MMORPG News: New MMOs Last Oasis, Ascent Infinite Realm, Pagan Online, Astellia, Pantropy & More!

I feel like every week since 2019 began has gotten progressively more news. Like, I’m not even kidding.
The last few weeks I’ve been sitting here writing these up like “Wow… that’s an absurd amount of news, and that isn’t even everything, I’m sure.”
So, guys, I hope you’re buckled into your stroller because we got a helluva ride this weekend.

Yes, we finally have new information on Ascent: Infinite Realm. It’s brief, but it’s here. The team behind A:IR have taken the time to show us screenshots of the new “city in the sky”, “Inventus” – a large ship that was initially used as an evacuation ship.
Additionally, a Youtuber called Ser Medieval – who actually makes pretty entertaining content, so small shoutout to him managed to record some gameplay of the Assassin, Gunslinger, Mystic, Sorceress and Warlord from PlayPark’s South East Asian version of the game.
That’s where the footage you’re seeing originates from.
The combat, although not as smooth as I’d like seems like a vast improvement over what I saw last year and I’m hoping they continue to work hard at it because after the debacle that was Bless Online.. a lot of work needs to be done to earn our trust back.

Before MapleStory 2 there existed a cuter, side-scrollier version of MapleStory called.. well, MapleStory.
For players that opted to remain in the original game, and there were quite a few, trust me, you may be excited to learn that the Black Mage: New Beginnings actually launched earlier this week and brought with it the traditional Lunar New Year events and other goodies.
So if you’ve been waiting – quick, jump back in before the event ends!

For those of you unaware of what Pagan Online is.. well, think Diablo or Path of Exile. Yup. We got another competitor ready to enter the ring and from what I’ve seen Pagan Online looks pretty damn cool.
They’ve had a few little issues recently after launching their “stress test” for their servers, what with their servers crippling under the pressure, but nevertheless the team behind Pagan Online are working hard behind the scenes!
I’ll be ready during their next stress test and hopefully get some footage for everyone interested! Otherwise.. see you guys in there!

I’m not sure if fans will be happy they’ll be receiving more frequent content or upset that it won’t be of the same caliber in this update from the team behind Warframe.
They went on to state that the studio will have an “increased focus on on-going shorter turn-around content” for the game as opposed to their well-received “slower, larger content updates” players have become accustomed to after all this time.
This doesn’t mean that the content itself will suffer as a result, just that it will come in faster, smaller doses.
They also went on to elaborate on the new trio of Warframes being added into the game, two of which are named the Hildryn and the Wisp along with new types of dailies and weekly challenges, the Planes of Duviri – bringing with it a new area and faction, a remaster of Gas City and New War, their next cinematic quest, a new “Melee 3.0 revamp”, better player experience, honestly, so much is being added to the game that it’s probably more worth it to just watch the video yourself.

I’d neglected to mention this update the last couple weeks purely because I’d forgotten about it, but everyone’s favorite MMO to hate on, Tree of Savior, rolled out their Re:Build update earlier this month.
Re:Build was a tremendous update – adding with it large overhauls to both the game’s current class and rank systems which is actually far too much information to accurately go into, new endgame content in the form of two raids, Bortuos Kapas and a new raid within the Astral Tower.
For those of you on the fence about trying Tree of Savior out, now is the opportune moment to jump right in!

I’m not 100% certain what to classify this as. The Steam page and the devs behind the game list it as a “Nomadic Survival MMO”. But survival games and MMOs are usually very different from one another.
Regardless, Last Oasis is a clan-based survival MMO that “combines a global player driven economy, an innovative vehicle system as well as complex combat and war mechanics, all working at an MMO scale.”
I’m not sure what to make of this as I couldn’t imagine a game like ARK or Rust but on a scale comparable to an MMO. Thousands of players all trying to build, tame, conquer and subsequently vying for control in huge PvP skirmishes?
I’m going to add this to my list of skeptical-ARK-clones-that-could-maybe-perhaps-even-be-potentially-alright-some-day.

