This week in the world of MMOs, we cheered for Star Wars Squadrons’ multiplayer, welcomed Path of Exile’s Harvest League, got a peek at DCUO’s upcoming WONDERVERSE, nodded grimly at Torchlight III’s early access messes, cheered because RIFT’s not dead, waved farewell to WoW botters, hopped into Black Desert’s new season servers, and celebrated the life of actor Ian Holm in Lord of the Rings Online.
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
Path of Exile’s Harvest League is live today – and the community bought the devs lunch - It's harvest day for Path of Exile, as the game's latest expansion is live this afternoon on PC (with PS4 and XBbox One to follow next week). As we've previously…
WoW Factor: The time-skip Shadowlands theory and the longing for World of Warcraft 2 - All right, here we go. Normally this is the sort of thing that I wouldn't actually spend a whole week on because believe it or not I do actually have…
Lord of the Rings Online remembers Ian Holm, the original Bilbo Baggins, with Baggins’ Birthday event - This past week, at the age of 88, Ian Holm passed away in his London home. From Alien to The Fifth Element, Holm was quite revered and beloved in his…
J. Allen Brack says Blizzard will combat racism through donations, bans, and education - Nobody's ever going to hold Blizzard up as a paragon of virtue, but President J. Allen Brack said that the studio is trying to make an effort to be better…
WoW Classic’s Gates of Ahn’Qiraj test was a total lagfest (again) - In a stunning example of irony -- the bad kind -- World of Warcraft Classic's recent Gates of Ahn'Qiraj test was a hot mess. You know, just like how the…
Torchlight III’s surprise early access launch was tormented by server issues and poor reviews - [AL:TL3]Torchlight III surprise-launched into early access on Steam this past weekend in the middle of the PC Gaming Show, and it hasn't really gone to plan. Server issues on June…
DC Universe Online invokes the Council of Wonder Women for WONDERVERSE, launching in August - [AL:DCUO]Daybreak's DC Universe Online is turning its attention to Wonder Woman for its next episode, dubbed WONDERVERSE. "In WONDERVERSE, the Source Wall has cracked and the multiverse is collapsing. The…
RIFT begins fourth battle pass season as dataminers dig up new passes and a warfront - Holy crap, stuff is happening in RIFT. First, Gamigo kicked off the game's fourth battle pass season, which runs through August 13th and offers all the usual perks for participation and…
The Game Archaeologist: The virtual worlds of the 1990s - With the increased speeds of modems and the move into 3-D space in the 1990s, some game designers thought it was a logical conclusion to want to merge the two…
Vague Patch Notes: Have we ever really had an MMO sequel? - In the wake of Justin's recent column on whether or not MMO sequels are a good idea, MOP reader Bobfish had an interesting question asking whether we've ever really had…
Whatever happened to Secret World Legends, The Realm reboot, and Shadow’s Kiss? - Ever pause during your day and find yourself wondering, “Whatever happened to that game?” With hundreds upon hundreds of online titles these days, it’s surprisingly easy for MMOs to fall through the…
Blade & Soul details new items and a returning summer event arriving with the Divine Break update - Blade & Soul's upcoming Divine Break update isn't just about giving Force Masters a new spec. It's also about celebrating the summer season and having new items to chase, both…
Massively Overthinking: When should we cut MMO studios some slack for trainwreck launches? - A while back, the MOP writers were chatting about some of the trainwreck launches we've seen from MMO studios over the last few years. "I was thinking about Fallout 76…
Cyberpunk 2077 has been delayed yet again, now to November 19 - Back in January, we covered the news that Cyberpunk 2077 aka Keanu Online was being delayed from its April release date to September. Now, it's being delayed again, this time…
Lord of the Rings Online devs discuss Rohan housing, new hooks, and future neighborhoods - So who wants to talk Lord of the Rings Online housing? Yao at French fansite D&Co du Milieu recently landed a fun new interview with Standing Stone Games all about…
Who really owns RuneScape? A new Chinese lawsuit in the UK is poised to find out - Ah, remember 2019? Such a terrible year, made good only in hindsight. Throughout that year, we wrote about how RuneScape developer Jagex was put up for sale by the Chinese…
EA’s new Positive Play Charter is basically ‘don’t be a dick’ in list form - One of the ideas I've worked a long time to internalize is that when people say they've changed, I should give them time to walk that new walk before dismissing…
