MOP’s Justin has joked, darkly, that the Ashes of Creation fiasco is shaping up to be the next-gen 38 Studios, and I am sad to admit he is probably right – it’s another failed MMORPG that we’ll be stuck talking about for the next 10 years thanks to lawsuits and countersuits that most definitely will never amount to getting to play or be refunded for the MMO. That motif continued this week as former Intrepid boss Steven Sharif filed a lawsuit of his own. Here we go.
Meanwhile, Project Gorgon is doing so well we just wanna squeeze its lil cheeks, CCP Games just couldn’t resist trying to shove AI nobody needs or wants into EVE Online, and Star Trek Online is full of Corruption. You know, the season, Corruption. Never mind.
Read on to catch up with the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions today as every Sunday (since 2010!) in Massively Overpowered’s Week in Review!
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Casually Classic: WoW Classic is all about the chill, not the thrill – In the Venn diagram comparing WoW Classic and Lord of the Rings Online, there’s a large overlapping section that simply says “chill gameplay.” And that’s probably why I appreciate both…
Ashes of Creation’s Steven Sharif files bombshell lawsuit against ‘Intrepid’s rogue board of directors’ – Over the weekend, we reported on the tea-spill from Jason Caramanis, an Intrepid Studios investor who blamed Ashes of Creation’s implosion on studio head Steven Sharif. According to Caramanis’ allegations, Sharif…
EVE Online has begun testing an optional AI-driven guidance system to help newbie retention – A month ago, EVE Online players were buzzing about what dataminers had dug up on the test server: references to the computerized tutorial guidance system that helps newbies, but swapped…
Perfect Ten: 10 deserted MMOs that feel like the liminal space Backrooms – While we’re used to seeing low population MMORPGs, what about no population games? What would it be like to log into an online world where you’re the only person around –…
Star Trek Online’s season 35 aka Corruption has officially launched – here’s the new trailer – Star Trek Online fans, get in there and start boldly going: Corruption has officially arrived on PC as of this afternoon. “Kicking off Star Trek Online’s 16th anniversary celebrations, Arc…
First Impressions: Witchspire has charming visuals and promise, but the demo is a bit rough – The moment I first saw Witchspire was a thing, I knew the exact people in my life for whom the title alone was an alluring promise. I’m not exaggerating with that; there…
Vague Patch Notes: MMORPGs are less different than you think – Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken was published in August of 1915, and it has endured an immense popularity since then. Many people can quote the last couplet of…
Project Gorgon is closing in on 6000 subscribers – yeah, an MMORPG dev told us its sub count – Hey, who likes a weekend patch? Well, too bad because you’re getting another one in Project Gorgon this weekend as the tiny crew at Elder Game is busy busy busy.…
‘We believe [Nightingale] has a future,’ Inflexion says as it adds crossplay and an 80% off sale – I was surprised yesterday to realize that Nightingale had patched up on my Steam Deck without a peep from the devs, but I had only to be patient: Inflexion has…
Fight or Kite: A closer look at Eldegarde’s Paladin and Wizard classes – I said it, and I’m actually going to deliver on it this time: I’m bringing you back to another round of Eldegarde. That’s Notorious Studios’ recent mini-MMO, which primarily plays…
Elder Scrolls Online aims to make 17 mounts available to purchase with gold next month – March 9th is shaping up to be a significant boon for Elder Scrolls Online’s community, as ZeniMax is prepping Update 49 and an array of player-requested improvements. These include free…
‘I think we’re gonna win this’: Stop Killing Games on game preservation in the US and EU – Last week, YouTuber Ross Scott shared an update on the Stop Killing Games movement and its upcoming visit to the European Union Commission, which will see the campaign officially provide…
World of Warcraft’s Midnight info blitz continues with launch, raid, and delve schedules – We’ve been chuckling in the Massively OP office over Blizzard’s insanely packed infodump that it’s been doing this week for World of Warcraft’s Midnight expansion. Instead of one or maybe…
Massively Overthinking: If you could delete one class or skill from your favorite MMORPG… – This week’s Massively Overthinking is inspired by a tweet I saw from SMITE, of all games, where the Hi-Rez devs asked players to propose one god to delete from the…
Pax Dei confirms a February 20 release date for its big crafting-focused update – Crafters and gatherers of Pax Dei, your sun is about to rise and cast its warm rays all over your collective face. That’s because Mainframe Industries has officially confirmed that its…
NCsoft’s ‘time survival’ shooter Time Takers opens NA and SA signups for March 12 beta – Hey, remember Time Takers? Probably not, so here’s a recap: NCsoft announced it’d be publishing a “time survival” shooter back at the end of 2024, and last summer at Gamescom,…
World of Warcraft hypes up next week’s Midnight early access with previews of its Prey system and Haranir race – There’s a lot to wrap your head around in regard to World of Warcraft’s upcoming Midnight expansion, including what’s the deal with its new allied race and Prey system. Fortunately…
Horse mystery MMO Equinox Homecoming opens a free demo and adds controller support – Unless you’re on Instagram, you may have missed the news that Equinox Homecoming has launched a demo on Steam – we sure had, anyhow, before a reader tipped us off…
MMO Hype Train: ArcheAge Chronicles, Chrono Odyssey, and dealing with MMORPG delays – We’ve all been there. You’re dragging yourself through another so-so gaming year, playing the same old titles, all while telling yourself that it’s about to get a lot more interesting,…
