https://massivelyop.com MMORPG news and opinions Wed, 26 Apr 2023 20:39:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/26/world-of-warcrafts-ion-hazzikostas-discusses-mythic-keystones-reputation-and-communication/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/26/world-of-warcrafts-ion-hazzikostas-discusses-mythic-keystones-reputation-and-communication/#comments Wed, 26 Apr 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=437403 After today’s surprise unpleasantness with the latest Activision-Blizzard financial report, it might be a touch surprising to see World of Warcraft’s game director Ion Hazzikostas running a friendly Q&A with handpicked influencers and fan creators. But it happened, and Wowhead has a summary of the interview available now. Hazzikostas stresses to the group that Blizzard […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/26/world-of-warcrafts-ion-hazzikostas-discusses-mythic-keystones-reputation-and-communication/feed/ 3 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/25/cliff-bleszinski-is-apparently-interested-in-a-lawbreakers-revival/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/25/cliff-bleszinski-is-apparently-interested-in-a-lawbreakers-revival/#comments Tue, 25 Apr 2023 18:30:39 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=437173 For three blissful years now, no one has had to give any thought to LawBreakers outside of those of us who remember this bizarre industry. Cliff “Cliffy B” Bleszinski had last brought it back to our memories back in 2020 when he tried to claim that it failed because it was “too woke,” which gives […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/25/cliff-bleszinski-is-apparently-interested-in-a-lawbreakers-revival/feed/ 19 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/25/final-fantasy-xiv-opens-up-its-special-site-for-patch-6-4-the-dark-throne/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/25/final-fantasy-xiv-opens-up-its-special-site-for-patch-6-4-the-dark-throne/#respond Tue, 25 Apr 2023 17:00:36 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=437160 It’s going to be late May before players can dive into the next patch of Final Fantasy XIV, The Dark Throne. But why wait until then to find out about the new features contained within the patch? There’s no reason for that at all, especially when you can also take a look at the special […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/25/final-fantasy-xiv-opens-up-its-special-site-for-patch-6-4-the-dark-throne/feed/ 0 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/24/final-fantasy-xi-prepares-for-the-feast-of-swords-final-fantasy-xiv-prepares-for-a-feast-of-cosplay-at-fan-festival/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/24/final-fantasy-xi-prepares-for-the-feast-of-swords-final-fantasy-xiv-prepares-for-a-feast-of-cosplay-at-fan-festival/#comments Mon, 24 Apr 2023 21:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=436986 Starting this Friday, April 28th, Final Fantasy XI is offering players all the swords they can eat. Oh, you might say that the number of swords you can eat is a nice round zero, but the event that’s starting up is called the Feast of Swords, so you should at least taste one to be […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/24/final-fantasy-xi-prepares-for-the-feast-of-swords-final-fantasy-xiv-prepares-for-a-feast-of-cosplay-at-fan-festival/feed/ 1 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/24/wisdom-of-nym-we-dont-need-another-final-fantasy-xiv-we-already-have-one/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/24/wisdom-of-nym-we-dont-need-another-final-fantasy-xiv-we-already-have-one/#comments Mon, 24 Apr 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=436862 First of all, this one’s for Bruno. He usually doesn’t read these, but maybe he’ll like this one. So we all know at this point that Final Fantasy XIV is an impressive financial success and a critical darling, and has been for several years. This is very good news for anyone who was hoping for […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/24/wisdom-of-nym-we-dont-need-another-final-fantasy-xiv-we-already-have-one/feed/ 23 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/23/the-daily-grind-how-often-do-you-change-guilds-in-your-mmos-of-choice/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/23/the-daily-grind-how-often-do-you-change-guilds-in-your-mmos-of-choice/#comments Sun, 23 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=436379 Some people joined up with a guild years ago, and since then that has been The Guild I Am In. No changes. But today we’re not talking about certain editor-in-chiefs that you might be familiar with, we’re talking about you and your own guild habits. Because there are a lot more people who drift from […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/23/the-daily-grind-how-often-do-you-change-guilds-in-your-mmos-of-choice/feed/ 19 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/22/wrup-the-show-must-go-on-edition/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/22/wrup-the-show-must-go-on-edition/#comments Sat, 22 Apr 2023 14:00:48 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=436727 They hurt you, and they left you afraid, and then they simply left you. And that’s where you were at the moment that something began to change. It was the first of many transformations. At the time, it was difficult to articulate in any coherent fashion. You saw yourself as failing. But you were learning […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/22/wrup-the-show-must-go-on-edition/feed/ 