This week, Guild Wars 2 launched Flashpoint, the next-to-last episode of its third living world season, which was overshadowed by a positively massive leak of the expansion, most likely coming in the fall.
Meanwhile, Ashes of Creation bedazzled MMORPG gamers with its Kickstarter, which in spite of questions about the game’s business model and corporate history has doubled its Kickstarter goal in just a week and seems sure to clear multiple stretch goals before it’s done.
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
ASHES OF CREATION
Ashes of Creation’s Steven Sharif on his business history, $30M funding goal, and PvP
Ashes of Creation knocks out two stretch goals, confirms in-game food
Ashes of Creation clears $1M in crowdfunding, shows off mounts, and dangles kitties and puppies
Whatever happened to Alganon, Ryzom, and Forsaken Legends?
The Daily Grind: Are you Kickstarting Ashes of Creation?
Massively OP Interview: Ashes of Creation on a new way to MMO
Ashes of Creation’s Kickstarter is live, seeking $750,000 to bolster the ‘rebirth of the MMORPG’
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Flameseeker Chronicles: First impressions of Guild Wars 2’s Flashpoint - I can't quite believe that we are already on the penultimate chapter of Guild Wars 2's third Living World season, but if I were under any illusion that the story is rolling…
Rumor: Guild Wars 2 leak reveals expansion masteries, locations - New images suggesting sweeping changes coming in Guild Wars 2's next expansion have been released into the wilds of Reddit. As usual, we’ll be tucking the whole thing behind spoiler…
Guild Wars 2’s expansion is slated for not long after the end of season 3, likely this fall - During today's Guild Wars 2 Flashpoint AMA, Mike O'Brien confirmed that the long-teased expansion (yeah, the one that leaked out of every possible culvert this morning) is indeed on the…
Activision-Blizzard Q1 2017: Blizzard’s online games drove Activision-Blizzard profits last quarter - Activision-Blizzard can't claim "biggest quarter ever" for the quarter ending March 2017, but it continues to rake in huge sums of money, enough to at least claim "biggest first quarter ever"…
Dev stream highlights Secret World Legends’ weapon abilities - [AL:SWL]Fans are eager to see and learn more about Secret World Legends, and devs complied with a new livestream. While they couldn't answer all the questions being hurled at them…
Choose My Adventure: Wrapping up Black Desert and selecting our next destination - Back when I mentioned that I was learning to like Black Desert a while back, I got this tweet from the game's official account. That was awesome. I liked it…
Hyperspace Beacon: The three key problems with SWTOR’s War for Iokath - [AL:TOR]Unlike some gamers, I actually like Star Wars: The Old Republic's Trooper storyline. In fact, one of the most meaningful choices in the whole game is made by the player in the Trooper's…
Guild Wars 2 addresses WvW updates, expansion leaks, and legendary armor - If you caught even the tiniest bit of the Guild Wars 2 Flashpoint AMA last night, you already heard the big news: Mike O'Brien confirmed that the expansion is coming…
TERA cracks down on third-party programs, causing a community firestorm - [AL:TERA]TERA has put a hit out on third-party programs that access the MMO -- and players that might be using them for "malicious" purposes. On April 26th, En Masse posted…
Chaos Theory: Which faction should you choose in Secret World? - [AL:SWL]While a spring launch of Secret World Legends is not a guarantee it's still a hope, so it's not too soon to be thinking about creating your character. Anyone who…
‘Reputation should matter’: Crowfall ties your account name to your character name - Anonymous griefers, Crowfall might not be the game for you. In May's developer Q&A video, the team clarified that players' character names will be the same as their account names…
Darkfall Rise of Agon is live today - Hardcore sandbox Darkfall: Rise of Agon officially launches this afternoon. The story of the game is a victorious one, as it's one of two games being built by player-organized studios…
WoW Factor: Breaking up is surprisingly easy to do - The classic break-up line is "it's not you, it's me." It is, of course, usually a lie, and it often gets followed up shortly afterward with a line that makes…
Exploring TellTale’s Guardians of the Galaxy ‘crowd play’: A dual group dynamic - I have sort of an odd relationship with "story" in gaming. JRPGs really got me into gaming and inspired me to focus on my writing voice(s). Though the quality of…
WildStar begins testing prime raids and housing communities - With WildStar's Patch 1.7.1 out of the way this week, the team at Carbine can kick back, open up a cold one, and... apparently go full-tilt with the next update on…
TERA’s fifth birthday celebration is finally underway, counts 6.6M registered players - [AL:TERA]Did you think TERAÂ had forgotten its birthday? We did too for a minute there, but nope! It's a few days belated, but En Masse is indeed rolling out its fifth…
Mark Hamill caps off Star Citizen’s latest Around the Verse - This week's episode of Around the Verse sees Star Citizen's Chris Roberts and Sandi Gardiner bookending the Austin studio update and tech check-in. The Austin branch is focused on major features…
Elder Scrolls Online previews Morrowind’s dwemer ruins - [AL:ESO]Remember Naryu Virian? She's the snarky assassin fronting Elder Scrolls Online's Morrowind tour videos, and she's back again today with a disdainful travelogue on Morrowind's Dwemer ruins. In short? She's…
SMITE honors ‘painting god’ Bob Ross in next week’s update - [AL:Smite]I almost feel sorry for a patch like the one hitting SMITE next week -- it's got new skins for Erlang Shen, Sol, Thoth, Kuzenbo, and Thanotos in addition to…
Perfect Ten: Exploring MMORPGs from the far corners of the world - Have you ever noticed that while there's an entire world out there, most all of the MMORPGs we discuss and play tend to either be ones crafted in the USA…
Black Desert arrives on Steam May 24 - Today's Black Desert patch isn't a big one compared to most, clocking in at under a quarter of a gig, kicking off a new month of attendance awards, and adding…
Pokemon Go player faces up to 3.5 years in Russian penal colony over blasphemy law - A 22-year-old Russian vlogger is facing prison time for playing Pokemon Go inside a church. Last summer, Ruslan Sokolovsky recorded himself playing Pokemon Go on his phone in the Church…
Marvel Heroes lays out PC plans for 2017 - Feeling a little neglected, Marvel Heroes PC players? Grumpy that Omega's getting all of mom and dad's attention? Gazillion has heard your grumbling, which is why Creative Director Jess Decker…
Elite Dangerous’ novel-concluding Salomé event was wrecked by long-con griefers - Last week, we reported on an impending roleplaying event in Elite Dangerous that was set to influence the outcome of Premonition, a game-based novel by author Drew Wagar. What players…
Working As Intended: Why classic Guild Wars matters, 12 years in - The spring season always sees a deluge of MMORPG birthday celebrations: Lord of the Rings Online, City of Heroes, Allods Online, Free Realms last week and TERA and EVE Online…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 115: Legendary podcasting
The Stream Team: Cheers to EVE Online for 14 years
The Stream Team: A Cinco de Mayo pajama party in LOTRO
The Stream Team: A new CMA series in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series
The Stream Team: Hankering for hydrogen in Osiris: New Dawn
The Stream Team: Power to the PC on a Marvel Heroes Monday
The Stream Team: Happy 5th birthday TERA!
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
Is the WoW grind too daunting to come back?
Are you be adopting an orphan in WoW this year?
Diablo 3 Necromancer Beta impressions
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.
