It's nearly the tip of the 12 months, a time for merriment, camaraderie, and cynical evaluation of all of the MMO triumphs and tragedies that 2013 offered us.
Immediately, Massively's workers honors the best of the best (and the worst of the worst) for the yr 2013. Every author was permitted a vote in each category with an something-goes nomination course of. No MMO, company, or headline was off the table, as lengthy because 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 best studio? Which MMO is most more likely to flop next year? And simply what constituted the biggest MMO screw-up of the final 12 months?
Take pleasure in our picks for the perfect MMOs, expansions, studios, tales, and improvements of 2013... and our most-anticipated for 2014 and past.
Best New MMO of 2013: Last Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
Runners-up: Tie between Neverwinter and Defiance
Jasmine: Remaining Fantasy XIV, fingers down. This sport managed to realize one thing I assumed was not possible: Square-Enix took a sport that I considered the worst MMO I've ever played and turned it into one thing that keeps me logging in every probability I get.
Eliot: In the event you had requested me two weeks in the past, I might have stated Closing Fantasy XIV with out reservation. Now don't get me wrong; every thing good about the unique model is dropped at the forefront, and every thing negative has either been removed or minimized. But the 2.1 replace and the housing fiasco have driven dwelling the concept we're not out of the woods and that we're simply looking at an period of bold new mistakes. If these issues get mounted, then I have high hopes for the future; if not, it's going to be a shocking example of a gorgeous turnaround followed by a shameful crash.
Finest Enlargement or Update of 2013: Guild Wars 2's Tremendous Adventure Box
Runners-up: Tie between EVE On-line's Odyssey, EVE On-line's Rubicon, and Star Trek On-line's
Legacy of Romulus
Richie: Guild Wars 2's Super Adventure Field patch stands out in such a profound manner because many gamers thought it was nothing greater than an April Fools' Joke. The official webpage was up to date with amazing photos from an 8-bit world accompanied by a hilarious, cheesy, '80s-style industrial. After i logged into the sport and realized that SAB was actually in the game, my jaw hit my desk. There were three full ranges of this 8-bit world full with secrets, puzzles, boss battles, authentic music rating, and custom sound effects -- a full platforming adventure recreation neatly tucked inside of my MMO.
Brendan: I've written a good bit on why I like this yr's Odyssey and Rubicon expansions, but Rubicon's personal deployable structures push it simply over the sting. The Cell Depot has made long-time period exploration a really possible career by permitting tech three ships to refit anywhere in deep space, and Ghost Sites have added some extra reward for those scouring deep space. The change to warp acceleration has additionally mounted the disparity between small and huge ships and enabled actual hit-and-run model warfare once more.
Finest Non-Conventional MMO or Pseudo-MMO of 2013: Path of Exile
Different nominees: Hearthstone, Dota 2, Cube World, Defiance, MUSH
Matt: Path of Exile will get my vote for this one. The parents at Grinding Gear Video games have taken the time-honored action-RPG components popularized by Diablo and twisted it up into an expertise that feels both contemporary and acquainted. Eschewing conventional lessons and development in favor of an virtually inconceivably big talent tree and allowing gamers to customise their capacity loadouts by interchangeable gems are simply two of the distinctive spins Path of Exile brings to the table, and with its variety of leagues and competitions, there's something here for your complete casual-hardcore spectrum.
Justin: Hearthstone. If just about everybody's in beta, does it count? I say it counts. Blizzard's acquired a money cow hit on its hands, and the mix of World of Warcraft and Magic-lite is simply inspired. Plus, it's fairly enjoyable.
Most Underrated MMO of 2013: Neverwinter
Runner-up: Defiance
Larry: Neverwinter launched with a large viewers and the hopes of being a full-fledged Dungeons and Dragons MMO. But alas, that's not what Cryptic had in thoughts for the sport, and players didn't admire Neverwinter for what it was: a enjoyable recreation that you simply spend a few minutes to a few hours playing to unwind from the daily stress. After i revisited the game, I used to be really stunned at how much fun I had. I do not 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 lots of people boxed Neverwinter beneath the "extra of the same" class with out giving it a chance. The normal charm is updated nicely by way of the 4th Version Dungeons and Dragons freshness.
