Even in the middle of a pandemic, the MMO industry manages to keep ramping up the news. Not only did Chronicles of Elyria give up and lay off all its staff with no whisper of the millions in crowdfunding players had chipped in, but we were able to re-confirm our earlier reporting that Guild Wars 2 had lost its Game Director, Mike Zadorojny, to Amazon five months ago – and ArenaNet still hasn’t told players. Plus, Ascent Infinite Realm resurfaced, Lost Oasis suffered a messy launch and then unlaunch, and we took a look at both Animal Crossing and Phantasy Star Online 2.
Stuck at home right now, trying to keep yourself and everyone else safe? First, thank you. And second, why not give the Blapril MMO blogging project a try if you have some extra time on your hands? If you’re bored, it’ll give you something fun to do and help you practice your skills. And if you’re busier than ever thanks to being on the front lines or suddenly becoming a teacher on top of your real job, then hey, bloggers will be producing more entertainment for when you do have downtime. One of us… one of us…
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
Kickstarted MMORPG Chronicles of Elyria halts development, lays off all employees - Since its splashy and successful Kickstarter run back in 2016 that raised $1.36 million from MMO gamers, Chronicles of Elyria developed a reputation for promising the stars, selling non-existent territory,…
Guild Wars 2 Game Director Mike Zadorojny left for Amazon Games Studios – in November - Two weeks ago, we reported that Guild Wars 2 Game Director Mike Zadorojny had quietly departed ArenaNet last fall. Originally leaked by a troll account on Reddit, the news was…
First impressions of the elusive Phantasy Star Online 2 - We certainly live in interesting times. Last year, the idea of playing Phantasy Star Online 2 while I'm explicitly told to not leave the house was literally a, dare I say,…
Massively on the Go: Why MMO players will love Animal Crossing New Horizons - Some of you may have noticed that several staffers and fellow MassivelyOP readers noted that they were playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons last weekend. You've probably heard of it before,…
Vague Patch Notes: Ambition is not delivery in MMOs - So Chronicles of Elyria is dead in the water. Or... wait, that's not actually accurate; let me start again. Chronicles of Elyria has admitted that it's dead in the water,…
WoW Factor: The World of Warcraft expansion tour – Legion - Ah, good. This one is more fun than last week. As much as the latter half of World of Warcraft expansions heads into more bad than good territory, Legion is…
Fight or Kite: Hackmud is more than a MUD – it’s a living cyberpunk world - As these words loaded into your browser, sending bits and bytes across a vast array of interconnected wires and tubes, someone is typing away at a keyboard authoring a convincing…
Massively Overthinking: What do you hoard in MMORPGs? - Last week, online gamers made headlines for hoarding toilet paper. No, not in real life - in Fallout 76. Way to embrace the apocalypse, guys. I've had hoarding on the…
Guild Wars 2’s Super Adventure Box is coming mid-April, not next week, and there’s no new World - I've joked a few times this week about how badly my kids want to play Super Adventure Box in Guild Wars 2, and I myself had hoped it would drop…
Final Fantasy XIV temporarily suspends automatic housing demolition because of COVID-19 - While one would assume that self-isolation or quarantine due to the novel coronavirus would mean more time in your in-game house in Final Fantasy XIV, it's also a very real…
Blizzard sends out a Burning Crusade Classic survey, says farewell to Diablo III’s community manager - It's time to throw a whole armful of kindling onto the smoldering fire that is rumors of a WoW Classic Burning Crusade server. Wowhead is reporting that Blizzard sent out…
Woodpunk survival MMO Last Oasis has officially launched on Steam early access - Woodpunk survival MMO Last Oasis is officially live in early access on Steam today - because we don't have enough apocalypse in our lives right now. "Set thousands of years…
Bethsoft has delayed Fallout 76’s Wastelanders expansion again – but only by a week - Fallout 76 players have been waiting for the Wastelanders expansion for a long time, it's safe to say. It was originally meant to come out last year but was pushed…
Perfect Ten: The stages of the MMO life cycle - To this day, no one has a quote as useful on the subject of life and death as E. B. White: "We're born, we live a little while, we die."…
