The spreading coronavirus has dominated headlines around the world this week, and we can’t escape it even here, as gaming events cancel and gaming companies work from home. To get a feel for how long this week has felt… E3 was cancelled only Wednesday.
Meanwhile, MMORPGs are opening their arms as comfort destinations for millions of MMO fans now stuck at home for what’s likely going to be many weeks of quarantine. The highlight? Guild Wars 2 announced another expansion, finally. Even better? It’s Cantha, no joke. The downside? Sources tell us Mike Zadorojny left the company a few months ago and nobody ‘fessed up. Win some, lose some.
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
Our complete coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on gaming - Since early 2020, we've been covering the COVID-19 aka novel coronavirus pandemic as it's spread across the globe, specifically as it affects the online gaming industry. To date, we've seen…
Guild Wars 2 Game Director Mike Zadorojny and VP of Marketing Mike Silbowitz left ArenaNet - We've updated this post at the end with confirmation of the Mike Z departure. We hate to rain on the "wheee Guild Wars 2 is getting a third expansion" parade…
Guild Wars 2 just announced its third expansion, and it looks like Cantha - Not only did Guild Wars 2 studio ArenaNet just drop another preview of upcoming content, exactly what fans have been begging for, but it also just confirmed that it's working…
Path of Exile’s Delirium league is live this afternoon for Friday the 13th - [AL:POE]Today's the big day: Path of Exile's Delirium is going live for PC players this afternoon, just in time for Friday the 13th shenanigans virus quarantines. Hey, at least you…
WoW Factor: The World of Warcraft expansion tour – Mists of Pandaria - It's time, people. It's time to remember you should never say no to panda. Yes, we've reached one of World of Warcraft's most weirdly controversial expansions with Mists of Pandaria, and if…
Albion Online’s 2020 roadmap promises more solo and small group content, improved faction warfare - The remainder of 2020 in Albion Online looks to be an important one for a number of different playstyles in the game if the recent roadmap is any indication, with…
New World’s director envisions an open world game where PvP and PvE players complement each other - New World game director Scot Lane has checked in recently with an update from the game's alpha in a new letter to the community which offers another look at just…
World of Warcraft is finally adding account-wide essences with its next server maintenance - Amidst all of the other things that players have been upset about during this expansion for World of Warcraft it can be easy to miss the continued and almost baffling fight…
Legends of Aria announces $19.99 Dark Sorcery DLC launching this month - If you were figuring Legends of Aria was giving up last year roundabout the time it had those launch delays and see-sawing PvP do-overs, you might want to give it…
Skyforge announces fifth anniversary update for PC, with a new invasion on March 25 - [AL:Sky]Can you believe that Skyforge is coming up on its fifth birthday? And My.Games is not letting the anniversary go to waste: It's plotting an expansion on PC for March…
Wisdom of Nym: Greedily anticipating Final Fantasy XI’s new scenario - All right, so it's time to insert that Tyler the Creator tweet here because this is going to be something I'm talking about a lot for a while now. After…
Daybreak’s new EverQuest and EverQuest II boss Jennifer Chan addresses players in new dev blog - Last week, Daybreak's Holly Longdale stunned players of EverQuest and EverQuest II when she announced she'd be leaving the Daybreak team she's headed up for almost the last five years…
Phantasy Star Online 2 gets its transmedia synergy on with a Sonic-themed founder pack - Hey, you said you wanted more transmedia synergy in your MMOs, probably, so here it is: Phantasy Star Online 2 just announced a Sonic Collaboration Edition. It's gonna be a…
Desert Arena: First impressions of Shadow Arena, the Diet Black Desert of battle royales - Did someone just cast Arcane Echo? Because this'll be our second piece on Shadow Arena this week, following its deep-dive by our PvP columnist Sam earlier this week in Fight…
Perfect Ten: Son of conversations with anthropomorphic MMO studios - It has been a while since I've had any more conversations with anthropomorphic representations of MMO studios. Why? Because it's not fun for me. Come one, you all ready the last…
