MMO Week in Review: The launch of Dual Universe

The MMORPG genre welcomed a new game this week – a Kickstarted one, no less – as Dual Universe officially opened its doors for an official launch.

World of Warcraft also made a big splash this week, not only releasing Wrath of the Lich King for WoW Classic but also announcing a November 28th launch date for Dragonflight.

Meanwhile, Google announced it’s sunsetting Stadia, Embers Adrift got a launch date, Skull and Bones was delayed yet again, Ultima Online turned 25 years old, Throne & Liberty poked its head up, and E3 is happening in 2023.

THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight gets a November 28 release date - Here we go: World of Warcraft: Dragonflight has a release date scheduled, and it's soon. Not "next week" soon, no, but "put in your vacation requests now" soon. The expansion…

Google is sunsetting Stadia in January with mass refunds in the works - If you're among the small but stalwart group of gamers still playing on Stadia, you'll be disappointed to know that it's about to be the latest canceled project in Google's…

Embers Adrift launches October 15, confirms its box price and subscription model - It looks like Embers Adrift, the crowdfunded MMORPG once known as Saga of Lucmia, is on its way to the end of beta and into full release. Stormhaven Studios saw…

Skull and Bones has been delayed into 2023 – its fifth major public delay since 2017 - Stop me if you've heard this one: Skull and Bones is being delayed. Again. Ubisoft made the announcement on Twitter this afternoon, saying that feedback from its testing "convinced [it…

Working As Intended: My 25 years of Ultima Online - Twenty-five years ago my boyfriend, Paul, and I walked into a shop to find a new game to play together. He picked up this new thing called Ultima Online that…

Casually Classic: The Death Knight starter experience is still the best WoW ever did - Recently, along with what seemed like half the population of the globe, I rolled up a brand-new Death Knight in WoW Classic to take it through the starting area. I…

Vitae Aeternum: The New Secret World - Comparisons between New World and The Secret World have existed pretty much since the earliest teases of NW. It's what put the game on my radar in the first place.…

Dual Universe debuts a new trailer and offers lapsed players free play time for today’s launch - Dual Universe is going live today - something that regular readers would be more than familiar with given our coverage of the news coming out of developer Novaquark - but…

Perfect Ten: 10 Final Fantasy XIV musical tracks that absolutely slap - Everyone knows that people who play Final Fantasy XIV will not shut up about the game's music. This includes me. I will not shut up about FFXIV's music. It adds…

Elder Scrolls Online’s Firesong DLC launches November 1 with 15 hours of story - During this afternoon's livestream, ZeniMax Online Studios took the wraps off the last Elder Scrolls Online DLC of 2022: Firesong. Expect it out on PC and Mac on November 1st,…

Lord of the Rings Online delivers a tour of its upcoming Swanfleet zone - A whole new beginner experience is heading to Lord of the Rings Online next month thanks to the upcoming Before the Shadow content update. For players who are on the…

The Game Archaeologist: Dark Ages, the weird lovechild of Celtic lore and Lovecraftian legends - While the online world was fascinated by "the Big Three" Western MMOs in 1999 -- that would be EverQuest, Ultima Online, and Asheron's Call -- this did not mean that…

City of Heroes fans have (mostly) restored the game’s original 2012 forums - Looking for a forum-based blast from the past out of City of Heroes? Maybe you want to re-read some of the story threads, look up previous build patch notes, or…

Trucker gaming community turns its simulators into an MMORPG - As you might have heard me babble on the podcast this past week, I've been weirdly engrossed in American Truck Simulator as of late. It's nothing more than a glorified…

WoW Factor: Updating our World of Warcraft expansion data set with the Dragonflight release date - Aw yeah, who likes math? I like math. I really like math, and you all know it, and you have to consistently sit there and read as I math things…

Ravendawn has a blockchain-linked version of itself that is now called RavenQuest - Regular readers are likely familiar with Ravendawn, the Open Tibia-built sandbox MMORPG that first unveiled itself in 2021 and more recently entered into closed beta earlier this week. Ideally, we'd…

New icons datamined in the World of Warcraft: Dragonflight beta might mean official controller support is coming - If you're already about to be a clever clog set to scamper off to the comments to note that World of Warcraft already has official controller support, you are correct.…

Pantheon Rise of the Fallen brings back pre-alpha sessions starting October 1 - Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is looking back at the year that was and ahead to the future in this month's newsletter, starting with the producer's letter segment, which announces…

Stick and Rudder: Venturing into EVE Online’s nullsec - EVE Online is a game that offers many experiences, from NPC faction warfare to harvesting, refining, and building to market speculation. But the one thing that’s always fascinated me the…

