Ug, I would be so happy if Gamescom and PAX West didn’t happen a week apart and PAX West and DragonCon didn’t overlap! Not only do we get an avalanche of news from incoming major games, but it can be a quiet period for other studios that don’t want their news buried. Such was not quite the case this week, however, as we got plenty of goodies on new games like Anthem and New World as well as from existing MMOs like Elder Scrolls Online and World of Warcraft. Guild Wars 2 even booted up a boba tea promo, and Star Citizen rolled out fresh drama. Stay tuned for in-depth coverage of PAX this week once Larry and MJ are back from PAX and DragonCon!
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Star Citizen partially reverses CitizenCon streaming paywall decision after community erupts - Note: We've updated the end of this post with the latest developments since the article went live Friday morning. The Star Citizen subreddit has been positively ablaze overnight thanks to…
Vague Patch Notes: Casual no longer means anything in MMOs - Every time I see someone write something about casual players - including me because heavens know I've done it too - I feel a knot tighten in the back of…
Working As Intended: Returning to Star Wars Galaxies – in 2018 - If you've followed the Massively OP Podcast this summer or read any of my ramblings in Daily Grinds and WRUPs, you probably know that I fell into a nostalgia trap,…
Hyperspace Beacon: How BioWare could get SWTOR back on track - [AL:TOR]If you have yet to experience the conclusion to the traitor storyline from the latest story update to Star Wars: The Old Republic and you wish to remain unsullied by…
LOTRO Legendarium: The unique feel of Lord of the Rings Online - [AL:LOTRO]I am very much a creature who is affected deeply by my environment. I suspect all of us are to varying degrees, but I think about this a lot. I…
PAX West 2018: Anthem’s trailer touts ‘real-time storytelling’ content - BioWare published a new trailer for Anthem at PAX West today, this one focused on the game world and just what you'll be doing in this "reinvention" of multiplayer real-time…
New World’s forts and campfires will be your sanctuaries against the darkness - If you're hungry for even more New World previews, then PCGamesN has another take on the same demo that outlets got to experience at last week's Gamescom. The main thrust…
PAX West 2018: Elder Scrolls Online’s Murkmire arrives on the PTS September 17 - [AL:ESO]At its PAX West presentation last night, ZeniMax showed attendees an overview of content coming in Elder Scrolls Online's upcoming Murkmire DLC, which will hit the PTS on September 17th…
PAX West 2018: World of Warcraft’s Ion Hazzikostas shares his game development journey - World of Warcraft's head guru helped to kick off PAX West this weekend with an hour-long keynote address. Ion Hazzikostas entertained the crowd with his journey as a developer and as WoW's…
TERA is merging its PC servers too – here’s how it’s all going down in September - [AL:TERA]Last month, En Masse dropped its console servers for TERA from 22 down to 7. Now, the company is planning a similar round of merges for the western PC playerbase…
The Survivalist: A new dawn for Osiris New Dawn - Such is the circle of space life: As one survival sandbox shuts down development indefinitely, another powers up. I mentioned last week that ROKH admitted it hit a barrier it…
Warframe’s latest player event, the Pyrus Project, picks up a plot thread from 2014 - [AL:WarF]Fancy a big construction project in Warframe? Good because that's exactly what this week's update and ongoing event entails. It's called the Pyrus Project. As MOP reader sophiskiai reminded us,…
Pearl Abyss and Kakao claim Black Desert’s playerbase got a ‘massive surge’ thanks to the remaster - [AL:BDO]Kakao and Pearl Abyss sent 'round a press release this morning stating that Black Desert has seen a "massive surge" in its playerbase since the launch of its graphically remastered…
Dungeons and Dragons Online finally gets cloaks - [AL:DDO]There are roughly a billion options in Dungeons and Dragons Online from which to pick, but up until this point in time, the ability to sport a visible cloak was…
Massively Overthinking: What’s your favorite MMORPG swag of all time? - In a conversation about the recent Starflight 3 Fig campaign - which you won't see covered here since it's not multiplayer, but let me throw in an OMG and a…
New World rebuilds civilization with the help of player quests and scaling tech - Hungry for more information about Amazon's New World past a fairly obscure website's advance preview of the game? You can head over to PC Gamer, where that publication has put…
