With Blizzard’s Diablo IV open beta wrapping up tomorrow, the multiplayer world is certainly wrapped up in excitement and/or queues; our own previewers found the experience a bit of a mixed bag.
On the MMORPG front, we were treated to Lord of the Rings Online’s Return to Carn Dûm update, speculation on a WoW Classic permadeath mode, the impending resurrection of Derek Smart’s Alganon, and the first whisper of the next game CCP Games will cancel.
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
First impressions of Diablo IV: Resurrecting Diablo II once again - If franchise media has taught us anything, it's that sequels which take risks and aren't universally beloved cause the parent company to panic and yank the next entry back to…
Not So Massively: Diablo IV’s beta brings the horror, but not the fun - I have been pretty critical of the direction of Diablo IV so far, but franchise loyalty and professional obligation nonetheless led me to accept the offer of a press invite…
CCP Games officially unveils plans for a new blockchain game set within the EVE Online universe - For many players, it was probably a matter of when EVE Online developer CCP Games would dip into the blockchain gaming space, not whether, especially since publisher Pearl Abyss cited…
Derek Smart posts video for impending return of 14-year-old MMORPG Alganon - The story of Alganon has not always been a pretty one, as we've covered as far back as 2010, when a row started between then game president David Allen and…
Here’s how Blizzard is addressing Diablo IV’s connection issues, crashes, and audio bugs - Blizzard already warned players of a bumpy ride through this weekend's open beta test of Diablo IV, and sure enough, tough times have indeed arrived in regards to queues and…
Blizzard warns of ‘lengthy queue times’ ahead of Diablo IV’s open beta today - OK, Diablo IV fans: If you didn't participate in the first beta, didn't preorder the game, didn't eat your chicken, or did all that and just want another crack at…
Lord of the Rings Online’s Return to Carn Dûm launches today with new dungeons and the Warden/Captain revamps - It's patch day for Lord of the Rings Online, and update 35 is is no small patch: It's Return to Carn Dûm, which rolls out a trio of dungeons and…
Casually Classic: How permadeath runs are revitalizing WoW Classic - While I don't have any hard data on the subject, just observing the World of Warcraft Classic scene (and ABK's financials) over the past couple years leads me to the…
PvPvE dungeon crawler Dark and Darker was booted off Steam over stolen code allegations - Back in February during the Steam Next Fest demo event, we cast a light on Dark and Darker, a first-person PvPvE dungeon crawler from developer Ironmace that saw opposing teams…
PAX East 2023: Final Fantasy XIV’s Naoki Yoshida teases crossover with Final Fantasy XVI - With Final Fantasy XVI on the way, it makes logical sense that people would ask producer and director Naoki Yoshida if Final Fantasy XIV would feature some sort of crossover event.…
MMO Burnout: Mass Effect’s Legendary Edition modernizes a classic - Most MMO players will admit to feeling the need to step away from the multiplayer genre from time to time. This seems especially true for those enjoying PvP games, which…
Nexon dives further into NFT and blockchain games with MapleStory N and a MapleStory Universe ecosystem - Readers might remember that Nexon's push into crypto has gone as one might expect, with $40M disappearing into the void in 2021 and continued losses reported in last year's fourth…
Activision-Blizzard’s diversity and inclusion goals are out of sync with its corporate action - Activision-Blizzard has released a full-year review of its diversity, equity, and inclusion stats for 2022 this week, and the first thing readers will notice is that the data aren't notably…
Vague Patch Notes: The objective truth of ‘objectivity’ in games journalism - All right, folks, real talk: Originally there was going to be a much more sober and depressing column this week, but then this week happened, and while I don't really…
Dungeons and Dragons Online hands out free questing coupons to all - I've long held the opinion that Dungeons and Dragons Online is one of the more underrated MMORPGs on the market, especially with its narration, puzzle solving, intricate character progression, and…
Star Citizen talks up the future of tractor beams while fixes for alpha 3.18 continue to inch along - Star Citizen would very much like it if people could focus on what's next for a bit as the Inside Star Citizen videos continue to roll out, with this week…
Bungie says it will ‘honor Lance Reddick’s presence through his performances yet to come’ in Destiny 2 - A week ago, the world found out that actor Lance Reddick had passed away, and as we chronicled, the Destiny 2 community mobilized with memorials and petitions, knowing Reddick was…
Mad World drops new trailer, promises to reveal launch date next week - Mad World studio Jandisoft says it's not worried about launching against Diablo IV, but it's surely not an accident that it's dropped a brand-new trailer just ahead of its biggest…
