MMO Week in Review: Scions of Ithelia, Building a Foundation

It was a week of big updates for the MMORPG genre, as Elder Scrolls Online released Scions of Ithelia and Star Wars The Old Republic launched its wacky date night patch. OK, it’s not really called that, but it’s more fun to pretend it is.

Meanwhile, we got a look at Camelot Unchained spinoff Final Stand Ragnarok, Star Citizen whispered the words “full 1.0 release,” and everyone flipped tables over a Final Fantasy XIV misunderstanding.

THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES

Star Citizen’s Chris Roberts confirms development is moving to a full 1.0 release - Last week, one of the developers of Star Citizen made what looked like a passing few references to "SC 1.0" that seemed to suggest that Cloud Imperium Games was moving…

First impressions: Final Stand Ragnarok is not Camelot Unchained, but it’s a fun romp anyway - At the top of 2020, when City State Entertainment's Mark Jacobs first announced Final Stand Ragnarok - called Project Colossus back then - it was major news here in the…

Massively Overthinking: Are survival games the new MMO? - A few Overthinkings ago, a MOP commenter said something that seemed very simple but still hit me really hard, to the point that I'm still thinking about it: "Survival games are…

Vague Patch Notes: You might be the reason you no longer love this MMO - Despite its ubiquity in sitcoms throughout the '90s, I have never had a single relationship end with the other person saying, "It's not you, it's me." This is a bit…

EverQuest’s in-person Fippyfest is one-third sold through already as we’re finally getting more details - Daybreak's Fippyfest has been a wild ride of emotions ever since the studio first announced the EverQuest-centric event. Players were initially thrilled to hear that the franchise's 25th and 20th…

CCP Games’ blockchain EVE Online spinoff Project Awakening plots next test phase for May - I can't blame you if you can't temper your skepticism for CCP's Project Awakening, both because CCP Games is notorious for failed EVE Online-universe spinoffs and because this one's a…

Perfect Ten: 10 MMO monsters we don’t feel bad killing over and over again - While many MMORPG players would (and probably have) beat up on the fluffiest of lambs and the cutest of otters if a loot table was attached, game designers know that…

Final Fantasy XIV’s Naoki Yoshida discusses making the game less stress-free, according to new interview - There's always a delicate balancing act between reducing the amount of tedious busywork necessary in a video game and keeping the game fun. A recent interview with Final Fantasy XIV's…

LOTRO Legendarium: 10 fashion tips to make your LOTRO character pop - Forget raids or the epic books or even Bingo Boffin; we all know that the true endgame in Lord of the Rings Online is the parade of fashion. Heck, that's…

Enshrouded’s 2024 roadmap promises dungeons, farming, functioning chairs, biomes, and water - When it comes to adding updates to a survival sandbox (or any MMO/multiplayer game), it's generally a good idea to cast a wide net. The net being thrown out by…

Into the Super-Verse: Tips for building your character in City of Heroes - I mentioned the other day exactly how much effort I have been putting into my characters at the top end of City of Heroes lately and how I'm pleased that…

Final Fantasy XIV starts cross-region data center travel testing on March 24 - It's increasingly easy to pair up with people around the world in Final Fantasy XIV, but as it currently stands data center travel is limited to a single region. You…

Some Lost Ark servers were down nearly two days for merge issues, but everything’s back up now - It's finally over, at least until the next round of merges this summer: Lost Ark is now fully back online after nearly two days of downtime for some servers.[AL:LA] Amazon's…

Nightingale expounds on its roadmap and why the offline mode is a medium-term project - Nightingale has spent the better part of the week focused on clean-up after a bug ate player homes last weekend, but now it's releasing its first developer roadmap video since…

Elder Scrolls Online’s Scions of Ithelia DLC and update 41 are live on PC and Mac today - And we're off: The first big update for Elder Scrolls Online has arrived today on PC and Mac in the form of the Scions of Ithelia DLC and update 41.[AL:ESO]…

Destiny 2’s next content drop, Into the Light, is set for April 9 - When Bungie admitted it was delaying Destiny 2's The Final Shape all the way to June, that meant seven-month-long Season of the Wish - and prompted a promise from the…

The Steam Spring Sale brings savings for The Elder Scrolls Online, Guild Wars 2, Final Fantasy XIV, and more - Spring is about to spring and be sprung in Spring with... look, it's time for the Steam Spring Sale, one of the many times every year when Steam puts a…

Camelot Unchained prequel Final Stand Ragnarok launches into early access – again – today - As we noted earlier this week, the Camelot Unchained spinoff game Final Stand Ragnarok is launching today into its most formal early access yet. Readers will recall this is actually…

Palia has racked up 3 million players since hitting open beta last summer - It's not every day that we get cold hard numbers from a games studio, but Singularity 6 is providing a very large one today: Palia has apparently hit 3M players…

Gameloft unveils co-op Dungeons & Dragons survival life sim action RPG for PC and console - Are you ready for a new game that smooshes together survival games, life sims, action RPGs, and the Dungeons & Dragons IP? Then your very specific tastes are being catered…

The Gigantic revival reveals two new maps coming with its April 9 relaunch - You already knew that Gearbox is reviving Motiga's sunsetted MOBA Gigantic, and you already knew that it's coming on April 9th. You knew these things because you read our article…

