You know the summer’s winding down and we’re deep into Q3 when the delay announcements start rolling in. This week, MMO players learned that NCsoft has delayed Throne and Liberty and Inflexion has delayed Nightingale – both to 2023.
Meanwhile, we journeyed back to RIFT, welcomed Tower of Fantasy, got hyped for Path of Exile 2, and said farewell to multiple EVE spinoffs.
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
NCsoft Q2 2022: Throne and Liberty delayed to 2023, Aion 2 in dev, Guild Wars 2 booming - If you were skeptical about NCsoft's Q1 financial report and its confidence about still managing to get Throne and Liberty out the door in 2021, then pat yourself on the…
Nightingale announces a delay of its early access launch to the first half of 2023 - We've all been left wondering about the possibilities of Nightingale, the realm-traveling Victorian-themed survival sandbox from developer Inflexion that first debuted at last year's Game Awards. Since then, the devs…
Blizzard addresses Wrath Classic feedback, refuses to budge an inch on dungeon finder decision - In the midst of testing for next month's release of Wrath Classic, Blizzard's lead software engineer posted a lengthy response to a number of issues and topics raised by the…
Vague Patch Notes: No, Little Orbit has not solved the MMO blockchain problem - It looks like we have indeed lived long enough to see the heroes become the villains: Little Orbit, which we once lionized for saving APB Reloaded and bringing out an…
Perfect Ten: Small features that still make RIFT awesome - When I re-installed RIFT this past month, I knew I was setting myself up for heartache. It is, after all, one of my all-time favorite MMOs, and it kills me…
WoW Factor: The problem with borrowed power was never new systems - There's a bit of cognitive disconnect that I notice is still tripping up some particular fans of World of Warcraft even at this point. Let's put it succinctly: Most people…
The Game Archaeologist: MegaWars, the Star Trek online sim from the ’70s - When we look at the early days of online computer gaming, it shouldn't be a surprise that the geeky crowd that was working on these titles were also enamored with…
Why I Play: Returning to Diablo III in 2022 - I don't know if there's a marketing term for this phenomenon, but Diablo Immortal did an excellent job selling Diablo III. Popular streamers all caught the itch and streamed it…
Star Citizen’s latest video shows progress on ships, salvage, and new UI elements - The newest weekly video out of Star Citizen is once again an all sprint report episode, which runs through several smaller progress reports and previews in one bulletin. This time,…
Warcraft Arclight Rumble focuses on building a ‘stable foundation,’ will have a soft launch - While World of Warcraft's mobile edition is officially dead in the water, Warcraft Arclight Rumble continues to carry the franchise flag into the mobile space. Blizzard gave a short update…
Final Fantasy XIV patch 6.2, Buried Memory, goes live on August 23 - The next major drop of story and content for Final Fantasy XIV is just about 11 days away, as Naoki Yoshida announced during the most recent Letter from the Producer…
Massively Overthinking: What’s so bad about comfort zones in MMOs? - If you've been following the MMORPG meta for a long time, particularly in World of Warcraft, you know there's corner of the industry convinced that players should be nudged into…
Wandering Wraeclast: Path of Exile’s Lake of Kalandra expansion launches August 19 - Mirror of Kalandra. Path of Exile players know this is a super rare currency item that has been in the game since the beginning. This can be used to create…
Path of Exile 2’s beta will debut at ExileCon 2023 next July - Two things that Path of Exile fans have been waiting for with bated breath are Path of Exile 2 and the next ExileCon. And we're happy to report that July…
MultiVersus players are facing DMCA strikes for uploading footage with modded character skins - The multiplayer character brawler MultiVersus has seen itself gain plenty of fans and made some strong impressions on two of our own writers. However, the legal matter of copyright protection…
Wrath of the Lich King Classic shows off the starter zones of Northrend, Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord - Despite the achievement name in World of Warcraft, there are actually a lot of things boring about Borean Tundra, although thankfully Coldarra isn't one of them. Howling Fjord is definitely…
Wagadu Chronicles opens signups for fall alpha that includes farming, combat, and village upgrades - Kickstarted afrofantasy MMORPG The Wagadu Chronicles is planning an alpha at the very tail end of summer and start of fall, from September 12th to 26th. Studio Twin Drums made…
