Massivelys Best Of 2022 Awards
It is almost the tip of the yr, a time for merriment, camaraderie, and cynical analysis of all the MMO triumphs and tragedies that 2013 offered us.
At the moment, Massively's employees honors the better of the most effective (and the worst of the worst) for the year 2013. Each writer was permitted a vote in each class with an something-goes nomination course of. No MMO, firm, or headline was off the desk, as lengthy because it met the criteria. Can WildStar make it to 3 years in a row at the highest 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 12 months? And simply what constituted the most important MMO screw-up of the final 12 months?
Get pleasure from our picks for one of the best MMOs, expansions, studios, stories, and improvements of 2013... and our most-anticipated for 2014 and beyond.
Finest New MMO of 2013: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm RebornRunners-up: Tie between Neverwinter and Defiance
Jasmine: Closing Fantasy XIV, arms down. This sport managed to achieve something I thought was unimaginable: Sq.-Enix took a sport that I thought-about the worst MMO I've ever played and turned it into something that retains me logging in every likelihood I get.
Eliot: Should you had requested me two weeks in the past, I would have said Remaining Fantasy XIV without reservation. Now don't get me improper; the whole lot good about the unique version is delivered to the forefront, and every part adverse has both been eliminated or minimized. However the 2.1 replace and the housing fiasco have driven residence the concept we're not out of the woods and that we're just taking a look at an era of bold new errors. If these points get mounted, then I have excessive hopes for the long run; if not, it will be a shocking example of a gorgeous turnaround followed by a shameful crash.
Finest Enlargement or Replace of 2013: Guild Wars 2's Super Journey FieldRunners-up: Tie between EVE Online's Odyssey, EVE On-line's Rubicon, and Star Trek On-line'sLegacy of Romulus
Richie: Guild Wars 2's Super Journey Field patch stands out in such a profound method because many gamers thought it was nothing more than an April Fools' Joke. The official web site was updated with wonderful pictures from an 8-bit world accompanied by a hilarious, cheesy, '80s-model industrial. Once i logged into the sport and realized that SAB was actually in the game, my jaw hit my desk. There have been three full ranges of this 8-bit world complete with secrets and techniques, puzzles, boss battles, unique music score, and customized sound results -- a full platforming adventure recreation neatly tucked inside of my MMO.
Brendan: I've written a good bit on why I really like this year's Odyssey and Rubicon expansions, but Rubicon's private deployable structures push it simply over the sting. The Cellular Depot has made lengthy-time period exploration a extremely possible profession by allowing tech three ships to refit anywhere in deep area, and Ghost Websites have added some extra reward for those scouring deep area. The change to warp acceleration has additionally fastened the disparity between small and large ships and enabled actual hit-and-run type warfare once more.
Greatest Non-Traditional MMO or Pseudo-MMO of 2013: Path of ExileOther nominees: Hearthstone, Dota 2, Cube World, Defiance, MUSH
Matt: Path of Exile gets my vote for this one. The folks 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 conventional lessons and progression in favor of an almost inconceivably huge ability tree and permitting gamers to customize their ability loadouts by interchangeable gems are just two of the unique spins Path of Exile brings to the desk, and with its number of leagues and competitions, there's one thing here for the complete informal-hardcore spectrum.
Justin: Hearthstone. If nearly everybody's in beta, does it count? I say it counts. Blizzard's obtained a money cow hit on its arms, and the mixture of World of Warcraft and Magic-lite is just inspired. Plus, it's pretty enjoyable. Minecraft Servers
Most Underrated MMO of 2013: NeverwinterRunner-up: Defiance
Larry: Neverwinter launched with a large audience and the hopes of being a full-fledged Dungeons and Dragons MMO. But alas, that is not what Cryptic had in mind for the game, and avid gamers did not appreciate Neverwinter for what it was: a enjoyable sport that you just spend a few minutes to a few hours enjoying to unwind from the day by day stress. Once i revisited the game, I used to be really shocked at how much enjoyable I had. I do not need to stress about rotations or builds or the usual MMO worries. I simply log in, pound through a couple of dungeons, then carry on with my day.
Tina: I feel a lot of people boxed Neverwinter under the "more of the same" category with out giving it an opportunity. The normal charm is up to date properly by the 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons freshness.
Jef: Defiance isn't setting the world on fireplace or something, however I loved my time in it, and i keep it installed in case I would like some sci-fi shooter motion with questing and a function.
