So that sure was another week in MMOs! World of Warcraft stole the show with its big reveal for Shadowlands and the news that beta is beginning this coming week, Legends of Aria finally launched, Elder Scrolls Online announced Stonethorn, and Ubisoft continued its very public meltdown.
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
World of Warcraft Shadowlands’ beta begins next week - Updates and pics are at the bottom of this post! Welcome back to Eliot liveblogging about Blizzard events. Like you, I thought we were done with this with BlizzCon being…
Elder Scrolls Online announces Stonethorn, its next DLC, includes two-person mounts in tow - [AL:ESO]During its livestream this afternoon, ZeniMax Online Studios busted out with something you probably weren't expecting for The Elder Scrolls Online today, though you knew it was coming eventually: an…
Legends of Aria, Kickstarted in 2014 as Shards Online, has officially left early access and launched - As promised, Legends of Aria officially launched out of early access and into the wild last night. We should also probably say "finally," as this game has been around for…
World of Warcraft Shadowlands: Free gender changes, flying requirements, and six-month sub mount - With World of Warcraft: Shadowlands' beta set for next week, it's starting to feel like there's some actual hype building behind this next expansion. We're learning all sorts of interesting…
Working As Intended: Decorating MMORPG houses in SWG Legends and beyond - I've been mulling over how to do a piece about MMO housing for a while now, spurred on by colleagues and readers who've said they wanted a tour of my…
Vague Patch Notes: Don’t alter MMO systems for people who never liked them to begin with - Here's a concept that just would not leave my mind thanks to World of Warcraft, but it's not a bad thing. But in order to talk about that, first I…
WoW Factor: Dissecting the drips and drabs from the Shadowlands reveal stream - All right. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands kicks off its beta next week. I would kind of like to be involved in that! I am not expecting any miracles. So let's…
Dual Universe is finally entering beta in August – with a subscription model - Long-running MMORPG fansite Gamespot (/s) has just posted the not-so-exclusive-now news that sci-fi MMO Dual Universe is expected to hit beta on August 27th. MMO fans will recall that Dual…
World of Warcraft has its first trans character in the Shadowlands alpha and prepares the Darkmoon Faire on live - The first canonical trans character in World of Warcraft is here in Shadowlands: Pelagos, an aspirant among the Kyrians whose mortal form was that of a woman. The team has…
Flameseeker Chronicles: How Guild Wars 2 keeps meta maps relevant - Lately I’ve been spending a lot of my time in Guild Wars 2 running through the Drizzlewood Coast meta event (be sure to check out our impressions of No Quarter…
The Game Archaeologist: World War II Online - The 1990s saw the rise of flight simulators that thrived on detailed, complicated controls and handling. Such games threw out accessibility and casual-friendliness for stark-raving realism, and a certain subset…
Revelation Online adds an elaborate in-game wedding – but not for same-sex couples - You know, the great part about MMO weddings is that they let you establish your commitment to someone else in a fantasy setting with no obligation to inherit real-world problems…
LOTRO’s Weatherstock XII concert series is this weekend – here’s how and where to join in - OK, Lord of the Rings Online fans. If you can pull yourselves away from the biggest MMO wedding ever, then it's about to be time for one of the most…
EVE Online’s new Training Boost Bundle causes consternation in the community - In space, nobody can hear you scream, but in EVE Online you can hear the distinct wail of a community uproar thanks to the introduction of a $40 Training Boost…
Massively Overthinking: How much should MMOs cost in 2020? - MOP reader Castagere recently wrote to us with a nod to the growing sentiment across the gaming industry that might indicate a shift in the overall cost of a major…
Black Desert console players are getting the new Hashashin class first - Well, this is a decision that will no doubt draw forth reasoned discourse and carefully formatted reactions: Console players of Black Desert will be the first players in the Western…
Guild Wars 2 datamining uncovers a new player guide coming to the game - It's always the right time to welcome new people into your favorite MMO, but sometimes the process of getting them on board can be complicated. But there's good news for…
EA shareholders criticize ‘exorbitant’ executive pay, slam ‘payoffs for layoffs’ - Over the course of June, we covered attempts by Activision-Blizzard shareholders to agitate against the company's "Say-on-Pay" policy, which critics say effectively overpays CEO Bobby Kotick to the tune of…
Desert Oasis: How should Black Desert handle class balance? - Last week, I wrote about how the recent tamer changes in Black Desert resulted in a write-in campaign. Ever since then, I've had game balance on my mind. Class balance…
EVE Online’s CCP Games cancels EVE San Diego and all 2021 events over COVID - April's EVE Fanfest won't be the only EVE Online live event that will succumb to COVID-19, unfortunately: CCP Games announced today that it will also cancel the September San Diego…
Perfect Ten: More time traveling adventures in MMOs - Writers and geeks alike can't seem to get enough of time travel -- and neither can I! Back in 2017, I wrote a list of time traveling adventures in MMOs, but…
Pagan Online is sunsetting its multiplayer servers, but the singleplayer campaign will live on - The 2020 downsizing of MMOs and multiplayer titles into singleplayer ones continues today with the announcement that Pagan Online will shift to a solo-only experience on August 4th. MMO players…
Choose My Adventure: Dungeons and Dragons Online already does so much right - Well, well, well. Consider me pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t really sure what to expect when the voters told me to kick off my Dungeons and Dragons Online adventure, but things…
Guild Wars 2’s latest balancing patch is live as ArenaNet offers summer roadmap - Happy patch day, Guild Wars 2 fans. As we noted last week, Guild Wars 2's latest class balancing update is live today, and now it's here, which means any grumbling you…
Ubisoft devs speak out on their ‘inability to feel safe or protected within’ the studio - You know who's probably breathing a big sigh of relief right now? Riot Games, whose multi-year scandal and lawsuit over sexual harassment and discrimination has been backburnered ever so slightly…
Massively Uplifting: Speech therapy, a college class in WoW, and the Ian Holm tribute that crashed LOTRO - Inside or outside? Like a cat at the door, June had many of us unsure if we wanted to go out or stay in; just as some folks were finally…
Not So Massively: Gatewalkers has huge potential but isn’t there yet - After years of hilariously wrong recommendations, something seems to have clicked with Facebook's algorithms lately to make it finally start showing me relevant ads. This is how I discovered Gatewalkers,…
Wisdom of Nym: The two-month delay of Final Fantasy XIV’s next patch - Well, it turns out this week did not bring much in the way of new information about Final Fantasy XIV patch 5.3. Or... it did, but it only brought one…
The Maelstrom has arrived to Atlas – check out the new trailer - Storm's here, Atlas players (however many of you are still around). As of this past Friday, the Maelstrom update has arrived to the piratical sandbox, along with some fresh patch…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
The Stream Team: A mishmash of Warframe preparations featuring the Xoris
The Stream Team: The Legend of Two-Toed Tobias in Dungeons & Dragons Online
The Stream Team: Celebrating 5 years of Trove
The Stream Team: False Emperors and Hunter Killers in Star Wars: The Old Republic
The Stream Team: Needing that AQ3D nature wisp!
The Stream Team: Merrymaking and matrimony in Lord of the Rings Online’s new Midsummer Festival
The Stream Team: Doing Star Trek Online’s A House Divided
The Stream Team: A non-PvPer’s guide to Elder Scrolls Online’s PvP event (plus antiquities!)
The Stream Team: Touring Astroneer automation set ups
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.