19 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/20/vague-patch-notes-if-theres-any-sort-of-metaverse-its-already-here-and-its-not-what-you-think/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/20/vague-patch-notes-if-theres-any-sort-of-metaverse-its-already-here-and-its-not-what-you-think/#comments Thu, 20 Apr 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=436387 We’ve had a lot of fun here having a good little giggle about the whole saga (if you want to call it that) of the metaverse, the bugbear of so many half-baked projects that don’t seem to be really going anywhere. It’s also become the favorite talking point of a lot of people who insist […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/20/vague-patch-notes-if-theres-any-sort-of-metaverse-its-already-here-and-its-not-what-you-think/feed/ 5 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/20/the-daily-grind-whats-your-least-favorite-sort-of-thing-to-farm-in-an-mmo/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/20/the-daily-grind-whats-your-least-favorite-sort-of-thing-to-farm-in-an-mmo/#comments Thu, 20 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=436384 Some MMOs, as we all know, have actual farms. Literally, just a place where you put farm goods and you farm things. But that’s not really what we mean when we’re talking about farming; we’re talking about when you go out into the world and spend your time repeatedly gathering something, or killing something or […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/20/the-daily-grind-whats-your-least-favorite-sort-of-thing-to-farm-in-an-mmo/feed/ 18 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/19/world-of-warcraft-previews-aberrus-the-shadowed-crucible-and-flight-in-zaralek-cavern/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/19/world-of-warcraft-previews-aberrus-the-shadowed-crucible-and-flight-in-zaralek-cavern/#comments Wed, 19 Apr 2023 20:00:23 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=436332 You there! Are you excited for Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible in World of Warcraft? Or, as you more likely remember it being called if you are excited, Next Major Raid of Dragonflight? Well then you can feast your eyes on the new preview of the bosses within Aberrus, from the Forgotten Experiments (who are apparently […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/19/world-of-warcraft-previews-aberrus-the-shadowed-crucible-and-flight-in-zaralek-cavern/feed/ 2 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/19/perfect-ten-10-ways-world-of-warcraft-feels-like-a-dead-mall/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/19/perfect-ten-10-ways-world-of-warcraft-feels-like-a-dead-mall/#comments Wed, 19 Apr 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=436157 There was a time that I lived next to a very small mall that’s tucked kind of out-of-the-way in a part of my state. It was already kind of a low-rent location even when I went there in middle school, but as time went by it only got more dead over time. By the time […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/19/perfect-ten-10-ways-world-of-warcraft-feels-like-a-dead-mall/feed/ 109 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/17/final-fantasy-xiv-brings-the-moogle-treasure-trove-around-again-on-april-24/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/17/final-fantasy-xiv-brings-the-moogle-treasure-trove-around-again-on-april-24/#comments Mon, 17 Apr 2023 18:00:56 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=435917 All right, by this point you know the drill. There’s a new patch on the way for Final Fantasy XIV some time in late May, but the developers want you to keep having stuff to do until that patch arrives. So what are they going to do? They’re going to bribe you, naturally. More specifically, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/17/final-fantasy-xiv-brings-the-moogle-treasure-trove-around-again-on-april-24/feed/ 1 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/17/wisdom-of-nym-everything-is-broken-a-tale-of-final-fantasy-xiv-post-calamity/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/17/wisdom-of-nym-everything-is-broken-a-tale-of-final-fantasy-xiv-post-calamity/#comments Mon, 17 Apr 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=435809 “Marise? Are ye up there, girl?” The answer was yes, but she didn’t much feel like answering. Actually, she didn’t feel much liked doing anything but sitting their scrunched up against the wall and waiting for tears to come as they resolutely refused to do so. So she sat there, and she scowled, and she […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/17/wisdom-of-nym-everything-is-broken-a-tale-of-final-fantasy-xiv-post-calamity/feed/ 6 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/16/the-daily-grind-whats-the-worst-mmo-music-from-an-mmo-where-you-like-the-music/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/16/the-daily-grind-whats-the-worst-mmo-music-from-an-mmo-where-you-like-the-music/#comments Sun, 16 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=435364 Music is important. Some MMOs do not have very good music, and as a result you don’t actually notice when one piece is bad or worse. But that is not universal. There are a lot of MMOs with amazing music, and sometimes those MMOs drop new tracks that are… just hot garbage. Just absolute anti-bangers. […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/16/the-daily-grind-whats-the-worst-mmo-music-from-an-mmo-where-you-like-the-music/feed/ 31 