We’re in the home stretch for Throne & Liberty now, as its early access is set to kick off this week. For context, we were hyped for this game back when it was still Lineage Eternal, when we were still Old Massively. And we’re almost 10 years here on New Massively. So yeah, it’s been a long time coming.
Meanwhile, we took a look at Guild Wars 2’s new PvP mode, Nintendo is suing Palworld, Pantheon revamped its monetization ahead of early access, and SWTOR teased a native Mac launcher. Did not see that one coming!
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
Fight or Kite: Guild Wars 2’s new PvP mode Push actually has a lot of potential - This past weekend, I spent a solid amount of time battling in Guild Wars 2’s PvP, surprising even myself since it’s been a couple of years since I played GW2…
Pantheon’s new trailer reiterates December early access, monetization revamp: ‘This is not a soft launch’ - You already knew Pantheon was heading to early access in December. You knew this because Visionary Realms announced quite clearly all the way back in July. So this afternoon's announcement…
LOTRO gives a development update on kinship revamp delay, 4K resolution, and Elf avatars - There was a surprise development update for several Lord of the Rings Online projects that the game's lead designer delivered in the forums on Wednesday. Orion addressed player questions about…
Nintendo hit Palworld’s Pocketpair studio with a patent lawsuit in Japan - Palworld's unexpected explosion of fame has been one of the recurring narratives of 2024 - and so has been its obvious inspirations. In fact, back in January, amid piles of…
Throne & Liberty releases patch notes ahead of early access, teasing everything from lifeskills to better PvE - Blink and you'll have missed it: Fall is almost upon us, and that means so is Throne & Liberty's global launch. Early access begins just a week from tomorrow on…
LOTRO Legendarium: LOTRO’s five least-played classes – and why you should play them - In gaming, I'm often fascinated by "paths less traveled." Maybe it's a leveling expansion everyone ignores, a race that's never picked for a kickball team, or a style of play…
Bohemia officially moves Vigor from PC early access to launch as Steam reviews tank - Bohemia Interactive's free-to-play multiplayer looter-shooter Vigor officially launched on PC this week after a console launch and then a run in early access for those of us on desktop devices.…
Star Wars The Old Republic boss teases 7.6 Galactic Threads and a native Mac launcher for SWTOR - Broadsword - yes, it still feels weird to type that - has just delivered its latest producer letter on Star Wars The Old Republic, and yes, the bulk of it…
New World testers killed almost 40M overland mobs during last weekend’s Aeternum beta - At the conclusion of New World's Aeternum open beta earlier this week, Amazon promised a recap blog - and now on Friday, we finally have it. And it comes with…
Concord devs anticipate layoffs as Sony moves their director to a ‘support role’ - The sad story of the team vs. team hero shooter Concord doesn't appear to simply stop at the game being killed after roughly two weeks of online life; it's extending…
Pax Dei’s next early access patch is a major revision for movement and combat - Mainframe Industries has not been shy about its development plans for Pax Dei: Thus far, it's been emphasizing that the MMO sandbox is a true early access title and that…
Wizard battle royale Spellbreak survives as a free version after Blizzard buyout - When you're a game that's been served a death sentence, you'll take a win anywhere you can get it. Spellbreak was a wizard-themed battle royale that launched in September 2020…
Palia’s Autumn Awakening update drops next week with fall trees and minigames - Palia is continuing to truck along in beta post-Daybreak buyout with plans for another update next week. The Autumn Awakening patch brings the fall season and the first whispers of…
Massively Overthinking: Our favorite MMO memories we never want to repeat - A random quote I saw buried in the comments on the MMORPG subreddit a while ago really hit hard. Extra_Midnight wrote, "Some of my most treasured MMO memories would similarly…
Dungeons and Dragons Online gets ready to test its own subscription-only 64-bit server - If envy has been burning in the bosom of Dungeons and Dragons Online players after seeing its sister MMO LOTRO get 64-bit servers, maybe this will provide a cooling balm:…
Ubisoft’s ‘XDefiant is not dying’ t-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by the shirt - If you had forgotten all about Ubisoft's newish shooter XDefiant, then you're not alone. It actually launched back in May and apparently did fine, or so people thought until an…
Tower of Fantasy’s latest patch brings another new character, more story, and new season content - It's time for Tower of Fantasy to hand its players an Ethereal Rose (not to be confused with a Yankee Rose). Today is the day when the latest update is…
Vague Patch Notes: When slow leveling is a problem in MMORPGs - Last week in Vague Patch Notes, I talked about leveling. At the very end of the column, I mentioned that slow leveling or fast leveling can be a problem. And…
EVE Online tweaks sovereignty costs and refines capital ship production to further fuel territory fights - The Equinox expansion for EVE Online has always been about making battling for territory a central focus, but now CCP Games is looking to add more fuel to that fire…
Stars Reach’s technical testing provoked emergent landscaping, player creativity, and the lag monster - Playable Worlds - technical designer Light Bates this time, not Raph Koster - has dished out another dev blog on Stars Reach's pre-alpha playtest. You know, the playtest you're probably…
NCsoft renames Blade & Soul Neo Classic to BNS NEO, confirms western launch - Almost a year ago, NCsoft announced a new spin on Blade and Soul called Blade & Soul Neo Classic. The game as planned would offer upgraded visuals but with a…
Microsoft inflates its stock price through a $60B buyback of shares in the shadow of 650 layoffs - Corporate America has once again proven itself to be the full mask-off villain it's lampooned as: After a memo found that Microsoft was preparing to lay off another 650 employees…
