Gamescom dominated the week in gaming, even in MMOs, as we got launch dates for Aion 2 and Path of Exile 2, teases of a new DLC for Dune Awakening, and a huge run of trailers for everything from Sea of Remnants to Cinder City.
Meanwhile, we got a peek at Guild Wars 3’s fluffy Asura, Star Citizen’s Squadron 42 got yet another delay, and Blizzard took out another World of Warcraft rogue server.
Read on to catch up with the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions today as every Sunday (since 2010!) in Massively Overpowered’s Week in Review!
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026: Aion 2, Path of Exile 2, and more MMO and multiplayer trailers – Gamescom has returned again, and that means another round of Geoff Keighley’s Opening Night Live. Yes, it’s night in Cologne. Take it up with astrophysics. Technically, the preshow has been…
We are all shocked, shocked, that Star Citizen spinoff Squadron 42 has been delayed into 2027 – A year or so ago, there was a Star Citizen superfan who went into an apoplectic rage at us because our little context box at the end of every Star…
Guild Wars 3’s Asura are taller and furrier than their Guild Wars 2 descendants – but just as quirky – I really hope you folks like creepy lil guys with creepy lil teeth because today’s Guild Wars 3 blog reveal is all about the Asura species. Although conveniently, the new…
Gamescom 2026: Aion 2 makes its global debut October 5 following stress test and headstart – At Gamescom’s Opening Night Live this afternoon, NCsoft brought a bunch of trailers and splashed out previewing multiple games, chief among them – at least for MMORPG players – being…
Casually Classic: What clues did Season of Discovery hold for WoW Classic Plus? – As we continue to exist in a holding pattern for the eventual World of Warcraft Classic-related announcements at BlizzCon, predictions and expectations are zooming all over the place. Everyone seems…
LOTRO Legendarium: Looking back at Mines of Moria – When Turbine came out with its first expansion for Lord of the Rings Online in November 2008, it came out swinging for the fences. Mines of Moria was no piddly…
WoW Factor: Yes, there really is too much to do in World of Warcraft Midnight – I’ve just returned to World of Warcraft after letting my sub lapse for about two months. I had done everything I wanted to do in season one, but now that…
Roblox clamps down on gen-AI brainrot scrolling games after Steal an Egg goes viral – We’re just as depressed as you are to learn that a «brainrot scrolling game» is a thing in Roblox, but we also can’t say that this revelation is entirely surprising.…
Gamescom 2026: Exterminauts is an upcoming co-op shooter where you use mad science against alien foes – Are you sick of those arrogant aliens slithering and skittering all over their native planets as if they own the place? Are you dying — possibly actually dying — to…
Gamescom 2026: Wolcen Studio announces Wolcen 2, a sequel to its troubled namesake ARPG – After ending development on Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem and shuttering its online servers in 2024, Wolcen Studio seemed to be done with its namesake franchise, but you would be wrong.…
Throne and Liberty’s abbreviated August update adds Snowsoul Weapons and new achievements in Nix – What’s more dangerous than a boss? An archboss. Above that? An ascended archboss. And above that, in the logic ofThrone and Liberty, is a snowsoul. What’s a snowsoul? Well, Snowsoul…
Classic MMORPG Ultima Online just launched a brand-new festival event ahead of its 29th birthday – We’re just a few weeks away from Ultima Online’s 29th birthday, so naturally Broadsword’s Publish 124 – live now on all the production shards – sets the stage for the…
Storyboard: Why is ERP still the punchline of MMORPGs? – Some of you are going to see that headline and you already have your jokes teed up because of course you do. Because of course everyone does. Because that’s just…
Path of Exile 2 previews September 4’s Forbidden Rites league and 1.0’s new Duelist class – WithPath of Exile 2 tying downa December 11th release from early access, fans are likely eager to learn more about the Duelist class that will be launching alongside version 1.0…
Massively Overthinking: Are you your own worst enemy in MMORPGs? How? – I was on YouTube a while back when I came across a thumbnail for a video called «How to ruin video games for yourself.» I did not click on this…
Gamescom 2026: The Division 2 unveils Echoes of Central Park DLC, confirms crossplay in November – There was a whole lot of news rushing out ofThe Division 2 during this year’s Gamescom, as Ubisoft Massive used the convention tomake several major announcements — and one of…
Vague Patch Notes: Resenting structure and blaming guidance in MMOs – When I first started playing Final Fantasy XI, I had no idea what I was doing, so I walked outside and I started killing bees. I did this because outside…
Palia players grumble over a storage chest expansion silently added to the cash shop in latest patch – Generally speaking,Palia players are a pretty chill lot, and the recently addedPetals & Portraits update seemed to bring no reason for that to change as the in-game autumn season slid…
Star Citizen revives Siege of Orison, adds a new ship, and fixes nearly 500 bugs with alpha 4.10 – It’s time for yet another fresh build inStar Citizen as alpha 4.10has officially deployed, bringing along with it the return of an updated and instanced Siege of Orison encounter, another…
