This week was both the spring equinox and St Patrick’s Day, but you wouldn’t know it from the world, which is still reeling from the pandemic. Don’t worry: If you missed out on booze and green rivers, we have our very own Star Citizen limerick just for you. We’ve also continued rounding up all the online games that are offering extra benefits to players, including LOTRO, Ship of Heroes, and WoW. Hey, staying home and playing video games actually is helping. Do your part.
Plus, we’re in the middle of two epic giveaways, so make sure you’ve entered for your chance to win a free copy of Avorion and the Pink Bean MapleStory gaming chair!
Read on to catch up with the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions today as every Sunday in Massively Overpowered’s Week in Review!THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Flameseeker Chronicles: First impressions of Guild Wars 2’s Visions of the Past Steel and Fire - Just three short months ago, ArenaNet teased us in its 2020 content preview for Guild Wars 2 with a new type of story content called Visions of the Past. At…
Phantasy Star Online 2 introduces its ‘scratch tickets’ lockboxes as the open beta kicks off - The open beta for Phantasy Star Online 2 has kicked off today on the Xbox One, with Windows 10 still listed as "coming soon." So if you're on your PC,…
Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online just made most content free for the next few weeks - Just in this morning's roundup, the MOP commenters were debating whether and how to play Lord of the Rings Online during the virus-induced downtime some gamers are having right now.…
Working As Intended: Deep-diving Star Wars Galaxies’ endgame crafting - When I leaped back into Star Wars Galaxies via the SWG Legends rogue server mid-2018, I didn't really truly think I'd stay all that long, since the earlier, more classic…
Nexon is sunsetting MapleStory 2 after less than two years online - Ah damn, we really didn't need more bad news right about now. But it's here all the same: Nexon officially announced this afternoon that it's shuttering the global version of…
Perfect Ten: Original MMOs that never came to be - "What could have been" is a path that I travel frequently, especially when I write The Game Archaeologist column. It genuinely haunts me that so many interesting MMORPG ideas were…
New World details how players will battle the PvE baddies known as The Corrupted - So, you can't just gank everyone you see in New World anymore. That means there's no sense of danger, right? Yeah, not so much. Today's Amazon Games dev blog on…
WoW Factor: The World of Warcraft expansion tour – Warlords of Draenor - Oh barf. Yes, folks, it... it had to happen. We had to get to this expansion. I know, none of us really want to. World of Warcraft fans don't want to talk…
Ship of Heroes just announced a ‘surprise beta’ for everyone during the pandemic - So here's a fun Friday surprise: Ship of Heroes boss Casey McGeever asked fans what the team - all working from home - could do to help them. "Let us…
Valve plans a wholesale reboot for its digital CCG Artifact - Like the Black Knight of Monty Python and the Holy Grail fame, Valve's Artifact is not ready to give up the fight despite its grievous injuries. An interview with Valve…
Into the Super-verse: Getting started with Champions Online in 2020 - The sharp rise and fall of Champions Online back in 2009 resulted in a game that's made for an easy target of jokes ever since. The title has languished in…
The Game Archaeologist: Shenmue Online - If you ever stumble across a Dreamcast enthusiast -- and believe me, they are everywhere -- on the forefront of their diatribe about how great SEGA's final console was will…
Massively Overthinking: What MMO topics have you changed your mind on over the years? - On last week's Massively OP Podcast, Justin and I took a stab at answering a fun question from MOP reader and listener Pieter about all our old soapboxes. Specifically, he…
Razer to manufacture and donate up to a million surgical masks to battle coronavirus - While the idea of gaming peripheral manufacturer Razer creating medical equipment might first bring to mind the Razer Toaster, this change of manufacturing focus for the company is very real…
Vague Patch Notes: Complaining about MMOs you don’t play - All right, folks, it's time to talk. And we're going to start by talking about Guild Wars 2, a game I used to play regularly and that several other people of…
More and more MMOs are offering sales and events during the coronavirus pandemic - As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, MMOs and other MMO-adjacent games and studios continue to react, bringing their staffs home and offering bonuses to players. To wit: Revelation Online…
