Massivelys Better Of 2022 Awards
It is nearly the tip of the year, a time for merriment, camaraderie, and cynical analysis of all the MMO triumphs and tragedies that 2013 offered us.
As we speak, Massively's staff honors the best of the very best (and the worst of the worst) for the 12 months 2013. Every author was permitted a vote in every category with an something-goes nomination process. No MMO, company, or headline was off the desk, as lengthy as it met the factors. Can WildStar make it to a few years in a row at the top of our "most anticipated" pile, or did its delay dampen our enthusiasm? Can SOE repeat its win for greatest studio? Which MMO is most likely to flop subsequent year? And simply what constituted the biggest MMO screw-up of the final 12 months?
Take pleasure in our picks for the very best MMOs, expansions, studios, stories, and improvements of 2013... and our most-anticipated for 2014 and past.
Finest New MMO of 2013: Closing Fantasy XIV: A Realm RebornRunners-up: Tie between Neverwinter and Defiance
Jasmine: Closing Fantasy XIV, fingers down. This sport managed to realize one thing I assumed was inconceivable: Square-Enix took a game that I thought of the worst MMO I've ever performed and turned it into something that keeps me logging in every probability I get.
Eliot: When you had asked me two weeks in the past, I might have stated Last Fantasy XIV without reservation. Now do not get me flawed; everything good about the unique model is dropped at the forefront, and all the things destructive has both been eliminated or minimized. But the 2.1 replace and the housing fiasco have driven dwelling the idea that we're not out of the woods and that we're just taking a look at an period of daring new mistakes. If these points get fixed, then I've excessive hopes for the future; if not, it's going to be a shocking instance of a gorgeous turnaround followed by a shameful crash.
Finest Growth or Update of 2013: Guild Wars 2's Tremendous Adventure BoxRunners-up: Tie between EVE Online's Odyssey, EVE On-line's Rubicon, and Star Trek Online'sLegacy of Romulus
Richie: Guild Wars 2's Super Adventure Field patch stands out in such a profound method because many players thought it was nothing greater than an April Fools' Joke. The official webpage was updated with wonderful photographs from an 8-bit world accompanied by a hilarious, cheesy, '80s-type business. Once i logged into the game and realized that SAB was actually in the game, my jaw hit my desk. There were three full levels of this 8-bit world full with secrets and techniques, puzzles, boss battles, authentic music rating, and custom sound results -- a full platforming journey sport neatly tucked inside of my MMO.
Brendan: I've written a good bit on why I really like this yr's Odyssey and Rubicon expansions, but Rubicon's personal deployable constructions push it simply over the edge. The Cellular Depot has made lengthy-term exploration a extremely possible career by allowing tech three ships to refit anyplace in deep house, and Ghost Sites have added some additional reward for those scouring deep space. The change to warp acceleration has also mounted the disparity between small and huge ships and enabled real hit-and-run model warfare again.
Finest Non-Traditional MMO or Pseudo-MMO of 2013: Path of ExileDifferent nominees: Hearthstone, Dota 2, Cube World, Defiance, MUSH
Matt: Path of Exile gets my vote for this one. The parents at Grinding Gear Games have taken the time-honored action-RPG formulation popularized by Diablo and twisted it up into an expertise that feels each contemporary and acquainted. Eschewing traditional courses and progression in favor of an virtually inconceivably big ability tree and permitting gamers to customise their ability loadouts by means of interchangeable gems are simply two of the distinctive spins Path of Exile brings to the desk, and with its variety of leagues and competitions, there's something right here for the entire casual-hardcore spectrum.
Justin: Hearthstone. If nearly everyone's in beta, does it count? I say it counts. Blizzard's bought a money cow hit on its hands, and the mix of World of Warcraft and Magic-lite is solely inspired. Plus, it's fairly fun.
Most Underrated MMO of 2013: NeverwinterRunner-up: Defiance
Larry: Neverwinter launched with a wide audience and the hopes of being a full-fledged Dungeons and Dragons MMO. However alas, that is not what Cryptic had in mind for the game, and avid gamers didn't appreciate Neverwinter for what it was: a fun sport that you just spend a few minutes to a few hours playing to unwind from the day by day stress. When i revisited the sport, I was truly surprised at how much enjoyable I had. I don't should stress about rotations or builds or the usual MMO worries. I simply log in, pound by way of a couple of dungeons, then carry on with my day.
Tina: I feel a lot of people boxed Neverwinter beneath the "extra of the same" class without giving it an opportunity. The normal charm is updated nicely by the 4th Version Dungeons and Dragons freshness.
Jef: Defiance is not setting the world on fire or something, however I enjoyed my time in it, and that i keep it put in in case I want some sci-fi shooter action with questing and a purpose.