Massively Overthinking: The times MMO developers admitted they were… wrong - Earlier in March, Jagex did the unthinkable for an MMORPG company: It admitted it was wrong about something. If you're used to the Blizzards of the world, you know that…
Elite Dangerous delays update 15 and ‘major feature rework,’ re-opens console transfers in April - I'm afraid that while the latest Elite Dangerous missive was seemingly intended to bring players into the loop of the game's current development, it's left many gamers even more confused…
For Science: Crit-Rate is another survey-driven attempt to match gamer personalities to games - I have to admit I almost deleted the press release for this story without reading it, but my finger twitched, and let me tell you why: One of the most…
Wisdom of Nym: What will a new producer mean for Final Fantasy XI? - So we were pretty surprised yesterday when Square-Enix announced Akihiko Matsui would step away as the producer of Final Fantasy XI after a decade working on the title. It's a…
World of Warcraft’s Ion Hazzikostas discusses the underused Work Orders and plans for character customization in a new interview - If you've looked at the work orders available on your server in World of Warcraft and found that there, uh... aren't any, you aren't alone. A new interview with game…
Ship of Heroes’ arrival on Steam is imminent as Heroic is still planning launch in 2023 - Earlier this year, we noted that superhero MMORPG Ship of Heroes was eyeing an arrival on Steam, and as of today, it's finally happening. Or at least, is about to happen;…
Final Fantasy XI producer Akihiko Matsui passes the torch to Yoji Fujito - After a decade of leading the team behind Final Fantasy XI, producer Akihiko Matsui announced today that he will be stepping down from his role and Yoji Fujito will be…
Antitrust lawsuit filed by gamers against Microsoft is tossed, but lawyers say they’ll resubmit - During the latter half of December, we reported on an antitrust lawsuit filed by gamers against Microsoft. The suit argued that Microsoft's buyout of Activision-Blizzard violated a specific antitrust act…
Fight or Kite: Faeria is a cross between a card game and skirmishing boardgame - Look, up in the sky! It’s a card game! It’s a skirmishing boardgame! It’s Faeria! Yes, it's Faeria, a strange digital mashup from developer Abrakam Entertainment, who came to Steam…
Perfect Ten: A primer on 10 very basic MMO fight mechanics - When the first two humans decided to get into a fight, they were just pushing one another and telling the other person to quit it, that hurts. Then one of…
Destiny 2 actor Lance Reddick was an active player of the game right before his passing - It would be easy to assume that actors of pathos who are part of a video game's voice cast would simply get into the recording studio, put down their lines,…
First impressions of Destiny 2’s Lightfall – through the lens of a long-lapsed player - Destiny 2 and I have a long and kind of weird history. I was along for the ride when this game first launched primarily because I had enough fun with…
New World’s new video suggests season passes should take around 50 hours to complete - The latest edition of New World's Forged in Aeternum dev vlog is all about the game's upcoming seasonal monetization and cadence. Amazon creative director David Verfaillie, along with Patrick Smedley…
Star Citizen focuses on deploying alpha 3.18.1 patch as a fix for the game’s ongoing issues - As the players and devs of Star Citizen continue to wrestle with the game's ongoing alpha 3.18 issues, new word on progress is being shared in CIG's weekly event calendar,…
World of Warcraft patch expands Monk options and returns to the Forbidden Reach today - It may not be the huge World of Warcraft patch that's still on the way for the near future (that would be Update 10.1), but today's 10.0.7 release may be…
Twitch lays off 400 workers following CEO’s resignation - If you thought that Emmett Shear, the former CEO of Twitch, resigning abruptly after 16 years last week to spend more time with his family was a little bit sus,…
Square-Enix is still all-in on its NFT game, Symbiogenesis - Square-Enix has made no bones about its excitement to throw good money after bad on the pyre of NFT and crypto gaming, with its highlighted foray being Symbiogenesis, which readers…
Wisdom of Nym: Potential destinations for Final Fantasy XIV’s next expansion - Let me say this upfront: While I will occasionally point out that I probably know more than the average Final Fantasy XIV fan about what's going on behind the scenes…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 414: EverQuesting on and on
Ship of Heroes’ arrival on Steam is imminent as Heroic is still planning launch in 2023
The Stream Team: Returning to retired weapons in Dauntless
The Stream Team: Celebrating 10 years of Warframe Space Ninjas
The Stream Team: AQ3D’s Nulgath Saga moves Into the Oversoul
The Stream Team: A quick visit to Uncharted Waters Online for a little comparison voyage
The Stream Team: Reclaiming the Rock in Neverwinter
The Stream Team: Backseat Streaming looks at Lord of the Rings Online
The Stream Team: A spot of endgame bounty hunts and instance running in Destiny 2
The Stream Team: Guild Wars 2 present-palooza and the Battle for Lion’s Arch
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.