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/15/wrup-football-season-was-over-a-couple-months-ago-and-it-wont-start-again-for-a-while-edition/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/15/wrup-football-season-was-over-a-couple-months-ago-and-it-wont-start-again-for-a-while-edition/#comments Sat, 15 Apr 2023 14:00:53 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=435670 No more games. No more good games. No more bombs. No more heroes. No more walking. No more pencils. No more books. No more swimming. No more hedgehogs. No more bears. Forty. That is 17 years past 23. More than I wanted or expected. Not more than I needed. Not enough. Not ever enough. Maybe […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/15/wrup-football-season-was-over-a-couple-months-ago-and-it-wont-start-again-for-a-while-edition/feed/ 19 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/14/betawatch-wayfinder-catches-the-delay-bug/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/14/betawatch-wayfinder-catches-the-delay-bug/#comments Fri, 14 Apr 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=435647 If you felt like Wayfinder was really just cruising along and fast-tracking its way to beta, well… we have a bit of bad news for you. The game has delayed its global beta until May and early access until later than that, so if you thought it was just around the corner and were being […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/14/betawatch-wayfinder-catches-the-delay-bug/feed/ 1 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/14/storyboard-when-is-an-mmo-story-real/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/14/storyboard-when-is-an-mmo-story-real/#comments Fri, 14 Apr 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=435542 So we’ve had some fun with talking about MMO stories that are player-driven and MMO stories that are pre-scripted. Both of them have advantages and drawbacks. But there is also very specifically something I did not mention as a benefit or drawback of either, and today I want to talk about that a bit more. […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/14/storyboard-when-is-an-mmo-story-real/feed/ 9 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/13/the-daily-grind-where-have-you-met-your-best-mmo-friends/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/13/the-daily-grind-where-have-you-met-your-best-mmo-friends/#comments Thu, 13 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=435336 Sometimes your MMO friends are good companions whose homes you visit and who you give gifts. Like holiday gifts, or parcels of lands, or four suckling pigs. (I don’t pretend to know how you live your life.) Other times your MMO friends are just… people you hang out with in a shared MMO and otherwise […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/13/the-daily-grind-where-have-you-met-your-best-mmo-friends/feed/ 19 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/11/wisdom-of-nym-this-is-how-final-fantasy-xiv-wants-you-to-play-even-if-it-doesnt-say-so/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/11/wisdom-of-nym-this-is-how-final-fantasy-xiv-wants-you-to-play-even-if-it-doesnt-say-so/#comments Tue, 11 Apr 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434982 It is not a surprise that Final Fantasy XIV wants you to play the game a certain way. There are mechanics in place to make that happen. If the developers do not want you to pull beyond a certain point in a dungeon, they know how to put barriers in place to ensure that you […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/11/wisdom-of-nym-this-is-how-final-fantasy-xiv-wants-you-to-play-even-if-it-doesnt-say-so/feed/ 25 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/09/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-had-an-mmo-that-serves-as-your-guilty-pleasure/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/09/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-had-an-mmo-that-serves-as-your-guilty-pleasure/#comments Sun, 09 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434360 As a rule, I don’t do guilty pleasures. It’s not something that I personally believe in. Not in the sense that I’m unfamiliar with it, but I generally feel like if I’m guilty about something that I’m playing that’s probably a sign I shouldn’t be playing it in the first place. But, you know… the […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/09/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-had-an-mmo-that-serves-as-your-guilty-pleasure/feed/ 15 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/08/wrup-a-tribute-edition/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/08/wrup-a-tribute-edition/#comments Sat, 08 Apr 2023 14:00:09 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434657 His name was Robert Joblin, and he was the best teacher I ever had. I was a teenager, cocksure, so certain I had all of the hard lessons learned. And here he was, wise beyond even his years, understandable and erudite and paternal. He wanted me and my class to push further, to work harder, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/08/wrup-a-tribute-edition/feed/ 15 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/07/betawatch-galaxies-of-eden-abandons-mmo-for-ai-generation/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/07/betawatch-galaxies-of-eden-abandons-mmo-for-ai-generation/#comments Fri, 07 Apr 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434642 So Galaxies of Eden’s devs had a bit of a surprising drop this week when they decided that instead of building a nice big social MMO – which, you may remember, was the original plan – they’re going to turn it into an AI-generated playground. That sounds excellent. No, really, that’ll work out great. Not […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/07/betawatch-galaxies-of-eden-abandons-mmo-for-ai-generation/feed/ 1 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/07/storyboard-pros-and-cons-for-scripted-narrative-stories-in-mmos/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/07/storyboard-pros-and-cons-for-scripted-narrative-stories-in-mmos/#comments Fri, 07 Apr 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434528 Last week, we looked at the pros and cons for stories in MMOs that were purely player-driven, or at least using player actions and interactions as the primary driving force. This week, we’re doing the inverse and looking at stories that are pre-scripted narratives. Obviously, as I alluded to in the prior column, this is […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/07/storyboard-pros-and-cons-for-scripted-narrative-stories-in-mmos/feed/ 19 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/07/everquest-ii-adds-more-rewards-and-flexibility-to-the-kael-drakkel-server/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/07/everquest-ii-adds-more-rewards-and-flexibility-to-the-kael-drakkel-server/#comments Fri, 07 Apr 2023 13:00:49 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434513 When you’re playing EverQuest II, sometimes it can feel like there’s a great deal of pressure on you to perform or group with others. You want to just explore and relax on the server, but there’s so much to do and so many hurdles to jump through. Now there’s a solution with new extra-strength Kael […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/07/everquest-ii-adds-more-rewards-and-flexibility-to-the-kael-drakkel-server/feed/ 4 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/overwatch-2-previews-season-4-with-a-roadmap-and-trailer/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/overwatch-2-previews-season-4-with-a-roadmap-and-trailer/#comments Thu, 06 Apr 2023 20:00:06 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434505 Whatever you’re feeling about Overwatch 2‘s Season 4, hopefully you’ll feel happier with the introduction of your new handsome Thai support husbando. Look at Lifeweaver there. He’s easily the most handsome Thai healer introduced to an MMO this year, which admittedly is not a very wide field, but he’d still be in the top if […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/overwatch-2-previews-season-4-with-a-roadmap-and-trailer/feed/ 7 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/vague-patch-notes-e3-is-gone-but-its-only-half-a-victory/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/vague-patch-notes-e3-is-gone-but-its-only-half-a-victory/#comments Thu, 06 Apr 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434375 So E3 is dead, and we’ve already shared some of our thoughts on the matter earlier this week. But as someone who literally wrote a whole article about how much I loathe trade shows, I have even more I want to say on the matter. And that starts with an extension of the premise floated […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/vague-patch-notes-e3-is-gone-but-its-only-half-a-victory/feed/ 6 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/new-worlds-latest-video-talks-about-balance-changes-and-balance-plans/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/new-worlds-latest-video-talks-about-balance-changes-and-balance-plans/#respond Thu, 06 Apr 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434357 First things first. The latest video from the New World development team was filmed on March 21st, so if you were hoping it would include talk about patch delays and naked characters, just go ahead and adjust your expectations now. This was filmed before all of that. More to the point, the video is all […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/new-worlds-latest-video-talks-about-balance-changes-and-balance-plans/feed/ 0 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/the-daily-grind-whats-your-self-admitted-dumbest-reason-for-not-playing-an-mmo/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/the-daily-grind-whats-your-self-admitted-dumbest-reason-for-not-playing-an-mmo/#comments Thu, 06 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434362 There are a lot of super valid reasons to not play an MMO. It’s an open PvP game and you don’t like that, for example. You don’t have time for another game and all of your friends play something else. The monetization is predatory. You don’t care about the IP. The gameplay loop isn’t what […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/06/the-daily-grind-whats-your-self-admitted-dumbest-reason-for-not-playing-an-mmo/feed/ 39 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/05/warframe-has-opened-up-its-physical-ticket-sales-for-tennocon/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/05/warframe-has-opened-up-its-physical-ticket-sales-for-tennocon/#comments Wed, 05 Apr 2023 20:00:15 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434355 There’s no game out there quite like Warframe with its uniquely baroque and futuristic style, and that means there’s no physical convention quite like TennoCon. The event is occurring on August 26th in London, Ontario, and the tickets for it went on sale at 2:00 p.m. EDT. As of this writing… those tickets are going […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/05/warframe-has-opened-up-its-physical-ticket-sales-for-tennocon/feed/ 