I found myself thinking of Peria Chronicles this week, thanks to Bandai Namco’s decision to shutter the local version of Blue Protocol before it ever made it westward. Sigh.
Meanwhile in MMORPGs, World of Warcraft formally launched The War Within (but not without problems of its own making), Champions Online turned 15 years old, RuneScape announced another sub price hike, and we put out two new guides for gamers returning to Guild Wars 2 – or picking it up for the first time.
Finally, I don’t know who needs to hear this, but today is officially the first day of Halloween. We need to start a betting pool on which MMO is gonna bring out the first Halloween event of the season!
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
Blue Protocol is shutting down in Japan and will not be localized for the west - The writing has appeared to be on the wall for a while now, but it's now official: Blue Protocol is being shut down in Japan as of January 18th, 2025.…
The Soapbox: Paid MMO headstarts foster segregation and resentment in exchange for a revenue boost - The weekend before World of Warcraft: The War Within's global launch was not the same as past launches. In the lead up to the past nine expansions, the entire community…
Flameseeker Chronicles: 10 easy Guild Wars 2 builds for solo play in 2024’s Janthir Wilds - While most MMORPGs offer a variety of ways to play a character, Guild Wars 2 offers a huge variety of builds for each of its nine classes to appeal to…
Flameseeker Chronicles: How to gear up in Guild Wars 2 in 2024 – without breaking the bank - Gearing in Guild Wars 2 is simultaneously really nice and also very frustrating. It's nice because there is no uber tier of stats locked behind dungeons or raids, and you…
Into the Super-Verse: Looking back on Champions Online, 15 years later - I hadn't even really thought about the fact that Champions Online has been out for 15 years now until I saw the anniversary post yesterday, but it shouldn't really surprise…
Perfect Ten: Underrated MMOs that deserve a second look in 2024 - We've all been there at one time or another. We've been playing the same-old favorite MMO for a long time and then suddenly feel a bit burned out on it.…
Diablo IV brings back Diablo II’s Runewords for its Vessel of Hatred expansion - If you heard the earth-shattering rumble of millions of Diablo fans cheering in approval, it's probably because the news came out that Blizzard is bringing back the fan-favorite Runewords system…
LOTRO Legendarium: Why haven’t I burned out on LOTRO yet? - None of what I'm about to write is to meant to be self-promotion - just observation. It really hit me the other day how incredibly long I've been playing Lord…
You can now properly play Elder Scrolls Online on your Steam Deck - Yes, we know you could technically already play Elder Scrolls Online on your Steam Deck with some workarounds and tweaks and tricks and allowances. But as of this week, it's…
Dune Awakening talks about character builds, survival ‘pressures,’ and overall MMO gameplay - Dune: Awakening went from YouTube Shorts to a big Gamescom splash with the reveal of a 2025 launch on PC. We're now getting a bit more detail about the survival…
Tencent’s Blue Protocol Mobile goes into closed beta testing in China (sigh) - Hey, remember when Blue Protocol completely ended the Japanese version and western launch? Yeah, that still really stings, thanks for bringing it up. As the MMO community gives a world-weary sigh…
Massively Overthinking: The MMOs without player housing in 2024 - Last week, Guild Wars 2 became the latest western MMORPG to finally add proper housing, with pages lifted straight out of Wildstar and RIFT. I'm thrilled to see it happening,…
New World tempts would-be Aeternum players with another landmarks video - Remember how we lamented that New World is one of the prettiest game worlds in the MMO genre? Well, Amazon is twisting the knife once again with its fourth video…
Wizard101 is launching on PlayStation, Xbox, and the Switch ‘soon’ - Well here's some good news for MMO fans: KingsIsle is continuing its efforts to get kid-friendly MMO Wizard101 on aaaaaalllll the platforms, as today the company announced that it's launching…
Black Desert’s roadmap sets Land of the Morning Light Seoul expansion for September 12 - Well lookit Pearl Abyss, getting all fancy with its roadmap game. Yep, the Korean company has indeed dropped a new roadmap for Black Desert, although it's specific to September.[AL:BDO] The…
You can get your free mini-expansion, mount, minipet, and dungeon in LOTRO now - Hey who wants some free stuff?! Lord of the Rings Online was supposed to drop a big patch and promo yesterday, but it got delayed until the last minute. The…
Once Human’s latest update is plagued by new bugs, old bugs, and monetization woes - It's a day ending in "y" for Once Human as the multiplayer survivalbox's latest patch has once again arrived with the distinct wet thud of fresh bugs, all while NetEase…
Vague Patch Notes: When did Blue Protocol really die? - It was the middle of the night, for us, when we heard the news: Blue Protocol is dead. It will never be receiving a localized release, and while the Japanese…
RuneScape fans revolt over Jagex’s second subscription fee hike in three years - Welp, the party is over for RuneScape fans: Jagex has once again announced that it's raising the price of the game. "Membership pricing has been unchanged in the last 2…
Elite Dangerous confirms a third new ship and Powerplay 2.0’s arrival in October as Lave Radio hits 500th episode - Frontier Developments' monthly studio-wide livestream has once more provided some tasty tidbits for Elite: Dangerous players. Following a teaser image earlier this month, FDev has taken the wraps off of…