PSA: Lord of the Rings Online is once again handing out free permanent quest packs until October 31 - The wheel of the year turns. Seasons change. The weather grows colder. And Lord of the Rings Online hands out bundles of free quest packs. That's right, another annual quest…

Blade & Soul adds a new dungeon, Halloween, and the Musician class on October 12 - Are you ready for the Symphony of Destruction in Blade & Soul? No, this doesn't mean the MMORPG is collaborating with Megadeth, but it does mean that the game is…

Vague Patch Notes: Mandatory content and game design in MMOs - Let me tell you about my second roommate in college. He was named Kyle, and he was benefiting from the fact that I had a PlayStation 2 (which tells you…

Lost Ark welcomes the Machinist class and new raid following server merges - Who's feeling like playing some Iron Man in an MMORPG? Lost Ark is giving you the opportunity to, ah, avenge yourself on some mobs this week thanks to the introduction…

Wild Terra 2 announces a release date of November 10 and shares an update roadmap - Another MMO is making its way off of the sands of early access and into the ocean of full launch. Sandbox MMORPG Wild Terra 2 announced on Steam that it's…

Massively on the Go: Splatoon 3’s Splatfest was a rocky start - So we've finally had Splatoon 3's first real Splatfest. While the pre-launch demo gave me plenty to look forward to, it was also obvious there were other factors: three factions…

LOTRO Legendarium: 23 LOTRO facts I learned from Scenario’s Casual Stroll video series - Your mileage may vary, but as both a journalist and a gamer, I absolutely love hearing about how my favorite titles were made. It makes me appreciate them more, especially…

New World players average 110 minutes per play session according to Amazon’s infographic - Amazon must be feeling pretty pleased with itself, seeing as how it's turning around New World's playerbase slump just as the game is turning one year old. To celebrate, the…

Overwatch 2 plans to combat player toxicity and secure accounts with a ‘defense matrix’ - Wrath what? Blizzard doesn't have time to think about the immediate past when it has another launch coming right around the corner. Next week, on October 4th, Overwatch 2 is…

Temtem’s game director dismisses player aggravation related to cash shop dye costs - Temtem's need to make money continues to butt heads with players' perception of value. Earlier this month we reported on developer Crema's reaction to its battle pass monetization, but now…

Choose My Adventure: Temtem is just not for me - I'll open with a little personal opinion: I've never liked the baseline Pokemon games. It never appealed to me when it first released, the later versions of what all essentially…

First impressions: Touring the features and firepower of Foxhole’s Inferno update - After five years of development, the large-scale milsim Foxhole is going to be launching out of early access later this week on Wednesday, September 28th. Not only that, it'll be…

NCsoft’s Throne and Liberty, still gunning for 2023, drops a new playtest gameplay video - Back in August, NCsoft told investors that it had delayed its next big game, Throne and Liberty, yet again - this time into 2023. Throne and Liberty has been in…

WoW Classic’s Wrath of the Lich King launch dumped people into the sea – if they made it past the towering queues - Even though Blizzard opened the doors to WoW Classic's Wrath of the Lich King expansion slightly ahead of schedule last night, that was about the only thing that went smoothly…

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic is live now - No king rules forever, folks... unless that king rules and then stops ruling and then someone decides to plop him back on the throne in hopes that you really want…

E3 2023 will host an industry-facing event on June 13 and a general public convention on June 15 - Gamers and game devs all know that the ESA was vowing to bring its E3 event back in June 2023 after the show was binned for this year, but now…

Wisdom of Nym: Sorting through Final Fantasy XIV’s current balance state - So right now, some jobs in Final Fantasy XIV are performing better than others. In other news, water retains its moisturizing properties. Early reports regarding the sun moving from east…

THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS

Massively OP Podcast Episode 390: All systems go for MMO launches

Battle Bards Episode 217: Legend of Edda

The Stream Team: Big bot battling in Gundam Evolution

The Stream Team: The SWTOR Vodcast of random subjects

The Stream Team: Entering AQ3D’s Chamber of Suffering

The Stream Team: Kicking the tires of the Lost Ark Machinist class

The Stream Team: The challenge of Crystal Cove in Dungeons & Dragons Online

The Stream Team: In Star Trek Online’s Eye of the Storm

The Stream Team: Heading home to continue Guild Wars 2’s personal story

The Stream Team: Dual Universe launches with a giveaway

The Stream Team: Elder Scrolls Online’s The Ravenwatch Inquiry

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.