic reveals its first raid in two years - [AL:TOR]When the developers of Star Wars: The Old Republic told us they were going to focus on more group content for Knights of the Eternal Throne, many players suspected new…
EVE Fanfest 2017: Hands-on with competitive VR sports game Sparc - At the end of February, CCP Games announced a new game that has nothing to do with EVE Online or even the EVE IP. Named Sparc, the new VR game is being pitched…
EVE Fanfest 2017: DUST 514 successor Project Nova is still in development - Developer CCP Games made its first foray into the console FPS market back in 2013 with the incredibly ambitious DUST 514, and things didn't exactly go to plan. The core FPS gameplay…
Secret World Legends dev stream showcases tutorial, character creation changes, and combat - [AL:SWL]With Secret World Legends in closed beta, many fans are unable to get in and see what is going on with the changes. For those without access, devs hosted a…
SWTOR posts a trailer for next week’s big raid update - [AL:TOR]All set for next week's War of Iokath landing in Star Wars: The Old Republic? We've been getting details in dribs and drabs, especially about the dungeon, whose first boss was…
Massively Overthinking: It’s the end of The Secret World as we know it - [AL:SWL]I think I can speak for most of our staff in saying that in November when Funcom first promised a "major upgrade to both retention and acquisition mechanics and content of the…
SuperData predicts huge gains for virtual reality over the next four years - SuperData was rather famously quoted all throughout the industry at the end of 2016 following its research-backed proclamation that virtual reality was the "biggest loser" of the holiday gaming sales…
The Survivalist: ARK’s big bird nerf - I know I said part two of the survival guide, containing a host of single-player survival games, would be the next entry in this new column (and it's still coming,…
Hands-on with TERA’s new Valkyrie class - Last month, TERA's community chose the name of its new class, and next week players will get to not only see that Valkyrie in action but play her when Honorbound launches…
Conan Exiles adds a new sewer dungeon for you to die in with today’s update - Funcom's been a busy little bee this week, so pry your eyes away from Secret World Legends for a minute for a peek at Conan Exiles, which today has launched…
Choose My Adventure: Muddling through the start of Black Desert - [AL:BDO]After my first week of playing, I don't know if I actually like Black Desert very much. I also don't know entirely if it's very good at what it's trying…
Blade and Soul’s next update includes a training room and skill revamp - Blade and Soul's next update may be a literal game-changer, as the team is overhauling the skill system to make it more accessible and less confusing. The team admits that…
Tamriel Infinium: Examining the gods of Elder Scrolls Online’s Morrowind - [AL:ESO]As we all wait patiently for June 6th to come around so that we can play through Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind, players might realize that there is already part of…
U.S. district court hears Pokemon Go trespassing lawsuit - Last summer when Pokemon Go took off, so did the lawsuits from property owners who claimed Niantic was effectively encouraging players to illegally trespass on their land. We covered two…
Perfect Ten: 10 little things that I love about LOTRO - [AL:LOTRO]I'm a details man. I like to stop and check out the small things, to drink in my environments, and to notice how all sorts of elements connect (or not).…
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2’s Bastion of the Penitent raid lore - As promised, I'm making a return to the lore found within Guild Wars 2's newest raid Bastion of the Penitent now that we've summarised the raid encounters together and touched on…
Blizzard awarded $8.5M in Bossland WoW and Overwatch bot lawsuit - German bot company Bossland has lost another battle in its war with Blizzard, though that's to be expected since it didn't even show up for the fight. Bossland creates, distributes,…
Reddit Place is not an MMO, but it is an MMO - Wandering around Reddit can be almost as hazardous as falling into the time vacuums of Wikipedia and TV Tropes. This I remembered yesterday, when Massively OP reader Rick told us…
Record of Lodoss War Online is launching this week - Following a short closed beta test, Record of Lodoss War Online will be launching this week on April 6th. Record of what now? There's no shame in your blank look as…
SuperData examines gambling practices across the online gaming industry - Gambling in video games has been a huge topic for devoted MMORPG players over the last year or so, as core MMOs like Guild Wars 2, Star Wars: The Old…
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward in review – the main scenario - [AL:FFXIV]I never really had a chance to explore Final Fantasy XI expansion by expansion. By the time the game launched in North America, the first expansion was already out and…
Soak up an hour of Elder Scrolls Online’s new Warden - [AL:ESO]Are you bearly ready to roll up one of the new Wardens for this June's Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind? Future bear butts rejoice, then, because ZeniMax has delivered a full…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 111: Secret World’s Destiny
The Stream Team: New raft-destroying danger in ARK’s deep
The Stream Team: Attempting Conan Exile’s first dungeon
The Stream Team: Frolicking in LOTRO’s spring festival
The Stream Team: An audience with SWTOR’s Lady of Sorrows
The Stream Team: Let there be cake for Elder Scrolls Online’s 3rd birthday!
The Stream Team: Partying with fools in Elder Scrolls Online’s Jester’s Festival
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
Do you like WoW’s Legion Assaults?
WoW Legion Assaults no longer needed for flying plus other hotfixes
Four ways Blizzard can help WoW guilds
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.
