Guild Wars 2 stole the spotlight this week, and whether you thought it was a good thing or a bad thing probably depends on whether you care more about Judgment and the balance patch plans, which have fallen a bit flat with the community, or about End of Dragons, which is finally getting a proper unveiling come July.
Meanwhile, the MMO industry said farewell to multiple MMORPGs this week, including Defiance and SoulWorker (kinda). Also, Activision-Blizzard cut down Bobby Kotick absurd salary, finally, suggesting that this week’s investor call might require extra popcorn.
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
Flameseeker Chronicles: Hands-on with Guild Wars 2’s Judgment world boss, Dragonstorm - Judgment is upon us, friends, in this edition of the Flameseeker Chronicles: The fourth and final chapter of Guild Wars 2's The Icebrood Saga: Champions drops today! Eighteen months of…
Activision-Blizzard is halving Bobby Kotick’s exorbitant salary and bonuses - Activision-Blizzard's Bobby Kotick made headlines back in March when on the same day the company was going through its (at least) fourth round of layoffs in the last few years,…
WoW Factor: What we really learned from the World of Warcraft Hazzikostas interview - The problem with writing about World of Warcraft right now is that there's actually less to write about than you might think. Sure, we've got the ongoing testing of The Burning Crusade,…
EG7 addresses the Daybreak buyout, says EG7 is ‘evaluating’ H1Z1 and Just Survive - As promised, Enad Global 7 has released a community update specifically to address the future of games under Daybreak - something lots of folks have been asking for, really for…
Choose My Adventure: RIFT was fun before, wasn’t it? - My time in RIFT this past month has left me confused, frankly. Primarily because I remember genuinely enjoying this game more than I did. [AL:Rift]That’s not necessarily to suggest I…
EA insists it’s focused on ‘engagement,’ not monetizing FIFA players into gambleboxes - Yesterday, Canadian outlet CBC published a massive Electronic Arts document leaked by a supposed "gaming insider" that seemingly confirms what you already thought about EA: It really wants you to…
Ashes of Creation opens $500 alpha one package on May 5, shows off raid boss in new video - When will followers of Ashes of Creation be able to buy their way in to the upcoming alpha one test? Specifically on Wednesday, May 5th, according to the April developer…
LOTRO Legendarium: Six essential LOTRO store purchases for new characters - In my Lord of the Rings Online career, I have started way, way too many brand-new characters. It's just something I do every so often, sometimes carrying them through to…
Star Wars Galaxies Legends previews City in the Clouds expansion features in new trailer - There's definitely been plenty of telling (and a fair bit of showing) over the past few months from Star Wars Galaxies Legends as it ramps up for its Bespin-centric City…
Why I Play: Monster Hunter Rise is still worth it one month later - It's been over a month since Monster Hunter Rise was released to the public. I was feeling good about the game during the press testing phase and early release, for…
Star Citizen shares some new armor concepts and another preview of the Orison landing zone - This week's Star Citizen video has a couple of advance looks at what the devs at CIG are cooking for the game's alpha, leading off with a host of armor…
Guild Wars 2 previews May’s weird and massive balance patch - Even as Guild Wars 2 busts out its brand-new forums today, ArenaNet didn't want the renovation to completely overshadow details of the upcoming "major balance patch" that's coming to the…
Massively Overthinking: The terrible hot-mess MMOs we have fun in anyway - Every time we cover Hellgate London - and let's be honest, it's a lot since the game comes back from the dead at least once a year and it's a…
10-year-old World of Tanks has finally landed on Steam - Hey, did you know World of Tanks wasn't on Steam? I always assumed it was, but nope - until Wargaming's move today. "Wargaming is pleased to announce that its flagship…
Gameforge officially sunsets the western version of SoulWorker tomorrow - Back in February, we covered the frustrating announcement that Gameforge was planning to sunset the Western version of SoulWorker. The only good news to come of the whole situation was…
