MMO Week in Review: Hello to the MMOs of 2023

The last week of the year is never huge on news, but we still had some bright spots – chief among them being the revelation that Throne and Liberty is now shooting for a global launch on both PC and console in the first half of next year.

Meanwhile, we discussed WoW’s endgame problems, grumped about the state of MMO PvP, and considered the meaning of value, plus we capped off our annual awards with our MMO of the year, best expansion, and most anticipated titles.

THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES

WoW Factor: World of Warcraft’s mid-expansion endgame zone problem - Hey gang, who wants to go explore new zones in Dragonflight? Does that sound exciting to you? That's great, and for the past several expansions World of Warcraft has made…

Throne and Liberty announces plans for a global launch on PC and consoles in the first half of 2023 - Last week Throne and Liberty promised a "director's preview" that suggested the game had something big to say. Sure enough, that preview video has premiered and made some big reveals,…

Vague Patch Notes: Loving an MMO isn’t the same as having a personality - There's a story that's always stuck with me, relayed by the now-vanished blog Websnark back in the day, so forgive me if I get the details wrong. But the meat…

From the Depths: Five things to love about World of Warships - I guess it’s time to admit it: After nearly three years of daily play, I have no choice but to come to terms with the fact that World of Warships…

Fight or Kite: The many ways today’s MMOs are failing PvPers - Last week, the MassivelyOP writing crew released its award for the best PvP MMO of the year - yet I couldn’t bring myself to cast a vote this time around.…

MassivelyOP’s 2022 Awards: MMORPG of the Year - Welcome back to Massively Overpowered's formal end-of-the-year awards! Today's award is for the MMORPG of the Year, which was awarded jointly to Final Fantasy XIV and New World last year.…

Happy New Year to all the uplifting things in MMOs, 2022 edition - It's our tradition to bundle all the reasons we can't have nice things - all the worst things that happened to the MMORPG genre over the course of that year -…

Jukebox Heroes: The best of LOTRO’s Before the Shadow soundtrack - Ever since taking over the reins of Lord of the Rings Online's soundtrack, Composer Bill Champagne has grown in leaps and bounds in his confidence and skill. This is evident…

The Game Archaeologist’s ultimate MMO archives v6.0 - And that's a wrap on this year in history! While everyone says farewell to 2022, here at TGA we're always looking way back at the past to see where we…

The best MassivelyOP streams of 2022 - MassivelyOP's Stream Team expanded with a bang in 2022 as MOP's Chris joined MOP's MJ to form our core streaming duo. Not only do they dip into new shinies and…

MassivelyOP’s 2022 Golden Yachties: The ‘are we the baddies’ MMO award - MassivelyOP's not-so-serious end-of-the-year awards continue today with our pick for the "are we the baddies" award for 2022. (We call these silly awards the Golden Yachties in honor of that…

MassivelyOP’s 2022 MMO Lifetime Achievement Award - Welcome back to the Massively Overpowered's formal end-of-the-year awards for one more special award. Readers will remember that last year, we decided to institute a lifetime achievement award specifically to…

The Massively OP Podcast in review, 2022 edition - Recap of all the shows released in 2022, bringing our total to 733 episodes (331+402).

The Daily Grind: Which MMO has the brightest future in 2023? - Howsabout a little positivity for the last weekday of the year? That's right, we've brought back 'round the "brightest future" topic, and I think there are two clear winners here:…

Massively Overthinking: Our 2023 MMO resolutions - I know that not everyone does "resolutions," and that even most folks who make them don't actually stick with them. And when it comes to MMO resolutions, I'm not even…

Ubisoft attempts to curtail toxic behavior… by using a voluntary self-training course - To be fair, some effort is better than no effort, but one also has to raise their eyebrows at Ubisoft's Fair Play Program, which is an attempt to tamp down…

NetEase space adventure Infinite Langrage officially launches on PC - After a year on mobile, NetEase's multiplayer space sim Infinite Langrage rolled out on the PC yesterday with user interface optimizations. The studio said that the title topped the charts…

Pantheon shares a fireside chat with EverQuest co-creator Steve Clover - It's hard to debate that the death of Brad McQuaid cast a pall across Visionary Realms and its Pantheon project. And even though the team valiantly strode forward after his…

