CG COOKIE on Twitter: "In Blender 2.83 metaballs are supported by Dupliverts and Duplifaces. Parent the metaball to an object and then enable Verts or Faces instancing in the object's properties. Voilà,
DupliVerts
DupliVerts — Blender Manual
Blender DupliVerts--Duplicate Object Instances in a Circular Array - YouTube
Shiny Metal Balls In Blender Using Instance / Dupliverts AND A Particle System - YouTube
DupliVerts
DupliVerts — Blender Manual
Dupliverts not aligning to vertices - Basics & Interface - Blender Artists Community
DupliVerts — Blender Manual
Dupliverts not rotating right... - Modeling - Blender Artists Community