Blizzard raised eyebrows this week by putting a launch window on World of Warcraft’s Dragonflight expansion that is much sooner than anyone expected given how late it was announced – and potentially too ambitious to boot. That, plus the WoW Classic Wrath of the Lich King beta, wasn’t quite enough to distract from the Activision-Blizzard board’s latest shenanigans – and investors’ vote for accountability.
Meanwhile, LOTRO is proliferating classes to races, Guild Wars 2 upset its fanbase with balance changes, and MMO companies clarified their reproductive healthcare policies to support their workers in light of the recent SCOTUS decision.
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
Blizzard says World of Warcraft Dragonflight will launch in 2022 as preorders begin - When Blizzard took the wraps off World of Warcraft Dragonflight back in April, it did so without a public release date. That, combined with the fact that what we'd seen…
WoW Classic begins Wrath beta, defends #SomeChanges design philosophy - Are you ready to return to the Northrend of your fathers? Or at least of "you but about 12 years ago?" Beta testing for Wrath Classic is now underway, according…
WoW Factor: All right, so we’re going to speedrun to Dragonflight after all - Well all right, then. This was unexpected. I honestly did not expect that Blizzard's need for content would overwhelm basic needs of testing and maintenance, but it turns out that…
LOTRO Legendarium: Embracing Lord of the Rings Online’s new class/race combos - Lord of the Rings Online's July through September edition of the Producer's Letter appeared this week, hauling along with it some disappointment, some intrigue, and some controversy. My initial impressions…
Guild Wars 2 shares June 28 balance adjustments and WvW update progress - The future of Guild Wars 2 is being shared by the devs of ArenaNet as the team peers into crystal balls, casts bones carved with runes, and lays out a…
The original Secret World suddenly finds itself back on digital store shelves - The Secret World - as in the original, not the Legends remake - is something of a beloved game around these parts, with its distinct storytelling, modern world setting, and…
These are the online gaming companies supporting reproductive choice and healthcare for workers - When news of the impending overturn of Roe v. Wade in the United first leaked in early May, so few games companies spoke up that national media called out the…
Lost Ark explains the June patch’s delay, removes P2W statted cosmetics from update - Though Amazon has delayed Lost Ark's summer patch - to the very last day of June - that hasn't put a damper on the team's dev blogs. The latest is…
Steam’s Summer Sale 2022 slashes prices on New World, Endwalker, Classic Guild Wars, and more - Steam's Summer Sale is upon us once again, and this morning you might even be able to access it without everything timing out! There are some notable MMORPGs and MMO-adjacent multiplayer…
Diablo Immortal player outlines how he used 600M gold from World of Warcraft to buff his gems - By now, players of Diablo Immortal are likely familiar with the Redditor Daymeeuhn; he's the guy who first calculated the real money cost to get BiS to be over $100K,…
Massively Overthinking: The second big five MMOs - So here in the MMORPG genre, we've been working under the assumption for the last few years that the "big five" MMOs that dominate our corner of the industry are…
Vague Patch Notes: You are not immune to predatory monetization in MMOs - This week, I want to expand on something I mentioned in last week's Vague Patch Notes as an offhand thing that bears further examination. It comes up usually from the…
ArcheAge’s Great Prairie of the West update is live for western players - Kakao and XLGAMES have dropped a whopper of a patch on ArcheAge players today as the Great Prairie of the West is live. As we've been covering, the update includes…
Dungeons and Dragons Online goes prehistoric with Isle of Dread launch - Watch out for the enormous piles of dino doo-doo, and welcome to Isle of Dread! Dungeons and Dragons Online brought the classic D&D module to life with the launch of…
Final Fantasy XIV makes more wards available to private buyers starting on July 10 - Finding a house in Final Fantasy XIV can be a challenging prospect just insofar as needing to have access to a plot before you even think about actually buying it.…
Lost Ark delays June update to June 30 as anti-botting efforts continue - A bit of bad news for Lost Ark players hit Amazon's official forums last night: The studio is delaying the June update - but only by a little. "The June…
New World begins testing musical instruments and Barnacles & Black Powder expedition - As promised, New World's public test realm opens up today at 1 p.m. EDT, setting up chunks of the game's next update for player testing. The highlight of this update…
Guild Wars 2 previews better strike mission rewards, class tweaks, and a new system for raid accessibility - ArenaNet just dropped a fresh studio update and a state of the game blog for Guild Wars 2, featuring check-ins from Game Director Josh Davis, Lead Systems Designer Cameron Rich,…
