Massively Overpowered

Wondering how Blizzard's developers choose from the studio's incredible roster of characters and then crafted those selections into Heroes of the Storm's champions? Then you might want to check out this new AMA on Reddit in which two of the MOBA's devs talked about the process of bringing a new hero to the game, such as the recent Kael'Thas...

Remember a couple of weeks ago when Aventurine developer axilmar caused a bit of a stir with an informal poll regarding Darkfall's pre-Unholy Wars incarnation? Apparently the notion has escalated from informal to we're-actively-thinking-about-it. Axilmar posted today on Darkfall's forums that the team is "investigating if it is possible to bring back Darkfall Online from a technical point of view."...

Funcom has announced that its LEGO Minifigures Online is launching "with full cross-platform play this summer." Wait a minute, didn't this game already launch with a free-to-play model in October of 2014? Well, yes. Yes it did. But now it's launching "in an all-new form" as a buy-to-play title on PC, Mac, Linux, and "select" iOS and Android tablets. "No...

If you're looking for Neverwinter's true success story, it might not be on the PC at all. Cryptic Studios announced today that ever since launching on the Xbox One, Neverwinter has racked up an impressive 1.6 million players on the console. Those players have whipped up 2.3 million characters and slayed over a billion bad guys, leaving the Union...

Wargaming has published a video recap of the top 10 moments from its recent Grand Finals 2015 competition. If you want to see some of the planet's best World of Tanks players in the heat of competitive combat, and you want to hear some gooftastic color commentary backing them up, this five-minute clip is for you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJdnW1RNmpE Source: YouTube  

I was discussing MMO business models with some friends this week, and one of them commented that buy-to-play is the best thing ever. I boggled at that because in my experience, buy-to-play is the same silly F2P song and dance that nickels and dimes you for every little in-game thing, only with an added client fee up front. Which sounds fantastic...

When it launches, Forsaken World Mobile will come out of the gate strong with five classes from which to choose. According to the list on the official site, there's the dual-dagger Assassin, the "don't call me healbot" Cleric, the versatile vampire Kindred, the ranged Mage, and the always-reliable Warrior. Currently the title is running an incentive program to encourage players...

In this episode, Larry, Cosmic Engine, Brendan, and Redna debate MMORPG community platforms, guilds, and building strong communities.

A Tale in the Desert's current "telling" -- Tale 6 -- has been running a long time, ever since its debut in 2011. Since then, the game has transitioned to new management and gone extremely quiet. Fortunately it looks as though the Egyptian sandbox's famous reset button will be hit in the near future. Several sources are reporting that Tale...

Long ago on Massively-that-was, a reader named Avaera sent in a long list of fabulous questions worth addressing. I'm tackling another in today's edition of Ask Mo: Would you welcome a large scale roleplaying-enforced MMORPG? One where you simply have to interact with other players in-character? One of the things that I miss most from the transition from playing MUDs...