It was a huge week of launches for the MMO industry, headlined by crowdfunded indie sandbox Albion Online, RIFT 4.2 Celestial Storm, shooter Gigantic, Star Trek Online’s 13.5 update, and of course, Dark and Light, a once-abandoned MMO revivified and spruced up into something playable in 2017, albeit in early access with the usual early access launch woes.
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Dark and Light has officially launched into early access - Following multiple development delays, weird PR moves, gorgeous screenshot dumps, and a month of closed beta, decade-old MMORPG sandbox Dark and Light has finally resurrected into its early access soft…
‘Strategic hero shooter’ Gigantic officially launches on PC and Xbox One - Make room in your gaming schedule because Perfect World's Gigantic is now out with a vengeance. The glowy MOBA PWE rescued after delays and multiple financial and staffing difficulties and redubbed a "strategic…
Checking out RIFT 4.2: Celestial Storm - [AL:Rift]Summertime does seem to be ripe territory for MMORPGs to release sizable content updates in the hopes of keeping players occupied and luring back in the bored and nomadic in…
Guild Wars 2’s living world season 3 finale is ‘One Path Ends’ – here’s the trailer! - Bummed out over that weak Guild Wars 2 fractal tease last week? We're getting to the good stuff today: ArenaNet has just announced that the third season living world finale…
Chaos Theory: Are levels good for Secret World Legends? - [AL:SWL]We'd heard about (and stressed over!) various Secret World Legends changes for a while, but you just can't know how those changes will affect the game until you experience them.…
Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago is pretty much a trainwreck - If you've ever been to a massive gathering of tech-savvy people -- like say, a gaming convention -- you know better than to rely on the internet for sending emails…
The Game Archaeologist: EverQuest II East - Publishing a video game globally is a monumental task, more so if it is a live online game such as what you'd find with MMORPGs. With different countries and regions…
SWTOR’s Update 5.4 will add a new flashpoint and player housing on a moving train - [AL:TOR]Now that Star Wars: The Old Republic players have mastered their emotions and the 5.3 update, it is time to gaze to the galaxy and prepare for what's coming. BioWare…
Ashes of Creation talks about group dynamics and shows PAX demo locales - Calling it an "essential part of the game," grouping is this week's focus over at Ashes of Creation. Ashes of Creation's team is currently planning for a default group size…
Dark and Light adds servers, patches up as it gets slammed on Steam early access - Of this there is no doubt: The Dark and Light team is getting very little sleep this week. The reworked fantasy sandbox released on Steam Early Access yesterday, and it…
MMO Burnout: Nintendo’s ARMS and the Switch in public and private - It won't surprise anyone who reads our WRUPs that a lot of my free time gaming has been mobile-based as of late, especially if it has local multiplayer. While I…
No, exploitative gacha mechanics are not a good idea for western devs - We've been talking about exploitative gacha games and related business models on Massively OP for a long time, most recently and notably in depth earlier this year when we covered how Japan,…
Blizzard adds a Diablo III senior designer, lays off audio director, and ends XP and Vista support - From zombies to demons, game designer Harrison G. Pink is no stranger to bizarre apocalypses. Pink formerly worked on Telltale Games' hit Walking Dead and Tales from the Borderlands titles,…
Marvel Heroes tempts console players into spending with its VIP account promotion - It's been said that if a studio can lure a player into making an initial purchase online through its game store, then the chances of that player spending more in…
Guild Wars 2 teases its legendary Orrian hammer, retailers fiddle with release dates - There's a lot of excitement, confusion, and uncertainty regarding Guild Wars 2's immediate future, but it's looking like the devs are going to keep players on their toes in the…
Massively Overthinking: Building a better MMORPG economy - We are on a roll with the epic questions for Overthinking lately! "The recent article about monetization got me thinking about just how much most modern MMOs are still trying to…
Anti-grind MMO Fractured introduces its playable races, including vampires and bear-kin - Last month, we introduced our readers to Fractured, yet another SpatialOS MMO currently under construction since this past January. Its chief claims to fame include planetary colonization, crafting, housing, skill-…
Choose My Adventure: Two approaches to whining about DC Universe Online - [AL:DCUO]Dear readers, today I am going to try something different for all of you. And it's predicated on the fact that I'm not just fond of video games; I'm also…