1 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/05/perfect-ten-ten-mmo-promises-that-are-not-filling-me-with-confidence/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/05/perfect-ten-ten-mmo-promises-that-are-not-filling-me-with-confidence/#comments Wed, 05 Apr 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433995 Every game’s development – and this includes MMOs – involves certain promises being made that the developers probably half-knows are not going to wind up being true. With a little bit of luck, the audience also knows that this is untrue. Yes, you plan to have monthly content updates without fail. Very nice, Guild Wars […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/05/perfect-ten-ten-mmo-promises-that-are-not-filling-me-with-confidence/feed/ 24 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/04/overwatch-teases-lifeweavers-abilities-ahead-of-his-addition-to-the-game-on-april-11/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/04/overwatch-teases-lifeweavers-abilities-ahead-of-his-addition-to-the-game-on-april-11/#comments Tue, 04 Apr 2023 17:30:37 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434175 My therapist: “Prettier Healing Hanzo isn’t real in Overwatch 2, he can’t hurt you.” Me: “No, you don’t understand, he’s going to be real on April 11th. And he’s a support healer, so he’s mostly facilitating other people hurting me by making it harder for me to hurt them. Like, he recovers their health, or […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/04/overwatch-teases-lifeweavers-abilities-ahead-of-his-addition-to-the-game-on-april-11/feed/ 11 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/final-fantasy-xis-april-update-digest-contains-valuable-extra-information-about-the-games-future-plans/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/final-fantasy-xis-april-update-digest-contains-valuable-extra-information-about-the-games-future-plans/#respond Mon, 03 Apr 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433932 The latest version update for Final Fantasy XI has arrived, and it also contains some pretty useful information for fans looking to learn more about the changes in FFXI leadership and development plans. Yoji Fujito explains in this month’s digest, for example, that he will not only be the producer but the director of the […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/final-fantasy-xis-april-update-digest-contains-valuable-extra-information-about-the-games-future-plans/feed/ 0 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/a-new-video-on-decentraland-a-blockchain-based-metaverse-game-highlights-the-metaverse-as-the-digital-version-of-a-dead-mall/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/a-new-video-on-decentraland-a-blockchain-based-metaverse-game-highlights-the-metaverse-as-the-digital-version-of-a-dead-mall/#comments Mon, 03 Apr 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433328 Hey kids! Do you want to see a dead retail environment? Go to a shopping mall in the United States of America of slightly smaller size and gaze at such glories as unfilled store fronts, soul-crushing desperate kiosks, and the saddest shoppers shuffling around the barely maintained walkways. Or you could get that same dead […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/a-new-video-on-decentraland-a-blockchain-based-metaverse-game-highlights-the-metaverse-as-the-digital-version-of-a-dead-mall/feed/ 14 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/galaxies-of-eden-insists-that-its-shuttering-the-social-mmo-completely-to-develop-a-dubious-ai-generated-playground/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/galaxies-of-eden-insists-that-its-shuttering-the-social-mmo-completely-to-develop-a-dubious-ai-generated-playground/#comments Mon, 03 Apr 2023 20:00:57 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433955 So remember how Galaxies of Eden had delayed its pre-alpha testing because of technical roadblocks and bugs? Well, we’ve finally heard from the studio behind the game again, and it’s… perhaps not what anyone was expecting. Instead, it’s the studio announcing that it is completely abandoning the social MMO that it was developing and will […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/galaxies-of-eden-insists-that-its-shuttering-the-social-mmo-completely-to-develop-a-dubious-ai-generated-playground/feed/ 16 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/final-fantasy-xiv-adjusts-pvp-mechanics-and-adds-weapon-rewards-for-patch-6-38/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/final-fantasy-xiv-adjusts-pvp-mechanics-and-adds-weapon-rewards-for-patch-6-38/#comments Mon, 03 Apr 2023 19:00:30 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433950 Today, you are not playing Final Fantasy XIV. The game is down for maintenance all day. But tomorrow, you can go back into the game and you can even enjoy an improved access to sharp bits of metal in order to injure people. The weekly limit for Unsung Blades of Abyssos has been removed, and […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/final-fantasy-xiv-adjusts-pvp-mechanics-and-adds-weapon-rewards-for-patch-6-38/feed/ 1 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/world-of-warcraft-is-releasing-the-first-major-patch-of-dragonflight-embers-of-neltharion-on-may-2/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/world-of-warcraft-is-releasing-the-first-major-patch-of-dragonflight-embers-of-neltharion-on-may-2/#comments Mon, 03 Apr 2023 17:30:26 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433942 Despite the name, it