A New Era for New Eden
The fleets of New Eden gather beneath a transformed banner — Fanfest 2026 heralds a new era for CCP Games.
Week of 16 May 2026
It has been a week in which the space between stars grew a little louder. EVE Online's Fanfest 2026 dominated headlines with a striking rebrand and the weight of genuine momentum behind it, while the surface of Azeroth shifted quietly with whispers of something Classic-shaped on the horizon. Elsewhere, RuneScape revisited one of its most beloved skills with a thoroughgoing overhaul, Guild Wars 2 delivered its most substantial quarterly update in some time, and SWTOR counted down to what may be its most ambitious patch in years.
EVE Online
EVE Online's annual gathering in Reykjavik, Fanfest 2026, took place on 13 May and dominated the week's MMORPG news. The event — streamed live for those not in attendance — brought with it a series of announcements that will shape the game's direction well into 2027.
Fenris Creations
CCP Games has rebranded as Fenris Creations, a change tied to a new strategic partnership with Google DeepMind. The rebrand is more than cosmetic — the partnership signals a renewed focus on simulation fidelity, AI-driven NPC behaviour, and potentially deeper procedural generation of space content. Full details are available on the news section of the EVE website.
Hilmar Veigar Pétursson's director's letter, titled 'A New Era', was published on 6 May ahead of Fanfest and set the tone: measured confidence, acknowledgement of a long plateau, and a clear intent to push into new territory. The letter has been widely discussed across the community.
Capsuleer Day XXIII: Warpath
The Capsuleer Day XXIII event — subtitled Warpath — is active now and runs through late May. It includes PLEX discounts, free ship SKINs distributed through login rewards, and Skill Point rewards for completing event combat sites.
The April 2026 Monthly Economic Report was published on 11 May, showing continued activity in null-sec conflict zones and a modest uptick in trade hub volume following the announcement of Fanfest news. The Community Beat newsletter of 8 May collated player-run events and preview content for Fanfest.
The forthcoming Catalyst expansion — whose details were presented during Fanfest — has notes available via the megablog. Full mechanics are being parsed by the community over the coming days.
Dungeoneering Remastered brings a sweeping overhaul to one of RuneScape's most complex skills.
RuneScape 3
RuneScape 3 had a significant week. The headline update was the launch of Dungeoneering Remastered, a substantial rework of a skill that has long divided the player base between those who love its dungeon-crawling cooperative structure and those who found it disconnected from the rest of the game.
Dungeoneering Remastered
Launched 11 May, with patch notes published 12 May. The update constitutes a full overhaul: revised floor generation, rebalanced enemies and bosses, new token exchange rates, and significant quality-of-life improvements to the interface and group-finding system.
The rework was long-anticipated; the original Dungeoneering skill, released in 2010, had not received major structural attention since the Daemonheim expansion of 2012. The 2026 version retains the core loop — multi-floor dungeon delving with tiered rewards — but strips away the friction that deterred casual engagement.
Developer commentary accompanying the update notes that further Dungeoneering content (additional boss tiers and a sixth-floor theme) is planned for later in the year.
Player Avatar Beta
The Player Avatar Beta went live on 7 May, offering players the opportunity to test a comprehensive refresh of the character model. The new models feature higher-resolution textures, updated animations, and reworked facial geometry. Participation is optional during the beta period; feedback will be collected before a planned wider rollout.
RS25 and Anniversary Plans
Jagex's January announcement of RS25 — the 25th anniversary celebration — is steadily approaching. The full scope of anniversary content has not been revealed, but a milestone event and commemorative in-game items are expected. The announcement from January described it as a landmark year for both RuneScape 3 and Old School RuneScape.
Smaller updates this week included the 'Dye-ing to meet you!' cosmetic update (5 May) and a returning-player guide for DXP (also 5 May), the latter arriving ahead of an expected double XP period later this month.
A scholar studies the path ahead — 'The Only Way' quarterly brings five new story chapters and a sweep of wardrobe changes.
Guild Wars 2
The 12 May quarterly update, titled 'The Only Way', arrived on schedule and proved to be one of the more content-dense quarterly releases in the current cycle. Where previous updates have delivered three or four story chapters, this one brings five, along with a new map and a substantive rework of the Wardrobe system.
Story and Map
Five new story chapters continue the current arc — more than the typical quarterly offering. The narrative direction and specific chapter names are available in the official blog post, which also includes a brief developer note on the decision to expand the chapter count.
A new explorable map accompanies the story content. Full details — including map name and location within Tyria's geography — are in the notes. The map includes a mix of story-driven and open-world objectives.
Wardrobe and Fashion Updates
The long-requested Fast Fashion system — formally titled Fashion Templates — has returned and been expanded. A new 'Current Fashion' tab appears in both the Wardrobe and Travel menus, allowing players to switch between saved outfit templates without navigating multiple sub-menus.
The Wardrobe panel itself has been extended to include mounts, gliders, and conjured doorways alongside armour, weapons, and outfits. This consolidates what were previously separate equipment and cosmetic panels.
New Content Items
A new Legendary accessory has been added to the crafting roster. The acquisition path — likely involving the new map and story content — is detailed in the patch notes.
