Proving they are indeed paying attention to the lore sometimes, World of Warcraft players went into what our own WoW columnist agrees is a justified meltdown over the expansion lead-in’s apparent storyline, which involves the world tree on fire, a lead NPC acting out of character, and half the playerbase aligned with genocide against their will. While designers have urged “patience” with the story, players are actively protesting, though some have taken it too far.
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
WoW Factor: There’s no fixing this Battle for Azeroth story - Let's be totally clear about something: There is no twist waiting for this World of Warcraft story. It doesn't exist. There's no way that this story moves into its next…
Star Citizen fans raise pay-to-win objections over removal of in-game currency stockpiling cap - Our inbox exploded last night with Star Citizen tips, and that can mean only one thing: money shenanigans. In-game money, that is, but this is Star Citizen we're talking about,…
Camelot Unchained’s beta is indeed launching today at noon - It's happpppeeennning! City State Entertainment's Mark Jacobs told us last night that the beta one for his RvR MMORPGÂ Camelot Unchained's will indeed begin today at noon. MMO vets will recall…
World of Warcraft fans are not happy with the latest story developments, some try to cope through harassment - So yesterday's latest bit of story in World of Warcraft did not, in fact, delight and amaze fans. Quite the opposite. Reactions on the game's subreddit have been wildly negative,…
World of Warcraft’s creative director asks players to ‘be patient’ regarding the story - Why do people care so much about the story in World of Warcraft, to the point that they are rioting across social media and freaking out in the comments? That's…
Bare shoulders mark a spreading World of Warcraft protest - If Blizzard was looking to manipulate the World of Warcraft community into caring about this MMO prior to the expansion launch later this month, then it's mission accomplished. The story…
Star Citizen’s Chris Roberts downplays currency stockpiling controversy: ‘You win by having fun’ - Pay-to-win? What's that? That's just your silly imagination getting worked up over nothing. This seems to be the company line concerning RSI's Star Citizen and the recent decision to remove…
Dungeons and Dragons Online announces Sharn: City of Towers expansion and Tiefling race - [AL:DDO]At GenCon this weekend, Standing Stone Game announced a special surprise for Dungeons and Dragons Online fans:Â a brand-new expansion. Sharn: City of Towers is coming to the game sometime in…
Alarmingly, Fortnite will not be on the Play Store when it launches for Android because money - [AL:Fort]There were rumors about this, but now it's a known reality. Fortnite will not be launching on the Google Play store when it arrives on Android devices, instead requiring would-be…
Steam’s old flash sales might be making a comeback - Years ago, my crew looked forward to Steam sales, not for the insipid minigames but for the flash sales. They constituted a minigame all on their own, as we checked…
World of Warcraft’s newest cinematic shows a Horde deeply divided - With World of Warcraft players deeply divided on the build-up to Battle for Azeroth -- especially in light of a recent war crime committed by a certain war chief --…
Stardew Valley finally rolls out its multiplayer mode - After a long, long build up to this moment, it is finally here: Stardew Valley has multiplayer, it's live, and you can enjoy it with friends right now. "Stardew Valley…
BioWare explains more about Anthem’s split between MMO and single-player portions - [AL:TOR]Is Anthem a single-player game or an open-world MMO? The short answer is that it's both, but the split is a bit different from what you may be expecting. Rather…
Tabloid muckracking, moral panic, and the mainstream media’s fuss over Fortnite coaching - With every huge online game, there's an accompanying rush of mainstream fuss over it - it's in the rules. For example, Polygon has a piece covering apparent outrage on outlets…
Riot Games continues to tease the possibility of an MMORPG - [AL:LOL]What is Riot Games up to these days? The League of Legends studio is intentionally stirring up community interest over its future plans, first teasing the possibility of developing an…
Ex-World of Warcraft Lead Chris Metzen urges fans ‘don’t panic’ over the current storyline - It's been a fun week watching the World of Warcraft community freak, rage, and despair over the latest chapter of the Battle for Azeroth prologue. It's even stirred up Chris…
Secret World Legends adds super-challenging faction missions - [AL:SWL]It's not quite a full-fledged content update, but no Secret World fan has ever complained at the addition of new missions to the game. This week there are four more…