Jef: Defiance isn't setting the world on hearth or anything, but I enjoyed my time in it, and that i keep it installed in case I need some sci-fi shooter motion with questing and a objective.
Most Anticipated for 2014 and Past: EverQuest Next
Runner-up: WildStar
Other nominees: EverQuest Subsequent Landmark, ArcheAge, Future, Pathfinder Online, TUG, The Elder Scrolls Online
Brendan: There are some great MMOs on the horizon, but the one I am trying ahead to essentially the most is EverQuest Next. I am an absolute sucker for sandboxes, and the idea of a fantasy sandbox with a voxel-based mostly and utterly destructible world has me completely excited! The large monetary success of Minecraft has inspired a deluge of voxel-primarily based games lately, however no game has but done the characteristic justice. EQ Next promises to be as removed from those blocky worlds as potential whereas retaining much of the identical sandbox gameplay.
Bree: The day I learned Star Wars Galaxies was closing, Smed reassured a teary-eyed me that SOE was working on an even bigger and better sandbox. That sandbox turned out to be EverQuest Subsequent. I am banking on SOE's potential to parlay every part it realized 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: Innovative sandboxes or large fanbase followings apart, I am rooting for Carbine to drag off a wacky sci-fi themepark in WildStar. I nearly hope it does not launch super-massive so that it could possibly develop from phrase-of-mouth as a substitute of developer hype.
Richie: I'm trying forward to WildStar. Ever since I give up World of Warcraft, part of me has missed having a number of nights each week as scheduled hangouts with my associates. I am itching to raid again, and it seems to be as if WildStar can have one of the best endgame options of the 2014 MMO crop.
Most More likely to "Flop" in 2014: The Elder Scrolls On-line
Runner-up: Mud 514
Anatoli: "Flop" is a extremely loaded time period on the subject of MMO. I do not think ESO will make a lot of a splash. I doubt it's going to fail as a game or as a enterprise, however I predict that a lot of people will determine that it did when it does not set the whole world on fireplace.
Bree: I feel ESO will launch simply positive and acquire a lot of box and sub charges initially, however long-time period, it's in hassle. MMORPG fans are sick of story-pushed single-participant themepark MMOs, console followers might be mystified by subs and a 3-means PvP endgame, and Elder Scrolls followers will wander back to the lore and mods of their solo sandboxes. I'm really undecided for whom the sport is meant, and i say that as a TES fanatic.
Matthew: I'm not really a fan of The Elder Scrolls sequence, so maybe I am biased, but I can't see the web model having the success of the one-player installments.
MJ: If I were compelled to hazard a guess, I might say ESO. It feels as if there's a dark shadow of "can't meet expectations" hanging over it.
Finest Studio in 2013: Sony Online Leisure
Runner-up: Trion Worlds
Honorable Mention: Tiny Speck
Beau: SOE continues to churn out games, but the studio does so by itself terms. Adore it or hate it, you cannot deny that SOE has done many, many things that have changed the course of MMOs.
Mike: SOE seems like the studio that has the most effective hold on what the market desires. It retains releasing partaking new content material for its existing properties, and EverQuest Subsequent appears to be like like the first fantasy MMO to truly strive anything new since Ultima On-line. SOE also has a stable fame for making massive promises and failing to ship, but I would say it had an excellent yr. 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 each effort to maintain the spirit and community alive, going so far as to release the game's assets into the general public domain only recently. That is preposterous, and that i imply that in the absolute best way.
Biggest Story of 2013: The reveal of EverQuest Subsequent and Landmark
Runners-up: Tie between Star Citizen's Kickstarter success and Final Fantasy XIV's relaunch
MJ: EverQuest Subsequent Landmark grabs this one as a result of the sport got here literally out of nowhere! There was not a single whisper, trace, leak or anything to suggest there was a second recreation on SOE's horizon. On this trade, that's simply unheard of.
Tina: EverQuest Subsequent. Everyone just went nuts, and for good cause!
Matthew: EverQuest Next. Because the announcement, it seems as if the entire future of the industry is colored by comparisons to our new savior. I am not going to disagree. I will exit on a limb so far as to say I believe Blizzard went again to the drawing board on Titan due to EQN.