Trion Worlds rebuts staffing rumors, confirms RIFT is not in maintenance mode - We received a concerning tip today claiming MMORPG company Trion Worlds was forcing employees into paid time off ahead of some sort of September crisis, but Trion has now reassured…
Leaderboard: Does an MMORPG’s publisher factor into whether you’ll play it? - I was genuinely surprised to see so many people flip out over August's reveal that Ashes of Creation will be using My.com as its European publisher. Given that games like…
ArenaNet partners with bubble tea vendor on a Guild Wars 2-themed drink, and there’s free stuff in it for you - [AL:GW2]Ah, crosspromotions. Remember teasing Bungie for its Destiny candles, poptarts, and energy drinks last year? Good times. Guild Wars 2 is getting in on a similar kind of fun now…
New World teases us with video clips about nothing - Now that the cat is out of the bag and Amazon is promoting New World, there's been a renewed interest in the community with this PvP sandbox. When will alpha…
Project Genesis is a hybrid MMO shooter with a persistent world and blockchain currency - So here's a new acronym for ya: DSSGLAPVU, a "deep space survival game leveraging a persistent virtual universe." It's gotta hurt coming up with these just to avoid calling something…
Riot Games vows sweeping corporate culture changes in response to piles of sexism allegations - League of Legends studio Riot Games is in the news again, this time in relation to the ongoing sexism scandal going on within the company as exposed by a Kotaku…
Perfect Ten: MMOs with the most needlessly obtuse stats - One of my favorite reviewers of tabletop RPGs at one point opined that percentile systems were one of the best tabletop mechanics possible, simply because they're so intuitive. You might…
Black Desert’s arguably pay-to-win enhancement items enter the game and cash shop today - [AL:BDO]You might have thought Black Desert would take a little break from its update pace, what with the graphical overhaul it just rolled out, but you'd have been wrong. As…
Elite Dangerous’ Beyond Chapter Three is live today; here’s the trailer and patch notes! - I probably need to hide my husband's joystick if I want to see him this week. That's entirely because chapter three of Elite Dangerous' Beyond season is officially live today. It…
Blizzard is disabling Overwatch and HOTS lockbox purchases for Belgian players - Earlier this year, Belgium took up the anti-lootbox cause, becoming one of the first countries to investigate lockboxes in online games and ultimately threatening to ban multiple games that it…
Guild Wars 2 turns six with a new video and infographic – and a huge nostalgic tease - [AL:GW2]It's birthday day for Guild Wars 2, which means a recappy infographic and trailer, but don't think it's just about looking back: In fact, there's a hint about the next…
Rumor: The next Final Fantasy XIV expansion is named Shadowbringers - [AL:FFXIV]Take this with a grain of salt, but it does appear that we've uncovered the title of the next Final Fantasy XIV expansion. A trademark filing bot uncovered a new…
Check out the new trailer for Star Wars Galaxies’ Legends emulator - I've been trucking along in one of the dozens of Star Wars Galaxies emulators, Legends, for the better part of the summer thanks to a recommendation from one of our own…
Camelot Unchained’s racial home islands have come a looooooong way - Camelot Unchained's in beta one now, and as we've previously noted, on the inside it's not much different. On the outside it's not much different either as the game is…
LOTRO adds more lockboxes and changes up endgame currency - [AL:LOTRO]In a recent livestream, Lord of the Rings Online CM Jerry Snook explained some of the more confusing changes coming with Update 23, most notably the adjustments to Ashes of…
Ashes of Creation confirms subscription model, allays fears over IP blocking and region locking - More overseas publishing information has trickled out of Ashes of Creation this weekend thanks to players funneling info from Discord to the forums. Readers will recall that Intrepid announced last…
Mass shooting claims lives of multiple Madden esports attendees - Two innocent people are dead and nearly a dozen more were injured today as a result of a mass shooting at an esports tournament. Multiple press, player, and law enforcement sources…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
Horde players can raise their own Pterrordax mount with a month-long quest chain
Some WoW tmog gear is easier to farm thanks to BFA’s Legacy Loot changes
These are the WoW items you’ll want to farm ahead of the launch of Warfronts
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.