Elder Scrolls Online is giving away the Dragon Bones DLC for logging in four times in September - As part of its 10th anniversary celebrations, The Elder Scrolls Online has been handing out some insane freebies all year, and next month, the freebies include a whole DLC as…
Kickstarted VR MMO Zenith just released its last content patch before heading into maintenance mode - This week's Zenith patch is a bit of a bittersweet one - or grumpy one, depending on your view. That's because it's the last content update players of the Kickstarted…
Albion Online’s next big patch addresses solo mechanics and open-world PvE - Sandbox Interactive's Robin Henkys is sitting down one month after Albion Online's Paths to Glory to talk about what comes next for the PvP MMO sandbox. Henkys says that Paths…
Tarisland turns one-month bans into 10-year bans for cheaters following player ‘feedback’ - Furbish up your "well that escalated quickly" memes because that Tarisland cheating debacle from earlier this week just got much weirder and more punitive. Yesterday, Tencent took to the Tarisland…
World of Warcraft cites ‘significant combat advantage’ for today’s War Within leveling nerf - Just because it's a brand-new expansion and era for World of Warcraft doesn't mean that old Blizzard isn't still lurking around. Indeed, the Fun Police are on the prowl this…
EverQuest II’s GU 126, aka The Immeasurable Menagerie, is live - OK, I learned something today: When Daybreak uses the word menagerie, it is not, in fact, the same as the nickname I give to my band of miscreant children. The…
Palia’s Sunset Soiree rolls out today with housing upgrades and piles of cuteness - As promised, cozy MMO Palia has released update 0.183, Sunset Soiree, to beta players as of this afternoon - and no, it's not that kind of sunset, so nobody panic.…
Choose My Adventure: Leaving the tutorial island and gaining knowledge in Fractured - So that didn't take me too long, but then I suppose I had done most of the work beforehand anyway: My time in Fractured Online for this week's edition of…
Vitae Aeternum: Ranking New World’s zones by their player housing - As the interminable wait until October stretches on, New World players and New World bloggers alike search for ways to fill the time. One great option for that is housing,…
World of Warcraft: The War Within racks up player praise and frustrated memes along with hotfixes - Yesterday saw World of Warcraft's latest expansion, The War Within, open to everyone who plays the game (rather than just those who pre-ordered the most expensive version of the expansion).…
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria launches its co-op survival experience on PC and console - Channel your inner (or outer?) Dwarf and dig into the newly released Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, which arrives on Steam and Xbox Series X|S today. The $20…
NetEase abruptly announces an October sunset for Harry Potter Magic Awakened’s western version - NetEase and WB Games have some dreadful and abrupt news for fans of the mobile MMO Harry Potter Magic Awakened: It's sunsetting in the west this fall. "The time has…
Wisdom of Nym: Speculating on Final Fantasy XIV’s Beastmaster - We currently know very little about Final Fantasy XIV's Beastmaster. We know that it's going to be coming at some point during the Dawntrail patch cycle, but almost certainly not…
World of Warcraft The War Within officially releases today - If you've managed to dodge all of the pre-order access spoilers both unofficial and official, congratulations: Your reward is the ability to play World of Warcraft's latest expansion The War…
Team-based PvP shooter Concord’s release was marked by low interest and middling impressions - This past Friday saw the multiplayer world get yet another live service team-based PvP FPS in the form of Concord, and if that description made the game blend into your…
MY.GAMES is handing Skyforge publishing off to Innova, and yes this is confusing - It's the end of an era: Skyforge has been operating under the My.com/MY.GAMES banner since its launch back in 2015, but now it's moving to a new home. "[I]t is…
World of Warcraft’s Holly Longdale on WoW’s missteps: ‘We should have listened more’ - While Dragonflight proved to be a turning point for World of Warcraft after two expansions of downward trajectory, Blizzard Vice President Holly Longdale says that the studio still has a…
Ashes of Creation previews Alpha 2’s Citadel of The Steel Bloom and Firebrand - The road leading to Ashes of Creation's long-awaited Alpha 2 is less than two months away at this point, and Intrepid Studios hopes to generate more interest (and no doubt…
Corepunk aims to shore up several systems for early access while delaying alpha wipe - The race definitely is on for Corepunk to make its deadline for a November 26th early access launch. After a couple of unexpected wipes to its Alpha 4 test, Artificial…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 482: The war within two expansion launches
The Stream Team: Taking on the trials of gods in Fractured Online
The Stream Team: Chilling out in Dungeons & Dragons Online’s Tower of Frost
The Stream Team: Exploring the black tower in Enshrouded
The Stream Team: Exploring the co-op RPG world of Cat Quest III
The Stream Team: Journey to an Unknown Territory in Guild Wars 2
The Stream Team: Building a Khajiit embassy in Elder Scrolls Online’s Grahtwood
The Stream Team: Bob-O and doggoes in AQ3D
The Stream Team: Bear boss beat down in V Rising
The Stream Team: Celebrating 11 years of Final Fantasy XIV with the Rising event
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.
