MMO Week in Review: Shadowlands postponed

World of Warcraft’s Shadowlands delay – to later in 2020 – was by far the biggest news of the week, all but smothering news that Magic Legends’ launch has been delayed until next year and HEX is sunsetting outright. But on the bright side, Torchlight III finally has a launch date, Skyforge is launching on the Switch, and Star Wars Squadrons has officially arrived.

The MMO Week in Review column – first begun on Old Massively and later cross-published on Joystiq – has officially been running for 10 years now, and I know this because I’m the one who started it all those years ago. Thank you to everyone who’s found it a useful weekly recap over the last decade!

THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES

World of Warcraft delays Shadowlands, pre-patch coming October 13th - We're sorry to bring you some disappointing -- but not altogether unexpected -- news: Blizzard announced today that it will be delaying World of Warcraft: Shadowlands from its October 27th…

WoW Factor: Shadowlands’ delay is a genuinely good thing – for everyone - Well, this was a big old shocker for a Thursday night that's going to screw with a bunch of data! Also, it's a majorly unexpected change that is almost unprecedented…

Vague Patch Notes: What we mean when we talk about MMO success – and failure - Yesterday, aside from love being such an easy game to play, MOP's Justin graced us with a Daily Grind asking about why it was RIFT didn't do better. I read it…

Torchlight III finally has a launch date: It’s now coming October 13 - [AL:TL3]The long-delayed Torchlight III has just revealed its formal launch date: October 13th. PWE and Echtra Games made the announcement this morning, putting a $39.99 final price on the Steam,…

PWE is delaying Magic Legends’ launch to spring 2021 - Back in January, PWE announced that Magic Legends, no longer an MMO, would launch for PC in 2020, with console releases to follow in 2021. Given that we're just about…

CD Projekt Red goes back on its word regarding Cyberpunk 2077 crunch - Crunch -- the period of development time where studios enact overtime to get a product ready to ship -- is a controversial and harmful practice that has come under increased…

LOTRO Legendarium: Speculating on the Brawler class - You have to imagine that there's some frustration over at Standing Stone Games this past week. The studio wants us all to be focused on Lord of the Rings Online's…

Jukebox Heroes: The best of SWTOR’s launch soundtrack - I got so excited when Star Wars: The Old Republic included its soundtrack in the collector's edition back at launch. However, we all discovered that this really was only half…

World of Warcraft’s Chromie Time auto-disables at level 50; refunds are being offered for Shadowlands - When you level your alts through World of Warcraft content starting when the Shadowlands pre-patch arrives on October 13th, you can do so with Chromie Time allowing you to sync up and…

Kickstarted MMO card game HEX is closing at the end of the year - It's the 11th hour for HEX, a fascinating title that attempted to blend MMO and card game mechanics together. Also, there were battle bunnies. In any case, the game only…

Massively Overthinking: Are isometric MMOs more or less immersive than 3-D? - I was chit-chatting with MOP reader (and prolific tipster!) Panagiotis the other day about Ultima Online's big news when he hit on a topic about isometric MMOs that leaped out…

Desert Oasis: The worst week I’ve ever had in Black Desert Online - This week, I was planning a third entry on my adventures in Black Desert Mobile, but a few very exasperating incidents happened to me in Black Desert PC last week,…

PlanetSide 2 on PC adds new missions, revamps Esamir, and introduces the first campaign with the Shattered Warpgate update - A self-described "massive, multi-faceted" update for PlanetSide 2 has arrived to the PC version of the multiplayer shooter. Say hello to the Shattered Warpgate update, which is actually a catastrophic…

Camelot Unchained’s latest news dispatches cover Dragon’s Web, giants, and art - Camelot Unchained's City State Entertainment dropped three chunks of content from the developers last night, a bit unusually since it was a Wednesday and not a Friday. The game's weekly…

Epic Games and Apple both ask to have their case be heard by the judge, not a jury - It appears that both Apple and Epic Games have finally found at least one piece of common ground. Earlier in the week, we reported on a three hour hearing where…

Star Wars Squadrons gears up for launch tomorrowday - EA's next big Star Wars game, Star Wars Squadrons, is set to release tomorrow with its shiny $39.99 pricetag and availability on almost every current platform, including VR. As we've…

Guild Wars 2 preps tournament week, while community website Dulfy.net disappears - Guild Wars 2's PvP scene is a lot like hanging out at the pool. Some players are content to sit on the sidelines, some want to dip their toes into…

