Multiple MMORPGs fell victim to pandemic-related delays this week, both large ones and small delays, including New World, Elder Scrolls Online, Final Fantasy XIV, and SWTOR. The good news is that nothing’s been canceled outright, plus WoW’s Shadowlands alpha emerged to fill the void for lucky testers. Oh yeah, turns out LOTRO remembered how to do a producer’s letter! And as we’ve been covering, there are weird backtracking shenanigans going on with Chronicles of Elyria. Stop hoarding TP and hoard popcorn – we’re gonna need it!
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
Amazon’s MMO New World just delayed launch from May to August 25 - Amazon's New World isn't going to make its planned May launch, as you've probably already guessed, given the fact that spring was supposed to mark the start of beta and…
WoW Factor: The World of Warcraft expansion tour in review - All right. I've now been on this expansion tour for... well, seven weeks, but it feels like years. Partly because it meant covering a whole lot of World of Warcraft…
LOTRO Legendarium: Breaking down LOTRO’s 2020 producer letter - It may be a month or two overdue, but the producer's letter for Lord of the Rings Online finally arrived this week. While we had some inkling of what to…
Final Fantasy XIV’s Naoki Yoshida confirms that patch 5.3 will be delayed in the wake of the pandemic - It's been said many times that Final Fantasy XIV has one of the most rock-solid update schedules in the MMO space, but it turns out that a global pandemic does…
WoW Factor: A quick first impression of Shadowlands class changes - Every so often, we wind up in a lull of information or exhaustion with World of Warcraft that leads readers to speculating in the comments about what in the world…
Chronicles of Elyria boss says development is still ongoing, still seeking funding - Over the last couple of weeks, we've been covering the abrupt cancellation of Chronicles of Elyria, a Kickstarted MMORPG that raised millions of dollars from backers both on and off…
Perfect Ten: How World of Warcraft is like professional wrestling - Professional wrestling is not my thing. I say that with absolutely no ill will or judgment; much like the Lord of the Rings, the Animal Crossing franchise, or model trains,…
Tamriel Infinium: Exploring the revamped vampires of Elder Scrolls Online’s Greymoor - Ever since Molag Bal created the first vampires in Tamriel to spite the aedra Arkay, they have held a unique place in the stories of The Elder Scrolls universe. Some…
EverQuest II’s GU 114, Showdown at Diaku Corral, mixes westerns with fantasy next week - [AL:EQ2]Daybreak's Darkpaw Games has some fun planned for EverQuest II players during quarantine: It's releasing GU 114 Showdown at Diaku Corral next week, complete with amusing cowboy theme. "On April…
Fallout 76 drops new trailer ahead of April 14 Wastelanders launch - No more delays for Fallout 76: Bethsoft confirmed again today that the freebie Wastelanders expansion is indeed launching for PC, PS4, and Xbox One as planned on April 14th. "Wastelanders…
World of Warcraft updates its quest icons, director Ion Hazzikostas talks big changes - The floating "!" has become such an iconic part of World of Warcraft's interface that it's hard to imagine it ever going away... and lest you be worried, it's not…
Massively Overthinking: What generates trust in MMO crowdfunding for you? - Last week, an anonymous game developer posted on the MMORPG Reddit about the broader MMO playerbase's frustrations with crowdfunding. See, this dev says he's been working on an MMO and…
It turns out that YouTube megastar Jenna Marbles is an Elder Scrolls Online junkie - Sometimes, our favourite things collide in weird and wonderful ways, and today is one of those days. At the time of writing, YouTube sensation Jenna Marbles' latest video, featuring her…
Jagex cancels RuneScape’s RuneFest 2020, considers ‘alternative virtual events’ - Another gaming event, this one specific to MMORPGs, is closing its doors this year thanks to the pandemic: Jagex announced this afternoon that it's canceling this year's RuneFest, the live…
Blizzard hasn’t canceled BlizzCon 2020 over the pandemic, is still working on the show - Every week that goes by during the COVID-19 pandemic, we've seen more and more gaming conventions throw in the towel and go digital, some well before governments mandated closures -…
WoW: Shadowlands datamining reveals gamepad support and easier allied race requirements - If you've been killing yourself grinding your reputations to get all of the World of Warcraft allied races, you may want to hold off a smidge. With the Shadowlands test…
