The Maggot King holds court in Vampyrium — a post-endgame area unlocked by completing Blood Moon Rises. The boss sits between Phosani's Nightmare and the Inferno in difficulty, and drops the Crimson Kisten and the Necklace of Rupture upgrade.

Week of 4 July 2026

Old School RuneScape delivered what many players have been anticipating for over a decade: Blood Moon Rises arrived on Monday 30 June, completing the Myreque questline and opening the Vampyrium — a new post-endgame area with its own boss, skilling methods, and best-in-slot gear. Elsewhere, FFXIV confirmed its EU Fanfest for July 25–26 with Patch 7.55 following days later, Broadsword published a frank Q2 producer letter for SWTOR confirming focus has fully shifted to Update 8.0, and ESO's Season 1 is four days away.

Old School RuneScape

Blood Moon Rises launched on the morning of 30 June after a brief reboot, going live at approximately 10:00 AM UTC. The quest is a Grandmaster-level conclusion to the Myreque storyline, which has run across OSRS since the early 2000s. Community response has been overwhelmingly positive — the word used most commonly in discussion threads is 'satisfying', which for a two-decade questline is perhaps the highest praise available. Player count data for July 2026 shows approximately 161,200 concurrent players, a 2.8% month-on-month increase.

Blood Moon Rises — Quest and Rewards

Requirements to begin: completion of Night at the Theatre and Sins of the Father. 110 combat level is recommended. Community completion estimates put the quest at 8 to 10 hours for a first playthrough, placing it alongside Song of the Elves in scope. Jagex declined to publish story spoilers in advance, and community discussion has broadly respected that; the quest is best experienced fresh.
Two guaranteed rewards on completion: an upgraded blisterwood flail (continuing the upgrade pattern from prior Myreque quests) and a special attack weapon with a unique execution mechanic — a 50% special attack cost that always deals 70% of max hit on a successful roll, with an automatic success if that damage would have finished the target. The net effect is a highly reliable finisher for targets below a threshold.

Vampyrium — New Area

Completion unlocks access to Vampyrium, an underground realm. The primary activity is the Maggot King boss — described by Jagex as sitting between Phosani's Nightmare and the Inferno in difficulty. The fight is solo-instanced. The Maggot King drops the Crimson Kisten, a crush mega-rare with a unique multi-roll damage mechanic (four accuracy rolls; successful rolls increase both the minimum and maximum damage), and the Alpha Venator Tooth — used to upgrade the Necklace of Anguish to the Necklace of Rupture (requiring 90 Hitpoints and 84 Crafting). The Necklace of Rupture provides five additional accuracy, three additional range strength, and one prayer bonus over the Anguish, making it the new best-in-slot ranged amulet.
New slayer creatures: Venators (74 Slayer required, accessible as a vampire task alternative, oriented toward Blood Shard acquisition) and the Maggot King encounter itself. Venators are a reward-focused task rather than an experience-rate one.

Vampyrium — Skilling

Bloodwood Trees: mid-to-high 70s Woodcutting. AFK-capable method yields 50,000–60,000 XP/hour; active play reaches 80,000–90,000 XP/hour. Bloodwood Sap is the primary resource, used to craft and upgrade arrows into Seeker Arrows (adding approximately 23 ranged accuracy and a minimum hit of 3, removing the potential zero-hit roll).
Leechfin Fishing: a new method targeting low-to-mid 70s Fishing, yielding approximately 60,000 XP/hour with resources for a new food source. Leechfin sandwiches were removed following a failed poll before launch; the skilling method remains without the food item.
Stymphike Hunting (box trapping): 76 Hunter required, average intensity, average XP rates. The full update notes are on the official OSRS site.

FFXIV EU Fan Festival 2026 takes place 25–26 July — the keynote is expected to reveal one of the two new 8.0 jobs confirmed this week: one Tank and one Physical Ranged DPS, both original FFXIV creations.

Final Fantasy XIV

A significant week for FFXIV news: the EU Fanfest dates are confirmed, the Patch 7.55 content list has leaked ahead of its July 28 release, and community anticipation is building around two new 8.0 job reveals.

EU Fan Festival — 25–26 July

The Final Fantasy XIV EU Fan Festival 2026 takes place 25–26 July. Based on the pattern from prior fanfests, the keynote on 25 July is expected to contain significant 8.0 reveals. Community information has indicated that two of the Dawntrail successor expansion's new jobs will be shown: one Tank and one Physical Ranged DPS, both described as original FFXIV jobs — not imports from the mainline Final Fantasy series. The EU Fanfest page is at fanfest-eu.