Perfect Ten: 10 tools MMOs use to tell stories - While some players like to rebel against the notion that MMORPGs are storytelling experiencies, that narrative is exactly why I show up to these games in the first place. The…

PSA: Lord of the Rings Online has switched its payment processors – RIP Subway gift cards - You can no longer pay for things in Lord of the Rings Online via Subway gift cards. No, really. This is a thing. Anyone and everyone who had opted to…

The Daily Grind: Why didn’t RIFT do better? - Want to make me sad? All you need to do is remind me that RIFT is stagnating in the hands of Gamigo, which hasn't seen fit to do much with…

Diablo IV devs discuss ‘major changes’ for the game’s skill and talent systems - Hey, remember how Blizzard is still work on Diablo IV? Yeah, one or two other major things in 2020 may have made that slip from your mind. But today the…

Phantasy Star Online 2’s episode 5 launches tomorrow with new hero class, level cap bump, and raids - Tomorrow's patch day for Phantasy Star Online 2, SEGA announced today, complete with new trailer and pics too. Episode 5 begins tomorrow, meaning that the "road to episode 5" content…

Leaderboard: To which WoW expansion era will you send your Shadowlands alts first? - One of the more intriguing things about World of Warcraft Shadowlands, at least for me, is the game's new leveling system. While brand-new accounts will have to play a tutorial…

As US COVID deaths pass 200,000, the LA ComicCon refuses to cancel - Since January, we've been covering the endless stream of gaming and geek conventions that have closed their doors and gone online in an effort to avoid exacerbating the spread of…

Elite: Dangerous makes the Horizons expansion part of its base edition in October - The base game of Elite: Dangerous has just gotten a little more interesting for those who didn't buy in to the Horizons expansion pack. On Tuesday, October 27th, Horizons will…

2015 sci-fantasy MMORPG Skyforge is launching on the Nintendo Switch this fall - [AL:Sky]Here's a fun Tuesday morning surprise: Skyforge of all games is coming to the Nintendo Switch. My.Games made the announcement this morning, promising a rollout on the platform later this…

Dark Age of Camelot celebrates 19 years with in-game tabletop map dioramas and RvR bonuses - How do you best celebrate the world of Dark Age of Camelot? By having little chunks of the in-game world in digital tabletop form! That's just one of the rewards…

Wisdom of Nym: What awaits Final Fantasy XIV’s Norvrandt in the future? - I don't want to spoil Final Fantasy XIV's most recent patch here before the cut, but it is not exactly a spoiler to say that when all is said and done, we…

Not So Massively: The dos and don’ts of stealing from single-player games - In my last Not So Massively column, I looked at the right and wrong ways for other genres to steal from MMOs. But in our current climate of blurring genres,…

EA’s advertisement of FIFA lockboxes in a children’s toy catalogue draws mounting criticism - It would appear that Electronic Arts didn't learn from the last time it pulled this kind of nonsense, but apparently there was still fuel for the dumpster fire. The company…

Genshin Impact officially launches for PC, PS4, and mobile devices - Shanghai-based developer miHoYo has officially launched the new open world multiplayer RPG Genshin Impact to the world, bringing its colorful universe and unique mechanics to iOS, Android, PlayStation 4, and…

SWTOR is giving away minipets in honor of Star Wars Squadrons’ launch - Star Wars Squadrons, a multiplayer dogfighter from EA, launched yesterday, giving players the ability to engage in their own epic space battles. And instead of feeling threatened by the new…

SSG confirms Lord of the Rings Online’s new Brawler class, presumably for Gundabad - After a little oopsie last week that allowed Lord of the Rings Online testers to witness a class name that they shouldn't have, Standing Stone Games confirmed this past weekend…

THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS

Massively OP Podcast Episode 290: African expedition

Battle Bards Episode 178: The Division 2

The Stream Team: Doing Conan Exiles Den of the Wolf-brothers vault

The Stream Team: Wandering Deimos in Warframe

The Stream Team: Friday fishing before AQ3D’s Taco Day

The Stream Team: Trouble with troglodytes in Dungeon and Dragons Online

The Stream Team: Canvassing Corellia and hunting Hoth for SWTOR’s droids

The Stream Team: Happy 10th birthday Final Fantasy XIV!

The Stream Team: Avenging dragons in Guild Wars 2

The Stream Team: Delving Elder Scrolls Online’s Skyrim and finding lost treasures

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.