has been a really long time since Neltharion was actively tending to anything in World of Warcraft’s Dragon Isles, so at this point his embers have cooled and they’re just ash. But the patch is still called Embers of Neltharion, it’s the first major patch of the expansion, and it’s going […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/world-of-warcraft-is-releasing-the-first-major-patch-of-dragonflight-embers-of-neltharion-on-may-2/feed/ 4 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/wisdom-of-nym-what-we-know-so-far-about-final-fantasy-xiv-patch-6-4-the-dark-throne/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/wisdom-of-nym-what-we-know-so-far-about-final-fantasy-xiv-patch-6-4-the-dark-throne/#comments Mon, 03 Apr 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433817 I realize this means more to me than it does literally anyone reading this, but gosh, Square-Enix has gotten kind of terrible at dealing with its press site. It used to be that we’d get all of the promotional screenshots uploaded promptly within hours of the Final Fantasy XIV live letter, but now it’s a […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/03/wisdom-of-nym-what-we-know-so-far-about-final-fantasy-xiv-patch-6-4-the-dark-throne/feed/ 2 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/01/wrup-looking-back-two-hours-ago-edition/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/01/wrup-looking-back-two-hours-ago-edition/#comments Sat, 01 Apr 2023 14:00:55 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433587 Isn’t nostalgia great? Remember just two hours ago, when it was 8:00 a.m. EDT? Of course you do. How could you forget our Daily Grind topic talking about how we’re going to have flashback weekends from now on? It’s been a wild two hours since then, and we’re sure you’d love to think back to […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/01/wrup-looking-back-two-hours-ago-edition/feed/ 15 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/01/the-daily-grind-whats-your-fondest-mmo-memory-from-last-month/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/01/the-daily-grind-whats-your-fondest-mmo-memory-from-last-month/#comments Sat, 01 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433195 Welcome to the very first Massively Overpowered Throwback Weekend! You know, we’ve been reporting on the news here for a long time now, something like eight whole years, and we’re tired. Reporting on the news is a sucker’s game to lose money and time. From now on, we’re going to be running our special throwback […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/01/the-daily-grind-whats-your-fondest-mmo-memory-from-last-month/feed/ 13 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/betawatch-blue-protocol-runs-a-network-test-in-japan/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/betawatch-blue-protocol-runs-a-network-test-in-japan/#respond Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433561 And there we go: Another round of network testing has begun in Japan for Blue Protocol. Bandai Namco promised it would happen in March, and it is still technically March! It’s March somewhere. If you’re reading this in April, just pretend it’s still March. As of this writing, it’s March here for several more hours! […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/betawatch-blue-protocol-runs-a-network-test-in-japan/feed/ 0 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/how-final-fantasy-xivs-localization-improved-after-the-relaunch/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/how-final-fantasy-xivs-localization-improved-after-the-relaunch/#respond Fri, 31 Mar 2023 21:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433157 The Final Fantasy XIV localization has a distinct character to it, part of what makes the story and its characters so memorable for fans. But moving into the relaunch, translation director Michael Christopher Koji Fox describes the attitude in the localization department as despondent. After all, the game flopped hard on launch, and even if […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/how-final-fantasy-xivs-localization-improved-after-the-relaunch/feed/ 0 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/eden-eternal-starts-pre-registration-and-offers-players-nfts-for-participation/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/eden-eternal-starts-pre-registration-and-offers-players-nfts-for-participation/#comments Fri, 31 Mar 2023 19:00:54 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433548 If you were looking forward to the relaunch of Eden Eternal under X-LEGEND, we have some bad news for you. It’s not exactly the bad news you might normally expect. The game has started its pre-registration phase for players to sign up for the upcoming game’s launch, and that’s fine… up until the part where […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/eden-eternal-starts-pre-registration-and-offers-players-nfts-for-participation/feed/ 18 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/final-fantasy-xiv-is-delivering-patch-6-4-the-dark-throne-in-late-may/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/final-fantasy-xiv-is-delivering-patch-6-4-the-dark-throne-in-late-may/#comments Fri, 31 Mar 2023 16:00:14 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433505 There’s no ambiguity about the next trial for Final Fantasy XIV – in patch 6.4, The Dark Throne, players will be kicking the heck out of Golbez. It makes sense, he’s been playing a villain for the past few patches, but he just lacks the traits we really look for in a long-term