It’s time for our MeinMMO format “MMORPG News in Two Minutes”. We summarize the most important news about the best genre in the world. Look forward to a new update for Guild Wars 2, several fresh trailers, WoW plans, a new version of FFXIV, and much more.
This week’s highlights:
- Blizzard has updated the roadmap for WoW and announced housing! According to Game Director Ion Hazzikostas, we can expect the “most ambitious feature ever”. What is known about the new housing in World of Warcraft, you can find out in our overview article.
- Ion Hazzikostas also commented on the 20th anniversary, what the internal opinion on a World of Warcraft 2 is.
- For the anniversary, new servers for WoW Classic have launched. The perhaps last chance for a fresh start has led to an enormous influx of players. The servers were full and overloaded within minutes.
What else has happened? For Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds, the first major content update has been released this week: Godspawn. The patch includes three new story chapters that lead you to Mount Balrior. There, you can expect the first new raid in five years, which you can also experience as a convergence event. You can find out more at guildwars2.com. Here’s the trailer for the update:
Throne and Liberty shines with the first castle siege
What happened with the major MMORPGs:
- Brann Bronzebeard remains your loyal companion until the end of WoW: The War Within in the depths. This changes Blizzard’s original plan to limit the dwarf only to Season 1.
- The Game Director of World of Warcraft, Ion Hazzikostas, is happy with The War Within – even though there were many bugs.
- In Throne and Liberty, the first castle siege took place last weekend. MeinMMO author Cedric Holmeier and his guild prepared for the event for several weeks and dove into the chaos. Here’s his experience report.
- For Throne and Liberty, Update 1.8.0 has been released this week. Included are: 2-star dungeons, buddy system, and class changes.
- Amazon Games announces server merges for New World Aeternum. Some EU servers are affected as well.
- Paul Sage, the former Creative Director for Elder Scrolls Online, recalled in an interview the beginnings of the MMORPG. Also relevant for Tamriel fans: Until November 25, you can earn the first Golden Tasks (via elderscrollsonline.com).
- Square Enix reveals what’s behind the long-speculated mobile version of Final Fantasy 14. A few days ago, producer Naoki Yoshida shared more details about the mobile port.
- On November 27, 2024, the November update of Lost Ark will be released. You can expect Sumsum Island, the path to hyper awakening, and fresh game systems (via playlostark.com).
What happened with the smaller MMORPGs:
- In the classic MMORPG Tibia, one of the richest players was permanently banned. He loses items worth over €11,500. However, one item could be saved before deletion.
- The MMORPG Neverwinter sends players back to a floating pirate island. The new expansion “As Above, So Below – Return to Pirates’ Skyhold” was released on November 19, 2024, on Steam and PS5.
- The MMORPG EverQuest II has been online for a long time and is far from done. On November 20, 2024, the 21st expansion for the online role-playing game was released, which brings numerous new contents again.
- Fractured Online became free-to-play on November 20, 2024. In addition, the first season of the MMORPG has started (via Steam).
- A new EU server has gone live for Atlantica Online, which promises faster progression (via mmorpg.org.pl).
- In Star Wars: The Old Republic, a large update is scheduled for this year with many new features. This time, the developers will introduce several new events and improve the graphics. Also, the deletion of character names in SWTOR is coming. Affected are characters that haven’t logged in since January 2024.
What happened with the MMORPGs in development:
- In the latest episode of the podcast “Word on the Street”, Greg Street talked about the development of Ghost (via YouTube). Behind the team are reportedly several successful playtests. The production of the MMORPG is progressing faster than expected.
- On November 26, Corepunk will go into early access. Included: three fully voiced episodes of the first season story, 350 quests, 15 world bosses, six weapon specializations, and more (via mmorpg.com).
- On December 13, 2024, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen will start on Steam in Early Access. The project is clearly oriented towards classic MMORPGs. The content is designed to be tackled together with other players. Those who prefer to play solo and want to achieve quick successes will not be happy with Pantheon.
- With Tales of Fearless, a 2D MMORPG will launch on Steam on December 7. You can expect 17 classes, a profession system, castle sieges, and much more.
- With Architect: Land of Exiles, a new next-gen MMORPG was announced at G-Star 2024, which leaves an visually exciting impression in the first trailer (via YouTube).
- The first trailer for Ragnarok 3 is not that impressive (via YouTube).
- Project R is a new MMORPG that is scheduled for release in 2025 and uses Unreal Engine 5. The first longer trailer has now been released (via YouTube).
With that, we have summarized the most important events that have recently occurred in the world of MMORPGs.
What did you enjoy this week? What frustrated you? Let us know in the comments. If you are looking for a fun yet informative overview on online role-playing games, be sure to check this out: Report, columns, talks, and the top list of the best MMORPGs of all time – that was the theme week of MeinMMO
