This week, The Elder Scrolls Online presented its new expansion and Throne and Liberty announced a new test. Additionally, there were discussions about the dismissal of a WoW employee, two new MMORPGs announced on Steam, and a player who cheated a lot of money in RuneScape. We have summarized all the news of the week.
The highlights of the week:
- ESO has announced the new expansion Necrom. With this, a completely new class will be released. There is also expected to be a feature with “endless dungeons” by the end of the year. The community reacts very positively to this.
- Throne and Liberty will conduct its “final test” in February. However, this will only take place in Korea, for only 2 days, and with an NDA (via NCSoft). Nevertheless, the MMORPG sounds exciting, not least because of its unique weather system.
- Blue Protocol, on the other hand, is causing some concerns. The first test in Japan has been postponed from January to March. It is unclear whether this will have an impact on the release in 2023.
The controversy of the week: Brian Birmingham, the tech lead of World of Warcraft Classic, was dismissed because he did not want to rate his employees poorly for a quota. He is receiving a lot of support, and Activision Blizzard is facing criticism again.
The discussion of the week: We asked AI: What is the best MMO to play right now? The usual suspects came out. However, this post sparked discussions around the term MMO and generally on the topic of AI.
This week in the podcast: In the MMO News podcast, Alexander Leitsch and Mark Sellner will again talk about the most important news surrounding MMORPGs. Topics included the postponement of Blue Protocol, the discontinuation of WoW in China, and the roadmaps of MMORPGs for 2023.
You can listen to the episode on Spotify here:
Cartels in WoW and two new MMORPGs on Steam
What happened with the major MMORPGs:
- In WoW, cartels have developed that decide who gets banned. Additionally, the new patch 10.0.5 was released, which brought an interesting innovation for role players in addition to the trading post. There was also a preview of the upcoming update 10.0.7, which will bring a new area.
- A new ultimate raid was released in Final Fantasy XIV on January 24. We have also summarized which events will take place this year.
- In Lost Ark, changes have been presented that are primarily intended to benefit new players (via Lost Ark). Additionally, a new trailer was released, which has caused confusion among many players.
- Guild Wars 2 has provided more details about the upcoming patch on January 31. The jade bots will also be usable outside of End of Dragons. Additionally, the WvW will receive an update with new weekly achievements (via GW2).
- In ESO, the new DLC Scribes of Fate will be released on March 13. It includes two new dungeons and the kickoff of the story for the entire year 2023. The DLC was showcased on Twitch. Here you can watch the cinematic for the new ESO expansion:
What happened with the minor MMORPGs:
- A player exploited a bug in RuneScape and claims to have earned 100,000 dollars with it. He was then permanently banned.
- Embers Adrift – a game fully focused on PvE – is free this weekend (until Monday at 9:00 AM). Normally, you need a game version and a subscription.
- The developers of New World discussed in a video how difficult it is to develop an MMORPG.
- What is the current status of Age of Conan, the MMORPG that purposely targeted a mature audience?
- With The Adventurer’s Domain Online, a new MMORPG was released on Steam. It has received 26 reviews so far, with 89% positive ratings (via Steam).
- Dungeons and Dragons Online has announced its roadmap for 2023 (via MassivelyOP).
- In Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis, a new patch with a new boss and new side story was released (via YouTube).
- Mortal Online 2 has released a retrospective on the first year since its release (via Mortal Online).
- Star Trek Online released a new update and celebrated its 13th birthday (via MassivelyOP).
- Broken Ranks, which is a real hidden gem in its niche, has given an outlook on the year 2023. The focus will be on a major overhaul of equipment, an improved crafting system, and instances 2.0 (via Broken Ranks).
- Gloria Victis – a medieval MMORPG on Steam – will celebrate its full release in February after 350 updates in early access.
What happened with the MMORPGs in development:
- A new game called Dragon Sword has been introduced, promising a lot of action and could be considered a successor to Dragon Nest.
- Ashes of Creation showcased 47 minutes of gameplay from the tank class in alpha in a video (via YouTube).
These are the MMORPG news of the week at a glance. What was your personal highlight? Did you experience anything interesting this week that you would like to share? Or did we possibly forget something important? Feel free to write it in the comments here at MeinMMO.
You can find the best MMOs and MMORPGs of 2023 in this list: The 15 currently best MMOs and MMORPGs of 2023.
