Our MeinMMO format “MMORPG News in Two Minutes” is back. From now on, we will regularly summarize the most important news related to the best genre in the world for you again. Look forward to surprising announcements, exciting preview reports, download warnings, and anniversary parties.
The highlights of the week:
- Arenanet is working on Guild Wars 3! This was revealed at the investor conference by NCSoft in March. However, the development likely hasn’t progressed too far yet. So don’t expect a launch in the next one to two years.
- MeinMMO editor Karsten was able to preview the new WoW expansion The War Within for the first time. New features such as the Depths, dynamic flying, and the Warband offer immense comfort and more fun for solo players and frequent switchers.
- At the start of the alpha, there was lots of other information about The War Within. For example, a further capital is to be destroyed, developers are combating arachnophobia, and the humans are losing their strongest racial bonus.
What else has happened? The Elder Scrolls Online is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the online role-playing game as well as the tremendous success of the past years. In addition to various in-game events, there are also special promotions. Until April 29, 2024, you can secure the DLC Thieves Guild for free.
This is just one of the new trailers for WoW The War Within from this week:
The MMORPG genre is buzzing
This happened with the big MMORPGs:
- For WoW: Dragonflight, the remix event Mists of Pandaria is coming – more information on the official website.
- Blizzard has released the release date for the fourth season of WoW: Dragonflight as well as the official patch notes. It starts on April 24, 2024!
- The preparation patch for Cataclysm Classic goes live on May 1. The new Classic expansion will be released on May 21, 2024 – here is the announcement from Blizzard.
- Blizzard and Netease have made up, WoW is coming back to China!
- If you want, you can now experience World of Warcraft in VR.
- According to Blizzard producer Holly Longdale, it is not impossible that WoW could eventually appear on Xbox.
- Square Enix has released a benchmark tool for Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail, so you can check if your PC meets the minimum requirements. In conjunction with the benchmark, the developers also showcase the graphical updates for the MMORPG. However, some improvements caused discontent in the community.
- For the FFXIV expansion Dawntrail, Square Enix announced some community features, which producer Naoki Yoshida hopes you will never have to use.
- For Lost Ark, the April update has been released, featuring new raids and a complex gear system for endgame.
- A new update for New World was released on April 17, 2024, to kick off the event Springtide Bloom (via official website). Craft will-o’-the-wisps, lure will-o’-the-wisp wasps into the appropriate explosion radius, and receive will-o’-the-wisp slime in exchange for spring tokens.
- On April 17, 2024, there was also an update for Black Desert. The new Ancient Anvil offers a type of bad-luck protection for gear upgrades. You can find out more about the feature in the official patch notes.
This happened with the small MMORPGs:
- Guild Wars 2 has entered a partnership with the Agency for Nature and is distributing seeds, with which plants from Tyria can be cultivated.
- For Fractured Online, a new developer video has been released that has caused some negative reactions. The developers announced the possibility of spending real-money tokens for gold and gold for real-money tokens in the upcoming update “The Invasion.”
- Albion Online has finally received a European server in April. The first season of the server is set to start in May (via official website).
- A few days ago, the 17th anniversary celebrations began in The Lord of the Rings Online (via official website).
- In Entropia Universe, an AI president has come to power.
- The Battlepass Astral Travel for Neverwinter (more on the official website) has been released. The new adventure zone in Wildspace will be launched on April 23, 2024 (via official website).
- Mortal Online has received a new update. This includes: a new dungeon, new mounts, and adjustments for sieges (check out the official patch notes).
- Legends of Aria will make a restart as Legends of Aria Classic on May 9, 2024 (via Steam). The Kickstarter MMORPG intended to follow in the footsteps of Ultima Online in 2019, but never managed to convince.
- An Asian MMORPG called Eternal Soul was released on April 12, 2024, which MeinMMO has issued a download warning for.
This happened with the MMORPGs in development:
- The team behind Tarisland wants to motivate you with a giveaway and community milestones leading up to the pre-registration.
- There was a sign of life from Chronicles of Elyria. Work is still ongoing on the ambitious MMORPG project. Due to the negative coverage from many websites, Jeremy “Caspian” Walsh wants to communicate only directly with the supporters.
- For The Quinfall, a new trailer has been released that introduced the animal companions and the mount system.
- The MMORPG Avalon has received a substantial investment of ten million US dollars. The project by former WoW and Everquest veterans is emphasizing metaverse slogans, AI, and Web3 technology.
- Next week, the next alpha test for Pax Dei will start. We have received access and will report directly from the testing front.
- The early access phase of the PvP MMORPG Abyss has been pushed to May 7, 2024. You can request access to the current playtest via Steam.
Thanks to the closed beta phase and the already available Korean version, there have been a number of community experiences for Throne and Liberty:
- Throne and Liberty was not allowed to be called Lineage, but plays like a modern Lineage 3.
- The new MMORPG masters battles with more than 1,000 players but fails at the Free2Play issue.
- In a new MMORPG, a secret test is running – this is what players reveal, even though they are not allowed to.
With this, we have summarized the most important news (there has actually been much more news from the genre in recent days) that has recently taken place in the world of MMORPGs.
What made you happy this week? What frustrated you? Let us know in the comments at MeinMMO. If you are looking for affordable MMORPGs in 2024, the following list might help you: The 12 best free-to-play MMORPGs of 2024 compared
