This week has seen a number of negative headlines around MMORPGs. For instance, WoW was discontinued in China, after which the publisher NetEase destroyed an orc statue. The ESO publisher Bethesda experienced layoffs, while many players in Lost Ark were banned. However, there were also some positive reports from the smaller and indie MMORPGs.
The highlights of the week:
- WoW has released the patch notes for 10.0.5. This includes a new event, new class balancing, and the new trading post in the game.
- Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is seen as hope for PvE fans and recently showcased its plans for 2023.
The controversy of the week: This week saw two major controversies. On one hand, players in Lost Ark were banned who actually did nothing wrong.
On the other hand, the contract between Blizzard and NetEase ended, which affected the publishing of the game in China. NetEase subsequently destroyed an orc statue and insulted the western studio.
The discussion of the week: Did social media destroy MMORPGs? This thesis was put forward by MeinMMO author Anny and sparked a heated discussion among you. More on this here: Social media have stolen what I once loved about MMORPGs.
Raid in WoW Classic is in a few hours, ESO plans a big announcement for 2023
What happened with the major MMORPGs:
- In WoW WOTLK Classic, the new raid Ulduar was released. However, it was completed after just a few hours, even though it remained undefeated for a whopping 85 days after its release in 2009. Additionally, there is a quest in WOTLK Classic that steals 500 gold from the players with every click.
- In Lost Ark, the big crossover with The Witcher has started. Along with the event, the Pheon issue has also been alleviated. In addition, the new Slayer class was showcased in Korea, and it’s being very well received.
- In Final Fantasy XIV, there is a quirky bug introduced in patch 6.3 that makes players nearly immortal.
- We took a look at whether starting Guild Wars 2 in 2023 is still worth it.
- ESO will have the reveal event for new content in 2023 on January 25 at 21:45 CET (via ESO). We will publish a big summary of it directly on January 26. There were also layoffs at the publisher Bethesda that are said to affect ESO. One of the affected was the community manager Sam Luangkhot (via XboxDynasty).
- On Wednesday, the new class Maegu was released in Black Desert (via BDO). With it, new events, balance adjustments, and new coupon codes were introduced that you can redeem.
What happened with the smaller MMORPGs:
- Albion Online shows in new statistics that there is a considerable fanbase for a game where full-loot prevails and you can lose all your possessions in a fight.
- Lord of the Rings Online has released a roadmap for 2023. Highlights include new instances in Q1, the 16th anniversary in Q2, and a new expansion in Q4 that will introduce a new class and a new level cap (via LOTRO).
- Vindictus has kicked off the year with the release of the 22nd class (via Vindictus).
- New World is currently testing leaderboards on the PTR. These include rankings for mutated dungeons, faction wars, PvP, and for the highest gathering skills (via New World).
- Dungeons and Dragons Online has announced two new subclasses for the Druid and Ranger (via MassivelyOP).
- In EVE Online, a New Year’s event has started (via EVE).
- Embers Adrift is launching a free weekend from January 27 to 29 (via Twitter).
- EverQuest has released its roadmap for 2023, with new content, server mergers, a new expansion, and a new UI engine. EverQuest 2, on the other hand, will receive new raid zones, new events, and also an expansion already in January 2023 (via EverQuest).
- Tower of Fantasy has announced the new patch 2.3 with a new region. Here you can watch the corresponding video:
What happened with MMORPGs in development:
- Throne and Liberty is the most anticipated MMORPG for 2023 among our readers. We looked at what weapons you will be able to carry in the game.
- Night Crows is a new MMORPG from Korea that has showcased gameplay in Unreal Engine 5.
- In China, gaming giant Tencent has introduced the new MMORPG Tarisland, which looks like a WoW clone and is expected to replace Blizzard’s game.
- Fans of Dragon’s Dogma are working on bringing the MMORPG, which has been offline for several years, back on private servers.
- Fractured hopes to return with new servers in February. These are expected to perform better and cost 80% less (via MassivelyOP).
These are the MMORPG news of the week at a glance. What was your personal highlight? Did you experience anything interesting this week that you would like to share? Or did we perhaps forget something important? Feel free to let us know in the comments here at MeinMMO.
You can find the best MMOs and MMORPGs of 2023 in this list: The 15 currently best MMOs and MMORPGs of 2023.
