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 new content for WoW Classic, a fresh expansion for HdRO, lots of information about Throne and Liberty, and reports on an exciting announcement.
The highlights of the week:
- Throne and Liberty remains a hot topic in the MMORPG field. This week, Amazon Games revealed details about the loot distribution, for example, for world bosses. Some healers and tanks feel disadvantaged based on the explanations provided.
- The first castle sieges of Throne and Liberty finally have a date: On November 17, 2024, guilds may challenge the current lords of the castle.
- Guild leaders who make a positive impression on their members are so rare in Throne and Liberty that they are celebrated in the community.
- Those who find the right item in Throne and Liberty may receive Lucent worth many hundreds of euros. This story from the community shows that.
- 4,527,940 players have played the new MMORPG Throne and Liberty in the first month, according to Amazon Games. Find more statistics from the month here.
What else has happened? NCSoft seems to be in crisis. After unconfirmed reports of planned restructuring and layoffs, the large MMORPG studio provided a possible reason for these drastic measures this week: Despite the new expansion for Guild Wars 2 and Throne and Liberty, they are facing losses in the millions.
The new trailer for the opening of the Firelands in WoW Cataclysm Classic:
Off to the Firelands!
What happened in the major MMORPGs:
- The developers of Final Fantasy XIV have released preliminary details for Patch 7.1. Where? Of course on the official Lodestone (via finalfantasyxiv.com).
- News from classic WoW: In Cataclysm Classic, the Firelands raid went live this week, with adjustments (via worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com). The second home of Ragnaros is one of the most popular raids in WoW history.
- It is also clear that Phase 6 of the Season of Discovery will begin on November 21, 2024, with preparations for the opening of Ahn’Qiraj (via worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com).
- And once again in WoW Classic: In the Season of Discovery, you can challenge the Dragons of Nightmare – Emeriss, Lethon, Taerar, and Ysondre – in a solo instance in the Nightmare Grove. You enter the Nightmare Grove from the Emerald Dream forest and can then teleport to each boss one by one (via worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com).
- In a survey on MeinMMO, it was found that three out of four players primarily experience WoW solo.
- The planned respec for WoW professions will probably not come with Patch 11.0.7 after all.
- One type of tank is currently extremely unpopular in WoW and is at risk of extinction.
- A WoW player worked for 8 years on an achievement and thus secured a mount that only a few possess. Another used the Hallow’s End event, to level up to 74 via “Trick or Treat” content. And another defeated a current raid boss on heroic, solo.
- Players criticize the design of one of the new companions in The Elder Scrolls Online. This week, the developers responded to the criticism.
- New World Aeternum received Update 1.1.2 this week – here are the official German patch notes.
- Amazon Games is fighting against exploit abusers in Lost Ark and expanding penalties for caught cheaters.
What happened in the smaller MMORPGs:
- Lord of the Rings Online received its 11th expansion this week with Morgoth’s Legacy. What awaits you in the deserts of Harad can be found here.
- The next expansion of EverQuest II, Scars of Destruction, will be released on November 20, 2024. The overview page for the upcoming update can be found at everquest2.com.
- With Haven & Hearth, a small free-to-play MMORPG focused on crafting, building projects, landscaping, food gathering, hunting, fishing, poetry, and PvP battles has launched on Steam.
- Patch 2.1.9.2 has been released for Mortal Online II, featuring ranked duels, spider mounts, and the ability to surrender. The official patch notes can be found at mortalonline2.com.
- On November 12, 2024, Star Trek Online will bring a popular event around the Borg to consoles. You can find out more at playstartrekonline.com.
- The MMORPG Dofus will switch to the Unity engine on December 3, 2024, making it a big event. Those who wish to discover the game freshly on the new servers can pre-register via dofus.com – which has already impressed 38,238 interested parties.
What happened in MMORPGs in development:
- Publisher Kakao Games is adjusting the release timeframes for ArcheAge Chronicles and Chrono Odyssey. The successor to ArcheAge will not be released until 2026 at the earliest. Chrono Odyssey is planned for the fourth quarter of 2025.
- The creative director of the MMORPG Ashes of Creation transformed into a raid boss during an Alpha-2 weekend, hunted a former Blizzard developer, and summoned ducklings. You can find the whole story here.
- Once again Ashes of Creation: For the start of the next Alpha-2 phase, where first-wave bundle buyers can access the servers, the developers are providing two new servers. All the info can be found at ashesofcreation.com.
- The head of Riot Games gave an update on the MMORPG related to League of Legends at the Worlds Finals .
- The comprehensive Proving Grounds update for the early access version of Pax Dei went live this week, which partially resets the progress made so far. All the information and patch notes can be found at playpaxdei.com.
- With Brighter Shores, the new MMORPG from RuneScape creator Andrew Gower has launched in early access on Steam. So far, the approximately 2,920 reviews have reached only a “Mixed” rating, with 65 percent positive ratings.
- At G-Star 2024 in Korea, the successor to Ragnarok Online (Rank 15 of the best MMORPGs of all time, according to the MeinMMO community) will be announced with Ragnarok 3 (via daikama.com). The event runs from November 14 to 17, 2024.
With that, we’ve summarized the most important things that have happened recently in the world of MMORPGs.
What have you been excited about this week? What have you been annoyed by? Let us know in the comments. If you are looking for a lively yet informative overview on the topic of 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 MeinMMO’s theme week.