Elyon finally rolled out to western players this week, and while it didn’t melt the internet, it made a reasonably good splash, particularly since New World is kinda having issues, from PvP drama and exploits to problems with transfers and a deflating economy.
Meanwhile, Guild Wars 2 revealed its final three End of Dragons elite specs, Path of Exile launched Scourge, Fallen Earth and Legends of Aria, teased a revival, and we got our hands on Book of Travels. And of course, World of Warcraft announced a November 2nd date for its 9.1.5 release – a gutsy move given that’s also Activision-Blizzard investor report day.
Read on to catch up with the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions today as every Sunday (since 2010!) in Massively Overpowered’s Week in Review!THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Krafton’s Elyon officially launches in the west today, F2P under Kakao’s banners - It's not every year that we get a whole bunch of MMORPG launches, but Elyon will help make 2021 a special year by adding to our pile of plenty. Yes,…
WoW Factor: Why World of Warcraft’s Torghast didn’t work - Amidst all of the other things that are being changed in World of Warcraft's next patch that has a dearth of content but a lot of customization and a lot of…
First Impressions: Book of Travels offers a beautiful yet baffling stroll - So far in my life, I have backed only three Kickstarter projects -- all of them MMORPGs. One was Project Gorgon, the next Ashes of Creation, and finally Book of…
World of Warcraft players grumble over Blizzard leader’s participation in boosting culture - If you thought the ousting of J. Allen Brack from the top of Blizzard and his replacement by a pair of Activision execs was going to save the company, you're…
Fallen Earth may be returning soon in ‘classic’ form - The other night in LOTRO kinship chat, we were discussing our favorite MMOs. When I mentioned Fallen Earth as one of mine, a friend piped up, "I loved that game…
Guild Wars 2 reveals the Engineer’s Mechanist spec, details next week’s beta - [AL:GW2]ArenaNet is taking the wraps off its ninth and final elite spec for Guild Wars 2's End of Dragons today: It's the Engineer's Mechanist, "a dynamic innovator, using their mechanical…
LOTRO Legendarium: Maximizing your character’s first 20 levels in Lord of the Rings Online - Probably more times than I can count, I have started up new characters in Lord of the Rings Online and gone through those oh-so-familiar paths of the first 20 levels.…
World of Warcraft officially announces patch 9.1.5 release date of November 2 - Earlier today we noted that World of Warcraft's most recent build for patch 9.1.5 was marked as a release candidate, which in and of itself means that the update was getting…
Legends of Aria announces ‘Aria 2.0’ successor with a new game engine - It's no secret that Citadel Studio's Kickstarted Legends of Aria has wallowed in near-niche obscurity since its summer 2020 launch. Since then, the studio has cast about looking for ways…
Path of Exile’s Scourge expansion is officially launching this afternoon - If we're being honest, Path of Exile's last expansion, Expedition, did not go well: It was widely perceived as a killjoy expansion and saw lower-than-usual player concurrency, even as Grinding…
Lawful Neutral: Managing toxicity in the MMO industry - When I'm playing games, I make a lot of use of the reporting function. If I see a moonkin zerg farming a spot in World of Warcraft, I'll stop and…
Fallout 76 is free to all this week — and can be bought for ten bucks - Are you among those who have been resisting the call to buy Fallout 76, yet you harbor a curiosity at what wonders and horrors the apocalypse holds? This is your…
Massively Overthinking: Should MMOs have endings – or at least end points? - I suspect most MMO players are going to read that question and immediately balk at it. We think of MMOs as being defined in large part by their lack of…
New World halts transfers, warns gold dupe exploiters as players call for a rollback - Turns out the gold duping bug in New World wasn't just a rumor: Amazon confirmed that the transfers enabled yesterday were allowing some folks to dupe gold and other items.…
New World’s faction PvP is rife with guild drama over ‘throwing’ - The problem with a three-faction territory control PvP game like New World is that, without some manner of balance adjustment, one of the three factions will seemingly always be on…
The Daily Grind: Is New World’s economy already in trouble? - A couple of weeks ago on the MassivelyOP New World roundtable podcast, we criticized the game's fledgling economy, wondering aloud whether it would perk up eventually and escape from the…
No Man’s Sky’s Halloween expedition, Emergence, could not be more Dune-inspired - No Man's Sky is doing something a little different with today's release. "As the end of October approaches, we are thrilled to announce a new seasonal event for No Man’s…
Perfect Ten: A completely accurate 10-point summary of MMO history - History! Let's be real here, it's pretty damn boring. No one cares about it, and it all happened beforehand, so why is any of us bothering? It's just a bunch…
Lord of the Rings Online fixes traceries issues with Update 30 - Confused Hobbits and Elves trying to navigate their way through LOTRO's new legendary item system may find some solace in the fact that SSG fixed a troubling issue that allowed…
Guild Wars 2 reveals the bunny-thumping Untamed, the Ranger’s End of Dragons elite spec - [AL:GW2]Today's Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons elite spec reveal is going to be of particular note to Classic Guild Wars fans: It's the Untamed, the Ranger's new spec, and…
Activision-Blizzard requests venue change and pause in DFEH lawsuit, says it’s fired 20 people for misconduct - In the course of our coverage of the Activision-Blizzard sexual harassment and discrimination scandal and the ensuing legal battle, we've noted that multiple state and federal agencies have been attempting…
Astellia Online went ahead and sunsetted early this week – RIP - Blink and you missed it: Astellia Online is already gone. Back in August, we covered the news that the MMO and its free-to-play and poorly named sidekick, Astellia Royal, were…
Choose My Adventure: Lord of the Rings Online might have been a bad choice for this column - So as that headline suggests, I probably mad a bad call adding Lord of the Rings Online as an option for a CMA column. But not for the reasons one…
Lost Ark dates its closed beta for November 4 featuring new content and new level caps - We've still got a long way to go before Lost Ark decides to become a released thing here on our shores, but perhaps the MMOARPG's upcoming closed beta test will…
Guild Wars 2 introduces the Thief’s End of Dragons elite spec, the scepter-wielding Specter - [AL:GW2]Now here's a Guild Wars 2 elite specialization that's perfectly suited for the Halloween season: the Specter. Announced this morning, the Specter is the Thief's new spec coming in next…
Wisdom of Nym: Final thoughts in the wake of the Final Fantasy XIV media tour - It's so relaxing to finally be able to talk about the media tour. I've talked before about how Final Fantasy XIV lacks much in the way of public testing and how…
Vitae Aeternum: Did New World’s morph to full MMORPG hamstring its PvP? - Leading up to New World’s original launch, I had virtually no interest in playing. Even after Amazon Games pulled the ol’ switcheroo and added a bunch of PvE to the…
World of Warcraft continues to clean up its act with surgical replacements to characters and quests - We have been watching with some degree of fascination the Great World of Warcraft Purge of '21 that's come in the wake of Blizzard's workplace scandal. WoW devs are seemingly…
As Steam heads off blockchain games, the Epic Games Store welcomes them - At this point in my life, I don't fully understand how cryptocurrency and NFTs work, but there's no shortage of explainers out there, and even I know that they're controversial,…
Massively Uplifting: Warframe fights cancer, Square Enix helps the Red Cross, and Extra Life 2021 looms - Summer has ended, school has started, and now the leaves have begun to fall as the air turns cooler. It's a time of coziness and warmth. And what is better…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 343: Mysterious and spoopy
The Stream Team: A first-time foray into the Amrine Excavation of New World
The Stream Team: Taking some first steps in the Braided Shore of Book of Travels early access
The Stream Team: Celebrating the Dark Harvest by beating up the Shrowd in Dauntless
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.