PlanetSide 2’s big Escalation update is live as EU server migration is underway - It's finally happening: Escalation is about to go live for eager PlanetSide 2 players. We've been covering this update since February, when Daybreak and Rogue Planet Games announced a February…
Coronavirus leads to E3’s cancellation, plus SMITE and Pokemon Go postpone events - Update: The ESA has now made it official. We've included the press release at the end of this article. If you thought it was strange that the ESA kept digging…
Choose My Adventure: An impressive and empowering first few steps in Albion Online - Albion Online has been one of those sandbox MMORPGs that I’d always had a passing curiosity about, but was never really eager to take the full plunge in to, owing…
Guild Wars 2 dev blog teases Steel and Fire’s storyline – and the Eye of the North - ArenaNet has just one week to go before the latest entry in the current Saga, Visions of the Past: Steel and Fire, hits the Guild Wars 2's servers. Today, the…
Interview: Saga of Lucimia on themepark design, SWG inspiration, and the MMO genre - Last week, we ran an interview with Stormhaven Studios' Tim Anderson, the boss behind upcoming MMORPG Saga of Lucimia. That interview was focused on top-level development plans. This week, we're…
Bethsoft hopes Fallout 76’s Wastelanders is finally ‘Fallout with friends’ - As MOP's Justin reminded me on our podcast this week, April's Wastelanders expansion really is a chance to set aside much-deserved grudges for Fallout 76 and give Bethesda another opportunity…
MMO company Gamigo was just fully acquired by its primary shareholder - It sounds as if Gamigo, which is best known to modern MMORPG players for buying out Trion back in 2018, is going through some corporate transitions of its own. Eagled-eyed…
Star Trek Online accidentally yanks away players’ pricey ships - When you spend a crapton of money on video game ships, you kind of expect for the game to actually deliver them. And then leave them there for you to…
A new scenario is in development for Final Fantasy XI - In 2015, Final Fantasy XI waved farewell to major updates with the release of Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, a sweeping story encompassing all the expansion stories as the final new scenario…
Epic Games and Fortnite back Nvidia GeForce Now as Tim Sweeney puts Apple and Google on notice - Over the last few weeks, we've all been watching as one publisher after another, from Blizzard to Bethsoft, yanked its games off of Nvidia's GeForce Now's cloud streaming platform, which…
Phantasy Star Online 2 starts an open beta test on March 17 - It's time to open the doors to Phantasy Star Online 2. Or nearly time, at least; the game's open beta testing is kicking off on March 17th at 8:00 p.m. EDT. That's…
Wisdom of Nym: Hints for our next destination in Final Fantasy XIV based on the past and what we’re ignoring - There's not really question in most people's minds about the fact that there's going to be another Final Fantasy XIV expansion. There doesn't need to be. The game is doing very…
Fight or Kite: Shining a light on Pearl Abyss’ Shadow Arena - Last week, Pearl Abyss allowed players to finally jump back into its take on the battle royale craze with Shadow Arena. The game was originally planned as a part of…
Leaks suggest Call of Duty battle royale called Warzone is on the way [Update: It’s official now] - Update: The game's been confirmed now; we've updated at the end. Just in case you thought the battle royale craze was on its way out, Activision has another one for…
LOTRO Legendarium: Five ideas for special servers in Lord of the Rings Online - At PAX East recently, Standing Stone Games teased some details of Lord of the Rings Online's future. I'm going to hold off on talking about this for now in the…
Superman Returns star says he self-medicated with World of Warcraft - You may or may not remember Superman Returns, the 2006 installment of the classic superhero that did so-so in reviews and public perception. It wasn't so much the lack of…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 262: Holly Holly oxen free
Battle Bards Episode 164: Away with the fairies
The Stream Team: Going crazy in Conan Exiles dungeons
The Stream Team: Day of Delirium in Path of Exile
The Stream Team: Hearts vs skulls in AQ3D’s Dage-themed Friday the 13th event
The Stream Team: Managing traitorous mercs in Neverwinter
The Stream Team: Moving through Moria in LOTRO
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.
