It’s time for our MeinMMO format “MMORPG News in two Minutes.” We summarize the most important news around the best genre in the world. Look forward to many anniversary celebrations, roadmaps, and updates.
The highlights of the week:
- With RuneScape, one of the most successful MMORPGs of all time has turned 24 years old. To celebrate the milestone, starting from January 13, 2025, you can embark on one of three quest lines that are so complex that the developers are including a guide (via runescape.com). You can find out what other celebrations await you in the game on runescape.com.
- The developers of Elder Scrolls Online have revealed the first content plans for 2025 in a livestream. The biggest response is drawn by a rather small but very fine announcement: Addon support is coming for consoles!
- Athene is back! The 44-year-old was once the most famous player of WoW. Today he talks incoherently about Gen Z and how they are destroying the MMORPG.
- The warbands from World of Warcraft are getting a visual, substantial upgrade with patch 11.1 – and it looks really cool. Also planned: A new visual effect will ensure that you have no excuses in the future when the boss takes you down. And: New buff food is coming and finally fulfilling your gamer dream – but it comes with a disadvantage.
- Anyone who wants to test the new features of WoW patch 11.1 can now do so on the public test server (via worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com).
What else has happened? With the turn of the year, we have updated our list of all MMORPGs currently in development for PC. A whopping 59 online role-playing games are now listed there. Among them are well-known titles like Aion 2, the new EverQuest MMORPG, Guild Wars 3, the LoL MMORPG, the new Warhammer MMORPG, ArcheAge Chronicles, or the online adventure for Lord of the Rings.
Here is the first trailer for the new ArcheAge MMORPG:
ArcheAge Chronicles: Trailer shows for the first time the successor to ArcheAge
Anniversary version of WoW Classic enters phase 2
This is what happened in the major MMORPGs:
- This week, the party for WoW’s 20th anniversary came to an end. At the last moment, the developers announced an adjustment for the Bronze Dragon Celebration badges.
- In WoW Classic Hardcore, players continue to die merrily. A streamer recently showed 21 very dumb ways to permanently lose a character in WoW Classic.
- By the way, the anniversary version of WoW Classic has reached its second phase this week: with Darkbreak, new world bosses, and an honor system (via worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com).
- From January 14, 2025, you can secure the “Coward’s Azure Target” as a transmog via Twitch-Drop for WoW. You can find the details on worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com.
- A feel-good story from Azeroth: A WoW player plays for the first time with a new dungeon group and is surprised with an expensive mount. The gilded Merchant Brutosaurus also caused some concern here and there, namely, when the two NPCs suddenly disappear.
- The YouTuber and streamer NefasQS explains at the beginning of the year why all platforms around ESO University have been shut down and that there will be no more content from him regarding Elder Scrolls Online. He cites as one reason that he supposedly was publicly humiliated by the developers.
- A fan of World of Warcraft has discovered an exciting detail that casts the game’s story in a whole new light.
- Final Fantasy XIV is giving away a total of 96 hours of playtime until February 6, 2025. The in-game event Heaven’s Turn is still running until January 16, 2025. You can find the info on finalfantasyxiv.com.
- Throne and Liberty wanted to bring back the focus on the massive, but now it’s backfiring: The community is crying out for server merges. Meanwhile, the developers have brought smaller optimizations to the live servers with patch 1.12.0. You can find the official patch notes on playthroneandliberty.com.
- One of the best wrestlers in the world is finally back: Kenny Omega is using epic music by FFXIV composer Masayoshi Soken for his comeback.
What happened in the small MMORPGs:
- The developers of Albion Online have introduced the next update “Rogue Frontier,” which will include smuggler hideouts, new activities in the Outlands, and much more. You can find the official preview on albiononline.com.
- In January, several in-game events are taking place in SWTOR again. You can find the details at swtor.com.
- The developers of Tibia are deleting one of the world’s top players with level 2,500+ for the first time as part of a new ban wave. By the way, this week the MMORPG celebrated its 28th anniversary. This is being celebrated with a dragon event (via tibia.com).
- The well-known Vtuber Nerissa Ravencroft has been playing Old School RuneScape for a few months. Now she was able, thanks to her community and ambiguous wording, to almost completely master one of the hardest grinds of the MMORPG.
- The new roadmap for Aion Classic reveals what is planned for the first half of 2025. Some players fear that a new feature could destroy an entire faction.
- Roadmaps for 2025 were also provided for EverQuest and EverQuest II each. Check out everquest.com and everquest2.com.
- As the 22nd anniversary of Final Fantasy XI was coming up in May 2024, the responsible parties at Square Enix wanted to find out through a survey what would have to happen to bring players back to the MMORPG classic. The answer of many players: Make the subscription cheaper!
- DC Universe Online is celebrating its 14th birthday! Anyone logging in by February 3, 2025, will receive a free box with CR-420 gear, which allows you to jump straight into the endgame. Note that you must have mastered the tutorial to receive the box, and your hero must be at least level 30 (via dcuniverseonline.com).
This is what happened in MMORPGs in development:
- As the current shards of the early access version of Pax Dei are slowly filling up, the developers went live with a new shard for the US and EU regions on January 10, 2025. The new EU server is named Mimir (via mmorpg.com).
- On January 16, 2025, the next phase of Alpha 2 of Ashes of Creation begins. This phase is expected to last until May 1, granting testers 24/7 access to the alpha content (via ashesofcreation.com).
- The sandbox MMORPG Ravendawn is getting a mobile version that will offer the full functionality of the game and crossplay. The first stress test is scheduled for January 16, 2025. More details can be found at ravendawn.online.
- MIR5 is set to be the first MMORPG to utilize NVIDIA ACE technology to calculate boss AI (via YouTube).
- On January 6, 2025, a new pixel MMORPG called Fantasy Online 2 was launched on Steam. The reviews are currently at 93 percent positive, although there are only 30 ratings so far.
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With that, we have summarized the most important news that has recently occurred in the world of MMORPGs.
What were you excited about this week? What upset you? Let us know in the comments. If you’re looking for a fun yet informative overview 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 the theme week from MeinMMO