Most Anticipated for 2014 and Past: EverQuest NextRunner-up: WildStarDifferent nominees: EverQuest Next Landmark, ArcheAge, Future, Pathfinder Online, TUG, The Elder Scrolls On-line
Brendan: There are some nice MMOs on the horizon, however the one I am looking forward to the most is EverQuest Next. I'm an absolute sucker for sandboxes, and the concept of a fantasy sandbox with a voxel-primarily based and completely destructible world has me completely excited! The massive financial success of Minecraft has impressed a deluge of voxel-based video games in recent years, but no game has but done the feature justice. EQ Subsequent guarantees to be as removed from these blocky worlds as potential whereas retaining a lot of the identical sandbox gameplay.
Bree: The day I discovered Star Wars Galaxies was closing, Smed reassured a teary-eyed me that SOE was working on an excellent bigger and higher sandbox. That sandbox turned out to be EverQuest Next. I am banking on SOE's potential to parlay every part it discovered from SWG -- especially the mistakes -- into EQN. There are different good sandboxes on the horizon, completely, however nothing as likely to thrive as Next.
Justin: Innovative sandboxes or large fanbase followings apart, I'm rooting for Carbine to pull off a wacky sci-fi themepark in WildStar. I virtually hope it does not launch tremendous-huge in order that it may possibly grow from word-of-mouth as a substitute of developer hype.
Richie: I'm wanting ahead to WildStar. Ever since I quit World of Warcraft, part of me has missed having just a few nights each week as scheduled hangouts with my buddies. I am itching to raid again, and it appears to be like as if WildStar will have one of the best endgame features of the 2014 MMO crop.
Most Prone to "Flop" in 2014: The Elder Scrolls OnlineRunner-up: Dust 514
Anatoli: "Flop" is a very loaded term when it comes to MMO. I do not assume ESO will make much of a splash. I doubt it's going to fail as a recreation or as a enterprise, but I predict that a lot of people will resolve that it did when it doesn't set the entire world on fireplace.
Bree: I think ESO will launch simply high-quality and gather a whole lot of box and sub charges initially, but long-time period, it is in trouble. MMORPG fans are sick of story-pushed single-participant themepark MMOs, console followers shall be mystified by subs and a three-means PvP endgame, and Elder Scrolls fans will wander back to the lore and mods of their solo sandboxes. I'm truly unsure for whom the sport is meant, and that i say that as a TES fanatic.
Matthew: I'm probably not a fan of The Elder Scrolls series, so perhaps I'm biased, but I can't see the net model having the success of the only-participant installments.
MJ: If I were forced to hazard a guess, I'd say ESO. It feels as if there is a darkish shadow of "can't meet expectations" hanging over it.
Greatest Studio in 2013: Sony Online EntertainmentRunner-up: Trion WorldsHonorable Point out: Tiny Speck
Beau: SOE continues to churn out video games, but the studio does so by itself phrases. Adore it or hate it, you cannot deny that SOE has done many, many things which have modified the course of MMOs.
Mike: SOE appears just like the studio that has the most effective hold on what the market needs. It retains releasing participating new content for its existing properties, and EverQuest Next appears to be like like the primary fantasy MMO to actually attempt anything new since Ultima Online. SOE also has a solid status for making big promises and failing to ship, but I might say it had an excellent year. No query all eyes are on EQN in the coming years.
Toli: Glitch's shutdown final 12 months was downright tragic, but Tiny Speck has made every effort to maintain the spirit and community alive, going so far as to release the sport's property into the public area just recently. That is preposterous, and that i imply that in the best possible manner.
Largest Story of 2013: The reveal of EverQuest Next and LandmarkRunners-up: Tie between Star Citizen's Kickstarter success and Ultimate Fantasy XIV's relaunch
MJ: EverQuest Subsequent Landmark grabs this one because the sport came actually out of nowhere! There was not a single whisper, hint, leak or something to counsel there was a second game on SOE's horizon. In this trade, that's merely unheard of.
Tina: EverQuest Subsequent. Everyone just went nuts, and for good motive!
Matthew: EverQuest Subsequent. Because the announcement, it seems as if the whole future of the business is colored by comparisons to our new savior. I am not going to disagree. I am going to go out on a limb so far as to say I think Blizzard went back to the drawing board on Titan because of EQN.
Jef: Star Citizen. You might not need to play it, and also you may be tired of the Chris Roberts hero-worship, however you can't deny the influence that it is had and continues to have on the best way games are made.
Biggest Disappointment of 2013: Dust 514Other nominees: Defiance, Warhammer's sunset, the Kickstarter craze, Age of Wushu, Neverwinter, uninspired MMO design, conventional subscription fashions, no EverQuest Next at SOE Live, the gloom and doom surrounding World of Darkness, and Guild Wars 2's living story.
