Queues for days! Well, maybe not literally for days, but queues have definitely befallen players who’ve been trying to play the popular RIFT Prime server this weekend, which honestly is a good thing, since every single one of those folks angling for a vanilla-ish experience is paying a sub.
“We apologize most profusely for our great success,” Trion joked, noting that it’s been busily raising server caps and expects login times to spread out as “the first heated rush to glory fades.”
Don’t forget to check out our guide to the new server, as well as our first impressions published this weekend, then read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
First impressions of RIFT’s Prime progression server - [AL:Rift]The best word to describe what was happening on the launch day of RIFT Prime was "surreal." It was absolutely surreal to see crowds of players running around in the…
Trion looking into RIFT Prime XP issue, says Carnival should be arriving next week - Had a few issues with running out of XP from doing quests on RIFT Prime's new progression server? You're not alone, pal. Following concern and feedback from players on the…
Leaderboard: Are you playing RIFT Prime? - [AL:Rift]On Wednesday, Trion Worlds opened up Vigil, the RIFT Prime server that offers a unique progression pace for subbers as well as an environment relatively free of cash shop annoyances.…
RIFT Prime kicks off progression server while Trion reclaims names - [AL:Rift]The day is finally here. RIFT Prime, the new progression server that is bringing players back to the core game, has gone live following a period of downtime and patching.…
Trion says the original Defiance is NOT being sunset or neglected for Defiance 2050 - We were all pretty stunned when Trion announced Defiance 2050 last week, and indeed, we fired off a round of questions almost immediately. Trion's answered our questions today, including those…
Flameseeker Chronicles: First impressions of Guild Wars 2’s A Bug in the System - Today is the day we've been waiting for: After a short delay, episode 2 of Guild Wars 2's fourth Living World season, A Bug in the System, is finally ready to…
Former SWTOR creative director and key writers form up under new studio FogBank - We don't know exactly what titles they're working on, but three former Star Wars: The Old Republic veterans have joined forces under a studio now called FogBank, working on an…
Secret World Legends to give players another free agent - [AL:SWL]After listening to fans' concerns about agent scarcity, Funcom announced during the livestream today that players will be getting another free agent in Secret World Legends this month. Although the…
Phantasy Star Online 2 is coming to the Nintendo Switch… which does not have region locks - We had really thought that after the never-updated website finally shut down last year we would be done talking about Phantasy Star Online 2, which at this point is Sega's…
Star Citizen’s Around the Verse talks persistent universe progress and optimization - Were you in the audience for this week's live filming of Star Citizen's Around the Verse? Probably not, but some superfans were. Don't worry; no actual film was harmed! The…
WoW Factor: Examining the composition of the Horde - Last week, we looked at the composition of the Alliance in World of Warcraft. This week, we're looking at the Horde. Makes sense, doesn't it? If you missed the prior…
TERA offers stress test rewards for this weekend’s console beta - [AL:TERA]The open beta for TERA's console edition has arrived, and as a result, the developers want the servers under pressure. It's the only way to be sure that when the…
Massively Overthinking: Is battle royale a fad? - This week in Massively Overthinking, I want to talk about something out on the fringes of our genre: battle royale games. We've been watching BR take off, first with H1Z1,…
Sci-fi MMORPG Project C announced with Thief and Half-Life 2 devs at the helm - Let us make an already interesting MMO news day a bit more so, shall we? How about the introduction of a brand-new, full-fledged MMORPG in development with AAA credentials and…
Choose My Adventure: Already captured in Warframe - [AL:WarF]You know, I've been oddly impressed with the starting experience for the past couple of titles I've been playing in Choose My Adventure. Both of them have managed to avoid…
Ubisoft and Massive are building The Division 2 - Did you see this one coming? Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment are apparently working on a sequel to The Division. The news comes via what appears to be a press release posted…
H1Z1 is finally going free-to-play - Remember way back in the long, long ago, before H1Z1 hit early access, split, reconstituted, renamed, didn't launch, aborted a console port, and all those shenanigans? You know, back when…
MMO business roundup: Steam, toxicity, Kartridge, contracts, dopamine, and guns - What's going on in the online video games business this week? Let's dig in. Steam, toxicity, and Kartridge The Center for Investigative Reporting (via Motherboard) has a scathing piece out on…
Hyperspace Beacon: Carving up the new SWTOR Conquests - [AL:TOR]The original Lead Systems Designer for Star Wars: The Old Republic was a man named Damion Schubert. A friend of mine used to call him my nemesis because he seemed…
Perfect Ten: A dozen MOBAs that didn’t make it - With the insane success -- both in terms of popularity and finances -- that Dota and League of Legends spawned, you can easily understand why game studios latched onto the…
Lord of the Rings Online’s road leads on to Update 22’s Northern Mirkwood - [AL:LOTRO]Out of Mordor and into Mirkwood, that's just the way it goes for the Middle-earth adventurer. With Tuesday's Update 22: Legacy of the Necromancer, Lord of the Rings Online has…
SoulWorker Online will not wipe servers but will apparently be IP blocked - There are certain expectations you have when a free-to-play game is in open beta with a full launch planned for later. For example, you kind of expect a character wipe.…
Shroud of the Avatar claims higher concurrency heading into launch - Is the buzz starting to grow louder for Shroud of the Avatar as it rounds the corner to launch? There are a couple of positive signs that player interest and…
Devilian has officially sunsetted - At some point, the ending credits have to roll. And Devilian's have started as of 3:00 p.m. EST today. Devil transformations are now a thing of the past. Many fans gathered…
Ubisoft addresses Rainbow Six Siege toxicity, ESPN slams toxicity in Overwatch League - Ubisoft is sick of toxicity in its games, and to combat it, it's whipping out the banhammer as a "first step" in getting the playerbase under control. "Starting next week,…
Wisdom of Nym: How Final Fantasy XIV’s latest housing war was won and where it got us - [AL:FFXIV]With the removal of the perpetual server restrictions and the opening of personal housing again, Final Fantasy XIV seems to have decided that its housing problems were fixed. Or, if…
Extra Credits raises concerns over lootbox legislation - Just for the record, we are not the only ones engaged in the discussion and controversy surrounding lockboxes and lootboxes as of late. YouTube channel Extra Credits put together an…
Blizzard: ‘Heroes of the Storm is not dying’ - Here's a message that Blizzard Entertainment wants to trumpet from the mountaintops: Heroes of the Storm is not, in fact, spiraling down to oblivion. So why would this be a…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 160: Defiance ’till the end
The Stream team: Fiddle fun in LOTRO
The Stream Team: ARK Aberration surface expedition
The Stream Team: Doing the dojo obstacle course in Warframe
The Stream Team: Happy first anniversary Revelation Online
The Stream Team: Bright light, big desert in Secret World Legends
The Stream Team: Death on SWTOR’s Dyson sphere
The Stream Team: Raise a few during EverQuest II’s Brewday
The stream Team: An exclusive exploration of Ship of Heroes
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
WoW allied race updates include Zandalar tattoos, Mag’har Orcs and Dark Iron totems
What weather effects would you like to see in WoW?
Know Your Lore: WoW’s Sigryn, Skovald, and the Tideskorn Vrykul
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.
