The MOP Up: Gnomeland Security orders EQ2’s Tinkerfest (July 22, 2018)

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The MMO industry moves along at the speed of information, and sometimes we’re deluged with so much news here at Massively Overpowered that some of it gets backlogged. That’s why there’s The MOP Up: a weekly compilation of smaller MMO stories and videos that you won’t want to miss. Seen any good MMO news? Hit us up through our tips line!

Maybe you’ll discover a new game in this space — or be reminded of an old favorite! This week we have stories and videos from Hearthstone, DC Universe Online, Elsword, EverQuest II, Wild Terra, Riders of Icarus, Dauntless, Realm Royale, Pokemon Go, Escape from Tarkov, War of Rights, and EVE Online, all waiting for you after the break!

Escape from Tarkov roadmap points to open beta and a more hardcore experience

March 6, 2018 Justin Olivetti 4 comments

With lots to do to get Escape from Tarkov ready for the upcoming open beta test, the development team has jettisoned its plans to produce a video summarizing the year previous and elected to jot down a roadmap for the upcoming months.

Obviously, the most important priorities are to get the open beta client for the multiplayer shooter fleshed out, stable, and optimized. The team said that it is focusing down on balance with the hopes of adding new features and locations after the beta arrives.

Past that, the roadmap outlined specific initiatives that the team is undertaking to make the game “more realistic and hardcore” to increase immersion and realism. These efforts will include adding time-consuming magazine loading, mandatory animations if you are trying to heal up, longer restoration time after suffering injuries, smoke grenades, weapon misfires and jamming, drug addictions, faction-specific skills, personal quests, and a flea market. Work is also being done on a new game mode called Arena, although specifics on what this area will entail were not given.

Source: Escape from Tarkov

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The MOP Up: Monster Hunter World merch (January 14, 2018)

January 14, 2018 Justin Olivetti 2 comments

Maybe you’ll discover a new game in this space — or be reminded of an old favorite! This week we have stories and videos from Rend, Sea of Thieves, The Black Death, Warframe, HEX, Fragmented, MU Legend, Final Fantasy XI, Monster Hunter World, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Dota 2, Wurm Online, Ultima Online, and Path of Exile, all waiting for you after the break!

Escape from Tarkov makes final preparations for its open beta

January 7, 2018 Justin Olivetti 13 comments

Don’t get too comfortable, because the real war is about to begin. Right now, Escape from Tarkov’s development team is in the final stage of preparations for the upcoming open beta test.

While there’s no announced date for the open beta test, the team did say that it should be coming in the early part of 2018, perhaps within the month. To make sure that the beta will be as smooth as possible and able to handle the influx of many more testers, Escape from Tarkov ran a New Year event over the holidays to stress test the servers. The team said that the event topped previous population records and greatly increased the game’s presence on Twitch.

“We were able to perform a quality and quantity assessment of the required server base expansion in different regions. New servers are already being ordered to ensure the minimum matching wait time,” the team wrote. “Soon after the next patch we’ll be able to determine a precise open beta start date.”

Source: Escape from Tarkov

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Escape from Tarkov preps massive New Year’s stress test ahead of 2018 open beta

December 7, 2017 Bree Royce Leave a comment

Did you think Christmas came too early this year? One of my hobbies was already rolling out Valentine’s Day hoopla in August, so I feel you. Escape from Tarkov, however, has already moved on to New Year’s. We’ll let this one slide, however, since the game is focused on its open beta launch, so the New Year’s event is really a stress test that kicks off on December 28th and is intended to attract people who’ve never tested before. “Seven-day access to the game will be granted to a part of the players, who will be picked randomly among the total number of subscribers, with bias for those who have been registered earlier,” says the team.

Previous beta testers (and preorder purchasers, of course) will also pick up a pair of week-long access keys to hand out to their mates.

So what’s on the horizon for the game?

Escape from Tarkov adds a small arsenal, eyes open beta, and celebrates Halloween

October 31, 2017 Justin Olivetti 2 comments

What happens when you take a city full of trigger-happy mercs and toss in even more weapons and instruments of destruction? Escape from Tarkov is finding out this week thanks to a “major” update that introduced 70 new items, more communication commands, better optimization, improved starter gear, and advanced weapon handling.

Not stopping to even take a brief break, the dev team is barreling to bigger and better things: “The next important stage in project development will start with the open beta, which is scheduled for launch at the end of 2017. By that time, the game will be expanded with new game mechanics, improvements of existing ones, more optimizations of graphics and network components, as well as additional game content, including new weapons and locations. Also, in the coming months, we plan to localize the game into new languages, including German, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese (Simplified), Polish, Czech, Portuguese, Japanese, and Korean.”