LOTRO Legendarium: Lord of the Rings Online’s Hytbold experiment - The landscape of any long-running MMORPG is bound to be littered with various developer experiments that were tried and later abandoned. Lord of the Rings Online is no different in…
DC Universe Online brings out a Birds of Prey episode on April 16 - If you haven't already seen the movie Birds of Prey, you can actually get that on streaming right now. That's cool. It also means that you have a chance to…
Dungeons and Dragons Online brings back its anniversary event and starts the Mimic Hunt - If all the free content on offer in Dungeons and Dragons Online isn't enough for you, then maybe a couple of events will be more your style. In order to…
Villagers and Heroes has announced its next expansion, called Eclipse - Villagers & Heroes is a staff favorite here on MOP - it took our indie of the year award in 2019, after all. And now, Mad Otter Games has teased…
EverQuest bungles new overseer system, infuriating fans - Sometimes, Daybreak's just gotta Daybreak, and there's nothing we can do but shake our heads and laugh mirthlessly. A black cloud is spreading over EverQuest's 21st birthday celebrations this month,…
Blue Protocol starts its Japanese closed beta testing on April 23 - The beta test for Blue Protocol had to be delayed a little bit before based on COVID-19, but it was always just a delay. And now that delay is nearly…
Twitch Aid 2020 brings together gamers, musicians, and celebs for COVID-19 charity - The lineup isn't quite as wild as the bands that raised $127M to fight African famines at Live Aid in the '80s, but the heart and the effort for Twitch…
Former Blizzard, Twitch, and Riot bosses pour money into Rally Cry esports - Following the exit of Mike Morhaime from Blizzard Entertainment last year - in a year when Blizzard found multiple ways to light itself on fire - many gamers mused on…
Ascent: Infinite Realm hints at major shake-ups coming to its combat mechanics - Those of us who were fascinated by Ascent: Infinite Realm's initial reveal and promise of steampunk MMORPG bliss have long since accepted that the game is mired deep in the…
Choose My Adventure: In which Albion Online decides to beat me up - OK, Albion Online. I get it. You're a tough guy. You see a soft, doughy person like me and decide to lull me into a sense of complacency, offering adventure…
SuperData February 2020: Fortnite returns to the top 10 as analysts predict COVID-19 impacts - SuperData is back with another monthly report on the state of the games industry's revenue, unbowed and unbent from its tussle with Epic Games last month. For the PC side…
The Elder Scrolls Online tests adjustments to light and heavy attacks on PTS - It appears to be almost time for a combat meta shake-up in The Elder Scrolls Online. A forum post has unveiled a new PTS build which introduces some proposed changes…
The Daily Grind: What once-popular MMORPG terminology has fallen out of use? - Let's play with words. A while back I saw someone describing the act of MMO banksitting on Twitter without actually using the term. It's one I remember from way back, but…
Saga of Lucimia shows off over two hours of stage three alpha gameplay - If you've got time to kill (and most of us do) and are following the progress of Saga of Lucimia, then the developers have a treat in store for you…
The Survivalist: Last Oasis virtual dev tour highlights nomadic life and offline safety - At this stage of the survival genre game, you need more than just a novel idea for the setting. You need unique features to draw attention -- and subsequently players…
COVID-19 roundup: GameStop, unions call foul, Square-Enix, race cars, Blizzard, Skyforge, and Ultima Online housing - Welcome back to another quick roundup of news bits all about how COVID-19 has impacted even our MMO corner of the gaming world. Also our attempt not to make every…
Wisdom of Nym: Expected expansion features still unseen in Final Fantasy XIV - We're still not into the period of time in which we'll learn about patch 5.3 for Final Fantasy XIV. Indeed, there's a lot of life left in this expansion right now. But…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 264: Don’t feel blue, MapleStory 2
Battle Bards Episode 165: LOTRO Composer Bill Champagne
The Stream Team: Say yes to Yokai story in AQ3D
The Stream Team: Going crazy in Conan Exiles dungeons
The Stream Team: Never leaving Neverwinter’s Neverdeath Graveyard
The Stream Team: Celebrating Warframe’s 7th birthday with more The Sacrifice
The Stream Team: Happy 6th birthday SMITE
The Stream Team: Defending against dragons in The Siege of Neverwinter
The Stream Team: Doing more Path of Exile Delirium
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.