Lord of the Rings Online previews summer content and race/class combos, will sunset Anor server in August - Lord of the Rings Online's latest producer letter dropped this afternoon with the outlook for the July to September quarter - and it's packed with good news as well as…
Gamigo announces new Trove class and biome in Sunrise update launching June 28 - Just this week on the podcast, we expressed some concern over the state of Gamigo and its MMOs, concern that has been mounting as it closes down games, gives up…
PlanetSide 2 previews a new boat, underwater objectives, and retooled Outfit Wars arriving in the Surf and Storm update - While the next update arriving to PlanetSide 2 might not be as impactful as adding a whole continent, the upcoming Surf and Storm update that's planned for the multiplayer shooter…
Elyon previews its upcoming new content including a new class, the Soulbringer - Do you like classes with blades? Do you like classes with souls? Do those two words remind you of some other MMORPG out on the market that really likes blades…
Perfect Ten: The old-school guide to grouping up in Final Fantasy XI back in the day - Recently, our resident Choose My Adventure expert Chris has been taking on Final Fantasy XI, and he's come away with a somewhat... let's say rocky experience. And you know what?…
Activision-Blizzard shareholders reject employee Board rep, approve workplace abuse reports - So we've got good news and bad news when it comes to the brief Activision-Blizzard stockholder meeting and vote yesterday. The shareholders, representing almost 83% of the total shares of…
The $25 Rift Simulator lets you roll the dice on a Diablo Immortal five-star gem without spending a dime - We reported earlier this week about how one Diablo Immortal player lit $16K on fire in order to get a five-star gem to drop from a rift dungeon - and…
The Elder Scrolls Online’s High Isle chapter and Update 34 officially arrives to console players - At last, it's time for console fans of The Elder Scrolls Online to see what PC players have been experiencing themselves. The High Isle chapter has gone live for PlayStation…
Choose My Adventure: What Final Fantasy XI taught me about games preservation and the ‘good old days’ - Well. This has been a journey. I wasn't really expecting my return trip to Final Fantasy XI to be all sunshine, rainbows, and easy street, but I also was clearly…
Interview: ArcheAge’s Ham Young Jin on the Great Prairie, the western build, and beyond - ArcheAge is on the cusp of a big update this week as the Great Prairie releases on June 23rd, bringing with it a huge new zone, the new Guardian Scramble…
US Senator Ted Cruz and Asmongold could have a meeting over gaming microtransaction legislation - It's said that politics makes for strange bedfellows, and there appears to be no better illustration of that axiom than the potential meeting between US Senator Ted Cruz and livestreamer…
Conan Exiles announces Age of Sorcery, replacing DLC with battle passes - Thanks to teases and leaks, we already had a pretty clear idea what was coming to Conan Exiles later this year, but as of today, Funcom has made it official:…
Diablo Immortal snagged only 10M players out of its 30M registrations - Blizzard dropped an infographic last night for Diablo Immortal showing... well, some numbers, though probably not the numbers you're most interested in. Most notably, the company confirms "over 10M installs"…
Albion Online revamps Crystal Arena and teleport in latest update to Into the Fray - So, how are you liking your shiny new castles, sparkling new mage staffs, and convenient new towns? That's what the initial blast of the Into the Fray update brought to…
Wisdom of Nym: The status of the Garlean legions in Final Fantasy XIV - The Garlean military, to the best of our knowledge, comprises 14 legions of troops in Final Fantasy XIV. I've pointed out before that technically, we do not know how many…
Not So Massively: Enduring Space Punks’ sensory onslaught - I've been meaning to check out Space Punks, the new isometric shooter from developer Flying Wild Hog and publisher Jagex, since it launched its free open beta, but I've been…
Diablo Immortal delays its launch in China, sending NetEase stock into freefall - It would appear that investors of the Chinese games giant NetEase were pinning a lot of hopes on Diablo Immortal's launch to China. The publisher announced a surprise postponement of…
The Daily Grind: Is there any dead MMO you’d play if it were resurrected by blockchain schemers? - Earlier this month, Justin and I jawed on the MassivelyOP podcast about the revival of Kritika Online, which turned out to be an exploitative mess with a blockchain pitch. The…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 378: That MMO fresh start feeling
The Stream Team: Riding through some Hot Wheels courses in Forza Horizon 5
The Stream Team: Back to basics in ARK Fjordur
The Stream Team: Playing with the new puppies in AQ3D
The Stream Team: CMA Live starts its run at V Rising
The Stream Team: SWTOR achievement junkies travel the galaxy
The Stream Team: More roulettes and duty runs in Final Fantasy XIV
The Stream Team: More smashing and bashing Guild Wars 2 dragons
The Stream Team: An Elder Scrolls Online rescue operation
The Stream Team: Dragon hunts and anniversary giveaway with Neverwinter devs
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.