Escape from Tarkov’s beta starts next month

June 28, 2017 Justin Olivetti 4 comments

Enough of this alpha business — it’s time for Escape from Tarkov to grow up and join the beta club. The team announced this week that starting some time in July, the multiplayer shooter will transition into its closed beta program.

“The closed beta will be available to owners of all pre-order editions, regardless of the purchase date,” the team posted. “On this stage, we will introduce major performance optimizations, several new features, and plenty of new content: the new Shoreline location, new weapon parts and modifications, new loot items, a new trader and much more.”

Some of the features of which this statement alludes to includes an insurance system, economic balancing, the MP5 submachine gun, optimization, a new version of Unity, weapon customization parts, and chat channels. The closed beta will cover four locations in total.

Source: Escape from Tarkov

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Prep for the apocalypse with Escape From Tarkov’s hideouts

June 19, 2017 Justin Olivetti One comment

Some people seem to want the apocalypse to happen because they have a really sweet underground bunker that is ready for a test drive. For the rest of us, the closest we might get is Escape From Tarkov’s new Hideouts, which will at least entertain us with the fantasy of our own shelter while the world crumbles around us.

The team announced its player housing system last week, saying, “Our characters need some place to settle down to gain strength, store supplies, stash discovered gear and weapons. In other words, regroup before setting out to achieve the main goal of the game.”

Players will move into an abandoned bomb shelter and work to rebuild it into a functional underground headquarters. There are 13 modules that can be constructed, from bathrooms to medical facilities, and each will bestow a special bonus on characters.

A follow-up Q&A post cleared up some of the finer details about this newly announced system.

The MOP Up: Scorpio’s doomsday device (April 9, 2017)

April 9, 2017 Justin Olivetti One comment

This week we have stories and videos from Pokemon Go, DCUO, Portal Knights, Escape from Tarkov, Final Fantasy XI, LOTRO, World of Tanks, Star Trek Online, Armored Warfare, Tree of Savior, Path of Exile, and Worlds Adrift, all waiting for you after the break!

Escape from Tarkov invites you to fight ‘without rules’ as a third-party scavenger

April 4, 2017 Justin Olivetti One comment

While Escape from Tarkov is ostensibly a two-faction game, it turns out that there’s a third option available to those who don’t want to play nice with others. In the multiplayer shooter’s newest alpha patch, players can now decide to fight as a “Scav,” a third-party scavenger who is out for him or herself.

“Playing as a Scav is like playing the game without rules,” the devs explained, “one where the players can experience quite different gameplay with a focus on reckless abandon. The Scav player is spawned together with AI Scavs. Scav tactics change up the overall style of raid gameplay, and in most cases, complicating the lives of BEAR and USEC players, while also fighting amongst themselves.”

Check out the short gameplay video after the break!

Life is Feudal aims for late 2017 launch, hires on public relations firm

February 1, 2017 Justin Olivetti 13 comments

As Life is Feudal bears down toward its launch window of “late 2017,” it has a new ally to help with getting the word out about this medieval sandbox.

Bitbox Studio announced yesterday that it signed a deal with gaming public relations firm Reverb Communications to assist with the promotion of the MMO. This move should help the already-popular title to expand its audience and prime the MMORPG for a strong launch.

According to the press release, Reverb “will be managing media, streamer, and influencer outreach for the game.” Some of Reverb’s other clients include ARK and Escape from Tarkov. You don’t need a PR firm to get you excited, of course. Perhaps checking out these new screenshots might do the trick all on their own?

Source: Press release

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Escape from Tarkov wraps up its year of development in this 18-minute video

December 30, 2016 Justin Olivetti Leave a comment

Before you jump into 2017 to escape the dystopian horror of this year, you might want to pause for a moment to catch up on all of the developments with Escape from Tarkov, that Russian military first-person shooter that’s been in the works for a while now.

The team said that it is about ready to head into its “extended alpha,” a testing state that will allow for the admittance of most pre-order owners.

Report to the sitrep room for a full rundown of Escape from Tarkov’s development to date, and then prepare yourself for one heck of a battle come next year. The video shows off “the extensive project showcase, demonstration of absolutely new features, review of weapons and locations, as well as study of already implemented game functionality available to the participants of the alpha testing.”

Escape from Tarkov shows off improved alpha photos

October 21, 2016 Justin Olivetti Leave a comment

Escape from Tarkov is in preparation for exiting its alpha state and entering beta testing. To get players excited for this transition and to show off some of the graphical improvements that it’s been making, the team has opened up its photo album to share a half-dozen new pictures with fans.

The team said that what you see will only improve from here: “Upon release, Escape from Tarkov will feature massive upgrades to its visuals, courtesy of significant engine upgrades, which will make the game’s graphics even more lifelike than before.”

Source: Press release

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