Dune Awakening’s art parade continues with in-engine previews of locations and dangers - Before Dune: Awakening decided to share a trailer at the Game Awards, most of the previews fans were getting out of the game were in concept art format. That looks…

End-of-Year Eleven: The best value MMOs going into 2023 - Every year when I do this post, I muse about what "value" actually means for MMOs because it's actually a tricky proposition and that fascinates me. And every year Bree…

MassivelyOP’s 2022 Awards: Most Anticipated MMO - Welcome back to Massively Overpowered's formal end-of-the-year awards! Today's award is for the Most Anticipated MMO, which was awarded jointly to Palia and Guild Wars 2's End of Dragons last…

Blizzard-owned studio Proletariat announces plans to form a union - Workers at a third studio owned by Activision-Blizzard are planning to organize: Proletariat, which readers may recall was the studio behind battle royale game Spellbreak that was bought out by…

Asheron’s Call rogue servers add playable Olthoi from the MMO’s 11th anniversary - One of Asheron's Call's most iconic entries in its fantasy bestiary is now playable (again). AsheronDB is reporting that ACE-compatible rogue servers added back in playable Oltoi from the MMO's…

Rumor: Life is Feudal MMO might be making a comeback, with a sequel in the works - The medieval sandbox MMORPG Life is Feudal died something of a slow death, first with a January 2021 sunset followed by an October 2022 shuttering of the Chinese version, prompting…

Massively on the Go: Pokemon Go’s January events start cold, but the raids are hot - The new year won't be starting strong for Pokemon GO players, as Niantic has outlined a rather recycled-sounding New Year's event starting at 8 p.m. on December 31st and ending on…

Choose My Adventure: My time inside Guild Wars 2’s dungeons and Elon Riverlands - It was partially a letdown, partially a surprise in my trip through Guild Wars 2 this time around. The objectives were pretty clear: GO back to the Path of Fire…

MassivelyOP’s 2022 Awards: MMO Expansion of the Year - Welcome back to Massively Overpowered's formal end-of-the-year awards! Today's award is for the MMO Expansion of the Year, which was awarded to Final Fantasy XIV's Endwalker last year. Every major…

The Division 2 is coming to Steam on January 12 - If you've been refusing to pick up The Division 2 until it arrived on Steam... well, goodness, you've been waiting a while. We applaud your self-control. And your wait continues,…

Microsoft claims the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit violates its fifth amendment rights - The beginning of this month saw Microsoft's big money buyout of Activision-Blizzard hit a US federal government-level snag when the FTC filed an antitrust suit to block the sale, citing…

Wisdom of Nym: What we learned from the second Final Fantasy XIV Gods Revel, Lands Tremble live letter - You know what's going to be very interesting with Gods Revel, Lands Tremble? Unlike a usual x.3 patch for Final Fantasy XIV, this one isn't going to feel like the…

MassivelyOP’s 2022 Awards: Indie MMO of the Year - Welcome back to Massively Overpowered's formal end-of-the-year awards! Today's award is for the Indie MMO of the Year, which was awarded to Ship of Heroes last year. All indie MMOs,…

Ashes of Creation wraps up a ‘crazy year of growth’ with a bigger team and new offices - Capping off what it deemed a "crazy year of growth," Ashes of Creation's dev team wrapped up 2022 with a reflective video hosted in its new office suite. Not only…

THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS

Massively OP Podcast Episode 402: Mailbag unlimited

The Stream Team: Ending the year with the ending of AQ3D’s Atlantean adventure

The Stream Team: The whimsy of Q’s Winter Wonderland in Star Trek Online

The Stream Team: Wandering Neverwinter’s Winter Festival of Simril

The Stream Team: More Mandalorian story in SWTOR

The Stream Team: Backseat Streaming is dying to watch Dead by Daylight

The Stream Team: A visit to City of Heroes’ classic holiday event in the Homecoming rogue server

The Stream Team: Cleansing tombs with Trahearne in Guild Wars 2

The Stream Team: Getting free Frostfell gifts from Santa Glug in EverQuest II

The Stream Team: There’s no Hobbits like snow Hobbits for Lord of the Rings Online’s Yule Festival

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.