Vague Patch Notes: The win state of MMOs - So how do you win an MMO? The general consensus is that you don't. The whole point of an MMO that this is an ongoing game in which there is…
Casually Classic: The brilliance of World of Warcraft’s sound design - Can you hear pictures? Well, I bet you heard the banner graphic for today's column because that level-up sound from World of Warcraft is burned into pretty much all of…
Google Stadia hypes up the addition of a search bar and other quality-of-life additions coming soon - At long last, users of the Google Stadia for Web can find the games they're looking for without the agony of scrolling manually through the library thanks to the incoming…
Elite Dangerous launches Odyssey alpha phase 4, affirms improvements to its final build in livestream - Today is the last day for PC-playing Commanders in Elite: Dangerous to kick the tires of the Odyssey expansion as the fourth and final phase of the alpha test is…
Perfect Ten: Why I’m a sucker for MMO collector’s editions - If you've ever wondered what kind of naive sucker would plunk down a semi-thick wad of perfectly good cash on an overstuffed MMO collector's edition, hi, I'm Justin. I do…
Former Marvel Heroes developer Brian Waggoner is now working on Marvel’s Avengers - Remember Marvel Heroes? You probably do! It was a pretty popular game, after all, and as we noted last year it was ultimately the implosion of its studio that killed it…
Riot Games’ demand to shut down a fan-run 10 year-old League of Legends build causes a community uproar - Riot Games is back in the news for yet another unsavory reason as the League of Legends developer has acted against a fan-made emulator of the game, and while that…
Dreamworld co-founder’s ex-fiancee calls out Kickstarter fibs but says he’s not intentionally scamming - A couple of weeks back, we covered the impending Kickstarter funding of Dreamworld, a game by a couple of MMORPG industry novices promising the moon and throwing up red flags…
WoW Classic cancels Burning Crusade raid test, leaks deluxe edition mounts - If you were hoping to get an early dive into Karazhan with the rest of Burning Crusade Classic's testing crowd, steel yourself for minor disappointment: Blizzard announced that "due to…
Fallout 76 launches its Locked & Loaded update - Today, Fallout 76 is ready to lock things and load other things, or possibly load something and then lock it when it's been loaded? That second one makes more sense. Look,…
An infamous WoW Classic griefer sees his 16 accounts all banned during a livestream - If you've got your finger on the pulse of the greater World of Warcraft: Classic community, you perhaps are familiar with the exploits of one TinyViolin69, a player whose entire…
Star Wars: The Old Republic explores dark secrets with today’s Update 6.3 - Hey you! Drop everything -- groceries, babies, financial responsibilities -- and make a dash over to the Star Wars: The Old Republic launcher. You see that? Yup, it's a patch…
Not So Massively: Checking up on multiplayer RTS Iron Harvest 1920 - Last fall, this column covered Iron Harvest 1920, an alternate history RTS with a strong multiplayer emphasis and surprisingly poignant story-telling. Once I got into the full game, it only…
Stick and Rudder: The frustrating and unsuccessful search for life in Elite Dangerous Odyssey alpha phase 3 - I should have been more capable. If I were a better exploration pilot in Elite: Dangerous, I suspect I would have had a better time. Or would have had more…
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s patch 5.5 stories have some issues - All right, I'm just going to spoil this column up front. Out of this patch's stories... well, one is kind of a wisp of a thing, one is admirable in…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 319: A sadness prison for addicts
The Stream Team: May Day mayhem with Valheim’s Moder and Yagluth bosses
The Stream Team: Continuing Warframe’s Call of the Tempestarii
The Stream Team: So long, SoulWorker
The Stream Team: Guild Wars 2 griffon egg hunting in Elon Riverlands
The Stream Team: Saying sayonara to Defiance 2050
The Stream Team: Puzzled to death in SWTOR
The Stream Team: Before Blackwood, anything goes in Elder Scrolls Online
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.
