It’s time for our MeinMMO format “MMORPG News in 5 Minutes.” We summarize the most important news about the best genre in the world. You can expect the MeinMMO-Grindfest 2026, notable MMO fails, but also successes.
Highlights of the week:
- With the expansion “Dawntrail,” Final Fantasy XIV received harsher criticism for the first time. Producer Naoki Yoshida reveals in the interview how they want to engage players again with Evercold – and takes a big risk.
- MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz was allowed to play Persist Online and talked to Benjamin Zuckerer (Managing Director of CipSoft and Lead Product Manager) about the zombie MMO.
- We also had the opportunity to have industry veteran Raph Koster show us the new sci-fi MMORPG Stars Reach. Imagine No Man’s Sky as a real MMO, but with creative possibilities that could even overshadow Minecraft.
- In May, the first public playtest for Scars of Honor took place. We contacted the developers afterwards to ask questions about the lessons learned, the early access originally planned for 2026, and the funding of the MMORPG.
- Throne and Liberty has received its second major expansion “Frozen Divide: Nyx”, but this has barely affected the player numbers on Steam. As in previous months, over the last 30 days, there have been between 4,000 and 5,000 players online on average (Source: steamcharts.com). The new reviews on Steam are only 54 percent positive. Players criticize primarily the monetization with its pay-to-win elements, the enormous grind factor, and the elitist community.
- The developers of Throne and Liberty are already addressing some criticisms of the new expansion and have announced initial measures on the official website.
What else happened? The Grindfest – the big MMORPG theme week from MeinMMO – runs from June 29 to July 5, 2026. You can expect exciting interviews with various developers, analyses from renowned industry veterans, engaging talks with the fantastic colleagues from GameStar, and great guests like Entenburg, along with some personal anecdotes. Here is the full program for Grindfest 2026.
Comeback of the Thieves Guild in Tamriel
What happened with the major MMORPGs:
- On the official website of WoW, Blizzard has published a preview of the update “Curse of Ula’tek.” The patch will focus on improving the user interface, progress, amenities, and bug fixes.
- In WoW, the Turbulent Timeways run from July 1 to August 12. There are time-wandering challenges, bonus experience, and a new mount: Brood of Vyranoth. You can find all info on blizzard.com.
- Elevators often result in a spontaneous end in World of Warcraft. In Midnight, one elevator even defeated an entire feature.
- WoW: Midnight has brought many new things – but also removed some. Two types of quests are no longer available, which many fans complain about.
- An event for diversity and inclusivity – but only for half of a community. A curious incident in World of Warcraft.
- With season 1, the Thieves Guild returns, with new challenges and quests. You can find a new preview of the upcoming content on elderscrollsonline.com.
- The weekly patch for Black Desert went live on July 2 and brought among other things improvements for the deployment reward in the conquest war. You can find the patch notes on playblackdesert.com.
More on the best genre in the world can also be found on the MeinMMO YouTube Channel. Recently, we posted our video on Grindfest 2026, in which Anna looks nostalgically at the genre:
What happened with the smaller MMORPGs:
- With Star Wars: The Old Republic, the developers recently excited fans with the finale of the current story. Now they reveal how it continues in the new expansion.
- In Metin2, a sort of spring cleaning is currently taking place. Inactive guilds that have been clogging the databases for years are being removed. This has been reported by mmorpg.org.pl.
- For Mortal Online 2, the Sarducaa expansion was released on July 1, introducing a new continent for new players. You can find the patch notes on Steam.
- For Old School RuneScape, the update “The Blood Moon Rises” is here. Look forward to a challenging Grandmaster quest that marks the final chapter of the Myreque saga and should even challenge veterans. You can find the patch notes on runescape.com.
- The developers of EVE Online have made their Carbon Engine available on Github as open-source software. Surely, this is also about the community being better able to create new content for the survival spinoff EVE Frontier.
- The free-to-play MMORPG Eterspire received update 77.0 earlier this week and finally introduced guilds. You can find the patch notes on eterspire.com.
- Ultima Online introduced a new summer event, Moonveil, which developers present in a short video on YouTube.
- DC Universe Online brings back the summer event Tides of War. The event runs until July 28, and you can find all further information at dcuniverseonline.com.
- For 7 months, the auction hall and trading were suspended in Trove. A comeback is expected soon; testing is underway on the PTS. More on trovegame.com.
- On August 26, 2026, the new limited-time expansion server Lethar will go live. This was revealed by Jenn Chan, Head of Studio, in the new Producer’s Letter for July 2026.
- The new update for Albion Online brings changes to the mists, depths, a 7-day event, and more. You can find the patch notes on albiononline.com.
- The developers of Star Trek Online have released a preview of the redesign of Deep Space, which is expected to arrive on July 7 with the update Undiscovered. Where? On playstartrekonline.com.
- The developers of Lord of the Rings Online are postponing the price adjustment for the V.I.P. membership. Apparently, further tests of the new subscription infrastructure are needed. Prices for all subscriptions completed until June 30, 2026, will remain unchanged until at least December 31, 2027. More on lotro.com.
- For Lord of the Rings Online, update 48.8 has also been released this week (you can find the official patch notes at lotro.com), and there was a preview of the plans for the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2026. Spoiler: For the first time in 20 years, a new monster player class is coming, and information about the next expansion is expected on July 31. Here is the developers’ letter to the players. The new roadmap is shown below:
What happened with the MMORPGs in development:
- Less than a month after the early access start of Camelot Unchained on Steam, only a handful of players are still logged in on the server. 13 years, the team of MMO veteran Mark Jacobs has been working on the spiritual successor of Dark Age of Camelot.
- Grand Chase is a side-scrolling MMO from 2003, which reportedly has been played by 20 million players worldwide. A classic version will be released on July 15, 2026. Interested parties can now register on the official website of the remake.
- Those who pre-ordered EverQuest Legends can now play the lightly modernized remake of the first EverQuest since July 1. The final release is set for July 28, 2026. You can find all information about the launch on everquestlegends.com.
- The ambitious open-world MMORPG DreamWorld had a catastrophic failure on Kickstarter a few years ago. Thanks to an investor, early access on Steam took place in March 2026. Only 3 months later, at the beginning of this week, the announcement came that the service was being shut down and early access was stopped (Source: Steam).
- The current playtest for Persist Online is ongoing, focusing on the recent adjustments for launch and character progression. Anyone interested in participating in the internal tests can register through the official website of the new MMORPG from the creators of Tibia.
- On July 15, 2026, the MMORPG SpiritVale will launch on Steam in early access. The previously launched Kickstarter campaign was successfully completed. The developers promise a class-based, action-packed MMO inspired by old RPG classics.
More about MMORPGs:
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With that, we have summarized the most important things that have recently happened in the world of MMORPGs.
What made you happy this week? What frustrated you? Let us know in the comments. Those looking for an overview of the history of online role-playing games will find it in this comprehensive special: Over 60 years of MMORPGs: We look back at the beginnings, premieres, highlights, and defeats
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
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