Ubisoft broadens return-to-office mandate in spite of last year’s blowback over Ubisoft Montreal’s implementation - What do you do when you really want to lay off the people doing all the work at your company, but you also don't want the PR nightmare of layoffs…
DC Universe Online debuts Harley Quinn vs Apokolips key art and teaser trailer ahead of September 24 launch - Next week is bringing a bunch of new content to the superheroic world of DC Universe Online, which naturally means that Daybreak's Dimensional Ink sub-studio is cranking up the hype…
Perfect Ten: 10 Blizzard games that everyone forgets existed - So by this point I think it's fair to say that most of our readers are aware that I love weird rabbit holes that I can explore. I did so…
EA says it won’t replace The Sims 4 with a sequel as it preps fall playtest for multiplayer Project Rene - The fate of The Sims franchise in the last few years has been a little bit messy: EA has been working on what it called Project Rene, which at times…
Bethesda accidentally prices Fallout 76 DLC for $1999 - Ever since the release of horse armor DLC for Oblivion many years ago, Bethesda has been pioneering new and potentially ill-advised DLC prices for years. But the studio has finally…
The Daily Grind: What MMO do you see yourself playing five years from now? - Hey all, it's September 2029! We're just a few months away from the new decade, and against all odds, we're alive and still playing video games. And no, virtual reality…
How hyper investment and greed led to the games industry’s ‘GaaSacre’ and downward slump - Hindsight is always 20/20, and no more is that axiom more appropriate than a look back at how the gaming industry got to the state it is now as it…
Overwatch 2 joins Xbox Game Pass and launches World of Warcraft collab today - It's a big day for Blizzard shooter Overwatch 2, as it expands its reach into the Xbox ecosystem and leverages its sibling relationship with World of Warcraft for skins. First,…
Ultima Online wraps up eighth New Legacy beta weekend as launch window looms - Since the last time we checked in on Ultima Online's New Legacy beta testing, Broadsword has rolled out three more test weekends - and they haven't been idle weekends, either.…
Choose My Adventure: Guided adventure, multiplayer hijinks, and pantslessness in Once Human - I'm going to be honest, I'm a bit surprised at just how on-rails Once Human is so far. Chalk that up to another assumption by me that this game was…
Splatoon 3’s Finale is the end of regular updates and the beginning of maintenance mode - There's a lot to be said about Splatoon 3's final Splatfest. Team Past won, meaning we'll see something about that reflected in the next future game even if Team Future was robbed…
Preview: My Time at Evershine promotes players from cozy townie to ‘adventurous’ town manager - Pathea Games has something of a "type" when it comes to the game it likes to make. My Time at Portia and the multiplayer-friendly My Time at Sandrock were almost…
Elder Scrolls Online begins testing update 44 – and its new DLC-esque paid companions - Folks hoping to catch a glimpse of Elder Scrolls Online's update 44 before it launches can do so now thanks to the fact that it's up and running on the…
Diablo IV has made Blizzard $1 billion in revenue since launch - In spite of some gamer grumbling over the prices of things like crossover cosmetic outfits and portal effects, there has been a whole lot of spending by players of Diablo…
PlayStation 5 Pro’s $700 price tag fuels debate over PC rigs and console preferences - Last week saw the gaming world get hit with a meteorite when Sony introduced the $700 PlayStation 5 Pro, an upgraded version of the PS5 console arriving November 7th that…
New World’s Aeternum open beta ends with a small lift in concurrent PC players - And just like that, New World's Aeternum beta is over, as the servers went dark again at noon EDT. "We want to thank everyone that took the time to explore…
Corepunk delays beta wipe as combat overhaul is unfinished, talks up the PvP/PvE mode - Corepunk is back with another update aimed at the now-limited group of people who paid to access to ongoing beta while preorders were still live. And it's good or bad…
Wisdom of Nym: Speculating on the future of the next Final Fantasy XIV level cap increase - First and foremost, if you are about to scarper off to the comments to share the obvious answer to the question, please know that it is literally the first thing…
Palworld shoots down business model shift rumors after ambiguous CEO interview - Palworld is a buy-to-play early access game. There's no cash shop, no DLC, no battle pass, and to this point, no suggestion that was going to change. That assumption got…
Roleplaying Elder Scrolls Online players raise red flags over automated chat moderation - The terms of service for MMORPG titles is such an enormous wall o' text that most people tend to understandably hit the "accept" button without reading a single line in…
WoW Classic returns to Blackwing Lair and Zul’Gurub for Season of Discovery Phase 5 - The endgame of the endgame is almost here for World of Warcraft Classic's Season of Discovery servers, as Phase 5 heads our way next Thursday, September 26th. As Blizzard looks to…
Rumor: Insiders leak details about Destiny Rising, an in-development mobile game by NetEase - What would a looter shooter like Destiny look like on mobile? This is a question that many gamers may yet ponder as insider leaks have called attention to the existence…
Elder Scrolls Online has reportedly earned $15M in monthly revenue for over a decade - It would appear that game industry professionals just can't stop sharing revenue details on their Linkedin profiles. You might recall that a senior product manager for Diablo IV spilled the…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 485: EVE’s blockhead blockchain move
The Stream Team: Trying out the co-op chaos of The Spell Brigade
The Stream Team: Dungeons & Dragons Online’s The Maze of Madness
The Stream Team: Backseat Streaming takes in a few matches of Quidditch Champions
The Stream Team: Blowing up spaceships for fun and profit in Elite Dangerous
The Stream Team: Home on the Janthir Wilds range in Guild Wars 2
The Stream Team: Operation No More Nodes in Warframe
The Stream Team: Party Animals’ first birthday party pits cats against dogs
The Stream Team: Together with friends 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.