Bungie delays Destiny 2’s next major update to June 9 for ‘large revisions’ and ‘sizeable’ QOL – If your first thought when hearing about Marathon’s March 5th release date was how that would immediately clash with Destiny 2’s plans for a major update for Renegades on March 3rd, well good…
First Impressions: A guided preview of Fellowship’s new characters and new opening beats – I’ll admit, it’s been a while since I’ve fired up Fellowship. It’s not really out of any sort of avarice or disinterest to the game; it’s usually how I operate with…
Digital Extremes has officially launched Warframe on Android for global players – Yesterday morning, we reported on the unfortunate delay of Warframe’s formal Android release, as Digital Extremes told testers and would-be global players that there was an “infinite login loop” bug…
‘Get lost!’ says solo dev-created early access MMO Faehnor Online – We’ve probably all that the dream of being able to develop the MMORPG of our dreams, a dream that is hampered by little things like available time, expertise, and resources.…
Kickstarted multiplayer glamping sim Outbound finally has a cozy Steam demo – Welp, I just lost MOP’s Justin for the next few weeks because he’s going glamping in Outbound – that’s the multiplayer cozy camping sim that we’ve been watching since 2024,…
Take-Two Interactive is killing a customizable multiplayer mod tool for Grand Theft Auto Online – It apparently took nine years to happen, but regrettably the end has indeed come for a Grand Theft Auto Online mod, as the operators of the alt:V mod have announced that Take-Two Interactive…
Lord of the Rings Online temporarily disables UI scaling Lua support, debates future expansion regions – Hope you weren’t toooo attached to the UI scaling lua support Lord of the Rings Online added earlier this month because with this week’s patch, Standing Stone Games has had…
Where Winds Meet teases March 6’s Hexi region, unleashes dancing geese for a fan creation contest – Fans of Where Winds Meet already knew of some of the updates coming to the multiplayer RPG in this new year thanks to a summary letter from developer Everstone, but now is…
Tencent would’ve gotten away with funding Highguard in secret if it hadn’t been for you meddling kids – Have you looked at the mélange of drama around Highguard launching and not exactly doing great and wished that the drama could never end? Well, we can’t promise never, but it sure…
EG7 Q4 2025: Palia preps spring expansion as Daybreak’s LOTRO, DDO, and DCUO ‘demonstrate growth’ – Q4 of any year is usually a great quarter for EG7, the Swedish conglom whose largest subsidiary is Daybreak and is indeed led by Daybreak’s own Ji Ham. But Q4…
Choose My Adventure: Danger, skilling, and questing in Project Gorgon’s Desert Dreams – I have had to sit on my hands and not touch Project Gorgon for about four days. I appreciate that reads a lot like a first-world problem, and it is, but…
Flyff publisher Wemade is apparently cracking down on player-run emulators, forcing closures – Emulators or rogue servers of still-operating MMORPGs tread on legally dangerous ground, even if some game owners have either gentleman’s agreements or even directly confirmed ones, so bear that in…
Star Wars Galaxies Legends celebrates 10th birthday next week with events, XP, and a new ITV – We’re still a little stunned to be realizing that Star Wars Galaxies rogue server SWG Legends is officially turning 10 years old this month – and it’s not even the…
Elite Dangerous plots six vessel releases, group-based operations, and a feature reboot in 2026 roadmap – It’s been some time since Elite: Dangerous studio Frontier Developments has sat in front of a camera to reveal its next updates for the sci-fi sandbox, but yesterday did indeed have…
Following layoffs, Riot assures fans it’s ‘doubling down’ on 2XKO with two new characters – It’s easy to presume the worst for the fortunes of Riot Games’ tag fighter 2XKO following layoffs that affected its developers, but game director Shaun Rivera wants to make sure that fans…
Wisdom of Nym: Reconsidering Final Fantasy XIV’s big bads – where are they now? – Video games are games in which you have a lot of opponents, all of whom you can beat, usually with violence. This exists in stark contrast to the real world,…
Art gallery MMORPG Occupy White Walls is sunsetting after eight years of weird art – Way back in 2018, the MMORPG genre got a bizarre and intriguing entry: Occupy White Walls, a “sandbox-building, AI-driven MMO where people play with Art” – and just so we’re…
Multiplayer OARPG Darkhaven opens its $500K Kickstarter drive and a pre-alpha demo – Last month we first got word about Darkhaven, a co-op ARPG from developer Moon Beast Productions that cited inspirations like Diablo, Torchlight, and Nyx (presumably for maximum nerd cred). Described as “a dark fantasy…
Here’s how Guild Wars 2 is fixing its fashion template system following player uproar – If you listened to the MassivelyOP Podcast last week, you might recall that we chatted a bit about the community grumbling over the Guild Wars 2 patch – specifically, the…
Project Gorgon might be ‘running ragged,’ but it nearly hit 4000 concurrent players last weekend – As we noted last night, it was a rough weekend for the MMORPG genre… if you’re not playing Project Gorgon, that is. The indie MMORPG cruised to yet another new…
Blizzard claims that ‘millions of people’ still play Diablo III to this day – Considering that Diablo III stopped adding new seasons and new content way back in 2023, you would probably assume that players have migrated away from the multiplayer OARPG. But that’s where you’re…
MMO Jukebox Song of the Week: ‘We All Lift Together’ from Warframe – Time to kick up your feet and listen to a classic MMO tune! This week’s pick is We All Lift Together, a popular shanty from, oddly enough, Warframe and written…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
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 bits of news we didn’t cover anywhere else.Source link
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