MMO Week in Review: End of Dragons and the Blizzard walkout

Activision-Blizzard’s sexism scandal continued ramping up this week, as Bobby Kotick issued a letter reassuring stockholders whereas staffers condemned the corporate response, staging a walkout on Wednesday.

Luckily, there are many MMORPGs for pissed off WoW gamers to show to, together with New World, which has been tearing up the concurrency charts; Guild Wars 2, which took the wraps off of subsequent yr’s Finish of Dragons growth; and Neverwinter, which launched Jewel of the North this previous week.

Learn on to meet up with the perfect of this week’s MMO information and opinions as we speak as each Sunday (since 2010!) in Massively Overpowered’s Week in Review!

THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES

Guild Wars 2’s End of Dragons expansion launches February 2022, with preorders live now – The day is lastly right here: We’re getting our first have a look at Cantha Cantha Cantha! Sure, Guild Wars 2 is taking the wraps off its long-awaited third growth, Finish of Dragons.…

New World cleared 200,000 concurrent beta players over the weekend – It’s a must to think about that there are some Amazon Recreation Studios executives and producers who’re respiratory a little bit simpler this week after seeing the outstanding response to New World’s…

Activision-Blizzard walkout organizers respond to Kotick, Kotaku exposes ‘Cosby suite’ attendees – In response to Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick’s letter to employees final evening, organizers of as we speak’s walkout have issued a response arguing that his letter “fails to deal with important parts at…

Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick: ‘The leadership team has heard you loud and clear’ – As ATVI inventory dips and Blizzard staff plan a walkout tomorrow, Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has lastly publicly addressed the corporate’s staff in regard to the continuing sexism lawsuit and…

Blizzard’s sexism scandal continues, 2500 devs sign letter condemning Acti-Blizz response – It is now been per week since California filed a brutal discrimination and harassment lawsuit towards Activision-Blizzard following a two-year investigation. Final week and over the weekend, we coated each the “leaked”…

Pathfinder Online, Kickstarted for $1M in 2012, will sunset in November – I am sorry to report that Paizo has introduced the tip of Pathfinder On-line. MOP readers know that the MMO was Kickstarted for over one million {dollars} again in 2012, however its…

Neverwinter’s Jewel of the North is live on PC with the new Bard class and level squish – [AL:NW]It is a massive day for Neverwinter gamers, as Jewel of the North is reside on the platform. That is the large replace that is including the Bard class and squishing and…

Stick and Rudder: Trying EVE Online as a new player in 2021 – It’s not typically one has the chance to step right into a little bit of MMO historical past and accomplish that with a recent set of eyes and no expectations. Fortunately, I’ve just lately…

Casually Classic: Making the call to quit WoW or not – Per week in the past I did not suppose I might be sitting right here and scripting this, however I am carried out with WoW Traditional — and with this column. As you’ve got little question learn, final…

An Activision-Blizzard worker was arrested for bathroom peeping in 2018 – We’re on day 10 of the Activision-Blizzard scandal – 10 days since we first discovered California had filed a large sexual discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit towards Activision-Blizzard following a…

Pearl Abyss has delayed Crimson Desert indefinitely – Earlier this month, when Pearl Abyss emerged from over six months of silence on Crimson Desert to submit a mocap video, we speculated that the unique “winter 2021” launch date…

WoW Factor: Why does this latest Blizzard scandal feel so different? – I believe anybody who has been a fan of World of Warcraft over the previous twenty years has been making an attempt to parse out some troublesome emotions this previous week, and…

LOTRO Legendarium: 10 features that would make LOTRO even more fun – For me, it has been an awesome month of easing again into Lord of the Rings On-line after taking a sabbatical from Center-earth. With the improved circulation of data, more cash…

Massively on the Go: Pokemon Unite is genuinely fun – for new and casual MOBA players – When Pokemon Unite was first introduced, I had extreme doubts I might even give it a shot. I do know I am the native Pokemon man, however there are many video games within the franchise I’ve by no means even touched, and…

Massively Overthinking: Has Blizzard’s sexism lawsuit changed your gaming plans? – Following final week’s disturbing revelation that Blizzard has been masking up greater than a decade of abuse and that the state of California is trying to carry it accountable, there’s…

Facebook is building a multi-billion dollar virtual universe – Usually, the announcement of a brand new MMO or digital world would elicit nothing however pleasure from our quarter, however there’s one thing ominous in listening to that Fb is getting concerned in…

Final Fantasy XIV changes the Sage job icon in response to trypophobia sufferers – As we speak’s vocabulary phrase is “trypophobia,” which refers to a sense of worry or disgust when seeing a small cluster of holes or bumps. Not conversant in it? Then you definately most likely…