Lord of the Rings Online opens free Anor transfers and packs its bags for Devcom - Lord of the Rings Online's first progression server is winding down toward its closure at the end of the month. As part of this sunset, SSG enabled free transfers off…
Elyon announces the arrival of the Soulbringer class on September 7 - Despite the name, the new class being added to Elyon is not really known primarily for bringing souls to a fight. The most obvious element of the Soulbringer is the…
Nexon Q2 2022: MapleStory’s dramatic turnaround is attributed to monetization transparency - While many tech companies are offering up weak quarters or even outright struggling, Nexon's financials are on the rebound. The company's Q2 investor report this week saw revenues increase significantly…
Fight or Kite: MultiVersus is so much more than a Super Saiyan Shaggy - I don’t recall exactly when I first saw screenshots and images from MultiVersus, but I do recall initially thinking that it was absolutely ridiculous and truly a stretch of a…
Dungeons and Dragons begins testing ‘funky fresh’ class archetypes - We feel quite comfortable in stating that Dungeons and Dragons Online has one of the most complex and customizable character builds in the entire industry. That complexity is about to…
EverQuest II’s Myths and Monoliths is live with the Fabled Veeshan’s Peak raid - The Myths and Monoliths patch has finally arrived to EverQuest II's live servers as of yesterday afternoon, bringing with it the fabled versions of the Veeshan's Peak raid and Kurn's…
Massively on the Go: How to make the most of the Pokemon Go Fest Finale - We've known that the August 27th Pokemon Go Go Fest Finale was going to occur since prior to Go Fest proper, but we didn't have any details beyond hints from…
New World’s delayed Barnacles and Black Powder expedition goes live today – here are the patch notes - Last week, New World had to push back the release of its Barnacles and Black Powder expedition as a result of an unexplained issue, but it looks like that issue…
Dual Universe will wipe its servers at launch – here’s why and how - The question of whether Dual Universe will wipe its servers at launch is one that has been hanging over players' heads as far back as June when the devs at…
Choose My Adventure: The winding and confounding road to make Chonkhonk stronger in Chimeraland - I am pretty much resolved to making my round bird mount the strongest it possibly can be. It's my long-tail goal in Chimeraland - very possibly one I will continue…
Rumor: NCsoft may publish Throne and Liberty globally through Amazon Games - Remember when NCsoft's first quarter financial report noted that Throne and Liberty would be arriving to the west this year? "According to sources quoted in South Korean financial publication Money…
Tower of Fantasy opens up for pre-loading today, will toss so many free things into players’ faces at launch - Sure, you'll get a new game to play when Tower of Fantasy makes its global debut tomorrow, August 10th, but you're also going to be getting a litany of free…
CCP Games’ VR multiplayer game aspirations expire as EVE Valkyrie, Sparc, and EVE Gunjack go dark - This past weekend saw CCP Games' run at VR games development die on the vine, as the shooter EVE Gunjack, the sports title Sparc, and the online spaceship dogfighter EVE…
Wisdom of Nym: Are crossover events in Final Fantasy XIV worth it? - So let me start with an opinion that is going to inform the rest of this particular opinion piece by its very nature: I generally think that crossover events aren't…
Little Orbit talks APB Reloaded’s 64-bit update and new blockchain online shooter STFU - Little Orbit is getting quite chatty these days, which certainly benefits All Points Bulletin: Reloaded desperate to hear about the future of their title. The studio's CEO, Matt Smith, posted…
Final Fantasy XIV is a bright spot on Square Enix’s otherwise bleak quarterly report - Square Enix's latest financial report is a textbook example of "good news, bad news" for players. The bad news is that the studio had a poor quarter, losing 16% of…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 384: The World of Warcraft we’ll never see
The Stream Team: Fun with fiends in AdventureQuest 3D
The Stream Team: Taking the next personal story step in Guild Wars 2
The Stream Team: Going on a group Neverwinter Dragon Hunt
The Stream Team: Backseat Streaming’s exposé on SWG crafting and decoration
The Stream Team: Taking part in another Moonfire Faire in Final Fantasy XIV
The Stream Team: Guild Wars 2’s Festival of the Four Winds
The Stream Team: Getting to know Banshee while grinding in Warframe
The Stream Team: Taking a look inside the demo version of Frozen Flame
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.