Netmarble’s popular PC/mobile MMO Vampir is coming westward, opens global registrations – MMO players who’ve been wishing the genre had a vampire-themed MMORPG might finally get their chance thanks to Netmarble, which today announced the impending global release of MMO called Vampir.…
Perfect Ten: Subscription-free MMORPGs from before Dungeons and Dragons Online’s free-to-play transition – September 2009 is the date we have, broadly, accepted as an important point in the MMO genre history because it’s when Dungeons & Dragons Online switched to a free-to-play model.…
Gamescom 2026: Dune Awakening confirms crossplay, DLC collab with Villeneuve’s movies – While Funcom didn’t bring a new trailer to Opening Night Live yesterday, it’s still been vocal about its journey to Gamescom this year, so you had to figure the company…
Gamescom 2026: Hoyoverse sets a winter release for Petit Planet, unveils co-op action RPG Nodusfall – While Hoyoverse might be more well known around here forGenshin Impact and perhaps even more well-liked for its single-player RPGs Zenless Zone Zero andHonkai Star Rail, we now have a…
Closers’ relaunch under Papaya Play has officially begun with various celebration events – One of the more surprising pieces of news to come out of this year has beenClosers’un-sunsetting thanks to Papaya Play, with the side-scrolling anime MMO returning after itsshutdown last June…
Gamescom 2026: NCsoft’s trailers for multiplayer Like or Die and Cinder City – At last night’s Gamescom’s Opening Night Live, we noted that NCsoft appeared to have splashed out on its appearance at the show – and we’re not even talking about Guild…
Lost Ark has begun its final Amazon merge down to just five total servers today – The western Lost Ark playerbase is in for some tumult over the next few months: Not only is Amazon exiting the publishing business and dispatching Lost Ark back to developer…
Gamescom 2026: NetEase announces January launch for Ananta and December beta for Sea of Remnants – This year’sOpening Night Live event at Gamescom saw a couple of NetEase-managed games drop some news in our corner of the gaming world, and as is our duty, we’re pulling…
Gamescom 2026: Path of Exile 2 will finally launch out of early access this December – During the Opening Night Live show that Kicked off Gamescom earlier this afternoon, Grinding Gear Games dropped a big announcement for fans of Path of Exile 2: The multiplayer OARPG…
Built on ‘a codebase older than some of you,’ EVE Online is undergoing a major code migration – Fenris Creations fka CCP Games really made EVE Online look its age today with a new blog that discusses the company’s ongoing initiative to futureproof the game, as the studio…
Aliens Fireteam Elite 2 has officially launched to rough reviews under the Daybreak banner – After secretive development, delays, and even a studio buyout by Daybreak along the way, Cold Iron Studios’ follow-up to Aliens Fireteam Elite is finally here today. Aliens Fireteam Elite 2…
Choose My Adventure: Cat Bard goes a-slaying in EverQuest Legends’ Steamfont Mountains – I continue to be surprised by the results of the polls forEverQuest Legends. So far they’ve been either extremely close or extremely obvious, and while last week’s polling started out…
EverQuest Legends revamps classic Unrest, where the skelly laughter still haunts our dreams – EverQuest II isn’t the only EverQuest MMORPG getting love today: EverQuest Legends is also following up last week’s Castle Mistmoore content patch with another whopper, this one focused on the…
Twitch and Amazon face class-action lawsuit over automatic opt-in of gen AI training – Readers no doubt recall how Amazon and Twitch kindled a firestorm of fury among streamers and gamers earlier this month when the platform unveiled an opt-out choice for generative AI…
Wisdom of Nym: Magical concepts that Final Fantasy XIV could potentially use for new jobs – I’m going to open this particular column – which itself is going to lead into a series of columns – with a statement that may be controversial but may not.…
The oldest Guild Wars 2 characters are turning 14 years old this week with all the concomitant birthday gifts – If you have a very old Guild Wars 2 character, you should log in and check your mail because the game has officially turned 14 years old and is dispatching…
A Reddit mod used AI to hack a Star Wars Galaxies emulator over a 14-year-old grudge – Players of Star Wars Galaxies’ Legends server were startled last night by an announcement that ripped the lid off some brewing – and ancient – drama in the SWG emulation…
Guild Wars 2 shares a sizzle reel for Code of Creation’s new raid and convergence rewards – Surely you have 50 seconds of time to ogle things that are coming toGuild Wars 2, right? It’s not that much time, it’s all a preview peek and not a…
Star Trek Online promises to showcase the future of the MMORPG on September 8 – Apparently the Guardian of Forever is going to have some things to say aboutStar Trek Online pretty soon, as the folks at Cryptic Studios haveput out a teaser video that’s…
Project Ascension World of Warcraft emulator is shutting down following apparent Blizzard lawsuit settlement – Back in June, we learned that Blizzard was pursuing yet another World of Warcraft emulator in court, this time Project Ascension. The lawsuit accused Project Ascension of infringing on the…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Every week, get caught up on the MMO genre’s latest news and Massively OP’s best content in our MMO Week in Review! Want more roundups of content? Try Friday’s Betawatch for MMO testing highlights, Saturday’s Make My MMO for MMO crowdfunding updates, and Sunday’s The MOP Up, which mops up all the bits of news we didn’t cover anywhere else.
