Blizzard stunned everyone this week by announcing that WoW Classic – or at least, two zones of it – will be playable at BlizzCon as well as at home for a few days by virtual ticket holders. I’d like to say that a $50 alpha test seems a bit out of proportion, but alas, that would be a lie here in 2018. People are pretty excited for this, and my teasing title aside, I can hardly blame them. When you can get a second chance like this, you’d best take it.
Meanwhile, WoW surged past League of Legends in revenue last month, decided to muck with threat some more, tweaked traits, and blew off its Azerite armor problem, leading to an epic edition of Vague Patch Notes.
Read on to catch up with the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions today as every Sunday in Massively Overpowered’s Week in Review!THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
WoW Classic will be playable at BlizzCon – and also with a virtual ticket - Hey remember how on yesterday's podcast we were speculating on what big news World of Warcraft might have for BlizzCon, now that Blizzard's already dropped its big Tides of Vengeance bomb?…
Vague Patch Notes: World of Warcraft, math, and making choices ‘interesting’ in MMOs - So if you somehow managed to miss it, let me recap: World of Warcraft's community manager Lore recently gave some feedback on the many complaints people have had about the Azerite…
Ask Mo: The real value of MMO interviews - MOP reader Avaera recently sent in a question that I thought would be fun to address here in my poor neglected Ask Mo column. (Truth, most of the questions folks…
World of Warcraft hotfixes out AFK Warfront players and dismisses Azerite armor complaints - Don't you hate when people show up for content in World of Warcraft but then promptly pop AFK and expect everyone else to do everything? Blizzard isn't fond of it…
The Survivalist: Will ARK Survival Evolved’s Conquest be PvP salvation or ultimately a clustercluck? - If you want to get into ARK: Survival Evolved's PvP scene, aren't willing to deal with the mega tribes and rampant cheating found on official servers, and still want more…
Star Trek Online will release the first chapter of Age of Discovery on October 9th - Next month, Star Trek Online will boldly go where no Star Trek Online has gone before with the release of the first chapter of Age of Discovery. The "multi-part adventure"…
Whatever happened to Divergence Online, Tree of Life, and Eternal Crusade? - Ever pause during your day and find yourself wondering, “Whatever happened to that game?” With hundreds upon hundreds of online titles these days, it’s surprisingly easy for MMOs to fall through the…
Star Citizen’s ATV covers scramble races, rest stops, and motion-capture - A new installment of Star Citizen's weekly Around The Verse video is here, and this week it's got information on scramble races, rest stops, and motion-capture animations, to name just…
Crowfall has reached 50,000 backers - Yes, Crowfall has fans. Somewhere on the order of 50,000 fans, in fact; the game has just hit 50,000 backers according to a new press release. That includes both people…
Guild Wars 2 plans balance patch, addresses lockbox regulation as armor crafting woes continue - We've got a bunch of scattered Guild Wars 2 news to cap off the week! First up: the balance patch. Unfortunately, in typical recent ArenaNet fashion, we don't know that…
Fortnite claims yesterday’s boob physics patch was ‘unintended’ - You might be wondering why, on a day like yesterday of all days, Epic Games would patch in lady boob jiggle as a tacky cosmetic emote to Fortnite, but that's…
Funcom is hiring for 40 new positions at its Oslo and North Carolina studios - The folks over at Funcom are looking to bring some fresh blood on board at their Oslo, Norway, and Durham, North Carolina, studios. According to a recent press release, the…
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR, a roleplay community divided - Much praise and hatred have been tossed at Star Wars: The Old Republic for its decision to focus more heavily on the single-player aspects of the game. Some people have…
Cryptic’s Magic: The Gathering MMO is still happening, apparently - Remember how Cryptic was making an MMO based on Wizards of the Coast's hugely popular CCG Magic: The Gathering? No? Well, we can't exactly blame you, considering the fact that…
Perfect Ten: The big book of MMORPG death mechanics - Video games will kill your characters. It's inevitable. I still faintly remember my younger brother's first video game death, when he ran full-tilt into the first goomba you see in…