Destiny 2 is on the verge of full cross-play between all platforms – In case you’ve caught it out with Future 2 for this lengthy with the hopes that sooner or later you is likely to be united with your mates on different platforms, then prepare…

Cyberpunk multiplayer shooter RPG The Ascent has officially released on Xbox and PC – Writer Curve Digital and Swedish indie studio Neon Large are providing up some twin-stick taking pictures ARPG goodness for your self or a couple of of your mates with the launch of The…

Finnish sci-fi MMO Starbase has entered early access alpha on Steam – “The lengthy wait is over and early entry is right here!” Starbase developer Frozenbyte declares this morning, and the studio will not be kidding. The MMO-ish house sport was introduced in 2019…

Massively on the Go: The Witcher Monster Slayer shows why Pokemon Go is still the best – Almost a yr in the past, Niantic staff did a GDC presentation on Augmented Actuality design practices, although it appeared a bit extra like greatest practices than precisely what the corporate does…

Crowfall begins testing The Shadow update, plans capacity testing tonight – Are you able to imagine Crowfall’s been reside for 3 weeks now? It has, and ArtCraft is again with one other weekly weblog – and a tease for the upcoming patch. “Our subsequent…

New World beta player snags the name AmazonOfficial, uses game’s chat to troll Amazon – As anticipated as the sport New World could also be, we do have to remember that Amazon, the corporate that is funding Amazon Video games’ growth of the title, has been…

Blizzard Day 9: Ubisoft stands in solidarity, Ashes of Creation buys Blizzard workers lunch – Blizzard Leisure is not the one online game studio experiencing backlash from its staff over sexism and abuse. The Division 2 maker Ubisoft has lengthy been weathering its personal parallel scandals…

Bless Unleashed opens up with its founders packs ahead of launch – All proper. So we’ve a launch date on PC for Bless Unleashed (particularly, August sixth). We now have a transparent image of any and all adjustments coming to the sport…

Lost Ark reveals all of its ‘normalized’ founder packs and perks – Amazon and Smilegate have launched an in depth weblog submit this afternoon targeted on the upcoming Misplaced Ark’s founder packs. And cats. The cats are the star of the present right here.…

Amazon addresses New World crashes, stability, and approach to exploits post-launch – Amazon Video games has penned a letter for New World testers addressing the state of the sport and its impending fixes. “[W]e created a number of take a look at builds over the weekend and found…

Whatever happened to the Age of Wushu franchise? – This story has one thing of an attention-grabbing development to it. It started with a dive into no matter occurred to Age of Wushu, which then led to a revelation about Age…

EVE Online’s Grand Heist update goes live as players raise concerns about ISK login rewards for subscribers – Yesterday noticed the financial institution robbing occupation come to EVE On-line because the Grand Heist replace formally went reside. Readers will recall that this replace is successfully letting gamers grow to be financial institution…

Blizzard workers plan walkout over sexism scandal, WoW team addresses playerbase – Axios is reporting that Blizzard staff have organized a walkout tomorrow to protest the corporate’s dealing with of the sexual harassment and sexual discrimination lawsuit that broke final week. In keeping with…

Choose My Adventure: Wakfu definitely isn’t my cup of tea (and that’s OK) – Properly, I attempted, everybody. I actually did. However typically you simply must form of admit while you’re diametrically against a sport. Thus is the best way with me and…

PAX West 2021 will require attendees to prove they’re vaccinated or COVID-free – PAX West will not be letting of us by means of the doorways except they’re vaccinated or have efficiently handed a current COVID-19 take a look at. The conference would require proof of one of many different…

Old School RuneScape became a gold seller’s paradise fueled by Venezuelan hyperinflation – We are able to all agree that gold farmers in an MMORPG are a blight and that folks should not assist such “companies,” however the issue of gold sellers being drawn in to…

GDC 2021: Accessibility in gaming means innovation for everyone – You might have seen that accessibility comes up quite a bit each time we cowl GDC, and GDC 2021 will not be a lot completely different. Nevertheless, whereas displays typically repeat a few of their recommendation,…

Wisdom of Nym: Guessing at the next jobs of Final Fantasy XIV beyond Endwalker – So what are our subsequent few jobs in Last Fantasy XIV? No, I do not imply for Endwalker, we already know what we’re getting there. I imply what are our subsequent…

THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS

Each week, get caught up on the MMO style’s newest information and Massively OP’s greatest content material in our MMO Week in Review! Need extra roundups of content material? Strive 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 of the bits of reports we didn’t cowl wherever else.

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