Patch 7.55 — 28 July

Patch 7.55 is confirmed for 28 July, arriving shortly after EU Fanfest. The patch delivers: the Hildibrand Dawntrail chapter (returning to the Hildibrand storyline within the Dawntrail setting); the Crescent Isle North expansion of the Phantom Realm content (the Northern extension of the existing Crescent Isle map); and the final stage of Phantom Weapons — completing the Dawntrail weapon enhancement content cycle. The Phantom Weapons final stage is described as the culmination of a progression path that has run through multiple 7.x patches; the enhancement NPC Geroldt is expected to take a reduced role in future weapon upgrade content after this stage.
Patch 7.55 also enables players who have completed the north Crescent Isle content to return to the south for the Tower of Power challenge with additional accumulated progress. Full patch details are expected at or shortly before the 28 July maintenance window.

Current Events — July

The Moogle Tomestone event continues — players collect Irregular Tomestones of Thaleia via a rotating duties list. Breaking Brick Mountains (Dragon Quest X crossover) runs through 13 July. The Crystalline Conflict Regional Championship 2026 European and Oceanian bracket finals took place at EU Fanfest on 3 July — an esports event, noted for completeness, not covered in depth here.

Update 8.0 takes SWTOR to a new planet — Broadsword's Q2 producer letter confirms PTS Phase 1 is imminent, featuring the opening boss of a new Operation and Level 85 class testing for select advanced classes.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Broadsword published the Q2 2026 producer letter for SWTOR on 2 July. It is direct and relatively brief — the team is fully occupied with Update 8.0, and the letter describes that work in more specific terms than prior communications.

Q2 2026 Producer Letter — Update 8.0

Executive Producer Keith Kanneg confirmed that Broadsword is now 'fully focused' on developing content for Game Update 8.0. The first PTS phase is described as arriving 'in the coming weeks'. This first phase will include the opening boss of the new 8.0 Operation for testing, plus Level 85 content testing for select classes: Sentinel, Vanguard, Sage and their Imperial mirrors (Marauder, Powertech, Inquisitor). The selection covers a representative cross-section of roles — melee DPS, tank, healer — to front-load feedback on how the level cap increase affects class balance.
The letter reiterates the headline 8.0 features: a new planet (identified in community sources as Rilot), dynamic events, a new Operation, and a level cap increase from 80 to 85. A new story chapter continuing the Legacy Reborn narrative is also confirmed. No release date for 8.0 has been given; the 'autumn 2026' framing from earlier community sources has not been officially confirmed.
The full letter is covered by VULKK.

Current Events — July

The Nar Shaddaa Nightlife event launched 30 June and runs through 11 August. This year's new rewards are two decorations: the Hazard Toss Table Decoration and the Card Shark Table Decoration. The event is open to all players with no level requirement — access via the Fleet's connecting corridors (Republic: Star Cluster Casino, Imperial: Club Vertica).
The Relics of the Gree event returns 7–14 July (Level 50+ required, 12:00 PM GMT start and end). A Twitch Drop campaign runs concurrently — the Nightshade Hssiss mount was available for four hours of watch time through the campaign end on approximately 30 June.
Galactic Season 10 continues through 6 July. No Season 11 date or 7.9.1 date has been confirmed. The game's event schedule for July is available at SWTOR Strategies.

The Nowhere Vault opens on 8 July with ESO Season 1 — a permanent new gameplay mode with randomised rooms, navigation puzzles, jump challenges, and Jackpot Rooms containing harvestable materials or treasure chests.

The Elder Scrolls Online

ESO's Season 1 is four days away. The structure has been laid out clearly in recent developer communications, and the July roadmap is among the fullest the game has published in some time.

Season 1 — Return of the Thieves Guild (8 July)

Season 1 launches 8 July across all platforms simultaneously. Season 0 ends at 10:00 AM EST; Season 1 begins at 1:00 PM EST. The launch brings the Thieves Guild content chapter, the Nowhere Vault (permanent new mode — randomised rooms with navigation, jump, and traversal challenges), and the debut of the Season 1 tome reward track.
The Nowhere Vault's Jackpot Rooms work as follows: a player consumes a Nowhere Key (only that player is charged, not the group) to open a jackpot room — either a material room filled with harvestable nodes and heavy sacks, or a vault treasure room with chests for gold and loot. Mythic items are among the possible vault rewards for Season 1. The Nowhere Vault is permanent content, not seasonal.
Solo Dungeons remain available alongside the Nowhere Vault, with Challenge Difficulty the primary route for new monster masks and gold companion gear. The Golden Pursuits 'A New Challenge Arises' campaign ends 7 July — players should claim any remaining tome points before Season 0 closes.