NCsoft’s picked a date for WildStar’s sunset: November 28 - When NCsoft announced earlier this month that WildStar would be sunsetting, most MMO players were upset, but not surprised, except about one little detail: NCsoft hadn't actually said when it…
ArenaNet confirms Belgian Guild Wars 2 gem-purchasing blockade - [AL:GW2]Remember how players raised the alarm in Guild Wars 2 that Belgian players were being blocked from purchases in Guild Wars 2? Like most of you, we assumed it was…
Warframe introduces new Chroma Prime Warframe and new prime weapons - Developer Digital Extremes has announced the arrival of the powerful elemental frame Chroma Prime in its free-to-play space-ninja shooter Warframe. Chroma Prime, "known as the elemental lord of ruin," is…
A laid-off Telltale employee is suing the company for violating state and federal labor laws - Though we've streamed some Telltale games with interactive/multiplayer elements, we seldom cover the studio, but we figure you'll forgive us today: At the tail end of last week, Telltale Games…
BioWare says ‘every part of [Anthem] is in and functioning’ - BioWare's confusing multiplayer extravaganza Anthem is rolling into alpha. Likening the experience to his time building Baldur's Gate two decades ago, studio boss Casey Hudson delivered the news on the…
World of Warcraft made more money than League of Legends last month, SuperData reports - "League of Legends heads towards its worst performing year since 2014." So begins SuperData's August 2018 global revenue report today for the entire video game industry. Yikes. Indeed, the game…
ROKH’s developers outline the finances of the game and how little money it made - The survival sandbox ROKH suspended development back in July, and fans have questions about why. It's easy to look at the early access title and see it as a blatant…
Wanna feel old? Ultima Online launched 21 years ago today - Ultima Online is officially old enough to drink. It's older than I was when I first started playing it all those years ago! Yep, the game that coined the term…
Black Desert Online will launch its Drieghan expansion in the West on November 14th - This November, a new expansion is coming to Pearl Abyss's sandbox MMO Black Desert Online. The expansion, titled Drieghan, will release on November 14th and will add "a large mountainous…
Wisdom of Nym: Examining Final Fantasy XIV’s patch 4.4, Prelude in Violet - I mentioned a few days ago that I follow the same somewhat ridiculous process every time there's a new Final Fantasy XIV patch. Every morning I clear as much as…
Chaos Theory: The prickly side of Secret World Legends’ less-than-ideal scenario situation - See, I said that wouldn't take too long! Here we are back at the Secret World Legends scenario discussion. This time, however, we'll be addressing the bad and frustrating side of…
Guild Wars 2: Belgian players report gem-buying block, plus more on the bubble tea bans - [AL:GW2]If you're a Belgian gamer, you should probably take a peek at your Guild Wars 2 account. Multiple Redditors and forumgoers from the country have been reporting that they are…
Bethesda grants terminally ill 12-year-old’s wish to play Fallout 76 - Go ahead and get some tissues handy, 'cause we've got a heartwarming tale of gaming goodness for you. According to a recent article published by Inside Edition, after 12-year-old Wes…
New World has indeed started its alpha testing with a small group of players - Last week it was clear that New World had started sending its alpha invites, but there was not yet an actual alpha to test. Just invitations. But the official Twitter…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 188: Classic-flavored Lineage II
Battle Bards Episode 129: Elder Scrolls Online Morrowind
The Stream Team: Checking out Warframe’s Chroma Prime
The Stream Team: Bright lights, broken ARK
The Stream Team: Playing in Lusternia’s MUD
The Stream Team: Happy first birthday Kritika Online
The Stream Team: Exploring Elder Scrolls Online’s Summerset
The Stream Team: It’s land ho with AdventureQuest 3D’s Lolosia
The Stream Team: Rooting for ROKH
The Stream Team: Putting some Sparkypants in The Elder Scrolls Legends
The Stream Team: Disdoored survival is harder than you think
The Stream Team: Delving deeper in Path of Exile
The Stream Team: A happy Baggins birthday week in LOTRO
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
The best way to farm Island Expeditions is not how we’ve been doing it
Taunt, threat, and the inevitability of a tanking disaster in WoW
Xal’atath is (probably) returning to kill us all in 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 bits of news we didn’t cover anywhere else.
