Guild Wars 2 continued its rollout of major End of Dragons reveals this past week, including three new elite specs as we head into the upcoming second beta, which includes DX11 testing.
Plus: Mortal Online 2 scrapped its early access plans and pushed launch to 2022, EverQuest II announced Visions of Vetrovia, New World teased its endgame zones, Elder Scrolls Online made plans to fight power creep, we pondered what the ideal City of Heroes 2 might look like, WoW Classic released Overlords of Outland, and Final Fantasy XIV dropped some tasty Endwalker previews.
And on a sadder note, Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade closed its doors for good.
Read on to catch up with the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions today as every Sunday (since 2010 – yes, as of today, this column is 11 years old!) in Massively Overpowered’s Week in Review!THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
LOTRO Legendarium: Why do we know so little about Fate of Gundabad? - Over the past few months, my general sense of rising hope for Lord of the Rings Online has been tempered by a nagging disquiet about one area in particular. Considering…
Elder Scrolls Online’s Update 32 aims to tackle combat and power creep - ZeniMax Online Studios is already looking ahead to Elder Scrolls Online's Update 32, which is set to bring major combat changes to the game - specifically in the form of…
Design Mockument: Fresh ideas for City of Heroes 2 in 2021 - Back in 2019, I had the idea to make Design Mockument semi-regular column because I like doing this sort of thing. I put out one installment of it out talking…
Mortal Online 2 has shifted its launch to 2022, scraps early access plans - It's the story of 2021 so far, that so many MMOs have seen delays, but hey, here's one more: Mortal Online 2 has bumped its release date to next year,…
Raph Koster’s plan is to build the metaverse tech, build a sandbox MMORPG on it, then open it all up - If Raph Koster's metaverse talk has you more confused than before, then don't worry; his new more technical blog is going to scramble your brains even more. Essential, he argues…
Final Fantasy XIV reveals job actions and battle changes in its latest live letter - The are changes coming to Final Fantasy XIV with the next expansion, and that includes a whole lot of changes to job actions for all 19 of the game's jobs.…
Guild Wars 2 stream previews End of Dragons’ Vindicator, Bladesworn, and Catalyst - Guild Wars 2 players are getting no shortage of new expansion info lately, between last week's fishing and skiff stream and last month's preview of the first three elite specs.…
Star Citizen highlights alpha 3.15’s location-based inventory management system - Are you ready for some hot and spicy inventory management action? Then put on your three-point harness and prepare for the ride of your life, as Star Citizen's latest video…
Kingdom Under Fire 2 is shutting down in October - It's almost time to wave farewell to Kingdom Under Fire 2; publisher Gameforge has announced that the title will sunset for good on October 26th, with the game already unavailable for…
Ashes of Creation snags former Elder Scrolls Online lead writer as new senior narrative designer - It would be easy to assume that Ashes of Creation will be thin on lore owing to its PvP sandbox nature and its main throughline of player actions having an…
Guild Wars 2: ‘Upgrading to DirectX11 is the first step toward being able to do more shiny things’ - If the Revenant, Warrior, and Elementalist aren't your Cup of Light-Roasted Coffee, then next week's Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons beta round might not spark your attention. But not…
Palia wraps up the pre-alpha test you didn’t get to play - What happens when the announcement of your game draws far, far more interest than you have actual room for in your testing program? A whole lot of interested parties on…
Massively Overthinking: How much would you pay for an MMO sub in 2021? - A few weeks back, MMO YouTuber Napyet tweeted that he liked Fallout 76's private servers but that compared to MMORPGs, the subscription for the game was on the high side.…
Time-travel MMO Into the Echo releases new video and alpha signups - Back in August, we covered a newly unveiled time-travel MMORPG called Into the Echo. Canada-based ETLOK Studios pitched the game as one with "traditional mechanics of resource collection, crafting, puzzle-solving…
BitCraft is a new upcoming MMORPG promising a procedural sandbox environment for players - So, want a new sandbox to look forward to? BitCraft has shown up as a new procedurally generated wide-open sandbox for players to explore, with the focus apparently leaning far…
Stick and Rudder: Gaining traction as a newbie in EVE Online - EVE Online has a reputation for being difficult for new players. The varied, complex systems, some of which are a product of the era when EVE launched and some of…
Crowfall lays out roadmap, addresses newbie zones and requests for auction halls - If you were worried about the state of Crowfall following the layoffs early this month, you can at least be comforted by the fact that ArtCraft is still putting out…
Vague Patch Notes: Returning MMO players need tutorials too - One of the nice things about Final Fantasy XIV is that it is explicitly designed by someone who thinks that it's not just reasonable but expected that you'll take some time off…
