Here’s the thing about bad news: MMO players are used to it by now. The best way to deliver news like “the game isn’t making enough money because we screwed up the launch real bad, so we need to change our monetization plan” is to be honest and upfront about it with the community. The worst way to deliver it is to try to stealth-launch a paid expansion for a game you said would be defined by never having paid expansions and leave it to Discord chatters to drag the truth out of a GM.
So, you know, speaking of how the more MMOs change the more they stay the same: ArcheAge is still ArcheAge.
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
Phantasy Star Online 2 is officially launching on PC in the west May 27 - This piece has been updated with the latest release info; skip to the end for the new stuff. The team behind Phantasy Star Online 2 has treated the game's release…
So ArcheAge Unchained’s Garden of the Gods is not free, and ArcheAge players are not happy - [AL:Arche]Do you folks remember last August, when Gamigo formally announced ArcheAge Unchained, promising a new monetization model for a buy-to-play version of the sandbox, where "with a onetime purchase, you…
Daybreak has apparently registered another substudio: Wandering Monster Games - Back in 2019, we started covering Daybreak's moves to register trademarks and domain names and social media accounts for a bunch of groups that sounded a whole lot like new…
WoW Factor: Impressive Influence and the ongoing half-hearted Battle for Azeroth apology - To my great disappointment and chagrin, Blizzard turned out to not catch the same winds (of wisdom) that influenced the extending of experience boosts in World of Warcraft. Impressive Influence is…
Black Desert just patched in a full-fledged music composition system for the Shai - [AL:BDO]Remember when the Shai launched in Black Desert's PC version last year, and everyone was enthralled with her instrument-wielding bard-like skills? Well, this week the Shai is getting even more…
The Game Archaeologist: McDonalds’ McWorld MMO is a thing that existed - If you thought that it was strange for MTV to create its own virtual world, then you probably are forgetting how desperate companies always are to jump on the latest…
Vague Patch Notes: The endless allure of the games we never got - It's kind of weird for me to see the intensely positive reaction people have had to the concept art for the original version of Diablo III that was never actually made.…
Massively Overthinking: The more things change in MMOs, the more they stay the same - A while back, in the wake of our Desert Oasis column on Black Desert's guild system, Carlo and I were discussing guild wars - actual wars between guilds, not Guild…
Black Desert spin-off Shadow Arena has just hopped into Steam early access - [AL:SA]If Crucible isn't cutting it for you, Shadow Arena would definitely like to have a go at your time right about now. The Pearl Abyss "hero action battle royale," which…
MMO Business Roundup: Tencent facial recognition, Chinese gaming regulation, anti-cheat, and hackers - Welcome back to another roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news bits that just didn't fit in anywhere else. First, Tencent has spent part of this week talking up more…
Blade & Soul’s Steel Bonds update is now live - The first part of the Steelbreaker raid in Blade & Soul lies broken behind you. It doesn't lie lifeless behind you, or at least, not much more so than before;…
Classic EverQuest’s server merge update turned into almost two days of downtime - Crucible wasn't the only game struggling with downtime yesterday. Over in the land of classic MMOs, EverQuest fans were in agony over an extended downtime that only became more extended…
Tamriel Infinium: Getting ready for Elder Scrolls Online’s Greymoor chapter - [AL:ESO]Are you ready for Elder Scrolls Online Greymoor chapter release next week? I mean, are you really ready? Here at Massively OP, we’ve got some tips to help you get…
Lord of the Rings Online starts testing its limited-time PvP server - This might go down as one of the strangest experiments that Lord of the Rings Online has ever fielded. Coming soon to the game will be a server with two…
Steampunkish Elyon proposes ‘massive’ Korean beta test this summer - If you cast your mind back a couple of years, you might recall that steampunk MMO fans were hanging their hopes on the then-newly announced Ascent: Infinite Realm. However, the…
Wurm Online shows off its graphical overhaul work - Things in Wurm Online are getting a whole lot prettier soon. The devs have posted a variety of looks at the sandbox's graphical overhaul. The update to the visuals mostly…