Sony provides in-depth details of the PlayStation 5’s specs - While the proof is often in the pudding in terms of seeing actual games run on the hardware, many people still put a lot of personal and mental investment in…
Desert Oasis: How Pearl Abyss can guarantee Shadow Arena succeeds - Hands down, Shadow Arena is my favorite battle royale. But just because I've written so many glowing words of accolades for the game does not mean I'm not worried about…
Dungeons and Dragons Online’s Update 46 and Lost Gatekeepers adventure pack hit the test server - Dungeons and Dragons Online fans eager to see update 46 are in for a treat this week, as Standing Stone Games has released the first preview of the update on…
EVE Online players recount a $5000 ganking and its aftermath on the victim - How would you feel if you saw $5,000 worth of in-game assets blown to smithereens? That was what happened to one EVE Online pilot, marking one of the most expensive…
Call of Duty: Warzone scored 15 million players in its first four days of operation - Hey, when the timing is right, the timing is just right. Call of Duty: Warzone is the battle royale free-to-play spinoff of the Call of Duty franchise, which means it…
Secret World Legends celebrates the Spring Equinox until March 31 - The Envoys of Avalon have decided that now is the right time to show up in Argatha again, because it's March 17th and that means it's time for the Spring…
Path of Exile set a new concurrency record with Delirium – here’s what GGG is fixing next - Path of Exile couldn't have launched Delirium on a worse - or better - day. By happenstance, the entire US was put under a state of emergency on Friday, just…
Daybreak, Cryptic, City State, Frontier, and more MMO studios affected by worldwide pandemic shutdowns - As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to make itself felt, we've got another quick roundup of news relevant to MMO players. First, we've got a whole 'nother slew…
The Daily Grind: What MMO are you playing instead of going out right now? - Whether you're practicing extreme social distancing or actually hunkered down within a quarantine zone, quite a lot of you are playing video games right now, as evidenced by the huge…
EverQuest’s birthday includes free level 85 boosts and word of new progression servers - Even with a change in leadership, EverQuest is roaring right into its 21st birthday this month. To celebrate Daybreak has turned on a 50% XP boost for the remainder of…
New World’s latest video dev diary covers weapons and specializations - If you're eagerly looking forward to New World, you will want to watch the video below. Then you will hear the first words spoken in the video by Lead UX…
Blizzard’s Steve Danuser talks about the story development in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth - Very few people are trying to defend the story of World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth at this point, with one of the more common accusations leveled at the story…
Wisdom of Nym: Impressions of the second set of Ishgard Restoration in Final Fantasy XIV - All right! So this is not actually the column topic that I announced last week, but in my defense, I legitimately did not know at the time I wrote that…
Not So Massively: Delving into builds and endgame in Wolcen Lords of Mayhem - A few weeks ago in the Not So Massively column, I gave my initial impressions of Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem. I found it a thoroughly enjoyable title, despite hewing perhaps…
Warhammer Online rogue server Return of Reckoning WAAAGHs its way to success - So let's talk Warhammer Online for a few minutes, shall we? The cult MMORPG ran for six years from 2008 to 2014, at which point EA Mythic shut it down.…
Steam hits a new peak of 20 million concurrent users thanks to quarantines and social distancing - It's very likely that global quarantines caused by the novel coronavirus have helped matters, but regardless of the reason, Steam concurrency numbers hit a new peak this weekend, topping off…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 263: Cantha or bust
The Stream Team: Wandering the Waterworks wilderness in Dungeons and Dragons Online
The Stream Team: Raiding SWTOR datacrons on Quesh and Ilum
The Stream Team: Ending Ill Omens in Lord of the Rings Online
The Stream Team: EverQuest hits drinking age!
The Stream Team: Underwater adventures in ARK: Genesis
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.
