MMO Weekly Recap #457 July 2nd – SWTOR Legacy of the Sith, Warframe Sisters of Parvos & More!

JamesBl0nde recaps the MMO gaming news for the week of July 2, 2021! Transcript follows.

This week is anniversaries galore including 20 years of Anarchy Online, Get ready for the Neo Awakenings for the female gunner in DFO, have the power to control the seas with the newest Warframe and the latest character in Valorant is definitely a sure fire knock out!

What’s good everyone, JamesBl0nde here with the weekly recap for gaming news and announcements for the week of July 2nd 2021 and starting out the news this week…

Star Wars: The Old Republic is celebrating ten years since its release, and what better way to do so than releasing a brand new expansion?  That’s right, the Legacy of the Sith expansion will be kicking off a year’s worth of anniversary celebrations!  One big addition to this expansion is the ability to separate your class from your gameplay to give you a ton of new customization options.  Want to be a Sith Inquisitor who uses a single lightsaber instead of a double bladed one?  Done!  Bounty Hunter with a pistol?  Absolutely!  This should open up a ton of roleplay options for those interested.  Not to mention the fact you’ll be returning to the underwater world of Manaan, exploring a previously abandoned Sith fortress, and facing off against a dangerous anomaly in deep space.  If this is how they’re choosing to start their celebrations, you can look forward to a ton more content from Star Wars: The Old Republic in the year to come!

Speaking of expansions – you’ve fought through the Barrens, now get ready to settle in Stormwind with Hearthstone’s newest expansion!  Engage yourself in quests that’ll show off what the mercenary heroes are up to. Utilize the new Tradeable keyword to quickly get the cards you want into your hand.  Summon a mount to buff one of your minions, and watch as you retain the mount on the field should the minion be defeated.  Utilize new profession tools with a variety of unique effects to really build your deck’s power.  Of course, there will be a variety of updates and fixes that come with every new expansion, too!  United in Stormwind is set to launch with 135 new cards on August 3, and pre-orders are available now.

Also expanding soon is Fiesta Online, which is about to launch a brand new expansion: Realm of the Gods.  This game is celebrating it’s 13th anniversary this year, and this expansion continues the game’s tradition of frequent content updates.  Players will be visiting three new realms, featuring over 100 new quests and challenges, not to mention brand new enemies and loot to be found!  New dynamic zone events are also being introduced which invites players to band together to fight back the corruption across the land to earn favor.  Realm of the Gods is set to release on July 28th with public testing available starting on the 9th.

Meanwhile Dungeon Fighter Online is celebrating summer full on, and part of the celebrations includes the launch of Season 6 Act 15! This update introduces Neo Awakenings for the female gunner! That means players can now check out the Neo Ranger, Launcher, Mechanic, and Spitfire. On top of that DFO’s hosting an event until July 27th to give boosts to players who want to get leveling their female gunner, including log in bonuses, a free avatar skin, and EXP boosts.

If you’re looking for a family friendly MMO for you or your kids to play this summer, here’s some good news: Neo 2045, an MMO designed with kids in mind, is now in open beta. This is a free to play sci-fi themed MMO, with an open world, player realms, mini-games, storyline quests, and more. Kind of seems to have a Free Realms vibe to it. While it’s expected to launch fully in a few months, now’s a great time to check it out with your family and let the devs know what you think.

In other news, the Corpus are fighting back!  The latest update to Warframe gives you your own personal antagonist to deal with in the form of an elite huntress sent to destroy the Tenno.  Defeat their mechanical hound and obtain one for yourself, or get lucky and snag one of their advanced new weapons. Also in the update is the new Warframe Yareli, whose control over the seas will surely make foes think twice about crossing her.  New customizations, weapon balance changes, and more await you in the Sisters of Parvos update in Warframe!

We kind of missed it last week, but not only is Valorant celebrating its first anniversary, it’s now kicked off the Episode 3 Act 1 season. The new character debuted is KAY / O (yup, like the abbreviation for Knock Out).  His kit focuses on suppressing enemy abilities though he also comes with flash grenades to really stun enemies. The new update also makes changes to the rank rating system, adds account leveling, and of course a battle pass full of cool goodies to collect.

Also celebrating an anniversary is Anarchy Online – reaching its 20th year of service! Talk about a long-lasting game. There’s some daily login bonuses and special event encounters ongoing in the game right now, including the return of an outdoor raid boss. What’s really cool though is the 11 minute video they put together offering a retrospective and interviews with some of the original devs – you can find that linked below.

Destiny 2’s ready to kick off its Solstice of Heroes event on July 6th. This free event lets players collect class-specific  Solstice armor, which can be upgraded to offer a stylistic glow. There’s also a Legendary Shotgun, Exotic Ghost Shell, new ships, and other Solstice goodies to be earned. To get your rewards you just need to match the day’s element to charge up an elemental buff.

Sci fi shooter fans can also prepare for the robot invasion about to occur in PlanetSide 2.  With the release of the Integration update, the Nanite Systems Operative faction becomes available to all players regardless of subscription status.  With this update also comes two new vehicles: the Dervish heavy fighter, and the Chimera main battle tank, along with a whole host of new weapons for infantry and vehicles. The Integration update is live now on PC, with release on the PS4 slated for August.

Conquerer’s Blade is about to begin its eighth season, and with it comes a whole slew of new things.  Inspired by China’s Tang Dynasty, season 8 pits players in Longting, its new starting region with heavy East Asian influence.  The number of weapon classes will be increasing to 12 with the introduction of the pike, capable of long reaching attacks designed to keep melee opponents at bay.  Three new units are also available to unlock based on peaceful monks, beleaguered soldiers, and an elite combat strike force.  Linwu Fortress is the site of the new siege map this season, pitting teams of 10 against each other to take and keep control of this castle.  You can preorder the battlepass today, in preparation for Season 8’s launch on July 8.

Vigor’s latest update sees a bit of a blast from the past for the game in the form of Legacy seasons.  With the game launched across multiple platforms now, these seasons allow players on the Switch and Playstation a chance to experience the first seasons of the game, and more importantly, to earn their rewards.  The first legacy season will be Preppers, which offers a variety of makeshift weapons, accessories, and more.  Returning players to the season will also be able to resume their battlepass progress  if they didn’t complete it before.  Of course, the update fixes a number of bugs and tweaks to gameplay, so take a break this summer and get in touch with the past!

Finally let’s talk about the Epic Game Store’s free game of the week – which is The Spectrum Retreat. This is an adventure game with a lot of puzzles, where you explore the Penrose Hotel in first person and solve puzzles to uncover the eerie truth of the hotel and its apparent eternal stay.

But with that said, that’s about it for all the major news and announcements for this week. Be sure to stay safe, and keep your families healthy! Like always you can find more information on the news topics, linked in the description below, feel free to discuss the news or even more news in the comments below and don’t forget to like, subscribe, wash your hands a bunch, hit that little bell icon to get notifications and of course share this video! But until next time guys that’s going to be it for me… I’m JamesBl0nde… see ya out there gamers!