ALL THE POSTS
Here’s how EverQuest and EverQuest II 2024 progression servers – Anashti Sul, Teek, and Tormax – will work
When Daybreak dropped producer letters for EverQuest and EverQuest II earlier this month, the MMORPG fanbase immediately started buzzing about the new progression servers on deck - and this week, the studio is beginning to explain a lot more about what players can expect from them.
Let's start with EverQuest II, since it's actually gunning for the Origins server beta...
Elite Dangerous shares additional details on engineering updates and pre-built ship bundles
Yesterday saw Frontier Developments enrage the Elite: Dangerous playerbase when it announced plans to sell pre-built ship bundles in its cash shop, with many players calling the move tantamount to pay-to-win. Shortly after that reveal, Frontier posted a follow-up explainer that gave complete details about two of these upcoming cash shop bundles.
The two pre-built ship bundles that were shown...
Homecoming celebrates City of Heroes’ 20th anniversary with a Paragon Studios dev Q&A
Believe it or not, this week marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of the original City of Heroes - and naturally, the officially licensed Homecoming-branded City of Heroes servers are planning a fitting celebration. Didn't you just love reading the words "officially licensed" just now? Same, my friends. Same.
Beginning on April 30th, the game worlds will begin spawning...
Fallout 76’s population spikes to one million players in one day thanks to the TV series
The Fallout franchise really is taking the world by storm this month, largely thanks to the super-successful Amazon Prime series (which already has been renewed for a second season). And since a rising tide lifts all boats, the popularity of the TV show has given new life to all of the Fallout games, with Fallout 76 and Fallout 4...
Kakao’s western version of ArcheAge is sunsetting in June
I'm sorry to report this morning that the western version of ArcheAge is apparently shutting down: While we were sleeping, Kakao announced that it will sunset its ArcheAge servers come June 27th, 2024. Its final content update rolls out today as the Discord is locked to new participants.
"After discussing the performance of ArcheAge with XL Games at length, we...
The Daily Grind: Which MMORPG with level scaling handles it worst?
Considering the fact that every MMORPG is in a war of content basically forever, I say it makes sense that they would embrace level scaling to some extent. From syncing people to lower levels for quests or specific experiences to just changing the whole world to sync with your level, it's harder to find a game that doesn't make...
The Stream Team: Indoctrination via Party Animals weaponry
Last time, Massively OP's Larry managed to wiggle his way out of his second Party Animals showing (unintentionally, he insists!). MJ and Chris won't be letting him get away this time. No, they must fully indoctrinate him in the art of plushy warfare. Indoctrination via weaponry. Sounds totally legit, right? Tune in live at 8:00 p.m. as this trio...
Former Fortnite lead dev talks about how live events were sacrificed to build a multi-game metaverse
As most people have now noticed, Fortnite has made some pretty sweeping changes, from a survival shooter to battle royale to a place where live events happened, right up to its most recent transformation into a platform of new games and different bespoke experiences. If you happen to be among those left wondering just what the heck happened to...
Sea of Thieves previews April updates, elaborates on PS5 server woes, and confirms the return of six ship servers
The new and the next are once more available to Sea of Thieves fans in moving pictures form, as the sandbox's latest news digest video provides a look at what's coming for the final parts of April, discusses the pre-order beta woes on PS5, and grants a look ahead at updates coming later this spring.
The video begins with a...
New World elaborates on the design of the eight artifacts added with Season of the Guardian
Amazon's latest New World dev blog isn't going to shake any foundations with breaking news, but it does deep-dive the new artifacts added in Season of the Guardian earlier this month. System designer Isaiah Cartwright goes through all eight new artifacts and more specifically why Amazon chose them for implementation. In most cases, especially for the weapons, they filled...
Lost Ark maps out new raids, continent, and progression systems coming through July 2024
If you can believe it, we're almost a third of the way into 2024, which means we're due for more roadmaps out of Amazon - including roadmaps for Lost Ark's next quarter of content.
According to the studio, May will see the wind-down of the Thaemine chapter with an epilogue quest, Shadow of the Moon, to cap off the storyline,...
Game devs are concerned about the sustainability of live-service titles
It certainly feels like live service is being tacked on to many recent game releases (whether it makes sense or not), which of course leads to worries among gamers and industry watchers that the walls of this bubble are likely to burst soon. If it's any consolation, most game developers reportedly feel the same way, at least if data...
Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis marks three years with Halpha’s Super Origin Festival
Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis is kicking off a celebration of its third anniversary this week with a big event that has a similarly big mouthful of a name: Halpha's Super Origin Festival.
Starting today, April 24th, through June 4th, players will be able to crack into 10 free scratch ticket lockboxes a day up to a total of...
The Stream Team: Map clearing and exploration with a friend in Cat Quest II
MOP's Chris and his best friend are once again coming together for some more Cat Quest II adventuring! When we last left our cat and dog duo, they were nearing the end of the main quest, which means it's time to divert to side activities instead! Join them today at 2:00 p.m. EDT for the pun-filled fun!
What: Cat Quest...
Steam is altering the early access refund deal – pray it does not alter it any further
If ever you needed another reason not to purchase or play games in early access, Valve has stepped forward to give you a huge one with the latest update to Steam's refund agreement: It's now going to count time played in early access against the refund timer, meaning that sinking more than two hours into an early access game...
Pax Dei testing wrestles with stability and bugs, Abyss testing adds refinements and dragon attacks
It's been a busy time for the developing sandbox MMORPGs of Pax Dei and Abyss, as both games entered into their respective alphas this month and have been tackling a bunch of expected issues along the way.
We'll begin with Pax Dei, which has elected to keep its information stuffed in Discord. Most of the news here is focused on...
The Wagadu Chronicles has released its Dungeons & Dragons 5E-compatible tabletop rulebook
You may or may not feel that The Wagadu Chronicles as it currently exists in its playable state is delivering on its premise. We're not here to litigate that. But if you feel the game's setting is interesting enough to draw you in anyhow, perhaps you'd like it more in tabletop form? Yes, the game's long-awaited tabletop rulebook (compatible...
Perfect Ten: Great MMO April Fools’ Day pranks from back in the day
There are two types of people on April 1st: those who are annoyed and indifferent to the tomfoolery going on all around them, and those who gleefully embrace the zany antics and bald-faced lies. For the record, I am of the latter crowd. I love April Fools' Day and the humor and creativity that it inspires. While this day...
Community-led Infantry Online, SOE’s 25-year-old shooter, marches its way onto Steam
It's quite likely that we have several veterans of Infantry Online in our Massively OP audience. After all, this was a Sony Online Entertainment game from back in the EverQuest glory days (around 1999) that developed a loyal cult following. Infantry lasted until 2012, after which it was revived as the Free Infantry rogue server by the community. In...
Vitae Aeternum: So just what is New World’s big June announcement?
For the past few months, Amazon Games has repeated the same mantra in regards to New World's future: Wait for the announcement in June. But what will this announcement be? Let's take a look at some of the possibilities.
There's two popular fan theories on what the big ticket feature of the announcement will be, and I'll talk about those,...
