Massively Overpowered

We gave out a lot of awards this month for things games did in 2015, and we talked about what we think will happen in 2016. But what about what we wish would happen next year? Do you have hopes and dreams about our genre's upcoming year? If you could make one single wish about the coming year of MMOs,...

The first month of operation is a tumultuous time for any new title. Devilian feels as if it were just announced, but it launched back on December 10th, and the community has been plowing through its content along the way. The newest producer's letter for the game takes a look at the overall launch environment, which was positive aside...

Massively OP's end-of-the-year awards continue today with our blooper award for Best MMO Milking Sim. And the winner is... Project Gorgon What, did you think this award was just an excuse to pick on early access or crowdfunding "milking"? Not this time! Project Gorgon is the best MMO in which you can milk animals. In fact, Justin tells me you can milk other...

If you've ever thought that the Bartle test was a bit outdated, game analytics consulting firm Quantic Foundry has a new gamer psych chart for you. This past week, it released its Gamer Motivation Model, which groups gamer types into three "clusters of motivations" joined by "discovery" and "power" bridges. In the bottom-right orange cluster, there’s an Action-Social cluster that combines the interest...

Being able to clearly understand what a card does and how it can be used is the subject of a new designer insights video from Hearthstone. Lead Designer Ben Brode explains how an online game differs a little from a physical one in this regard: "Consistency is wildly important in physical card games. Because in a physical card game the only...

Skyforge's Pantheon Wars are gradually coming to a close, taking no prisoner and sparing no hurt feelings. The Allods Team is already preparing for the bloody coda, Tessa Temple Battles, and prepped a dev blog to talk about this staged conflict. Tessa Temple Battles are 10v10 fights between warring pantheons that each control a celestial temple for the goal of...

This year, we're taking a time-machine back through our MMO coverage, month by month, to hit the highlights and frame our journey before we head into 2016. I'm not sure which MMO had a worse May: WildStar, which finally admitted it was going free-to-play this month, or World of Warcraft, which lost three million subscriptions in three months. May also played host...

Istaria -- the MMO that will forever be linked to its former title of Horizons with any mention of it, making one wonder why the name change was needed -- just blew out the candles on its 12th birthday cake. Believe it or not, this game has been chugging along since 2003! So what did Istaria and its community wish for...

Many families have a holiday tradition of going out to see the Christmas lights. But why force yourself to bundle up to go out? You can do the same thing in Landmark without leaving your living room! Join Massively OP's MJ as she tours the special holiday foundation museum to check out all the decorations that players have created....

There is no way we can list all of the great updates in a given year. It's not possible. We are always going to have a bunch of personal bias creeping into things; it's inevitable, and there are updates that get missed or otherwise lose out in the court of opinion. I mean, let's be honest, how many people actually...