World of Warcraft fans of every stripe rejoiced to see the Legion pre-pre-patch drop this week: tmog junkies, lore junkies, animation junkies, website junkies, nostalgia junkies. Well maybe not this guy; maybe he’s still pissed about totems. And definitely not the victims of silencing system abuse and roleplayers, though that last group is at least… being heard.
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
POKEMON MADNESS
Pokemon Go: Fatwas, maps, lawsuits, and Kirby’s call-out
EverChaosing: Adapting Pokemon Go for The Secret World and EverQuest II
Pokemon Go: $35M revenue, movie deals, and the US government
Global Chat: Pokemon GO mania sweeps the world
Pokemon Go: Land mines, crashing into cop cars, language, and fads
Pokemon Go players look for better disability options and snag a companion app
Pokemon Go Game of Thrones and other Pokemon news
Leaderboard: Is Pokemon GO an MMORPG?
Ingress opens up a streak of portals along the US west coast
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
First impressions of Nexon’s Riders of Icarus - Earlier this month, the latest addition to Nexon’s perpetually expanding stable of MMORPGs, Riders of Icarus, took wing into its “soft launch,” or open beta, whichever meaningless term you happen to…
Here’s your World of Warcraft: Legion pre-expansion patch survival guide - While you might make it just fine in life without a "survival guide" to an MMORPG patch, why take that risk? In preparation for tomorrow's World of Warcraft: Legion pre-expansion…
Guild Wars 2’s Queen Jennah addresses the citizens of Kryta; Divinity’s Reach is so doomed - Guild Wars 2 is continuing its rollout of teasers leading up to the launch of its third living world season next week. Today's entry is another in-character lore piece dressed…
Perfect Ten: Older PC games that would make for great MMOs - Video games had a huge impact on my childhood and teenage years, imprinting themselves onto my psyche for all of the struggles and elation that they produced. While I did…
Lord of the Rings Online has ‘big’ plans for Mordor - [AL:LOTRO]Hold fast to hope, Lord of the Rings Online players, for Turbine has not forgotten about you. Following a revelation that a possible expansion is in the works for Dungeons…
Threats against Blizzard Entertainment lead to a Sacramento man’s arrest - Maybe you're upset with the class changes in World of Warcraft. Maybe you're disappointed with character balance in Overwatch. Maybe you have specific heroes you want to see in Heroes…
Massively Overthinking: The golden age of MMORPGs - This week's Massively Overthinking is a serious one from our dear Patreon patron Duane. Here's the jumping off point for his topic: "There has lately been an attitude on various…
Wisdom of Nym: Why I adore Final Fantasy XIV’s Deep Dungeon - [AL:FFXIV]Let me start by getting my biggest beef with the Palace of the Dead out of the way right off: I don't like the fact that we only have two…
Revelation Online’s class trailer offers six tempting playstyles - [AL:Rev]When it comes to upcoming games, one of the most pressing questions for any player is which class he or she will choose for a main. Revelation Online is not…
World of Warcraft preps new site, fixes the cross-realm RP mess - The World of Warcraft site has gone through a number of changes and overhauls over the years, so don't act too surprised to see Blizzard doing it once again. The…
Take a sneak peek at Guild Wars 2’s newest map - Revenge is coming! Revenge is coming! Lock up your puppies and your kittens because nothing will be safe when Guild Wars 2 goes on a rampage. Actually, it's just a…
WildStar lights a fire under PvP with its Battle Chase event - You know how your parents would sometimes outright bribe you to do something you were scared of or hated? Don't put it past an MMO to apply the same tactics…
Star Wars: The Old Republic devs get cagey on the subject of new ops and classes - [AL:TOR]Will Star Wars: The Old Republic ever get new operations instead of just more episodic story releases? According to a private Q&A session with developers recently, the answer is... maybe?…
No Man’s Sky offers new trailer on trade - What's better than re-watching old trailers while waiting for No Man’s Sky to launch on the PS4 in a little over two weeks? How about watching a new trailer! Hello…
World of Warcraft drops more pre-Legion lore at SDCC ’16 - There's going to be quite a bit of lore in World of Warcraft to lead up to the release of Legion, but not every story is one that players would…
Final Fantasy XIV bans more than 6,000 accounts for RMT - [AL:FFXIV]Making money in Final Fantasy XIV isn't necessarily easy. You have to play the free market quite a bit to acquire large amounts of gil, and you can sometimes make…
Naval warfare is coming to Black Desert in Q4 2016 - Yesterday we noted that Black Desert is currently introducing naval warfare in the MMO's Korean version. Today, we have confirmation that these sea battles will be coming to the west no…
Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is now on sale for one week - There are always those people who, no matter how bad they want to buy something, will always wait for the desired item to go on sale. For those thrifty souls who…
Dungeons and Dragons Online teases possible third expansion - Believe it or not, a third expansion for Dungeons and Dragons Online could be in the cards for the fantasy game. Responding to players' concern over DDO's uncertain future, Executive Producer…
Hyperspace Beacon: Wild speculation about SWTOR’s Knights of the Eternal Throne - Who else was disappointed by the Star Wars: The Old Republic presentation at Star Wars Celebration over the weekend? I had really hoped that it would be more, but I…
Sword Coast Legends is available today on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One - Players who have been eagerly anticipating the console launch of Sword Coast Legends will no longer be able to anticipate that launch. It's happening today, you see. You can't anticipate…
Final Fantasy XIV hits 6M registered players, patches in the Deep Dungeon - [AL:FFXIV]Final Fantasy XIV has now "drawn in over six million cumulative players globally - excluding free trial - in under three years," according to a Square-Enix press release this morning.…
The Soapbox: Calling an MMO launch a launch - It's launch. Can we collectively accept that? Marketing, developers, and players alike? Launch is launch. When your game launches, it has launched. If I can reach another decade on this…
MMO Mechanics: Creating engaging crafting mechanics - I'm currently bogged down in an over-the-shoulder crafting blur, vicariously depleting gold and recommending several YouTube-approved crazy material gathering runs as I get my husband acquainted with Guild Wars 2's crafting…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 74: Go Pokémon Go!
Battle Bards Episode 78: EverQuest
The Stream Team: Testing the shark taming cage in ARK
The Stream Team: Showing off (and giving away) SMITE’s Erlang Shen
The Stream Team: Assisting Dr. Varias in The Secret World
The Stream Team: Chasing Revan in SWTOR
The Stream Team: Attempting Grand Theft Auto Online’s new Cunning Stunts
The Stream Team: Becoming a true thief in The Elder Scrolls Online
The Stream Team: Looking for the perfect spot in Landmark
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
New WoW Legion comic Anduin: Son of the Wolf
BlizzCon 2016 goody bag unboxing video reveals Blizzard drinking stein and more
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.