Most Anticipated for 2014 and Beyond: EverQuest NextRunner-up: WildStarDifferent nominees: EverQuest Subsequent Landmark, ArcheAge, Destiny, Pathfinder Online, TUG, The Elder Scrolls On-line
Brendan: There are some great MMOs on the horizon, however the one I'm looking ahead to essentially the most is EverQuest Subsequent. I am an absolute sucker for sandboxes, and the concept of a fantasy sandbox with a voxel-based mostly and utterly destructible world has me completely excited! The huge financial success of Minecraft has inspired a deluge of voxel-based games in recent years, but no recreation has but accomplished the function justice. EQ Next guarantees to be as removed from those blocky worlds as attainable whereas retaining much of the same sandbox gameplay.
Bree: The day I learned Star Wars Galaxies was closing, Smed reassured a teary-eyed me that SOE was engaged on an excellent greater and higher sandbox. That sandbox turned out to be EverQuest Subsequent. I am banking on SOE's ability to parlay every little thing it learned from SWG -- particularly the mistakes -- into EQN. There are other good sandboxes on the horizon, completely, but nothing as prone to thrive as Subsequent.
Justin: Progressive sandboxes or huge fanbase followings aside, I am rooting for Carbine to tug off a wacky sci-fi themepark in WildStar. I virtually hope it would not launch super-large in order that it could actually grow from word-of-mouth as an alternative of developer hype.
Richie: I'm trying forward to WildStar. Ever since I quit World of Warcraft, a part of me has missed having just a few nights each week as scheduled hangouts with my buddies. I'm itching to raid once more, and it looks as if WildStar could have one of the best endgame features of the 2014 MMO crop.
Most More likely to "Flop" in 2014: The Elder Scrolls On-lineRunner-up: Dust 514
Anatoli: "Flop" is a extremely loaded time period when it comes to MMO. I do not assume ESO will make a lot of a splash. I doubt it will fail as a recreation or as a venture, however I predict that a lot of people will resolve that it did when it would not set the whole world on fire.
Bree: I think ESO will launch just advantageous and accumulate a variety of field and sub charges initially, but lengthy-term, it's in trouble. MMORPG followers are sick of story-pushed single-player themepark MMOs, console fans will likely be mystified by subs and a 3-way PvP endgame, and Elder Scrolls fans will wander again to the lore and mods of their solo sandboxes. I'm really not sure for whom the sport is meant, and that i say that as a TES fanatic.
Matthew: I am probably not a fan of The Elder Scrolls series, so perhaps I'm biased, however I can not see the web version having the success of the only-player installments.
MJ: If I had been pressured to hazard a guess, I would say ESO. It feels as if there is a dark shadow of "can't meet expectations" hanging over it.
Finest Studio in 2013: Sony On-line LeisureRunner-up: Trion WorldsHonorable Mention: Tiny Speck
Beau: SOE continues to churn out video games, however the studio does so by itself terms. Love it or hate it, you can't deny that SOE has executed many, many issues that have changed the course of MMOs.
Mike: SOE seems just like the studio that has the most effective hold on what the market desires. It keeps releasing engaging new content for its current properties, and EverQuest Subsequent appears to be like like the first fantasy MMO to truly try something new since Ultima Online. SOE also has a stable status for making huge promises and failing to deliver, however I would 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, however Tiny Speck has made every effort to keep the spirit and neighborhood alive, going so far as to launch the sport's property into the public area just recently. That is preposterous, and that i imply that in the very best way.
Largest Story of 2013: The reveal of EverQuest Subsequent 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 got here actually out of nowhere! There was not a single whisper, trace, leak or anything to counsel there was a second sport on SOE's horizon. On this trade, that is merely unheard of.
Tina: EverQuest Subsequent. Everyone simply went nuts, and for good reason!
Matthew: EverQuest Next. Because the announcement, it appears as if the entire future of the industry is coloured by comparisons to our new savior. I am not going to disagree. I am going to exit on a limb so far as to say I suspect Blizzard went back to the drawing board on Titan due to EQN.
Jef: Star Citizen. You may not want to play it, and also you could also be bored with the Chris Roberts hero-worship, however you cannot deny the affect that it is had and continues to have on the best way video games are made.
Greatest Disappointment of 2013: Dust 514Other nominees: Defiance, Warhammer's sunset, the Kickstarter craze, Age of Wushu, Neverwinter, uninspired MMO design, traditional subscription models, no EverQuest Subsequent at SOE Live, the gloom and doom surrounding World of Darkness, and Guild Wars 2's living story.