74,000 WoW Classic accounts just got the banhammer for botting and other cheats - This'll shock you, but not everyone playing WoW Classic is doing it for the thrill of an arguably more hardcore experience: Some people are just cheaters. And Blizzard is banning…
Torchlight III acknowledges rocky launch, promises work toward act three and more - Not quite a week into the surprise early access launch of PWE's Torchlight III, Echtra Games' Max Schaefer has posted a developer messaging acknowledging, well, the fact that it was…
Choose My Adventure: The slow slog to familiarity in EVE Online - Once more, we begin this adventure in EVE Online with some self-owning. For an embarrassingly long amount of time, I was incapable of working out why I couldn't get to…
Anarchy Online celebrates 19 years with a revamped raid zone and sub promos - Wanna feel super old? Anarchy Online is celebrating its 19th year online. If you were around back then, you remember AO holding the crown for one of the worst launches…
Black Desert’s season servers are live today on PC as mobile picks up gear awakening - Black Desert players were understandably bummed over the delay of season servers last week, so we bring good news today: They're finally here. "The wait is over and Season Servers…
TERA’s latest PC update opens the Draakon Arena and adds the Partner Adventure system - PC players of TERA are now able to fire up the latest update to the action MMO, which as we reported earlier is bringing on a new dungeon and a…
PlanetSide 2’s Colossus update is live today – there’s even a new trailer - Here's a fun surprise: Not only is PlanetSide 2 dropping an update today, but it released a brand-new trailer. Yes, a Daybreak game from 2012 got a new trailer. Here…
Guild Wars 2’s Dragon Bash returns again next week to smash the dragon - [AL:GW2]When Dragon Bash returned to Guild Wars 2 last summer, it was a big surprise for the community, as before that it hadn't been live in the game since its…
Perfect Ten: The big book of MMO death mechanic rationales - In the ancient Before Times (so, you know, two years ago), I wrote a column all about the different mechanics that hit you when you die. Today, though, I want…
Corepunk embraces being a ‘traditional MMORPG’, shows off alpha gameplay - Last December, Corepunk blasted onto the MMO scene - and into our top list of MMOs to watch this year - when Dutch studio Artificial Core revealed the game as…
New World talks about combat and PvP gameplay, shows off its War mode - Amazon's upcoming MMO New World continues to shovel coal into the hype engine as it inches towards its July 23rd beta. David Verfaillie, the head of player experience for the…
The Daily Grind: Do you eat while playing MMORPGs? - Back in May, Newzoo came out with a report that asserts something like four in five gamers across the world are also busy stuffing their faces while playing games. Kotaku's…
Star Wars Squadrons will include crossplay, VR, plenty of multiplayer content - If you were waiting for confirmation that Star Wars Squadrons would have multiplayer, today you have it, as EA officially dropped its new trailer for the leaked game this morning.…
Fight or Kite: Space MMORTS Starborne’s latest time-limited campaign draws to a close - I’ve had Starborne open nearly every waking minute over the last ten weeks – and even during many of the sleeping ones. It is absolutely bizarre how engrossed and engaged…
Wisdom of Nym: The highs and lows of Final Fantasy XIV’s role quests - You might be thinking that we're a little early to be doing this sort of thing, and you wouldn't be entirely wrong; normally I wouldn't be talking about these sorts…
Class action lawsuit alleges Apple promotes gambling via lootboxes through its storefront - Legal moves are being made against the practice of lootbox monetization against one of the largest targets possible. A class action complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the…
EVE Online’s Project Discovery initiative tasks players with helping research COVID-19 - The novel coronavirus is still out there and it's still a problem, and EVE Online players are being tapped to help out thanks to the third phase of the Project…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 276: Opening the doors to Torchlight III and New World
Battle Bards Episode 171: Forest Tales 2
The Stream Team: Working among Neverwinter’s werewolves
The Stream Team: Going in the Nature Guardian Tower in AdventureQuest 3D
The Stream Team: Starting Black Desert’s summer season server
The Stream Team: Hunting the last SWTOR HK parts in flashpoints
The Stream Team: Storming EverQuest II’s Sanctus Seru
The Stream Team: Avenging the High Queen in Elder Scrolls Online
The Stream Team: A glimpse of Glacio goodness in Astroneer
The Stream Team: Celebrating Neverwinter’s seventh anniversary with a jubilee
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.
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