Amazon Games’ team shooter Crucible is supposed to go live this afternoon - We've teased Amazon Games Studio plenty for canceling games and postponing them and changing them into something else, but today, it's finally doing something it's never done before: releasing a…
Star Wars Galaxies Legends celebrates 40 years of Empire Strikes Back with new PvE and PvP content - It's patch week over in the Star Wars Galaxies rogue server known as SWG Legends, and if you're a PvP player or endgame PvE player, you're gonna love what this…
Perfect Ten: World of Warcraft’s multicolored troll rainbow - Trolls have been a part of World of Warcraft since it launched. No, I'm not talking about the jerks who make playing the game far less pleasant than it could otherwise…
Fallout 76 clarifies that seasons will be free, with some potential Fallout 1st bonuses in the future - If there's one thing that Fallout 76 does remarkably well, it's making people angry about the way the game is monetized, all the way back to the Great Canvas Shortage with…
Blizzard continues to roll out improvements to Warcraft III: Reforged’s matchmaking - Are you one of the many, many people who doesn't really care much about proving your mettle in competitive matches of Warcraft III: Reforged and would just like custom campaigns…
Age of Conan’s 12th birthday is splattered with prizes and challenges - Twelve years ago in 2008, Age of Conan launched to great acclaim, bringing a mature-themed fantasy MMORPG to market. Now in 2020, the title is still chugging along thanks to…
Choose My Adventure: New ships, New Romulus, and a new gun in Star Trek Online - So the past poll was a 50/50 split, but I'm curious if that's because regular Star Trek Online players knew what was coming. [AL:STO]Considering the poll kept myself and my…
WoW Classic player mimics South Park by grinding to 60 on boars alone - South Park's 2006 episode featuring the boys getting obsessed with World of Warcraft has attained legendary status in the MMORPG community, so it was really only a matter of time…
Terraria has reached the Journey’s End now - Farewell, Terraria, your journey is over. Although to some extent, the journey never changed. The game's final major update launched on Saturday, but Journey's End might seem an odd name…
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s healer problem and how it’s kind of unsolvable - I quite like Final Fantasy XIV's healers. I really enjoy both Scholar and White Mage, and considering that this expansion is one in which I'd really prefer doing anything other than playing…
Ashes of Creation shows off pre-alpha footage starring a curious mage and some strange ruins - Wandering around the realm of Ashes of Creation, you're likely going to run in to some interesting sights. Take, for example, the video adventures from Steven Sharif as Magey McMagerface…
Fight or Kite: Surveying Crowfall’s new Frostweaver class and interface updates - I’ve been itching to get back in and play some Crowfall, and with the War of the Gods update I've got a good reason: ArtCraft announced that the final class,…
Camelot Unchained looks back at the progress of its previous 90-day plan and outlines goals for the next 90 days - It appears that City State Entertainment really is keen on that 90-day plan thing. Mark Jacobs has recently penned a dev blog that takes a look back at Camelot Unchained's…
Club Penguin rogue server shut down following discovery of explicit content - Everyone was kind of sad when Disney shut down Club Penguin back in 2017, but rogue servers seemed an inevitability given the game's popularity. The most popular rogue server, however,…
EVE Echoes confirms August 2020 launch window, debuts new gameplay trailer - Well, it wasn't exactly a launch date as originally believed, but we at least now have a launch window for EVE Echoes. The livestream from yesterday announced that the mobile…
XLGAMES and Gamigo say paid DLC will make up for ‘deficiencies’ in ArcheAge Unchained’s launch - [AL:Arche]It would seem that XLGAMES and Gamigo are going with the "set off an explosion" approach to dousing community fires. As we reported last week, ArcheAge Unchained's Western publisher decided…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 272: Death of dragons
Battle Bards Episode 169: Wild Things
The Stream Team: AdventureQuest 3D sewer warfare is PvP of the jumping kind
The Stream Team: On to Ebon Downs in Neverwinter
The Stream Team: Age of Conan turns 12
The Stream Team: Celebrating a Trove Spring Fling
The Stream Team: Solving initiates’ wacky woes in DDO
The Stream Team: Making time for Marauder in Path of Exile
The Stream Team: Moon middle madness in Astroneer
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.
