It’s not every week that we get to cheer for an unsunset, but that’s exactly what we’re doing this week as Fawkes Games officially debuted the latest version of Defiance, one of the rare few MMOs that has any sort of TV tie-in.
Meanwhile, Dune Awakening got a delay to June 10th, Jagex surprise-launched its new Dragonwilds RuneScape spinoff, Palia announced its Elderwood update and console plans, Camelot Unchained resurfaced with a reveal promise coming in April, and Guild Wars celebrated its 20th birthday with a patch and a $7 bundle that you really need to own.
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
Funcom is delaying Dune Awakening’s launch to June 10 to give it ‘a bit more time to cook’ - Last month, Funcom announced that survival MMO Dune Awakening would be launching on PC May 20th - in fact, it's already begun preorders. But plans have changed, as now Funcom…
Jagex’s new co-op survival game RuneScape Dragonwilds just hit early access - And just like that, RuneScape Dragonwilds hit early access! It turns out when Jagex said early access was coming this spring, it meant right now, and we doubt anyone's gonna…
‘Daybreak made Elderwood possible’: Palia announces Elderwood update and console launch for May 13 - Cozy mini MMO Palia has just dropped the biggest news it's had since Daybreak bought it out: It's officially coming to console and launching the massive free-to-play Elderwood update on…
After going dark for months, Camelot Unchained will preview its progress in an April stream - MMO players have been worried and frustrated over the state of Camelot Unchained for ages now, but we're finally getting some movement. Readers will surely recall that the Kickstarted MMORPG…
Fawkes has officially relaunched Defiance four years after Gamigo killed it - As promised, Defiance officially launched at 6 a.m. EDT this morning. If you got up at 6 a.m. to play this, you can officially call yourself a true fan. And if…
Global MapleStory is bringing back its OG lead dev for Classic MapleStory - From our vantage point, the splitting of Global MapleStory from its Korean version a year ago has been more than a success, with multiple patches and record-high revenues. And now,…
Classic Guild Wars celebrates 20 years with an Anniversary Masterpiece Collection and a juicy update - Guild Wars franchise fans already knew that ArenaNet was planning something big for the OG game's 20th birthday, and indeed we also knew that part of that would include (at…
Perfect Ten: Early versions of MMOs that were rougher than you remember - Despite our nostalgia goggles and cries for legacy versions of MMORPGs, the real truth is that most 1.0 versions of our online games were pretty rough stuff. That's kind of…
Neverwinter’s D&D movie-inspired 31st module, Red Harvest, launches on PC and console May 6 - Some good news for Neverwinter has just arrived in the wild: Arc Games (and dev studio DECA, we assume, though it's not mentioned anywhere in the PR), have just announced…
Lord of the Rings Online has announced compensation for all the server transfer woes - Let's just mention this up front: No, we still don't have new dates for the opening of the Lord of the Rings Online dark worlds, which were supposed to have…
WoW Factor: Six things I really don’t like about World of Warcraft’s War Within - With that rager of a negative title hanging over this column today, I want to start by saying that overall I generally like World of Warcraft: The War Within. I…
Grand Theft Auto Online celebrates 4/20 with extra weed rewards and a special mission - While the name of the game is Grand Theft Auto Online, it is not exactly a surprise that the game involves players doing a whole lot of tasks that may,…
The Soapbox: I am just about done with MMO epic storylines - I'm not here to flash my MMO credentials at you because (a) you don't care and (b) you probably top me. That's fine. All I want to put out front…
Lost Skies officially enters Steam early access as Bossa teases new content on deck - Worlds Adrift refugees can finally come home today as Bossa Games' Lost Skies officially enters early access. It's not an MMORPG as Worlds Adrift was, but it's also not a…
Pantheon Rise of the Fallen opens a fresh start server, rolls back other servers over a duping bug - It's a weird, woolly, and odd set of headlines coming out of Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen early access, and there's really no way we can kind of set it…
Fallen Earth’s been offline over two months now, but Little Orbit isn’t giving up on its return - So here's an out-of-nowhere thought for the day: Did Fallen Earth ever come back online since its abrupt closure in early February? And it turns out that no, no it…
Vague Patch Notes: Level scaling in MMOs with the lateral spread and the temporary shrink - Last week I talked about how MMORPGs use level scaling to accomplish actually useful and important goals. In short, there is an issue with making sure that newer players and…
Mortal Online 2 previews the mechanics of its upcoming Tagmaton Invasions - In the time between Mortal Online and Mortal Online 2, something really bad happened. In the game world, we mean. It was called the Tagmaton Irruption, and it was generally considered…
Star Citizen kicks off an alpha 4.1.1 stress test this weekend and showcases digital hair design - If you have no plans this weekend, are a Star Citizen fan, and are among the Wave 1 and Wave 2 testers that get into the sandbox's PTU, then you've…
Interview: Star Wars Galaxies Legends reveals the long-awaited second part of the Jedi Themepark - If you've been following the Star Wars Galaxies rogue server community, you probably know that SWG Legends has become one of the most interesting of the batch, being the highest-population…
Fight or Kite: I discovered a whole new side to Myth of Empires on custom servers - I told you all in my previous column that I was going to get to the Persian DLC in Myth of Empires or die trying (my character, not me, obviously),…
Massively Overthinking: Putting the Elder Scrolls Online cadence into perspective - Last week, far and away the biggest MMORPG news was the fact that Elder Scrolls Online finally revealed its new cadence - and its new monetization plan. In a nutshell,…