A new Ranger pet has been added: the Juvenile River Otter. Six new Relics are also available, expanding the post-Secrets of the Obscure build-crafting options introduced last year.
The Wizard's Vault has received new special objectives with unique rewards distinct from the standard cosmetic offerings, giving players who have exhausted the existing pool additional incentive to engage with the system.
Technical and Roadmap
Shadow settings have been added to the Graphics menu, offering finer control over shadow rendering quality and distance — a change that will be appreciated on both high-end and lower-spec machines.
No official Q3 roadmap announcement accompanied this release, but developer commentary in the forum notes suggests the next quarterly update is likely in August. Nothing is formally confirmed.
Black Desert Online
Black Desert Online's 14 May patch addressed several class balance adjustments, introduced a meaningful change to the gathering economy, and made a number of quality-of-life improvements to the game's social and territory systems.
Class Balance — 14 May
Warrior received improvements to the Ground Smash combo flow and has had HP recovery mechanics added to two specific skill chains, addressing a long-standing sustain complaint in PvE.
Tamer adjustments focused on skill flow and collision behaviour in group content. Drakania saw an increase to Dragon Blood PvP damage output, positioning the class more competitively in large-scale scenarios.
Seraph — one of the newer additions to the class roster — received multiple changes across both PvE and PvP contexts. The patch notes detail the specifics, including adjusted cooldowns and rebalanced damage coefficients.
Grab and grapple category rules have been clarified in the skill descriptions, reducing ambiguity around which abilities interact with grab immunity and resistance mechanics in contested content.
Gathering Overhaul
A significant overhaul of the gathering drop rate was introduced alongside the class changes. Sharp Black Crystal Shards — a bottleneck material for high-tier gear enhancement — have seen their drop rates increased substantially.
Base material yields from gathering nodes have also risen, making the Life Skill more rewarding for players who invest in it as a primary income path. The Fairy's Breath exchange system has been revised, transitioning to a dormant Fairy's Breath model that offers more player control over when and how the resource is consumed.
Other Changes
Star of Nostos has received further updates, continuing the incremental refinement of the seasonal content system.
Channel title rewards are returning: 90-day title items will be awarded to players who achieve gold, silver, or bronze Black Spirit channel rankings.
A fix has been applied to the Conquest War system, addressing flame tower upgrading behaviour during the Saturday war window — a bug that had affected siege tactics for several weeks.
Anticipating a Legacy Reborn — a Sith lord on the storm-wracked surface of Khar Shian, the Dark Council's fortress rising in the background.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
SWTOR occupies a busy stretch of the calendar. The current Pirate Incursion event is mid-run, 7.9 Legacy Reborn is bearing down fast, and the studio has now given clear shape to what comes after it with 8.0.
Pirate Incursion — Active Now
The Pirate Incursion event runs 12–19 May on Dantooine and is accessible from level 20. The event offers reputation, unique decorations, and currency exchangeable for gear. It returns at intervals throughout the year and is a reliable source of cosmetic rewards for returning players.
7.9 Legacy Reborn — Launching 26 May
The 7.9 patch, Legacy Reborn, is now widely expected on 26 May — the day after the Memorial Day holiday in the US, which is the traditional Tuesday maintenance window. Bioware have not confirmed the exact date at the time of writing, but the circumstantial evidence is strong.
The patch introduces the planet Khar Shian and concludes the Mandalorian Civil War storyline. The central antagonist is Darth Jadus, whose plan — awakening Force sensitivity galaxy-wide — provides the narrative centrepiece of the expansion.
A full summary of the 7.9 announcement and livestream recap is available at Vulkk, alongside official patch preview material on the SWTOR site.
8.0 Confirmed Details
Bioware have confirmed the outlines of 8.0: the level cap rises to 85, the new planet is Ryloth (featuring Dynamic Encounters — open-world structured events in the vein of GW2's meta-events), and a three-boss Operation will launch in both Story Mode and Veteran Mode simultaneously.
A new story era begins with 8.0, and a DirectX 12 technical alpha is in preparation. No release window has been given for 8.0 beyond 'later this year'.
Upcoming Events
Galactic Season 11, subtitled Light and Shadow, arrives with patch 7.9.1 shortly after Legacy Reborn launches.
The Nightlife event — SWTOR's casino-themed seasonal return — is confirmed for 30 June through 11 August. A Twitch drop campaign running approximately 26 May to 23 June offers the Nightshade Hssiss mount in exchange for four hours of watch time on a linked account.
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft's week was light on confirmed announcements but heavy with the kind of circumstantial accumulation that tends to precede something significant. The focus has settled almost entirely on what may or may not be coming under the Classic banner.
Classic Plus — Growing Evidence
Blizzard issued DMCA action against one of the larger Classic+ private servers in the past fortnight — a pattern that preceded both the original Classic launch in 2019 and Cataclysm Classic. The community has taken the move as a strong signal that an official Classic Plus product is in development.
Reports have emerged of Classic-focused streamers and content creators being invited to NDA-bound closed tests. A survey distributed to a subset of players asked specifically about interest in new content added to the 1.12 framework — the classic hallmark of a Classic Plus approach.