Regardless of whether or not you love or hate Battle for Azeroth, Blizz have launched their new Battle of Dazar’alor raid – finally, for Normal and Heroic raiders to tackle, along with season 2 PvP, Mythic+ dungeoning and ultimately provided an all new incentive for new gear hunting.. kinda.
Dazar’alor actually looks like it could be highly entertaining – I’ve begun attempting it in Normal right now as I’m definitely not capable of a Heroic without having first cleared it on Normal and I gotta say.. it’s a blast so far.
The raid, that is. The rest of the game is the same. So if you hated it a week ago – other than some cool new bosses and fights… it’s the same game.

For fans of Mobile MMOs you may be happy to know that yet another MMORPG, Rebirth M, launched onto iOS and Android devices on the 24th.
Like all Mobile MMOs, Rebirth M is free-to-play and is more or less the same as every other Mobile MMO on the market. They claim that they are “redefining the MMORPG genre” but they still offer auto-combat, pathing and lock boxes.

In Anthem-related news.. or EA-related news, rather, Anthem’s VIP demo went live yesterday and apparently they weren’t quite prepared for the influx of players, with EA apologizing for the server capacity errors.
Thankfully, the players that managed to get in are singing the game’s praises, so word of mouth is mostly positive. If EA can get their shit together.. well, maybe not considering they didn’t even anticipate how many servers would be required to run the demo.
But either way, EA have assured players that they are working hard on adding more server capacity to the demo right now. Hopefully they learn from this and take preparations for launch, which is probably going to have even more players.

In Anthem-related news.. or EA-related news, rather, Anthem’s VIP demo went live yesterday and apparently they weren’t quite prepared for the influx of players, with EA apologizing for the server capacity errors.
Thankfully, the players that managed to get in are singing the game’s praises, so word of mouth is mostly positive. If EA can get their shit together.. well, maybe not considering they didn’t even anticipate how many servers would be required to run the demo.
But either way, EA have assured players that they are working hard on adding more server capacity to the demo right now. Hopefully they learn from this and take preparations for launch, which is probably going to have even more players.

Project Genom is a sci-fi MMO that was announced and released a while back.. to very lackluster sales. Project Genom was riddled with bugs and was considered by many to not even be close to being in a fully playable state.
This prompted the team behind the game to announce their plans to temporarily close the servers while they take appropriate measures to improve the game.. all on a $500 per month budget.
So, credit where credit is due. Good on you guys for pushing through even with the state the game is in and even with such poor sales and earnings.

Not much in the way of Red Dead Online, but, their Battle Royale – the mode that every developer and their mother seems to want in on these days has received some updates to assist in matchmaking.
Furthermode, Rockstar are working on a content update with a large variety of changes and improvements to the game.
Finally, if you’re in the mood for some free gold bars – now’s the time to log in!

Path of Exile’s latest patch introduced various bug fixes that have plagued the game since the launch of their Betrayal update while providing a few quality of life improvements like a reduced cost of hideout decorations.
But that’s not what’s important about this entry – instead, the team announced that they are already hard at work preparing an early look at their next expansion that will accompany patch 3.6. This early look will likely be sometime mid-February.
The PS4 port of Path of Exile will also be launching around the time 3.6 hits so get ready to welcome our console cousins!

Pantropy, for unaware fans is another sci-fi themed MMOFPS. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, the team behind Pantropy have been hard at work preparing the game for Early Access, which is slated, actually, for next week on January 31.
They’re currently putting the finishing touches on server performance and networking right now in hopes that the Early Access will be as smooth as possible. Because you know if it isn’t the Steam launch is going down the drain, along with its future.

I believe this is the very first time I’ve ever talked about Star Trek Online in a news video, which is surprising. Equally as surprising is the fact that any of Perfect World Entertainment’s games are still alive.
But, I digress. Star Trek Online released its new Mirror of Discovery update earlier this week that brought with it two new featured episodes, improved hair and skin textures, new anniversary challenges and more.
They’re also holding a week of free giveaways for players interested – and who doesn’t like free stuff?

Black Desert Online will finally be launching onto the Xbox One on March 4th.
Pre-orders are available via the Microsoft Store and players will be given Early Access if they pre-order through it. Packages range from $30 to $100 and feature various differences in rewards offered.
I’ll be there recording footage for the game before it launches onto the Xbox One officially, so keep an eye out!