Much-loved 2004 MMORPG City of Heroes, which sunsetted prematurely in 2012, dominated the headlines this week as NCsoft announced it was resurrecting a piece of the game’s legacy by adding CoH NPC Statesman into its upcoming MOBA, Master x Master, leading gamers and bloggers alike to opine on the subject, even after one NCsoft employee stepped forward to claim the decision as his own personal “passion project.”
Speaking of necromancy, I had a desert-themed necro/thermal Mastermind who was a ton of fun.
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Here’s why everyone’s pissed off about City of Heroes NPCs in NCsoft’s MOBA - Yesterday, NCsoft took the lid off a secret it's clearly been working on for a while: The company means to introduce a notorious and well-known City of Heroes NPC as…
The Soapbox: What the Mass Effect Andromeda kerfuffle ought to teach us about games criticism - Today is the official release of Mass Effect: Andromeda, which was preceded by the frankly baffling decision to allow people access to an early build of the game ahead of…
The Secret World welcomes new community manager, should talk about relaunch plans soon - Ever since finding out in late February that Funcom has plans to relaunch The Secret World with a new business model and redesigned combat, players have been desperate for more…
Master x Master announces closed beta, adds City of Heroes’ Statesman - Today's good news for Master x Master fans is that the game has a closed beta coming up. The next test will be between April 6th and April 27th, ahead…
Flameseeker Chronicles: Creating a better balance in Guild Wars 2 raiding - [AL:GW2]One of the major concerns aired by the Guild Wars 2Â playerbase regarding raid content is the risk of juicy raid-only story details being gated away from the bulk of players.…
RIFT acknowledges expansion issues, talks about new zone and challenge servers - [AL:Rift]If you felt let down by the execution of RIFT: Starfall Prophecy, you're not alone. In this week's producer's letter, Trion Worlds admits that the expansion had "shortcomings" that need…
See real life through the lens of an MMORPG - Have you ever heard of this YouTube channel called Casually Explained? It's been growing in popularity thanks to the creator's deadpan wit and his awkward, dry jokes. As much as…
WoW Factor: The good and the bad of World of Warcraft’s patch 7.2 date - Boy, this is a time I am glad to be wrong. I was outright worried that Blizzard was going to hold patch 7.2 for a much longer span of time,…
Mass Effect: Andromeda launches its first multiplayer weekend event - While the player character is working hard to do the heavy lifting of finding a new home in Mass Effect: Andromeda, players support the single-player game by gathering supplies and…
NCsoft rep says bringing City of Heroes toons to Master x Master was his ‘passion project’ - We've been speaking with NCsoft West off the record this week, agitating for publicly printable answers on the Master X Master decision to implement City of Heroes characters (to the loud…
Blizzard is raising prices for World of Warcraft and Hearthstone players in the EU - If you're playing World of Warcraft or Hearthstone overseas, know that a partial fee hike is in your future. While subs to WoW and the WoW Token will remain as…
Massively Overthinking: The City of Heroes Master X Master debacle - On Tuesday, NCsoft announced that it plans to introduce Statesman, from the long-sunsetted City of Heroes, as a playable character in its MOBA, Master x Master. Complications ensued, as anyone…
World of Warcraft’s Patch 7.2 is coming next week - The hour is nearly upon us and we, we are not prepared. But we are pretty eager! This afternoon, World of Warcraft announced that Patch 7.2: The Tomb of Sargeras…
TERA sweetens its subscription package - [AL:TERA]Just because an MMORPG is free-to-play doesn't mean that the studio really wants you to, y'know, play for free. Over the past year or so, we've seen several MMO studios…
The Survivalist: Massively OP’s guide to multiplayer survival sandboxes - Welcome to The Survivalist! Ya'll might have noticed that I have gravitated a bit from my happy home of deep, immersive virtual worlds (possible due to the lack of them!)…
