The year 2023 is coming to an end. Many developers are presenting their roadmaps for 2024, showing fans what they can look forward to in the coming year. Two major MMORPGs are getting an expansion, but smaller games are also being supplied with new content.
The highlights of the week:
- World of Warcraft shows its roadmap for 2024. The next content patch is expected to arrive in winter 2024, between January and March. Additionally, there are announcements of several patches and the release window for the expansion “The War Within” set between late summer and early autumn.
- Fallout 76 also revealed what new content will be available in 2024. In addition to the second part of the Atlantic City update, a new area called the forested Shenandoah will be unlocked next year. The MMORPG can look forward to over 17 million players.
What else happened? The Elder Scrolls Online has launched its winter event (via mmorpg.com). It features new quests, XP boosts, holiday-themed loot boxes, and more. There are 10 daily quests where loot boxes can be received as rewards. These may contain toys or recipes.
Additionally, players can win tickets for themselves by participating in the New Life Festival quest. This allows them to receive even more rewards. The event is set to run until January 9, 2024.
Blizzard has released a trailer announcing the upcoming expansion:
The major MMORPGs present their roadmap for 2024
What happened with the major MMORPGs:
- Lost Ark is not to be outdone and shows what awaits players in 2024. From January to April, new content will be released every month. This includes a new difficulty level, celebrations for the 2nd anniversary, a new class, and new raids.
- Black Desert Online will also see numerous new content. Since December 20, 2023, players can experience the new class Scholar. In the coming year, the second part of the update is to follow, which will also include a new class that utilizes a sword, a pipe, and the power of Do.
- For Final Fantasy XIV, it is currently only known that the new expansion “Dawntrail” is set to be released in summer 2024. Further information is expected at the fan festival taking place in January 2024 in Tokyo. The plan for this has been available since this week.
- For WoW Classic, there will soon be a new Hardcore mode that is said to be even harder than the old one. The characters, as always, have only one life, but additionally, trading with other players will not be possible. Furthermore, the mailbox and auction house cannot be used.
What happened with the smaller MMORPGs:
- The MMORPG Mabinogi has made the jump to Unreal Engine 5. The first teaser trailers show that the title suddenly looks like a completely different game. In the future, the technical aspects of the game are also to be improved.
- Aion Retail and Aion Classic are opening the winter park and the Solorius Festival. At the festivities, there are XP buffs, races, boss fights, and a hunt for lost socks (via MassivelyOP).
- The development team of The Lord of the Rings Online reflects on its progress. The new 64-bit servers are ready for launch, lag issues should not be a problem anymore, and the elves are the next to receive a graphical update (via mmorpg.com)
What happened with MMORPGs in development:
- Tarisland has responded to accusations of Pay2Win. The team aims to ensure that in the future, players can earn gold through daily quests. This should make it easier for them to purchase the offered items in the in-game shop. For many players, the proposed solution does not go far enough.
- Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has been in the pre-alpha phase since 2017. The development team wants to pick up the pace, communicate more clearly, and try to attract more players to the MMORPG.
- The MMORPG Eternal Tombs is a sandbox MMORPG that is set to appear on Steam in the future. In a new trailer, the development team shows some gameplay from the pre-alpha raid. It features, for example, an action-packed battle against a dragon.
- Reign of Guild is entering an open game test. To participate, you simply need to request access on the Steam page. The game test runs until January 8, 2024.
Thus, we have summarized everything important that happened this week in the world of MMORPGs.
What did you enjoy this week? What annoyed you? Let us know in the comments at MeinMMO. If you’re interested in which games are currently being celebrated on Steam, you should check out the following post: The 10 MMORPGs on Steam with the best ratings in December 2023
