We just got our first major update for the year on Riot's long (long, long) awaited League of Legends MMO, as former World of Warcraft producer Raymond Bartos has announced that he's joined the project. Bartos's announcement highlights his reuniting with engineer Orlando Salvatore, after the two worked together on some of the better-received features of modern WoW, including Plunderstorm and the gear update.

"From my very first conversation with Riot," Bartos says on Twitter, "I immediately gravitated toward their values—and I was genuinely impressed by how clearly those values showed up throughout the interview process. It made it obvious that kindness, respect, and care aren’t just words here, but something the team truly lives by."

Bartos is taking on the title of senior game producer on Riot's MMO, having previously worked as lead producer on WoW. In his farewell message to Blizzard last year, he noted that it "was an honor to help ship Plunderstorm, multiple Remixes, Gear update, Dungeon Followers, holidays, the 20th Anniversary, and events like Dastardly Duos."

Many of those features are also on the credits list of former WoW lead software engineer, Orlando Salvatore, and Bartos notes that he's particularly excited to work alongside him once again. "Given our track record on World of Warcraft, I have a feeling we’ll be moving fast on day one."

Yearly reminders that Riot does, indeed, have at least some intention of making an MMO have become something of a meme at this point, given how long the project's continued to stretch on. Will we someday finally see an actual game at the end of all this? Only time will tell.

Here are the best MMORPGs you can play today.

Today marks one week since the early access release of Hytale, the Minecraft-like that was famously rescued from oblivion earlier this year by original co-founder Simon Collins-Laflamme. By all appearances it's been a very successful rebirth, and Collins-Laflamme underscored that feeling with a message on X saying he has "no regrets" about resurrecting the game.

It was a sticky situation for a while: Riot's decision to cancel Hytale and close Hypixel Studios after seven years of work (and for reasons that will probably never be entirely clear) seemed a definitive end to the story, but a seemingly faint hope that someone would step in to save the day became reality when Collins-Laflamme struck a deal to reacquire the whole thing in November 2025. The reborn studio managed to get the game out the door just two months later, and while it's still notably very early access, it's also pretty good.

"It’s now been 7 days since early access launch and I can confidently say that I have no regrets saving Hytale, it’s been the most challenging but rewarding experience of my life," Collins-Laflamme wrote.

"Thank you everyone for the amazing support, and a big thank you for the rebuilt Hytale team for trusting me to get this to the finish line in just a few months. I haven’t been involved with Hytale development for many years and coming back was a big unknown and risk for me, and my family. I fully trusted the people and it just worked. Amazing team, every single one made a big difference."

Hytale isn't on Steam so we don't have access to concurrent player numbers, but it sure seems like it's going well. The day before early access release Collins-Laflamme said pre-purchases had "officially secured the next two years of development costs," and when it launched the following day it became the most-watched game on Twitch, with more than 420,000 viewers. Modders are doing some amazing things with it too.

But none of that was assured in advance, and there was real risk in the venture: Riot Games, with nearly-limitless resources, couldn't get the job done, and while there seemed to be a high level of demand for the game, there also seemed to be a high level of demand for a theatrical re-release of Morbius, and we all know how that worked out. (And in case you don't know, it did not work out well.) Given all that, I'd say Collins-Laflamme deserves a little bit of a victory lap, even if it is just reassuring Hytale fans that everything worked out as they'd hoped.

Survival MMO Dune: Awakening has just been patched to version 1.2.40.0, introducing a feature every sleeper has been waiting for: character transfers. You're no longer tied down to the server you created your character on. You can pack up your things and find a new home—just make sure you pack all your things.

"You can now transfer your character, inventory, backed-up bases and vehicles, and bank contents (including your Solari) to a new Sietch and World," Funcom announced today. Transfers require a token, which every player has been given, and that token will replenish a week after using it. In other words, you'll get one server transfer per week.

Players have been clambering for server transfers for a while now: for some it's because the world they started playing on no longer has enough players and feels like a ghost town, or because one particular faction is dominating the Landsraad, or because their friends have moved onto other games and they're looking for some new blood. It's taken quite a while for this feature to arrive—Dune: Awakening launched way back in June 2025—but it's great that it's finally here.

If you're ready to hop to a new Dune, you can transfer your character using the server browser or the in-game system menu, though you'll need to be in the Hagga Basin region to begin the process. According to the Dune: Awakening support page, be aware that "transfers aren't immediate" and can take a few minutes.

There's one important caveat: you can't transfer a character from a private server to an official server, only to another private server—presumably to prevent people who have been playing with more relaxed server settings from having an advantage over public server players. You can go from an official server to a private server, however. If someone on the server you're moving to has the same character name as you do, you'll have to change your name before you can transfer there.

Funcom also has a handy to-do list for your transfer so you don't leave anything behind:

• Make sure that you back up your base using the Base Reconstruction Tool. Also, remember that you can store up to three bases in the tool.
• If you transfer without backing up your base(s), they will be left behind!
• Similarly, back up your vehicles with the Vehicle Backup Tool.
• For larger vehicles that don’t fit in the VBT, you can disassemble them with the Welding Torch and store the parts in your bank or base storage. This makes it doubly important that you remember to back up your base!
• If you exceed the VBT vehicle limit, you can also disassemble any extra vehicles in your fleet and store their parts!
• Make sure to store any other valuables in your inventory and bank, as their contents will be transferred along with your character.
• Finally, ensure that your character is in Hagga Basin before initiating the transfer. You won't be able to start the process if your character isn't on this map.

You can read the full patch notes here.