Jef: Dust 514. I is likely to be beating a useless horse right here, but console-only plus identical-outdated-shooter-gameplay equals meh. And CCP hyping the crap out of the EVE Online connection wasn't notably wise since there actually isn't one.
Mike: This may be a cop-out, however I am pinning this on your entire MMO style. The year was dominated by countless re-treads of acquainted fantasy worlds and lots of uninspired work from developers that ought to actually know better (Trion, I'm taking a look at you). With the line between MMO and non-MMO getting blurrier by the minute, MMO builders have to get their acts collectively if they're hoping to remain competitive. And so they want stop asking for handouts via Kickstarter.
Eliot: Kickstarter. We have had numerous funding drives for video games, some profitable, some not, with practically every single one of them promising the same primary gameplay philosophies, none of which has been backed up by actual completed MMOs. At least a kind of studios has gone back to the effectively and asked for extra money from Kickstarter backers, and I don't think about it is going to be the primary. It's not a pattern I'm glad to see, and one that I've already written about at length. There's some great stuff on Kickstarter, but this year's glut was unpleasant.
Greatest Blunder of 2013: Subscription models for Elder Scrolls Online and WildStarOther nominees: Console MMOs, All the things ESO does, LucasArts' closure, Blizzard's lore sexism, Star Wars: The Outdated Republic's house fight, FFXIV's launch woes, CCP's World of Darkness layoffs, Guild Wars 2's horrifying PR campaigns, and Diablo III's public sale home fiasco.
[Update: We discuss more about this award and the rationale behind it in December twenty sixth's Ask Massively.]
Eliot: WildStar's business mannequin at the very least appears to be taken from a e-book written by someone with the vaguest knowledge of trade developments, however ESO's seems to have been designed with the assumption that each other game that went free-to-play after launch (also known as "just about each game that has launched throughout the previous four years") was a worse sport than ESO will be. Can we please stop pretending you could launch with a subscription now?
Mike: I feel, in the long run, putting a subscription price on The Elder Scrolls Online will become a fairly unhealthy concept. Bethesda will make piles of money before it is compelled to shift to free-to-play, however I'm not sure what the price will likely be by way of loyalty to the brand. If followers really feel burned or taken benefit of, the Elder Scrolls franchise will endure. A subscription fee basically says, "You'll quit World of Warcraft/EVE On-line/Closing Fantasy XIV for this," and that is exceptionally bold from a studio that's never made an MMO.
Tina: I honestly don't see how CCP can keep its dedication to finish World of Darkness whereas frequently cutting the workforce. We have to see some stable results in 2014 to prove otherwise.
Largest Innovation or Trend of 2013: The return of sandbox gameplayRunner-up: Defiance's transmedia synergyDifferent nominees: Oculus Rift, Guild Wars 2's cadence, streaming video games, blurring style traces, actiony MMOs, voxels, and Warhammer's sunset.
Toli: I like that tendencies are swinging again towards quite a lot of gameplay options this yr. Voxels! Sandboxy issues! I turn round and out of the blue MMOs are launching with housing again! Holy smokes!
Matt: I'm happy to see extra studios tapping into the sandbox market. From heavy-hitters like EverQuest Subsequent and Star Citizen to much less-hyped titles like Pathfinder On-line, the sandbox style is gaining plenty of traction.
Larry: Defiance was a disappointment as a game, however as a product it broke the mold. I really loved the tie-in launch of a tv series with an MMO. I do not think other games need to copy this model exactly, however I do assume that tie-ins, crossovers, and multi-media launches add worth to a product. And that i additionally imagine that outside-the-box considering needs to be encouraged in MMOs, even if it does finally flop.
Justin: Oculus Rift: May VR come again to be an precise future for MMOs? It's a possibility, and what teases we're seeing this 12 months have whet my desire to try it out for real.
Shawn: Closing Warhammer On-line. I mean, the sport was kinda fun at first, however can we stop with that exact formulation now? Thanks. (I am already putting my vote in for 2015's Largest Development to be "the tip of voxel-primarily based on-line games.")
Most Improved in 2013: Final Fantasy XIVRunners-up: Tie between Star Wars: The Old Republic and RuneScape 3
Jasmine: Final Fantasy XIV. It improved a lot from 1.0 to 2.Zero that it plays like an virtually totally totally different game. all about minecraft servers and minecraft in general I do not think you will get way more improved than that.
Beau: RuneScape three introduced a lot to the older recreation that it actually is a different sport. It is always been dynamic and felt like a dwelling world, however this relaunch made it that significantly better.
These are our picks. Howsabout yours?