Mad World is in open alpha and can be played in a browser until tomorrow - It has been almost a full year since we had any major reports arrive about Mad World, the grimdark isometric multiplayer ARPG from developer Jandisoft. Readers will recall that the…
Guild Wars 2’s sixth End of Dragons elite spec is the Elementalist’s Catalyst - ArenaNet has just unveiled its sixth End of Dragons elite spec for Guild Wars 2, the third this week: It's the hammer-wielding Elementalist known as the Catalyst. "Catalysts were casters…
WoW Classic releases Overlords of Outland, WoW Patch 9.1.5 undergoes additional testing - The watchword of World of Warcraft this week is "patches." Patches of patches of patches. Miles of patches. Patches of all shapes, sizes, and attitudes. WoW Classic got a big…
Warhammer Online rogue server Return of Reckoning preps anniversary celebration and huge reveal this weekend - If you've been keeping an eye on Warhammer Online rogue server Return of Reckoning, you probably already know that the game is knee-deep in its take on the Stronghold Saga,…
Vampire multiplayer survival title V Rising shows off gameplay and plans a 2021 beta - V Rising, the multiplayer vampiric survival title from Stunlock Studios (of Battlerite fame) has been doing a lot of talking to this point. Readers will recall this game first hit…
Perfect Ten: Shapeshifting classes in MMOs - After my wife and I saw an X-Men movie a while back, we got into a discussion about what mutant power we'd pick for ourselves if we had the choice.…
Black Desert launches PC season+ server, offers next-gen console support and roadmap - It's Wednesday, which means another weekly deluge of Black Desert news. [AL:BDO]First, over on the PC servers, where the game is celebrating 2000 days online in the west, Pearl Abyss…
Guild Wars 2 just revealed End of Dragons’ Warrior elite spec, the Bladesworn - In just a week, ArenaNet is throwing open the doors of its second Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons elite spec beta, during which we'll get to play the as-yet…
EverQuest II announces Visions of Vetrovia expansion, while EverQuest kicks off Fun Fall event - Are you ready to go on a new expedition with EverQuest II? Then set sail for this fall's expansion, Visions of Vetrovia. Daybreak just announced this seafaring pack, which sounds…
New World dishes on its China-themed Ebonscale Reach endgame zone - Amazon has put out a new video on New World today, this one on the cultures and civilizations in the game. If you spied the version on Twitter, you might…
World of Warcraft promotes Overlords of Outland and Shadowlands 9.1.5 as labor organizers take the fight to Activision-Blizzard - The Blizzard currently pumping out videos, timelines, and recaps of impending content is not really a Blizzard we recognize, but uh, it's definitely happening. In what still appears to be…
Choose My Adventure: Slowly acclimating to the goofiness of DC Universe Online - Boy did this one start out strangely. Apparently I have played DC Universe Online a few times before -- I even have a level 19 hero and level 12 villain…
Flameseeker Chronicles: Everything we learned about Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons’ fishing and skiffs - Fishing is one of those weirdly ubiquitous RPG systems. Nobody picks an MMO based on how good its fishing skill is, and nobody complains when a new MMO launches with…
Funcom picks up the Conan IP and ‘dozens’ more with latest acquisition - One of the trickier parts of the MMO business is the interplay between IP holders and the companies that make games with those IPs - after all, we've certainly seen…
Guild Wars 2’s next End of Dragons elite spec reveal is the Revenant’s Vindicator - [AL:GW2]ArenaNet has officially taken the wraps off the Guild Wars 2 Vindicator this morning - that's the End of Dragons elite spec for the Revenant. "The Kurzicks and Luxons were…
The Daily Grind: What does reception to Crowfall and Elyon say about the MMO genre right now? - Real talk here for a sec: I'm a smidge nervous about Crowfall and Elyon and what they portend for the next stage of the MMO genre. I backed Crowfall but…
Eternal Crusade is now officially shut down for good - We're not entirely certain, but this probably means that the heretics won. Eternal Crusade is now shut down for good, with the developers posting one last brief thank you to the game's…
The Soapbox: Single-player open worlds will never equal those of MMORPGs - These days it seems like sprawling open worlds are becoming an ever more popular choice for single-player games, from the newer Assassin's Creed titles to the upcoming Horizon Forbidden West.…
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s lack of public testing is fine by me - When the Final Fantasy XIV media tour happens, it'll be the first opportunity anyone outside of Square-Enix has gotten to look at anything related to Endwalker. This is a bit…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 338: No power in the multiverse can stop Raph Koster
The Stream Team: Another attempt at peeking into Voidtrain’s early access
The Stream Team: Facing more xenomorphs with a friend in Aliens Fireteam Elite
The Stream Team: Firing up the Unreal Engine 4 update and swinging two swords around in Blade and Soul
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.
