The now-infamous Final Fantasy XIV ERP-club billboard was live only a few days, but that was more than enough to prompt the MMORPG community to bubble over in astonishment – and irritation – that anyone would even try it.
Meanwhile, we got a launch window for Skull and Bones, celebrated The Secret World’s birthday, counted up all the MMOs enthralled by crypto, got confirmation Red Dead Online is in maintenance mode, and learned BlizzCon isn’t dead.
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
Perfect Ten: MMOs that have fallen to the dark side of cryptocurrency - Here's an interesting point that's worth considering: For all the talk about cryptocurrencies, NFTs, the metaverse, and other Web3 buzzwords being the future of video games, it's important to note…
Wisdom of Nym: Why the Final Fantasy XIV billboard was a terrible idea - Every so often you run across something that makes you want to slam your head against a wall out of sheer, unadulterated bafflement. "What were you thinking?" you want to…
World of Warcraft takes players on a tour of Dragonflight’s overhauled crafting system - Perhaps you thought it was curious -- or even exciting -- to see Blizzard flagging World of Warcraft's crafting for a huge update with the upcoming Dragonflight. It doesn't quite…
LOTRO Legendarium: Is LOTRO’s PvP game worth salvaging? - The funny thing about Lord of the Rings Online's PvP scene is that I truly believe most players are either unaware or uncaring that it actually exists. You would honestly…
Magic Legends’ former character artist shares some unreleased concept art - Last year we bid farewell to Magic Legends, a multiplayer OARPG from Cryptic based on the popular TCG. At the time of the closure, the studio admitted that the game…
Pearl Abyss will shutter ‘inadequate’ battle royale Shadow Arena in August - In the end, the last one standing in a battle royale is the one who has to turn out the lights. Or something. Pearl Abyss announced that it was officially…
DC Universe Online’s Game Update 126 revamps classic adventures and brings a new ally - Everything old is new again in DC Universe Online as Game Update 126 has arrived, bringing with it a new event that lets players revisit classic adventures that have been…
Art gallery MMO Occupy White Walls officially leaves early access on Steam - To say that Occupy White Walls is one of the more unique games we've been covering is something of an understatement; after all, there's not a large number of MMOs…
Monsters & Memories shares a gamplay preview trailer and development progress for July - Are you curious about the EverQuest-like Monsters & Memories but still want to actually see the game in action? While there have been video updates for this sandbox MMORPG provided…
Rockstar Games outlines new content for GTA Online, confirms the end of major updates for Red Dead Online - Players of both Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online have both gotten a community update post, and it spells good news for one title and possibly bad news…
Lost Ark is launching in the Netherlands next week after all - When Lost Ark launched in the west earlier this year, it didn't actually launch in all of the west, as European servers formally excluded Belgian and Dutch players over "local…
Skull and Bones is set to board your brain and plunder your heart this November - To say that Ubisoft's Skull and Bones has been a long time in the coming is putting it mildly. The age of piracy naval sim was first announced in 2017…
The Division Resurgence is announced as a new title for mobile platforms - Want to be able to have all of the city-reclaiming goon-shooting fun of The Division with you on the road? Ubisoft is ready to sell you precisely that with the…
ESA announces plans for E3 2023 in late June organized by ReedPop - Is the third time the charm? We'll find out with E3 next year, apparently, because the ESA is pledging right now that the event will return in E3 under the…
Diablo Immortal shows off new Helliquary raid boss and second battlepass - If for some reason you're still engaged with Diablo Immortal in spite of its being repeatedly exposed as a brutal cash grab with gameplay surpassed by previous entries in the…
BlizzCon will return in 2023, Activision-Blizzard employees plan another walkout - Pop quiz, hotshot: When was the last time that Blizzard held an in-person BlizzCon? If you shouted at your computer monitor "2019!" then you have the wise memory of a…
Officer involved in 2017 Call of Duty swatting death is denied qualified immunity appeal - Way back in 2017, the gaming industry was shocked by the news that a gaming-related swatting incident had actually resulted in the death of an innocent person. In a nutshell,…
Elder Scrolls Online details changes to damage and effect durations arriving in Update 35 - Now that we know that a new DLC and update is arriving to The Elder Scrolls Online in August, we begin the steady march of update previews from ZeniMax Online…
From the Depths: Fun World of Warships warships that actually existed - When World of Warships launched in 2015, the historical significance of the many ships researchable and purchasable within the game was taken into heavy consideration. As the years passed and…
New World’s game director shares vague plans for weapons, more Expeditions, and a new zone - The AIAS Game Maker's Notebook podcast series recently brought together Insomniac CEO Ted Price and New World Game Director Scot Lane to talk about the development of the MMO, and…
Colony sandbox MMO SEED raises another $41M in investment, partly from a blockchain company - Way back in 2017, we learned about a then-new SpatialOS MMORPG called SEED from Klang Games. SEED was supposed to be a colony-centered sandbox MMO where players run colonies of…
Dungeon Fighter Online fighting game DNF Duel officially releases - Most folks around these parts are familiar with Dungeon Fighter Online as a side-scrolling beat-em-up MMO that lets players whale on rows of enemies as all sorts of anime-styled classes.…
Final Fantasy XIV nightclub advertises a gathering on real-world billboard oblivious to terms like ‘copyright’ and ‘trademark’ - Sometimes all of us make poor choices, decisions that seemed like good ideas at the time but are later revealed to have been made based on poor understanding or incomplete…
Choose My Adventure: V Rising provides moments of chaos and comfort - There's often a moment I've experienced when playing survival sandboxes where I hit my stride. The mechanics make perfect sense, I have a plan for what I want and the…
Last Oasis’ creator admits the game ‘sucks’ while talking up the Season 5 beta that’s launching today - "Last Oasis Sucks." That's the title of the game's own dev blog, as written by the survivalbox's own creator - a direct admission that the game didn't hit the notes…
Wisdom of Nym: Reactions to Final Fantasy XIV’s live letter and 6.2 preview - The first live letter previewing a new patch is always a little weird for Final Fantasy XIV, and this one is especially unusual. See, the thing about the next patch,…
Elder Scrolls Online announces Lost Depths DLC and update 35 for August 22 - [AL:ESO]Elder Scrolls Online's release cadence runs like clockwork, and we don't mean Clockwork City, so you had to know the new DLC was already on the near horizon. Indeed, ZeniMax…
Why I Play: What keeps me coming back to The Secret World - Now and then I'll allude to being the weirdo who's still playing The Secret World -- not Secret World Legends, but the original. I've even submitted some of my gameplay…
Final Fantasy XIV’s 6.18 update is live, but the data center travel system is already struggling - As promised, Final Fantasy XIV's 6.18 update has rolled out to players today after a looooong maintenance over the US holiday yesterday.[AL:FFXIV] Data center travel, along with the new servers…
Pantheon Rise of the Fallen plans about 15 dungeons for launch - If you've got future plans to plumbs the depths of Pantheon and search through every forbidden cavern in its wilds, you are really going to want to pay careful attention…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
The Stream Team: Trove turns seven years old today!
The Stream Team: A nice stroll through Nulgath in AQ3D
The Stream Team: A day at the museum in the newly launched Occupy White Walls
The Stream Team: Coming ’round DDO’s White Plume Mountain
The Stream Team: Celebrating The Secret World’s 10th anniversary
The Stream Team: Forced to do SWTOR’s Belsavis story as Republic
The Stream Team: Stepping into the fighting arena of DNF Duel
The Stream Team: The tail end of Guild Wars 2’s Looking Back
The Stream Team: Elder Scrolls Online celebrates The Zeal of Zenithar
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.