The First Descendant’s April patch has arrived with Ultimate Blair and a revamped newbie experience - As promised, Dynamic Motion Online - that is, The First Descendant - has launched episode 2 of its second season in its April update today. "The Season 2 Episode 2…
Dune Awakening talks combat, guild features, and gameplay in latest livestream - Do you like videos? Funcom likes videos. Dune: Awakening really likes videos. The game has three new videos to watch cut from the livestream earlier this week. These cannot be…
Pax Dei is finally getting fast travel in next week’s Easter miracle update - So, who called for a surprise Easter patch in Pax Dei? Because that's what you're getting on April 22nd. Perhaps it's to be expected from a game that includes miracles…
PlanetSide 2 players offer Daybreak $10,000 to revert last week’s server merge - Earlier this month, when Daybreak and Toadman finally merged the PlanetSide 2 North American servers into one, players had quite a shock when they realized the studios had merged the…
Family-focused MMORPG Puzkin Magnetic Odyssey begins its $40K Kickstarter drive - At the top of the month we first got word about Puzkin: Magnetic Odyssey, an in-development family friendly MMORPG that appears to take child safety very seriously. At the time…
Following the sale of Pokemon Go and other games for $3.8B, Niantic is laying off more staff - Just a month ago, we learned that Niantic had secured a deal to sell its games division to Scopely, a US-based studio that is part of Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games…
Brighter Shores pushes back against perceived lack of updates as player sentiment dips on Steam - Despite the MMORPG's name, things in Brighter Shores do not appear to be very sunny right now, as players have begun to sink the game's Steam score with negative reviews…
Albion Online releases on the Epic Game Store with free gifts – including a Mistbison mount - Albion Online's march toward universal MMO domination progressed this week as the PvP MMO officially launched on the Epic Game Store as of this morning. To entice players to check…
Bethsoft is selling off 2000 commemorative OG Elder Scrolls Online server blade keepsakes at $110 a pop - Have you ever wanted to own a little piece of Elder Scrolls Online? No, we don't mean $100 video game houses - we mean an actual slice of the game's…
Blade & Soul Neo’s second Moonwater Plains update arrives with two new dungeons today - NCsoft Blade & Soul NEO is rolling out a new chapter today - actually the second chunk of its massive Moonwater Plains chapter. "Available today for free, this jampacked update…
New World is conducting its third round of merges since Aeternum - Whether server merges are a welcome relief or a moment of pause to an MMO fanbase depends on a bunch of factors, like big the playerbase is, how many merges…
Skull and Bones brings item ascension and world tiers in latest season, previews all of Year 2’s updates - It's time to start another year of yo ho ho'ing, rum bottles, and at least 15 men on a dead man's chest: Year 2 Season 1 of Skull and Bones…
Guild Wars 2’s Super Adventure Box is here with new weapons, deco, and the Super Ooze Kitchen - Today marks the return of Super Adventure Box to Guild Wars 2, proving once again there is no April Fools' day joke that MMO players will not demand a studio…
Single-player ‘simulated MMORPG’ Erenshor officially begins its early access run - There are a number of reasons why someone would want to play a simulated old-school MMORPG without actually, you know, playing an existing real one. Perhaps you don't have the…
Nexon’s Vindictus Defying Fate online ARPG plans a June alpha – with multiplayer - Nexon's Vindictus Defying Fate is preparing for a big June alpha - and it's one MMO fans will actually want to pay attention to as it finally adds the game's…
Choose My Adventure: Nightingale’s Welkin’s Reach offers high intrigue and slight annoyance - Welkin's Reach is going to stick out in my mind after having moved through the zone in Nightingale. This was a realm of odd beauty, weird mechanics, interesting style, and…
Sea of Thieves arrives to the Battle.net launcher on May 22 in three different bundles - Access to the Sea of Thieves is going to be expanding yet again on Thursday, May 22nd, when the FFA PvP pirating sandbox makes its berth on the Battle.net launcher…
Wisdom of Nym: Expert crafting and better crafting challenges in Final Fantasy XIV - Cosmic Exploration arrives in Final Fantasy XIV not this week but next, which means that we've got a little more time before it's present. But it also means that this…
BitCraft lays out its combat and territory philosophy and its plan to stay ‘resilient to griefing’ - Happy Monday! Let's talk about griefing. Specifically, griefing in BitCraft, as studio Clockwork Labs has released a new dev blog on the topic along with a discussion on the game's…
Diablo IV’s team defends the anemic 2025 roadmap, says that there’s more to be revealed - If Blizzard was hoping that the Diablo IV 2025 roadmap without an expansion was going to pass by without a riot, the studio certainly is learning differently this past week.…
MMO studio-inspired comedy Mythic Quest ends its run after four years on Apple TV+ - Fans of Apple TV+'s popular Mythic Quest are no doubt disappointed to hear that the comedy was abruptly canceled following its Season 4 finale last month. The show followed the…
Layoffs have apparently hit Jackalyptic Games, the Jack Emmert studio working on a new Warhammer MMO - We're not sure precisely how bad things may be over at Jackalyptic Games, the Jack Emmert-led dev studio that's working on a Warhammer 40K MMO, but we at least have…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 514: Elder Seasons Online
The Stream Team: Hopping into AQ3D for Easter gnomes and Grenwog
The Stream Team: Joining in on the live return of sci-fi shooter MMO Defiance
The Stream Team: DDO’s Sharn offers No Refunds
The Stream Team: Backseat Streaming goes on an AFK Journey
The Stream Team: The mechs go rumbling on in MechWarrior 5 Clans co-op
The Stream Team: In hot pursuit in Guild Wars 2’s Penance for the Past
The Stream Team: Taking a look at Warframe’s Temple
The Stream Team: Bringing on more biodiversity in Planet Crafter
The Stream Team: Turning back to tanking 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.