Blizzard's published Q4 Classic roadmap contains an uncharacteristic gap, further reinforcing the expectation that a major announcement is being held for BlizzCon 2026, scheduled for 12–13 September.
Retail Maintenance
12 May hotfixes addressed a range of issues in The War Within content. The full list is documented in the article on Blizzard's news site.
The May Trading Post theme continues, centred on Gilneas and worgen aesthetics. Housing development — announced as a coming feature — continues in the background without a confirmed launch window.
Final Fantasy XIV
Final Fantasy XIV is in a transitional phase: Patch 7.5's major content has been absorbed, and attention is increasingly turning to 7.51 and the Ultimate raid that arrives with it. The week's news was relatively procedural, but with one significant confirmation.
Patch 7.51 — Dancing Mad Ultimate
Confirmed for 2 June, Patch 7.51 introduces the Dancing Mad Ultimate raid — a Kefka-themed encounter drawing from Final Fantasy VI. Entry requires completion of M12S (the fourth tier of the Futures Rewritten raid). The encounter is expected to represent the current high point of the game's endgame challenge.
Additional 7.51 content includes a new cosmic planet — Auxesia — within the Cosmic Exploration feature, a new custom deliveries client named Tiisol Ja, and a new Ocean Fishing route. Full patch notes and feature documentation are linked from the official Dawntrail patch page.
Make It Rain — Late May
The seasonal Make It Rain event — tied to the Gold Saucer entertainment venue and its associated currency — is confirmed for late May 2026. The event typically runs for two to three weeks and includes additional MGP rewards from Gold Saucer activities, plus a vendor offering event-exclusive rewards.
Hotfixes — 7 May
A small hotfix pass on 7 May corrected the appearance of the Windurst arena (which had been displaying environmental assets incorrectly) and addressed Japanese dialogue strings appearing in the English-language client.
The Elder Scrolls Online
Following last week's substantive coverage of the Night Market launch and the Dragonknight rework, ESO settles into a more measured rhythm this week. The faction competition is now at its midpoint, and the path to summer's content update is becoming clearer.
Night Market — Midpoint
The Night Market seasonal event continues until 17 June. The three-faction competition — Aldmeri Dominion, Daggerfall Covenant, and Ebonheart Pact — is now in its middle phase, with leaderboard standings beginning to reflect sustained engagement rather than initial burst participation.
The Dragonknight class rework, which has been fully active since last week's patch, continues to be assessed by the community. Early feedback has been broadly positive, particularly regarding the restructuring of the class's tanking toolkit.
Season One — Summer Ahead
ESO's Season One content structure — which packages the returning Thieves Guild questline with the new Crimson Veldt trial — is positioned as the summer content anchor. No specific release date has been confirmed beyond 'summer 2026'.
PC Game Pass integration of ESO is scheduled for 2 June, potentially bringing a new cohort of players into the game ahead of the summer content release.
Broader Genre News
The State of the Genre — A PC Gamer Perspective
A notable long-read published by
A notable long-read published by PC Gamer on 2 May, titled 'Loving MMOs in 2026 is an exercise in frustration, grief, and moving on', has attracted significant attention. The piece addresses the structural difficulty of sustaining interest in a genre where live service decisions, studio pressures, and the sheer weight of time investment can erode the joy that drew players in. Old School RuneScape is cited as a relative bright point — a game that has maintained a genuine sense of player agency through its community-driven development model.
The article does not announce anything, but it captures a mood — a genre-wide weariness that sits alongside genuine enthusiasm for specific titles — that many long-term players will recognise. It is worth reading for anyone who has watched more than one game they loved decline or close.
Old School RuneScape
OSRS has no major new update this week. The Leagues VI seasonal mode concluded on 15 April, and the next headline content — the Blood Moon Rises quest and Mega King boss encounter — is positioned as summer content. The game's steady development cadence continues, with smaller weekly updates maintaining the release rhythm.
Looking Ahead
The week of 23 May brings several threads to their resolution. SWTOR's 7.9 Legacy Reborn is the obvious centrepiece — if the 26 May date holds, it will be the first major content release of the second half of SWTOR's current arc, and its success will determine much of the goodwill the game carries into 8.0.
EVE's Fanfest fallout will continue to filter through the community as players digest the Catalyst expansion details and the implications of the Fenris Creations rebrand. The Google DeepMind partnership is the sort of announcement that sounds transformative and could prove to be — or could prove to be largely cosmetic. The coming weeks will offer the first real evidence.
RuneScape 3's Dungeoneering Remastered will move from its launch window into its first full week of player evaluation. Early reactions are worth watching; Dungeoneering has historically been a skill that inspires strong opinions, and the rework's success will be measured not just by metrics but by whether the Daemonheim community grows.
For Guild Wars 2, the question is whether the momentum from 'The Only Way' — one of the stronger quarterly updates in recent memory — carries through to whatever August may bring. ArenaNet have not been drawn on specifics, but the pattern of the current release cycle suggests Q3 will continue to build on this week's foundations.