Elder Tales is a developing MMORPG based on the anime Log Horizon - We'd like to introduce you to another in-development MMORPG. It's called Elder Tales, an MMORPG based on the anime Log Horizon, and by all accounts it has a fair number…
Indie MMO Starborne accidentally exposes alpha tester contact info in email blast - If you participated in the alpha for indie MMORTS Starborne, you might wanna check your email: Multiple alpha participants are now reporting that they received a thank-you email that exposed…
World of Warcraft walks through the enhanced starting experience for Shadowlands - The upcoming World of Warcraft: Shadowlands doesn't just create new experiences at the top end for players. The revised leveling is bringing with it a revised starting experience, and the…
For Science: Steam just told on itself with its new games performance analysis - Steam has long been regarded as a pit of doom, loaded with asset flips and scams, where where indies go to die and MMO temports show up for one last…
Elder Scrolls Online’s Greymoor has been delayed, but only by about a week - [AL:ESO]Elder Scrolls Online's Skyrim-centric Greymoor chapter isn't going to make its original release window, unfortunately. ZeniMax's Matt Firor delivered the news to fans this morning, and yes, the delay is…
E3 won’t be happening in a digital format this year - The cancellation of E3 2020 was significant; even if the trade show has been generally diminished in importance over the past several years, it's still a major show that has…
NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace ragequits during an official esports racing event - So apparently NASCAR is hosting an esports event featuring real drivers in a simulated series of races in the racing sim title iRacing. Readers will recall that this sort of…
Choose My Adventure: The weird world of Heroes Online in Roblox - [AL:Rob]I had a feeling this whole month of write-ups would go weirdly, and sure enough, it did. It was only until after I got into Heroes Online, the chosen Roblox…
Our interview with Final Fantasy XIV’s Naoki Yoshida and Yusuke Mogi - Health concerns kept the staff from Final Fantasy XIV away from this year's PAX East in Boston back at the end of February. This is a known fact. But that…
No Man’s Sky just patched in the Exo Mech update, confirming leaked video - You can have plenty of neat stuff in No Man's Sky. You can have your own custom base. You can have a frigate and a fleet. You can even have…
Massively Uplifting: Cake, coloring, and EVE Online’s PLEX4Good COVID-19 relief - The news this past month has been infected with the novel coronavirus. It's everywhere we turn, and we can't escape it even if we try. I mean, how far can…
LOTRO’s 2020 producer letter: Dwarves, weddings, PvP servers, Rohan housing, and more - Lord of the Rings Online's tardiest producer's letter ever has finally arrived, six days into April, to give players a vision of what's to come for the game in 2020.…
Former ArenaNet art lead Jens Hauch passes away at age 46 - It's always sad to report when one of the forces behind a game has passed away. Jens Hauch served as a longtime technical art lead at ArenaNet, working on Guild…
World of Warcraft’s Shadowlands closed alpha is finally beginning this week - Earlier today, we noted fresh changes in World of Warcraft's launcher that indicated Shadowlands' testing was imminent, and this afternoon, Blizzard has confirmed it. "Later this week, we will send…
Popular Chinese MMO JX3 Online will close in Taiwan following COVID-19 protest - This article needs a quick bit of backstory: Chinese doctor Li Wenliang was one of the first whistleblowers for the current COVID-19 epidemic; he was targeted by Chinese authorities for…
Fight or Kite: You’re stuck in the house, so PvP with the kids in Trove - It might not be the best time in history to be a human, but it is one of the best times to be a gamer. A lot of us are…
Star Wars: The Old Republic shakes up its release schedule thanks to the pandemic - If there is one thing that the business world is discovering in the era of COVID-19, it's that there are limitations to what can be done remotely from home. While…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 266: Feline fine for April Fools
Battle Bards Episode 166: LEGO Universe
The Stream Team: Another foray into Fractured
The Stream Team: Crawling through the Clockwork Guild Tomb in Neverwinter
The Stream Team: Heading into AQ3D’s new Heartwood
The Stream Team: Bunnies and Chimera in Warframe
The Stream Team: Party crashing in Dungeons and Dragons Online
The Stream Team: Making melee mayhem with a Path of Exile Marauder
The Stream Team: Colossal kitties in Guild Wars 2
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.