July ESO Roadmap

ESO Tavern fan event (Hesse, Germany): 10 July.
Sheogorath Tours Tamriel storyline: 29 July. The DLC launches on Season 1's start (8 July); the first Sheogorath-led quest launches on 29 July. Accompanying this is the next Golden Pursuits campaign, 'Sheogorath Takes a Holiday', running 29 July to 12 August.
Crazy King Battleground Weekend: 22–29 July (bonus Alliance Points).
GCX Gaming Community Expo: 24–25 July (The Elder Scrolls community panel).
July Crown Store: Grim Harlequin Crown Crates return 23 July–6 August; new Sorcerer Ultimate Overload skill style (Lightning Yellow) available 16–23 July; Justiciar of Stendarr armour style (new paladin-themed set). Full showcase on the ESO site.

World of Warcraft

Patch 12.1's PTR continued to expand this week, with the second round of dungeon testing opening 2 July and a broad class tuning pass landing on 1 July. Blizzard also revealed additional details about the housing system that add meaningful depth to the Blueprints system.

12.1 PTR — Dungeon Testing and Class Tuning

The second batch of 12.1 PTR dungeons opened for Mythic+ testing on 2 July: Deviating Path, Neltharion's Cave, Glittering Falls, and Void's Scar Arena (Epic +0 and Keystone). The third batch opens 9 July; all dungeons testable together 16–22 July. The Venomous Abyss raid journal has been published and analysed extensively by sites such as Wowhead.
The 1 July class tuning pass buffed several underperforming specialisations: Balance Druid (+4% all damage), Feral Druid (+3% all damage, melee auto-attacks +15%, Rip +5%, Rampant Ferocity -15%), Restoration Druid (+15% all damage, Bear Form Thrash -25%), Devastation Evoker (+3% all damage), Arcane Mage (+3% all damage), Holy Priest (Holy Word: Serenity and Sanctify +20% healing), Restoration Shaman (+4% all healing). PvP: Devourer Demon Hunter Shattered Souls self-healing halved (0.5% per fragment, down from 1%). The changes reflect ongoing monitoring of raid and M+ performance data for 12.0.7.

12.1 Housing — Blueprints and Artisanal Room Plans

Player Housing in 12.1 introduces Blueprints — an import/export system that allows players to share and apply room layouts. A related new addition on the PTR is Artisanal Room Plans, purchasable for 50 Community Coupons each from NPCs Jorvan Longmoor and Rotha. Currently on the PTR, this appears to represent pre-furnished room options; whether it extends to ceiling and wall customisation will be clearer as the PTR matures—full housing coverage at Icy-Veins.
Pets can now be displayed around your housing plot — a frequently requested quality of life addition. Eastern Kingdoms now has a seamless Classic-style world map in 12.1, removing the zone-border lines that have been present since vanilla. The Coiled Isle is added as a new map region.

Midsummer Fire Festival and WoW Summer Sale

The Midsummer Fire Festival ends 5 July — last chance to complete the seasonal quests. The WoW Summer Sale (up to 50% off cosmetic bundles, mounts, transmog, pets, and toys) also ends 7 July. July's Trading Post introduces the Bilgewater X-TREME mount via Traveller's Log completion. July's Trading Post is live from 1 July.

M+ Activity Post-12.0.7

Mythic+ activity fell 27.7% globally in week 13 (the first week after 12.0.7), with EU and CN around -29%. The drop is attributed to players shifting to Sporefall farming, Heroic Tier zones, and alt gearing via solo content. US activity recovered more quickly, sitting approximately 80–90% of prior week levels after the initial drop. Ladder data is analysed weekly by Icy-Veins.

Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars 2's week is quiet in terms of live events, with the major activity focused on community anticipation of the July 14 balance update. The Sizzling Summer Savings sale continues, and the Fractal Rush event goes live alongside the patch.

Community discussion of the July 14 balance update has reached the optimistic stage of theorycrafting — not always a reliable indicator, but the depth of the Weaver rework in particular has generated productive discussion around build possibilities that did not previously exist. ArenaNet has not published any further developer posts since the 22 June preview; the update notes will go live on patch day. The balance preview remains on the forums.
The Sizzling Summer Savings sale on expansions continues. Steam concurrent player tracking reflects the sustained interest from the GW3 announcement period — no significant further spike, but the baseline has held above pre-announcement levels. Fractal Rush launches 14 July alongside the balance patch, offering increased Fractal Relics and improved rare drops from fractal content for its duration.

RuneScape 3

RuneScape 3 published its next significant update preview this week: Gobbo Glow Up is an upcoming graphical overhaul for goblins paired with a mid-game rebalance, intended to address the experience and reward gap in the 50–70 level range.