SuperData’s new report suggests multiplayer console gamers are more susceptible to DLC and RMT than ever - Gamers talk a big talk about horse armor DLC and pay-to-win and the evils of cash shops, but y'all keep buying anyway. That's according to gaming research analysis firm SuperData,…
Check out the character creation options for Black Desert’s upcoming Mystic class - [AL:BDO]As it has always gone with Black Desert, there's another new class coming to the game dubbed the Mystic, meant to function as the female equivalent of the male-only Striker…
Guild Wars 2: One Path Ends speculation and the Black Lion Hunters Contract - Hear that buzz? It's Guild Wars 2 gearing up for its third season finale next week... and then, ultimately, pushing into uncharted territory with its second expansion. With the episode's…
Raph Koster would put action combat in Star Wars Galaxies if made today - Recently, one of game designer Raph Koster's fans wrote in to pose him an interesting hypothetical question. If he were to remake Star Wars Galaxies today, the fan asked, which…
Perfect Ten: 10 little things I love about Final Fantasy XIV - A reader recently sent in a letter asking Justin to explain why he (Justin) had never really connected with Final Fantasy XIV despite giving the game the ol' college try.…
Hyperspace Beacon: The sexual harassment problem in SWTOR - [AL:TOR]As most of our readers probably know, I consider myself a member of the roleplay community in Star Wars: The Old Republic. I have been a part of MMO roleplay communities…
Star Citizen followers react to server capacity, star system count news - Another day, another Star Citizen drama. German website Gamestar published an interview with Cloud Imperium Games this week, and between the paywall, Google translate, deliberate disinfo, and a quick game…
Albion Online expands its launch rollout - Some MMOs have launch days, but some MMOs are not Albion Online, which is claiming a good chunk of this week to officially release this long-awaited fantasy sandbox. You see,…
PAX West 2017: Ashes of Creation’s PvP demo trailer - Yeah, we're way far off from PAX West, but so what! Ashes of Creation has released a trailer today featuring PvP arena content that will be demoing at the Seattle…
Bless Online is being heavily overhauled by Neowiz before coming west - Back in June, Neowiz and Aeria Games/Gamigo confirmed that they'd mutually ended their partnership to make Aeria the western Bless Online publisher. While initially the studios stated the MMO had been canceled for our region…
Even mainstream sites are starting to notice Final Fantasy XIV’s housing problems - [AL:FFXIV]Did you know that Final Fantasy XIV has a housing system that's particularly restrictive and makes it unnecessarily difficult to own a house? Probably, seeing as how we've been talking…
SuperData weighs in on Oculus Rift’s price drop and rumored mid-end ‘Pacific’ device - If the Oculus Rift's pricedrop to $400 last week wasn't enough to get your hands reaching for your wallet, point your eyeballs at this Bloomberg report, which suggests Facebook is…
Albion Online raised almost $10M, officially launches today - If it seems as if you've been hearing about Albion Online for a long time, you're not wrong. In fact, the game has delayed its testing periods multiple times for…
SDCC 2017: Pantheon invites you to ‘Bring Friends’ in its new trailer - San Diego Comic-Con hasn't been known for much of an MMORPG presence in years, but Pantheon is showing up with a trailer in tow, showing off pre-alpha footage from the…
Gamers raise new questions about Wild West Online’s credentials and connections - If there's one thing that MMO fans have learned (and re-learned) over the years, it's that it's not a great idea to take things at face value when it comes…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 127: EVE walks no more
Battle Bards Episode 101: Ragnarok Online
The Stream Team: Climbing plus construction can equal casualties in Conan Exiles
The Stream Team: Sightseeing in ARK’s Scorched Earth
The Stream Team: Watch to win Hand of the Gods: SMITE Tactics founders packs!
The Stream Team: Interview with Citadel Forged With Fire devs
The Stream Team: Going back to school at Secret World Legends’ Innsmouth Academy
The Stream Team: A Gigantic launch
The Stream Team: Going back to the temple in Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series
The Stream Team: Kicking butt with an EverQuest II butt-kicking mount
The Stream Team: Returning to ROKH
The Stream Team: Launch day adventures in Albion Online
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
Everything new in WoW’s latest 7.3 build
Officers’ Quarters: 10 tips for WoW progression
WoW 7.3 voice files reveal story spoilers
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.
