It was another giant week for the MMORPG genre: Star Citizen pulled in an extraordinary amount of money on ship sales during CitizenCon, Star Wars: The Old Republic released its Blur trailer for Knights of the Eternal Throne, testers leaked what may be a huge spoiler for Guild Wars 2’s next update, and The Elder Scrolls Online launched One Tamriel and teased next year’s housing patch.
Meanwhile, we delivered our impressions of Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade (parts one and two) as well as our deep-dive into Trion’s Atlas Reactor, which launched this week. Stay tuned for our upcoming reports on Final Fantasy XIV’s rumored expansion from Fanfest this week, and read on for the rest of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Star Citizen’s CitizenCon kicks off today - Star Citizens are focused on exactly one thing this weekend. (Well, two if you're in Florida, in which case you're probably fleeing for your life, and godspeed.) I'm talking about…
Launch impressions of Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade, part one - In the grim darkness of the future, there is only war. That may be unfortunate for the inhabitants of the planet Arkhona and the rest of the Warhammer 40,000 universe,…
Launch impressions of Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade, part two - On Monday, I delivered to you the first part of my impressions of the newly launched Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade, laying out both the basics of the game and whether it…
Here are the basics of Elder Scrolls Online’s race-based housing system, coming ‘early 2017’ - With the gold edition out and One Tamriel live, Elder Scrolls Online players have just one word on their lips: housing. And ZeniMax means to deliver! The studio has promised…
Elder Scrolls Online’s One Tamriel is live along with ‘Trip of a Lifetime’ sweepstakes - The Elder Scrolls Online's One Tamriel is live today on PC, introducing a revamped world where all the level-locking content gates have crumbled to dust and you can now take your…
Atlas Reactor launch impressions: Who should step into this eclectic PvP arena? - [AL:Atlas]As Massively OP's SWTOR and Elder Scrolls Online columnist and an unapologetic MMORPG fan, I'm not usually the first person people turn to when looking for an expert on lobby-based PvP games,…
Star Wars: The Old Republic’s ‘Betrayed’ Blur trailer is finally here – all of it - [AL:TOR]After trickling out a pair of teaser videos over the past week, Star Wars: The Old Republic is finally unveiling its brand-new Blur cinematic trailer, dubbed "Betrayed." Betrayed offers a…
WoW Factor: A WoW Legion wishlist - Legion is humming along nicely as we near the two-month mark. It's still got that decent balance of having enough to do that you're unlikely to get bored without so…
RIFT’s Starfall Prophecy open beta begins October 13; Trion shows off Ashenfell - Update! Trion has just announced that Starfall Prophecy's open beta will begin in just a week on October 13th! [AL:Rift]Looking for a vacation spot for your antics in RIFT: Starfall…
Marvel Heroes: Out with the omega system, in with the infinity system - Gazillion Lead Systems Designer TheArtofRawr is back with another Marvel Heroes design blog this weekend. Previously he's discussed hero powers and item updates, but this one is on the infinity system, and…
Albion Online extends its beta deep into 2017 - To the chagrin of its playerbase, Albion Online has announced that it's significantly extending the duration of its current beta phase deep into next year. "Compared to Beta 1, we have…
Massively OP’s guide to the best upcoming indie MMORPGs, part three - Over the last couple of weeks, we shared with you part one and part two of our guide to the best upcoming and current indie MMORPGs on the market. Naturally, there were…
Guild Wars 2 changes course on its economy and PvP - [AL:GW2]Guild Wars 2's resident economist John Smith made an announcement on the official forums yesterday, and no, it wasn't about butter, but it was almost as weird: In a roundabout…
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV Fanfest predictions - [AL:FFXIV]There's a mild trend on Twitter as I write this for Final Fantasy XIV predictions. It makes sense; after all, the fan festival is in just a bit over a…
Warframe staffer slammed with death threat over recent patch - [AL:WarF]Earlier in the week, Digital Extremes made several announcements about upcoming Warframe content. One of those announcements included the revelation that The War Within is more than a month away,…
Massively Overthinking: Hopes and fears for Amazon’s New World - The announcement of a new sandbox MMORPG last week -- New World, by none other than Amazon Game Studios itself -- has had both the Massively OP community and the…
Flameseeker Chronicles: Fully unpacking Guild Wars 2’s Rising Flames - [AL:GW2]I've been aching to share more of my thoughts about Guild Wars 2's second Living World instalment for Season 3 and am finally convinced that enough time has passed for most of…
EverQuest: Empires of Kunark goes live November 16th - EverQuest fans will be able to return to Kunark for more adventures when the 23rd expansion releases on November 16th. Empires of Kunark focuses on the rise and clash of…
Perfect Ten: MMORPGs with vehicle avatars - When you take a step back and look at the broad MMO genre, you see some common threads that run through most games. One of these is that pretty much…
Valve ordered to ‘stop facilitating gambling’ by regulatory body; CS:GO gambling class action dismissed - The Washington State Gambling Commission is cracking down on CS:GO skin gambling and ordering Valve to "stop facilitating gambling" and "immediately stop allowing the transfer of virtual weapons known as 'skins'…
EverQuest II’s Kunark Ascending expansion launches November 15 - If you've been eagerly awaiting new EverQuest II content, you still have another six weeks to go: Kunark Ascending will be going live on November 15th. On that date, those who have…
Hyperspace Beacon vs. Tamriel Infinium: An unpopular opinion on SWTOR and ESO lockboxes - I expect to come under fire for the opinion I'm expressing today for a couple of reasons. [pullquote]Hyperspace Beacon and Tamriel Infinium are our biweekly columns on Star Wars: The Old…
No Man’s Sky subreddit temporarily melts down over moderator frustration - The No Man's Sky subreddit was nuked briefly overnight thanks to the frustration of the mods, who say they debated for several hours last night over just what to do with the angry…
Blade & Soul introduces Ebondrake Citadel and the Tower of Memory - It's the most wonderful day of the week for fans of Blade & Soul because it's patch day. Not only does this patch include the new Ebondrake Citadel, it also…
Blizzard denies saying WoW Legion has 10.1 million subscriptions - Blizzard has denied part of a translation of a Polish-language magazine article that appears to show World of Warcraft Leader Designer Tom Chilton quoting 10.1 million active subscribers for the…
CCP announces Daydream-exclusive EVE Gunjack sequel called Gunjack 2: End of Shift - As part of Google's epic Daydream View announcements today, CCP revealed that it's working on a sequel to EVE Gunjack called Gunjack 2: End of Shift, exclusively for the Daydream…
Scare your friends to death in Funcom’s Hide and Shriek - What's Halloween without a little mischief and prank-pulling? Funcom is getting into the fun of the holiday with the imminent release of a new game, Hide and Shriek. In this…
Rumor: Possible Guild Wars 2 leak teases future content destination - An image that may show a map where Guild Wars 2 players might be headed in a future update for the game has been circulating on Reddit today. We'll be…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 85: A whole New World
The Stream Team: ARK Allosaurus pack is on the hunt
The Stream Team: Leaving the safety of Shroud of the Avatar’s cities
The Stream Team: Sneaking around The Secret World’s Solomon Island
The Stream Team: Touring Black Desert’s capital of Calpheon
The Stream Team: Playing Paladins and giving away Ying Snapdragon codes
The Stream Team: SMITE’s charity challenge finale
The Stream Team: Atlas Reactor’s head start
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
Celebrate Blizzard’s 25th anniversary at BlizzCon
Does it really matter how many players WoW has?
Easier alt advancement in patch 7.1, plus WoW hotfixes
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.
