MMORPG News: Lost Ark Announcement, EverQuest 3, Genshin Impact, Blue Protocol & More!

I have officially been doing “MMORPG News” videos for a year as of August 2019. While I haven’t been doing them weekly for nearly that long, it’s pretty cool to know that I’ve been delivering news to your screens for a year now.
This week I have more news than I know what to do with. So lie back, get some cucumbers for your eyes, put on some nice soothing music and get ready for this week’s Weekly Byte of MMORPG News.

Let’s start this off with a title you’re all no doubt familiar with, as quite a few of you were excited when I first discussed it and still are.
Genshin Impact was first announced in June as an MMO, but Mihoyo, the developer behind the game clarified it is more of a co-op Action RPG as opposed to a traditional MMO.
While the beta that was held recently was initially playable solo, as you made progress through the game you unlocked the ability to party with other people for dungeons. So why am I talking about it?
Previously, it was revealed that the game will be launching onto PC and mobile devices in 2020, but as of ChinaJoy 2019, it was confirmed to be releasing onto PS4 as well.
So it will be cross-platform between PC, PS4 and mobile players. I’m curious to see how Genshin Impact will do considering Blue Protocol and Project BBQ all have similar release dates as well.

Astellia just went into their second closed beta a couple days ago. We held a huge giveaway, giving out 800 keys to viewers that wanted to get in.
We don’t know if they plan on holding a third closed beta – I don’t think that’s likely, honestly, as they’re in the process of searching out content creators to do updated videos on the game.
What I would like to note is that the game looks as though the official launch will be coming in the very near future.
And when it does, we’re going to have several copies of the game to give away COMPLETELY FREE! Since the game is buy to play, if you’re looking to try it out, this will be your best bet.
The giveaway will be held on my website right over here. Follow that link to participate and win your own free copy!
Also, MrsStix will have a deeper look into the game uploaded in a week or two for those of you interested.

Gloria Victis never really.. achieved much after launching. The game turned out to be pretty subpar and people forgot about it as quickly as it came.
However, the developer behind the game announced that they’re working on a large new update this month that contains free building of guild castles, improvements to the alliance systems and most notably, horses and mounted combat.
Finally, you’ll be able to take to the field and impale people with your lance atop your trusty steed!

It’s actually been a long while since I’ve covered Camelot Unchained. That’s because they haven’t really made much in the way of progress over the last year, which, honestly is a little disheartening.
Regardless, in their latest update, they went on to detail what they’ve been working on which really isn’t anything noteworthy.
Worth noting though is that they were unable to go into details on when the game would finally launch, even going as far as stating that their “official release date has become a meme in its own right,” acknowledging how poorly they’ve handled the release of the game.
When asked if the game would release in 2021, long after their planned release, they mentioned that they would prefer to release sooner but they don’t want to say 2021 in the chance that it gets pushed back further once again.
So.. yeah, yikes.

Legends of Aria is finally launching! Yes, you heard that right. After suffering a delay, Citadel Studios, the team behind Legends of Aria have revealed that the game will finally be hitting Steam on August 6th.
The launch brings with it a plethora of updates including but not limited to a new Bard skill line, a bunch of new cosmetic items, new mounts, and more, but the most important thing to note is that there is an optional sub.
While I can’t say that it’ll provide players with much of a boost over those of you that aren’t paying, it’s always checking to see if it’s worth it to play without a sub before dedicating any time to a game.
Personally, I’m excited to try it out. It’s a new PvP oriented MMO – and those are enjoyable to me.

It’s been a month or so since I got to do a segment on Blade & Soul. I actually just started recording footage for an updated look at the game, too, so this is good timing.
Their latest patch – Roots of Malice introduces two new raid dungeons and an event dungeon into the game.
You’re capable of participating in the event dungeon until August 20th, with reward redemption being available until September 17th.

EverQuest and EverQuest 2 are both still online after all these years. I know a lot of people have often wondered if an EverQuest 3 will ever be made.. and according to Daybreak last week, “There is a future.”
Yup – you guys heard that correctly. They went on to elaborate on the fact that they “don’t have specifics” right now, but “they will definitely do something with the IP,” does that mean a remake? A mobile spin-off? EverQuest 3?
No confirmation on exactly what they were referencing has been made, but they have asked us to wait until they have more “meaningful news to announce.”

For those of you wondering about Blue Protocol, yes, it looks like Bandai Namco might not be releasing the game in the West yet as according to a Reddit user, and not Bandai Namco themselves, they’re focusing on the Japanese release of the game before thinking about releasing it internationally.
Which honestly couldn’t be a better idea. I’m of the firm opinion that they should release a good game in Japan first, and only when it’s proven to be worth playing should they consider releasing it outside of Japan.
Otherwise it’s going to reinforce the fact that MMOs these days are just.. terrible and developers don’t know what they’re doing.
The game is fresh out of their first Alpha and planning additional testing phases so I’ll keep you all updated with whenever new registrations open up!

So as of writing, not only has Lost Ark launched in South Korea, but Russia, Japan and China have all gotten their hands on the game as well.
Yeah, by the time we get it the rest of the world is going to have already had it, played it, and gotten bored with it. But I digress.
I’d reported on the roadmap posted back a couple months ago where they announced an entirely new continent and a new class.. the Assassin. Which launched officially on July 31st.
No new information pertaining to its release over here but hey, everywhere else is getting it so we’re bound to eventually as well, right?

I think I’ve spoken about Riders of Icarus like.. once in a news video, that was it.
So you know something big is happening when I include it – and let me tell you, this is about as big as it can get, sans the game shutting down all together.
Nexon, after 3 years of publishing the game has decided to cease any and all involvement in the game, passing over publishing rights to Valofe Global, a company that has several of the games Nexon has trash-canned over the years.
This is a company that ruins games even further than Nexon does and is generally considered to be one of the worst publishers in the Western market.
So I feel for those of you that still actively play Riders of Icarus as this may mark the beginning of the end of the game.

We did a video on Skyforge’s latest update earlier this year and we had a blast. So we’re happy to see that they’re already preparing their next large expansion called “Ignition.”
It is expected to launch sometime in September – when, specifically is unknown. The game brings with it a ton of new content, with the new Firestarter class being unleashed in all its glory.
It’s pretty much what you’d expect, honestly, but what’s cool is that the class is the very first class to wield a fire element in-game.
If we’re lucky we’ll get given access to the new class and we might end up doing a video on it!

This is news I most definitely did not see coming. Portal Knights, the popular co-op sandbox game is apparently getting its very own MMORPG. A full, functional, MMORPG.
Duoyi Network and 505 Games will be developing the MMO to run alongside Portal Knights so the original game isn’t going anywhere, but it’s interesting to see that the game will be going the MMO route.
The game honestly didn’t seem large enough to warrant an MMO tag, nor an MMO world so a lot of the game is going to need to be re-created if they want the game to truly feel “massively multiplayer.”