Gobbo Glow Up — Upcoming

The Gobbo Glow Up was previewed on 3 July as an upcoming update. It consists of two parts: a full graphical refresh of goblin models (their first significant update since the original RS3 art direction), and a mid-game rebalance targeting the 50–70 content gap. The rebalance specifically addresses the transition range where the game's difficulty and reward structure has historically felt thin — too easy for players who have progressed past basic combat but before the late-game opens fully.
The Chill June Patch Week notes (published 2 July) covered minor quality of life fixes including additional Avatar Refresh follow-up corrections and miscellaneous gameplay adjustments. The full RS3 community news page is at runescape.com.

Black Desert Online

Black Desert Online's main story this week is anticipatory: Heidel Ball 2026 on 26 July is a month away, and the community has been active with predictions and pre-emptive analysis of what Pearl Abyss is expected to announce.

Community discussion is centred on predictions for Heidel Ball 2026 (26 July). Common expectations: Edania Part 2 integrating older classes into the main story, a new monster zone at the Olun Sulfur site, a new class, and expanded cosmetic options for Edana's Defence Gear and Sovereign Weapons. None of these are confirmed.
A Cron Stone price adjustment has been announced — the price per Cron Stone at blacksmith NPCs will increase to 4 million silver per piece, effective 27 August 2026. The change is being communicated two months in advance, reflecting the significant impact on enhancement costs at the upper tier. Pearl Abyss has indicated further details will be published separately from the Heidel Ball announcement.
The Desert Light anniversary event continues through 16 July. The BDO Twitch Drop campaign ended 4 July. Current events and patch notes are on the official notice board.

EVE Online

EVE Online's community has been characteristically analytical about the Military Campaigns in the weeks since the Cradle of War launch, with the Reddit thread 'The military campaigns are... wild' capturing the breadth of emergent behaviour that has developed.

The Military Campaigns continue to be adjusted — the system has drawn genuine engagement from the community. However, the balance between individual contribution, group play, and overall campaign pacing has required multiple recalibrations. The community thread is a useful cross-section of the experience from both large alliance and small-gang perspectives.
A Proving Conduit Foundation Day summer event is running from 12 July through 11 August, organised by community members with CCP endorsement. The event features PvP arena content across multiple dates (12 July: Blood Raider Liberation Day, 19 July: Sansha's Nation, 26 July: Sisters of EVE) with prizes including Bhaalgorns, Large Skill Injectors, and faction-skin ships. A passive track via YouTube and Google Form raffles runs concurrently through August. Details on the EVE Online forums.

Broader Genre News

RuneScape: Dragonwilds — 0.12 Post-Launch State

RuneScape: Dragonwilds received a follow-up patch (0.12.0.4) addressing known issues with the Umbral Sands content introduced in the EA 0.12 update. The 1.0 launch remains on course for 15 September across PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2, making this essentially the final months of Early Access. No further large content updates are planned before 1.0.

Neverwinter

No new patch this week for Neverwinter. The developer response items from the June 23 video — Mythic Companion Gear and Celestial Shirt and Pants being added to the dungeon vendor — have not yet received an implementation date. Module 33 content (Jotunskar dungeon, Ice Breaker Battle Pass) remains the active endgame.

Looking Ahead

The week of 4 July feels like a brief pause before a cluster of significant releases. ESO's Season 1 arrives in four days — its first week will be the real test of whether the Nowhere Vault draws and holds the community's engagement, and whether the Season format proves as sticky in ESO as it has in other games that have adopted it. The July 8 launch also closes out Season 0, removing access to any remaining Season 0 items for players who have not yet converted their tome points.

SWTOR's 8.0 PTS is imminent — once the first phase opens, the community will have concrete impressions of the Level 85 class changes and the new Operation boss. The producer letter's directness on the studio's current focus is a good sign; the question is whether the PTS phase arrives before or after the month ends. OSRS's Blood Moon Rises community is currently in the very specific phase that follows a major quest launch: those who rushed through are already farming the Maggot King, while the wider player base is arriving more gradually. The Crimson Kisten and Necklace of Rupture will gradually enter the market over the coming weeks as the new content settles into the regular rotation.

For FFXIV, July 25 is the landmark: EU Fanfest and the first confirmed look at two of the successor expansion's new jobs — a Tank and a Physical Ranged DPS are expected to be named and shown at the keynote. The community has been speculating since the Anaheim Fanfest announcement; in three weeks, those theories will be tested. Patch 7.55 on 28 July follows immediately after.

The Myreque's Last Stand