Elder Scrolls Online grants glimpses of Morrowind’s Vivec and Ashlands - [AL:ESO]Ready for another super-short Elder Scrolls Online snippet? How about two? The Morrowind expanshachapter team has continued posting episodes in its travel series. Last week, we got a peek at…
Perfect Ten: Memories of an Anarchy Online noob - My initial foray into MMORPGs was, to put it nicely, quite ungraceful. I wasn't even aware that they were a thing until about the year 2000, when I started to…
Conan Exiles’ big patch today includes wipes and ‘Exploit Hunters’ program - Conan Exiles' update 22 has arrived this morning, and as teased exhaustively over the last few weeks, it's a biggun, with the ruins system to clean up unused buildings, the new…
Rumor: Destiny 2 leak hints at September 8 launch - Reddit is buzzing this morning over posters uploaded across the internet that if legit -- and they do look legit -- seem to reveal a September 8th release date for Bungie's Destiny…
Fan creates Guild Wars 2 themed collectible card game - Ever been playing Guild Wars 2 and thought to yourself, wouldn't I rather be playing a card game? UK-based designer and developer Luke Dowding has just the game for you.…
Hyperspace Beacon: If you’re not playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, why are you still subbed? - [AL:TOR]Let me start this article by answering my own headline: It's partly because I'm an idiot and cannot let go of this IP. Star Wars: The Old Republic has been…
Eternal Crusade triples daily active users after free-to-play switch - Thanks to this past week's introduction of a free-to-play model, Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade saw a massive jump in its player population. The team reports that concurrency doubled practically overnight while…
World of Warcraft is going to make you work hard for your pretty artifact skin - Are you chasing those bright and pretty artifact weapon skins in World of Warcraft? Even if you have assembled the whole set and can lord it over the neighborhood, your…
Lord of the Rings Online sends players to the Black Gate with today’s Update 20 - [AL:LOTRO]The path of Lord of the Rings Online has always pointed, inevitably, toward Mordor. Update 20, live today in the epic MMORPG, brings players within striking distance by adding three…
Blade & Soul switches to larger, slower updates with brand-new Secrets of the Stratus - [AL:BaS]Blade & Soul is rolling out a massive expansion next month, one NCsoft says "marks a shift in pace for the game." Dubbed Secrets of the Stratus, it goes live…
How to farm 570 LOTRO points in under three hours - [AL:LOTRO]One of the interesting quirks of Lord of the Rings Online's free-to-play setup is that players can earn premium currency -- LOTRO points, or LP -- through various in-game activities.…
Leaderboard: The Elder Scrolls Online Morrowind ‘chapter vs. DLC’ fee debate - [AL:ESO]In the comments of a Daily Grind last week, a few commenters tangented into debate about The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind pricing. See, the original "ESO Plus" deal for ESO…
Star Citizen will drop DX11, avoid DX12 support - Over the weekend, Cloud Imperium fielded questions from players on some of the more technical elements on display in Star Citizen's last Around the Verse. Turns out that some major…
EVE Evolved: What’s the deal with EVE’s PLEX changes? - [AL:EVE]This week CCP Games announced that some big changes are on the way for PLEX in EVE Online. The PLEX or "30-day Pilot's License EXtension" is a virtual item that…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 109: We are all Dragonborn
The Stream Team: Celebrating three years of SMITE (with presents!)
The Stream Team: Adventuring in ARK’s redwoods
The Stream Team: Exploring the city in Conan Exiles
The Stream Team: Celebrating Warframe’s 4th birthday
The Stream Team: Tearing through Transylvanian terrors in The Secret World
The Stream Team: Looking for SWTOR’s Lady of Sorrows
The Stream Team: Hopping back into EverQuest II Heritage Quests
The Stream Team: Black Desert’s Port Epheria
Eldevin raises the level cap and adds three new areas
The Stream Team: Hunting down an Elder Scrolls Online troublemaker
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
World of Warcraft’s patch 7.2 cinematic
Take advantage of WoW’s character services sale
WoW details soloable challenge artifact appearances
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 little bits of news we didn’t cover anywhere else.
