It would’ve been hard for an MMO to compete with Final Fantasy XIV this week, a game whose brand-new Shadowbringers expansion our columnist described as “horrifying” – and meant it as a compliment. Yes, Shadowbringers launched this week, but it wasn’t alone in newsworthiness; we also got the scoop on Warframe’s next big thing, saw Black Desert begin PS4 preorders, debated WoW Classic, and witnessed justice at work for DDOSers.
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
First impressions: Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers is beautiful, horrifying, and a crowning achievement - It was clear to me how special Shadowbringers was going to be when I saw one of the most effectively horrifying scenes I've witnessed in an MMO during the initial…
Warframe’s Tennocon Live broadcast starts at 6 p.m. EDT – watch it here! - [AL:WarF]Massively OP's Warframe of Mind columnist MJ Guthrie is at Tennocon this weekend to report on Warframe's big drops, and indeed there have been panels running all day as the…
Desert Oasis: Finding the Shai’s place in our Great Valencian Black Desert - Black Desert is no stranger to controversies. Whether because of the addition-and-removal of its battle royale or its enchantment mechanics, it does a pretty good job of pulling aggro from…
Black Desert will launch Altar of Blood, a small-group ‘defensive horde mode,’ next week - [AL:BDO]If you thought that Wednesday's Black Desert update was a little on the thin side, welp, that's only because Kakao and Pearl Abyss were apparently holding back the fun stuff…
LOTRO Legendarium: Which Lore-master pet should you use? - Ever since the first year of Lord of the Rings Online's operation, I've always been head-over-heels for the Lore-master class. Everything about it seemed to appeal to me: dual wielding…
Fight or Kite: One specific update would make Crowfall worth playing every day - The past couple of weeks I’ve been having a fantastic time romping through Crowfall’s campaigns. When you have a good group of players by your side, fights are both exhilarating…
Into the Super-verse: A quick-and-dirty guide to picking the right City of Heroes archetype – Redside edition - The fun thing about City of Heroes is... well, there are lots of fun things. But one of the fun things is that the game is set up so that…
Another DDOS e-thug has landed jail time – this one owes Daybreak $95K - We get so many tips about MMOs being DDOSed that we often don't even cover them unless they stretch on for days or there's something extraordinary involved with them, like…
Massively OP’s guide to Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers’ unlocks and progress - The new expansion is out! After what felt like basically a year of waiting (but was closer to six months), Final Fantasy XIV's third expansion is live, and it really…
Frontier Developments takes steps to brighten the final days of a terminally ill Elite Dangerous fan - If you're in any way connected to the greater Elite: Dangerous community, you perhaps are familiar with the name of Michael aka CMDR Michael Holyland, a 15-year-old who had gone…
Black Desert has begun preorders for its PlayStation 4 edition launching August 22 - [AL:BDO]Back at E3, Pearl Abyss dropped a big announcement for Black Desert: The PC and Xbox One versions of the game were getting another sibling in the form of a…
Elder Scrolls Online details Scalebreaker’s dungeons, multibidding, and battleground updates - [AL:ESO]As announced back at E3 last month, the next big thing for a post-Elsweyr Elder Scrolls Online is a new DLC called Scalebreaker. Launching alongside the free update 23, Scalebreaker…
The Game Archaeologist: Ironman modes and elective permadeath - One facet of video games that's been around almost since the very beginning is difficulty levels. This allowed the player to choose how hard or easy a game would be…
Massively on the Go: Pokemon Go’s third anniversary report card - Well hey, it seems like it's another birthday for Pokemon Go, so you all know what we have for the anniversary party: another report card! Last year's report card showed the…
EverQuesting: Checking EverQuest II’s pulse, from Pride bunnies to event delays - It's been quite a while since we've had an EverQuesting. That's because it's been quite a while since we've had much to write about EverQuest II. But it's always good…
Massively Overthinking: Do you even *like* MMO expansions? - This seems like an absurd question on its face, right? MMO players are supposed to like MMO expansions. They're progress. They're content. They're fresh and new and a hook for…
Fan ports the original Diablo to the Nintendo Switch - You can already play Diablo III on the Nintendo Switch, but can you play the entire series? Not yet, but you can play the original Diablo thanks to an enterprising…
Atlas launches single-player mode beta amid promises that multiplayer is the team’s ‘priority’ - Well here's something unexpected from a game that missed its own launch date back in December: Atlas is actually ahead of schedule on its next big thing. That thing, of…
The Daily Grind: What one modern feature would you bring to WoW Classic? - Want to send your ardent World of Warcraft Classic proponent into an unscripted fit of rage? Insist strongly that while the retro server idea is all well and good but…
Choose My Adventure: TERA and the argument in favor of ‘just OK’ gaming - When TERA was voted as the choice for this past month's Choose My Adventure subject, I pretty much went in to the game with tempered expectations. Not low, mind you,…
Final Fantasy XIV’s Shadowbringers has officially been brought - One of the summer's major releases for MMO players officially arrives today as Final Fantasy XIV's Shadowbringers formally launches out of headstart and into the wild. Expect our detailed hands-on and…
Massively Uplifting: Charity comes in many forms for Bethesda, Square Enix, and Digital Extremes - Summer smiles -- get 'em while they're hot! If you are looking for a way to make your mood rise like the temperature, we've got you covered. The MMO sphere…
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers made early access a luxury - First and foremost, I want to note that this is not going to be my official first impressions of Shadowbringers because that's going to be later this week. I note this…
Mike Morhaime waxes nostalgic about the crunch of early Blizzard - Do you miss Mike Morhaime? The former Blizzard president stepped off the main stage last fall as he handed the reins of the studio to J. Allen Brack. Yet Morhaime…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 227: Your letters, our answers!
The Stream Team: Warframe Tennocon hype with Saya’s Vigil
The Stream Team: Celebrating with fireworks in Guild Wars 2’s Dragon Bash
The Stream Team: Searching for silver mines under Conan Exile’s Sepermu city
The Stream Team: Moglomancer madness in AdventureQuest 3D
The Stream Team: Saving Nessa in Path of Exile
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.