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR is testing huge changes for the Rishi stronghold - [AL:TOR]I know I took more than a moment to explain why I liked the new Rishi stronghold coming to Star Wars: The Old Republic in the next big update. It…
‘MMOPEG’ Codename Reality seeks half a million Kickstarter bucks to ‘redefine the MMO genre’ - If immersion and realism are what you crave in a new MMORPG, take a look at Codename Reality, another new game in our field of view this week. Europe-based studio…
EverQuest II launches Return to Guk - [AL:EQ2]As it turns out, a lot of adventurers in EverQuest II's world have traveled to the ruins of Guk over the years. Sure, the name sounds funny, but considering that…
EA adds new Origin Access premier membership that includes Anthem head start - Do you trust EA with your money? Want to do so on a regular basis? Then you are set up and primed for the company's new premium Origin Access subscription…
Rend is hitting Early Access today - It's time to try a different sort of survival sandbox with the launch of Rend's Early Access today. You can pick up the game's current version right now for $30…
Why I Play: Trove’s Geode changed me from a visitor to a player - [AL:Trove]Trove's Geode expansion has been a game-changer - and I mean it in more ways than one. The latest update/expansion to the colorful voxel-based game did indeed offer a major…
Sea of Thieves’ Cursed Sails update is live with new sea content, though not kraken and skeleton forts for now - Arr mateys, are you all ready for today's deployment of Sea of Thieves' Cursed Sails? Because it's just gone live with a new video and patch notes to boot. The…
The second part of War of Thorns is live now for World of Warcraft - It's time to set a really big tree on fire with this week's update to World of Warcraft's pre-patch War of Thorns. Last week saw the Horde marching on Darkshore,…
PvP-centric sub MMO/MOBA hybrid EverFeud has launched its $105K Kickstarter - As we foretold yesterday, the PvP-focused MOBA/MMO hybrid EverFeud has officially launched its Kickstarter today. Developer PSB Entertainment has described the title as a hyper-competitive "arena and battleground-styled multiplayer PVP game…
NCsoft is working on an Aion-related ‘next-generation’ MMORPG - No matter what your feelings may be toward NCsoft, it is great to see that the developer and publisher continues to greenlight MMORPGs instead of merely coasting on what it…
Zeal is an upcoming MMOARPG with PvP, PvE, 15 classes, and no grinding - Here comes a new one to the MassivelyOP pages! It's an MMO called Zeal, which developer Lycanic Studios bills as "an indie action RPG that allows you to build your…
Wisdom of Nym: Examining Final Fantasy XIV’s housing issues (other than availability) - [AL:FFXIV]When we talk about issues with Final Fantasy XIV's housing system, the first issue that's going to be brought up - invariably - is the fact that there are too…
There are no more PvP servers in World of Warcraft - It finally happened. After years of people claiming that it was happening whenever any change was made to PvP servers that the complainer didn't like, Blizzard has finally killed PvP…
TERA decides on mass console server merges for August - [AL:TERA]The console boom for TERA looks like it is over. After cruising to an impressive two million players on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this spring following the MMO's console…
Paragon Chat now features City of Heroes supergroup base building, complete with import - If you're wondering what that sound is echoing over the horizon, it's just every City of Heroes fan freaking out about the return of one of their favorite MMO features…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 180: Superstoked for heroic MMOs
The Stream Team: Showing off Conan Exiles’ Jewel of the West DLC
The Stream Team: Wandering aimlessly around ARK Aberration
The Stream Team: Back to the beginning in AdventureQuest 3D
The Stream Team: Looking for Luxion in Trove
The Stream Team: Poking into City of Heroes bases thanks to Paragon Chat
The Stream Team: Auditioning for DCUO’s Teen Titans team
The Stream Team: Starting Rend for real with early access
The Stream Team: Shroud of the Avatar’s Shooter Jennings album release party
The Stream Team: A Gigantic goodbye
The Stream Team: Warframe believes I can fly!
The Stream Team: Another day of Defiance 2050
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
Blizzard’s Heart of Azeroth overview shows off an improved take on Artifact weapons
Analysis of Blizzard’s surprise new Saurfang cinematic: Old Soldier
How would you go about adding a third faction to WoW?
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.