Jef: Mud 514. I could be beating a dead horse here, but console-only plus similar-outdated-shooter-gameplay equals meh. And CCP hyping the crap out of the EVE Online connection wasn't notably clever since there actually isn't one.
Mike: This could also be a cop-out, however I am pinning this on all the MMO genre. The year was ruled by numerous re-treads of familiar fantasy worlds and quite a lot of uninspired work from developers that ought to really know better (Trion, I'm looking at you). With the line between MMO and non-MMO getting blurrier by the minute, MMO builders must get their acts collectively if they're hoping to remain competitive. And they want stop asking for handouts via Kickstarter.
Eliot: Kickstarter. We have had numerous funding drives for games, some successful, some not, with practically every single one in all them promising the same fundamental gameplay philosophies, none of which has been backed up by precise completed MMOs. Not less than one of those studios has gone back to the properly and asked for more cash from Kickstarter backers, and I don't think about it will likely be the first. It is not a trend I am comfortable to see, and one which I've already written about at size. There's some nice stuff on Kickstarter, however this yr's glut was unpleasant.
Largest Blunder of 2013: Subscription fashions for Elder Scrolls On-line and WildStarDifferent nominees: Console MMOs, All the pieces ESO does, LucasArts' closure, Blizzard's lore sexism, Star Wars: The Old Republic's house combat, FFXIV's launch woes, CCP's World of Darkness layoffs, Guild Wars 2's horrifying PR campaigns, and Diablo III's auction home fiasco.
[Update: We talk extra about this award and the rationale behind it in December twenty sixth's Ask Massively.]
Eliot: WildStar's enterprise mannequin not less than appears to be taken from a guide written by somebody with the vaguest information of trade traits, however ESO's seems to have been designed with the assumption that every different recreation that went free-to-play after launch (also called "just about every recreation that has launched throughout the previous four years") was a worse recreation than ESO shall be. Can we please stop pretending that you may launch with a subscription now?
Mike: I think, in the long run, putting a subscription fee on The Elder Scrolls On-line will turn into a pretty unhealthy thought. Bethesda will make piles of cash before it's forced to shift to free-to-play, but I'm unsure what the price shall be when it comes to loyalty to the brand. If followers feel burned or taken benefit of, the Elder Scrolls franchise will undergo. A subscription payment essentially says, "You may stop World of Warcraft/EVE On-line/Closing Fantasy XIV for this," and that's exceptionally daring from a studio that is never made an MMO.
Tina: I actually do not see how CCP can keep its commitment to complete World of Darkness whereas regularly cutting the team. We have to see some stable leads to 2014 to show otherwise.
Biggest Innovation or Trend of 2013: The return of sandbox gameplayRunner-up: Defiance's transmedia synergyOther nominees: Oculus Rift, Guild Wars 2's cadence, streaming games, blurring style traces, actiony MMOs, voxels, and Warhammer's sunset. Minecraft Servers
Toli: I like that developments are swinging back towards a variety of gameplay options this 12 months. Voxels! Sandboxy things! I flip around and immediately MMOs are launching with housing again! Holy smokes!
Matt: I'm glad to see more studios tapping into the sandbox market. From heavy-hitters like EverQuest Subsequent and Star Citizen to much less-hyped titles like Pathfinder Online, the sandbox genre is gaining loads of traction.
Larry: Defiance was a disappointment as a game, however as a product it broke the mold. I actually loved the tie-in launch of a television collection with an MMO. I do not assume different video games want to repeat this model precisely, however I do suppose that tie-ins, crossovers, and multi-media launches add worth to a product. And that i additionally consider that outside-the-field pondering needs to be inspired in MMOs, even if it does in the end flop.
Justin: Oculus Rift: May VR come again to be an precise future for MMOs? It is a risk, and what teases we're seeing this yr have whet my desire to attempt it out for real.
Shawn: Closing Warhammer On-line. I mean, the game was kinda fun at first, however can we stop with that precise components now? Thanks. (I am already placing my vote in for 2015's Greatest Development to be "the end of voxel-based mostly online games.")
Most Improved in 2013: Last Fantasy XIVRunners-up: Tie between Star Wars: The Previous Republic and RuneScape three
Jasmine: Ultimate Fantasy XIV. It improved so much from 1.0 to 2.Zero that it plays like an virtually completely different sport. I do not think you will get much more improved than that.
Beau: RuneScape 3 brought so much to the older game that it really is a unique sport. It is always been dynamic and felt like a dwelling world, however this relaunch made it that a lot better.
Those are our picks. Howsabout yours?
