Your Weekly Byte Of MMORPG News: Soul Worker Release, TERA Console, ArcheAge P2W Controversy

Soul Worker Online may have launched last month, but as of yesterday, Soul Worker has entered commercial release. Although admittedly some countries are IP blocked, the game has launched mostly worldwide.
Gameforge have edited some of the rates to make the game more difficult for Western players, but the game so far has launched to – for the most part – positive reviews.

Now it’s time to put on your headset and start playing some rage music as Blade and Soul has now added a Automaton Assault event.
All level 50 players will be able to log in and jump into this dungeon event on April 11th to May 2nd and help take down a malfunctioning war machine made by Hongsil. Sounds easy right?
Rewards will be plenty and included in the lineup will be the Phantom Flower, a costume from the winner of the 2017 Costume Design Contest.

For the first time since its launch over 20 years ago in 1997, players will be able to play Ultima Online, one of the pioneers of the MMORPG genre, free of charge.
With the addition of its “Endless Journey” patch, they have provided players a way to play the game without requiring a subscription.
There will be restrictions in place, such as no housing, mail, guild creation, and limited harvesting options, but players will receive full access to all expansion content up to Mondain’s Legacy.

Star Trek Online has a new episode releasing with its Season 14.5 update titled “The Renegade’s Regret”.
The episode will feature a unique look from the perspective of Neth Par, taking players back to previous worlds in an attempt to discover what led do his defection.
Additionally, the new season also introduces a new specialization, inspired by Deep Space 9’s very own Constable Odo that gives players the unique ability to choose their antagonist, and bring them to justice.

With the Legends Return expansion from ArcheAge releasing a couple days ago, along with the addition of new fresh start servers, players expressed concern regarding items added to the cash shop.
Items such as leveling consumables, combat consumables, and dungeon run consumables that can all give players a significant edge over anyone else that cannot afford them has caused people to begin criticizing Trion once again.
Trion have acknowledged that these items are upsetting the general populace right now and furthermore made a comment that they are “happy for a chance to step in and clear the air.”
So, whether or not that means their cash shop will receive a do-over eventually or not remains to be seen, but it is Trion.

After what seems like forever, Secret World Legends players are finally getting new content in the form of a large story-related content update titled “Dawn of the Morning Light.”
Funcom, the team behind Secret World Legends have noted that since the success of Secret World’s relaunch under a free to play model, they have been dedicated to bringing players new content never seen before in-game.
So, stay tuned for further updates!

TERA finally launched on console on April 3rd.
From what we’ve heard and seen, console players have been loving the port and it has since boosted TERA’s numbers up by quite a nice margin.
Whether players continue to play remains to be seen, but considering there isn’t much competition in terms of good MMORPGs on consoles, they very well may.