villain for […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/final-fantasy-xiv-is-delivering-patch-6-4-the-dark-throne-in-late-may/feed/ 7 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/storyboard-pros-and-cons-for-purely-player-driven-story-experiences-in-mmos/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/storyboard-pros-and-cons-for-purely-player-driven-story-experiences-in-mmos/#comments Fri, 31 Mar 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433392 What is the right way to tell a story in an MMO? That is a silly question, like asking what the right way is to tell a story in a film. There are lots of potential answers, and all of them depend on a number of factors, like the kind of world the developers want […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/31/storyboard-pros-and-cons-for-purely-player-driven-story-experiences-in-mmos/feed/ 16 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/e3-2023-has-officially-been-cancelled/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/e3-2023-has-officially-been-cancelled/#comments Thu, 30 Mar 2023 20:55:13 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433374 This probably isn’t going to come as a surprise to anyone, but it’s still a significant announcement. E3 2023 has been cancelled outright according to emails sent out by the ESA. It’s the sort of thing that was a long time in coming after multiple major publishers had already pulled out of the show, with […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/e3-2023-has-officially-been-cancelled/feed/ 27 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/guild-wars-2-finally-embraces-the-need-for-style-in-the-first-part-of-its-april-fools-day-joke/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/guild-wars-2-finally-embraces-the-need-for-style-in-the-first-part-of-its-april-fools-day-joke/#comments Thu, 30 Mar 2023 20:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433334 All right, so Guild Wars 2 is done with dragons. That’s the whole point of the last expansion. What about other problems that are not dragons? Turns out those problems were actually really dragons too, so now all problems are solved forever. Well… almost all problems, because as the latest update notes on the game’s […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/guild-wars-2-finally-embraces-the-need-for-style-in-the-first-part-of-its-april-fools-day-joke/feed/ 3 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/vague-patch-notes-can-anyone-really-cover-games-objectively-when-theres-suffering-built-in-to-them/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/vague-patch-notes-can-anyone-really-cover-games-objectively-when-theres-suffering-built-in-to-them/#comments Thu, 30 Mar 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433202 In July of 2021, we started a roundup tag in our tag cloud that most of us probably didn’t expect to still be using nearly two years later. It’s just “blizzard-scandal,” but that kind of says everything we need to. I wrote about it at the time, but since then it has only gotten worse. […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/vague-patch-notes-can-anyone-really-cover-games-objectively-when-theres-suffering-built-in-to-them/feed/ 46 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-been-inclined-to-try-out-a-survival-sandbox-game/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-been-inclined-to-try-out-a-survival-sandbox-game/#comments Thu, 30 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433193 Over the past few years we’ve seen the trend of a lot of survival sandbox games ebb and flow. These games are smaller than a full MMO, with the emphasis being on everyone getting put into a small world together to mine, build structures, tame things, and so forth in order to not starve. Or […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/30/the-daily-grind-have-you-ever-been-inclined-to-try-out-a-survival-sandbox-game/feed/ 30 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/29/donkey-crew-announces-new-survival-game-bellwright-as-last-oasis-begins-fourth-year-of-early-access/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/29/donkey-crew-announces-new-survival-game-bellwright-as-last-oasis-begins-fourth-year-of-early-access/#comments Wed, 29 Mar 2023 20:00:42 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=433138 You know how it goes. You’re enjoying a normal one, just chilling and vibing, and then suddenly the constabulary shows up all, “uh, so we think you murdered the Prince, you have to come with us now?” And of course you’re all like no way and you head off into the wilderness to survive and […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/29/donkey-crew-announces-new-survival-game-bellwright-as-last-oasis-begins-fourth-year-of-early-access/feed/ 6 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/28/final-fantasy-xi-previews-its-smaller-april-version-update/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/28/final-fantasy-xi-previews-its-smaller-april-version-update/#respond Tue, 28 Mar 2023 21:00:12 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=432890 With the changing of producers from Akihiko Matsui to Yoji Fujito, Final Fantasy XI fans were told to expect that the game’s monthly version updates would get notably smaller. The first update in question is the April version update, and based on the preview that’s just been posted… yes, that’s smaller, all right. Players can […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/28/final-fantasy-xi-previews-its-smaller-april-version-update/feed/ 0