If you thought it was possible to keep politics out of MMOs, you’re sadly mistaken. This week saw multiple news stories : the end to the court cases that saw the Bossland bot makers escape financial ruin, the CSGO swatting case in which police who killed a man will apparently go uncharged, the Russian Telegram crackdown that’s blocking multiple MMOs (and other services) in the former Soviet state, and the war on lockboxes (and the online games that abuse them) as waged by the Dutch Gaming Authority.
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Russia’s Telegram crackdown blocks access to WoW, EVE, and Guild Wars 2 - If you play Guild Wars 2, World of Tanks, EVE Online, or World of Warcraft in Russia, you may find that access to these titles has become spotty or non-existent…
WoW Factor: Speculative classes for the future of WoW - If Allied Races show us anything, it's that World of Warcraft is really in no danger of running out of new races to throw at us. This particular system is…
Hyperspace Beacon: Five things Star Wars The Old Republic still does well - [AL:TOR]I have been harping on so many things that BioWare is doing wrong with Star Wars: The Old Republic that some have wondered why I still play the game. I…
Perfect Ten: MMOs that claimed to be the first - We've all been there. We're playing our favorite MMORPG and then self-appointed professors of game history start arguing in world chat about firsts -- usually, which MMO was considered to…
Choose My Adventure: And now, Ultima Online, sooner or later - Oh boy. So, yes, I did actually play some Ultima Online. Or I tried to play some Ultima Online, at least. I'm not sure that most of what I did…
Defiance 2050 blasts its way into closed beta this weekend - Defiance 2050's closed beta - for PC, anyway, since the console version's beta testing has been delayed - is set to launch here not long after this post hits the…
Massively Overthinking: What we really mean when we talk about ‘difficulty’ in MMORPGs - Massively OP reader Steve wants us to revisit the Daily Grind on making death more meaningful without making it more annoying. His letter was long, so let me paraphrase a bit: "It…
Jukebox Heroes: Vanguard Saga of Heroes’ soundtrack - It may be hard to believe, but it has already been about four years since SOE decided to close down the troubled yet cult favorite Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. On…
Elder Scrolls Online gives away free crown crates and subscription time - [AL:ESO]Ooh, you really like that word "free," don't you? Caught your attention, and now you're down here in the body of the article, wondering how you can Get Yours? Well,…
ArcheAge creator Jake Song talks about his return to the game - [AL:Arche]ArcheAge's recent update is called Legends Return, a title that works on a couple of levels when you consider that the game's creator, Jake Song, came back to give the…
Hearthstone Game Director Ben Brode departs from Blizzard to form new game studio - [AL:Hearth]Without a doubt, one of the most vivacious and well-loved personalities at Blizzard Entertainment has been Ben Brode. The Hearthstone game director injected a lot of his fun-loving personality into…
Star Citizen deep-dives the guts and glory of the character customization system - Cloud Imperium Narrative Director Dave Haddock joins the Around the Verse crew for this week's episode of the Star Citizen community video. The majority of the studios, the devs explain,…
Black Desert Korea is letting players date (and vie for) NPCs - [AL:BDO]If yesterday's Black Desert patch in the west didn't grab you, maybe a peek into what Korea's getting will. Daum's official patch notes over on the Korean site lists some…
Dutch Gaming Authority calls out four games as violating its lootbox policies - If you had expected the Netherlands to be leading the fight against lootboxes, you may be more clairvoyant than the rest of the population. After investigating 10 games, the Dutch…
Hey Alexa, where’s Blind Mary? Activision and Amazon put game advice on personal assistants - Among hardcore MMORPG players, particularly vets of a certain age, there's a longstanding grudge against the shift toward being able to look up every single thing about the game on…
TERA delivers impressive new character abilities with the Godsfall patch - [AL:TERA]The latest update for TERA on PC brings characters to new heights of power. Not just because you're acquiring all sorts of commendations and status; no, the update introduces the…
Radical Heights teases female characters and jumping through windows - There's still plenty of stuff going on in the development of Radical Heights, and Cliff Bleszinski is showing it off on Twitter. What sort of stuff? Well... women, for one.…
Star Citizen promises shirts for its two million backer milestone - Back in 2015, Star Citizen passed a million registered users. At this point, the game has passed two million. Three years later, it's doubled. It also means that the staff…
Lord of the Rings Online talks Update 23, Mordor’s difficulty, lag, and more - [AL:LOTRO]Now that Lord of the Rings Online has emerged from Mordor, it's preparing to go back in the future. SSG's Rob Ciccolini and Jerry Snook opened up about next couple…
Conan Exiles just patched in farming, fast travel, The Purge, and the combat revamp on both platforms - It's a big day over in Conan Exiles, whether you're on PC or Xbox One, as Funcom's just rolled out a major patch ahead of the official launch next month.…
Flameseeker Chronicles: Deep-diving Guild Wars 2’s A Bug in the System (Part 1) - [AL:GW2]Season 4 of Guild Wars 2Â Living World was off to a roaring start with Daybreak so I was expecting a solid follow-up in A Bug in the System, and I…
Bot-maker Bossland’s legit game flops, Germany rejects Blizzard’s US court victory and won’t enforce damages - Are you surprised to be hearing about Bossland again? We're surprised to be reporting on it. The German-based botmaker made headlines for the last few years thanks to ongoing litigation…
Elder Scrolls Online begins testing Summerset; here’s a look at the chapter’s houses and buyables - [AL:ESO]As all eyes in Elder Scrolls Online turn to the future expansion heading to the game next month, testing has begun in earnest on Summerset. Version 4.0 of the MMO…
Secret World Legends’ new lead designer wants to know what you want in the game - [AL:SWL]The new guard is moving into Secret World Legends following the surprising departure of Game Director Romain Amiel. Chris "Nirvelle" Meredith is taking over in the lead designer spot, offering…
BioWare: Anthem will be ‘unlike anything you’ve played’ - While not going into any details about the progress of Anthem's development and testing dates, BioWare nevertheless attempted to prime the pump for fans' expectations this week. BioWare General Manager…
The Soapbox: Three augmented reality game problems (most) MMOs don’t have – and one thing they do so much better - I'd like to think that I'm kind of a healthy gamer. While MMOs take a lot of time, the nice thing is that their downtime can lead to forming bonds, or…
Police who killed innocent man during Call of Duty swatting incident won’t be charged - At the tail end of 2017, a Call of Duty swatting incident in Kansas took the life of a completely innocent man after police killed him following a fake tip to the…
Boss Key owner Cliff Bleszinski claims that Epic Games is poaching his staff - If Radical Heights is not a success, it's the fault of Epic Games, according to Cliff Bleszinski. The head of Boss Key Studios recently tweeted out an accusation that Epic…
Champions Online is now officially the longest-running superhero MMO, and the world makes no sense - [AL:Champ]You are no doubt aware that Champions Online is still running, although the game has been in unofficial maintenance mode for half of forever. What you may not be aware…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
The Stream Team: Checking out another ARK: Aberration cave
The Stream Team: Trailblazing in Wild West Online
The Stream Team: Exploring the South African night in Secret World Legends
The Stream Team: Driving in California (totally not a GTAO stream)
The Stream Team: Soloing Star Trek Online’s latest featured episode
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
Ben Brode is leaving Blizzard and we are not okay with this
A first look at WoW’s in-game communities
BlizzCon costume contest winner finds herself in the Stormwind Stockades
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.