Predecessor, another MOBA built from the bones of Paragon, plans March 28 open beta while still in early access - It appears that we can't be rid of the ghosts of Paragon, Epic Games' swing at the MOBA craze that was shuttered in 2018 but not before the company added…

Has 2024 put the game industry ‘on the brink of disaster’? Extra Credits weighs in - If you haven't been paying attention -- despite even our own hollering it from the rooftops -- this year has been absolutely terrible for the video game industry as a…

World of Warcraft-inspired Scars of Honor’s latest video sure is something - Last week, after Scars of Honor's $200K Kickstarter ended unsuccessfully, the Bulgarian team, which had fallen silent through most of the campaign, quickly revived itself to reassure players that it…

Vampire survival game V Rising is finally launching out of early access on May 8 - We've been gently ribbing V Rising about its extended stay in early access for almost two years now, but in its defense, Stunlock Studios has been talking up the game's…

Well Fed: An exploration of the Final Fantasy XIV official cookbook - Welcome back, my fellow gaming gourmands, to Well Fed, the column that answers the question: Are gaming and MMO cookbooks any good? And this edition is also going to answer…

MultiVersus is back and launching May 28 with a ground-up rebuild and PvE mode - Multiversus made waves - and not the good kind - when a year ago Warner Bros. and Player First Games closed down the super popular open beta for the title,…

Star Citizen finally posts its 2022 fiscal report, acknowledges Squadron 42 can’t be in ‘part finished form’ - Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games has finally shared its homework (albeit very late, which means it's going to face a financial wrist slapping), granting followers of the project a…

LOTRO’s Update 39 arrives with three dungeons, raid, and the spring festival - After an extended period of testing, Lord of the Rings Online's first big drop of 2024 is finally almost here. Update 39: Arenas of Conflict arrives today with a big…

Overwatch 2’s latest patch quietly added a new PvE co-op mode alongside those flashy Cowboy Bebop skins - Overwatch 2, you're being all sorts of surprising these days. First of all, we get this lovely gift of a PvE co-op game mode called Hero Mastery: Gauntlet that pits…

Jagex co-founder announces Brighter Shores MMO, launching free-to-play in Q3 2024 - It would be pretty amusing if after all those mis-fires with new games, the next Jagex MMO actually comes from someone who left Jagex altogether. And that's sorta just what's…

Abyss MMO begins testing on Mac, plans early access for April 18 - Abyss aka Abyss Online first caught our attention last summer, when gamers figured out that it was actually a clone of the supposedly satirical NFT MMO Metagates and when it abruptly…

Besieged by bitcoin bots, BitCraft reiterates that it’s not a crypto or NFT MMO - We've been shaking our head ruefully at BitCraft's name for several years now, as it seemed clear to us that the name could be taken in multiple wrong ways, causing…

Raph Koster’s Playable Worlds enlists ‘AI-powered’ character platform Popul8 - Well now, this is a weird press release I did not expect to get: Raph Koster's MMORPG "multiverse" company Playable Worlds has apparently signed on to use something called Popul8…

Working As Intended: 10 more City of Heroes Homecoming base builds you need to see - Back in February, I revived Working As Intended to run a flurry of City of Heroes articles on the heels of Homecoming's formal license, specifically homing in on the spectacular…

Vitae Aeternum: New World’s dungeon finder is a welcome addition - A few weeks ago, New World finally launched its cross-world expedition group finder, otherwise known as a dungeon finder. While it was arguably overdue, I've found it a tremendously positive…

Albion Online opens sales for European server launch founder packs – eight of them, in fact - Players eager to get their hands on Albion Online's European server will want to know that founder packs are officially live this morning. While technically the game itself is free-to-play…

SWTOR’s Building a Foundation update arrives today with date nights and a new stronghold - Couldn't get a date to the prom in high school? Weirdly enough, Star Wars: The Old Republic has you covered as it brings good old-fashioned date nights with today's Update…

Hearthstone celebrates its 10th anniversary with gifts and World of Warcraft promotions - Where were you 10 years ago this month? There's a good probability that you were part of the curious crowd downloading Blizzard's new Warcraft-themed card battler. Now after a full…

RIFT plans server merges and hunt event while Trove readies its Gear Up! Date - So here's something to add to your "I never thought I'd see this in 2024" list, and it comes with both good and bad news: Gamigo has gone and introduced…

Wisdom of Nym: So how are we going to sort out Final Fantasy XIV’s Vana’diel crossover? - There is an odd relationship between Final Fantasy XIV and crossovers. There are, broadly, three categories of crossover that the game has engaged in. The first are the explicit crossover…

Working As Intended: Cloud City apartments and player cities on Star Wars Galaxies Legends - It's been a while since I did a deep-dive into Star Wars Galaxies Legends, the rogue server that's been one of my main MMORPG homes for the last half decade,…

EverQuest celebrates its 25th anniversary with an infographic, free gifts, XP boosts, and quests - Today, March 16th, is the day when EverQuest first launched in 1999, and 25 years later this elder statesman of our genre is still going strong. That means it's time…

THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS

Massively OP Podcast Episode 461: Dune Awakening rises from its slumber

The Stream Team: Making a quick jaunt into Final Stand Ragnarok

The Stream Team: Confronting Queen Labris in Guild Wars 2

The Stream Team: Obtaining free Orsinium goodies in Elder Scrolls Online

The Stream Team: Celebrating Hatching-tide and Little Ladies Day together in Final Fantasy XIV

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.