Jef: Star Citizen. It's possible you'll not want to play it, and also you could also be uninterested in the Chris Roberts hero-worship, however you cannot deny the influence that it is had and continues to have on the way games are made.
Largest Disappointment of 2013: Mud 514
Different nominees: Defiance, Warhammer's sunset, the Kickstarter craze, Age of Wushu, Neverwinter, uninspired MMO design, traditional subscription fashions, no EverQuest Subsequent at SOE Live, the gloom and doom surrounding World of Darkness, and Guild Wars 2's living story.
Jef: Dust 514. I is perhaps beating a dead horse here, however console-solely plus similar-outdated-shooter-gameplay equals meh. And CCP hyping the crap out of the EVE Online connection wasn't notably sensible since there actually is not one.
Mike: This may be a cop-out, but I'm pinning this on the whole MMO genre. The yr was ruled by countless re-treads of acquainted fantasy worlds and plenty of uninspired work from builders that ought to actually know better (Trion, I'm looking at you). With the line between MMO and non-MMO getting blurrier by the minute, MMO builders need to get their acts together in the event that they're hoping to stay aggressive. And they want cease asking for handouts through Kickstarter.
Eliot: Kickstarter. We've had a variety of funding drives for games, some successful, some not, with almost each single one among them promising the same basic gameplay philosophies, none of which has been backed up by precise completed MMOs. At least a kind of studios has gone back to the well and asked for extra money from Kickstarter backers, and I don't think about it is going to be the primary. It is not a development I'm completely satisfied to see, and one that I've already written about at length. There's some nice stuff on Kickstarter, but this year's glut was unpleasant.
Biggest Blunder of 2013: Subscription fashions for Elder Scrolls Online and WildStar
Different nominees: Console MMOs, The whole lot ESO does, LucasArts' closure, Blizzard's lore sexism, Star Wars: The Old Republic's space combat, FFXIV's launch woes, CCP's World of Darkness layoffs, Guild Wars 2's horrifying PR campaigns, and Diablo III's public sale house fiasco.
[Replace: We talk more about this award and the rationale behind it in December twenty sixth's Ask Massively.] Swissrocketman
Eliot: WildStar's enterprise mannequin at least seems to be taken from a e-book written by someone with the vaguest data of trade trends, however ESO's seems to have been designed with the assumption that every different game that went free-to-play after launch (also known as "pretty much each sport that has launched within the previous four years") was a worse recreation than ESO can be. Can we please cease pretending which you could launch with a subscription now?
Mike: I believe, in the long run, placing a subscription price on The Elder Scrolls Online will turn out to be a reasonably unhealthy concept. Bethesda will make piles of money earlier than it's compelled to shift to free-to-play, however I am unsure what the price shall be when it comes to loyalty to the model. If followers feel burned or taken benefit of, the Elder Scrolls franchise will undergo. A subscription price basically says, "You'll give up World of Warcraft/EVE Online/Ultimate Fantasy XIV for this," and that is exceptionally bold from a studio that is by no means made an MMO.
Tina: I truthfully don't see how CCP can keep its dedication to complete World of Darkness while continually chopping the group. We have to see some strong results in 2014 to show in any other case.
Greatest Innovation or Trend of 2013: The return of sandbox gameplay
Runner-up: Defiance's transmedia synergy
Other nominees: Oculus Rift, Guild Wars 2's cadence, streaming video games, blurring genre lines, actiony MMOs, voxels, and Warhammer's sunset.
Toli: I like that tendencies are swinging again towards a wide range of gameplay options this 12 months. Voxels! Sandboxy things! I flip around and instantly MMOs are launching with housing once more! Holy smokes!
Matt: I am blissful 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 Online, the sandbox style is gaining a number of traction.
Larry: Defiance was a disappointment as a sport, but as a product it broke the mold. I really enjoyed the tie-in launch of a tv collection with an MMO. I don't think other games need to copy this mannequin precisely, however I do assume that tie-ins, crossovers, and multi-media launches add value to a product. And i also imagine that outdoors-the-field considering must be inspired in MMOs, even if it does ultimately flop.
Justin: Oculus Rift: Could VR come back to be an actual future for MMOs? It's a chance, and what teases we're seeing this 12 months have whet my want to attempt it out for actual.
Shawn: Closing Warhammer On-line. I imply, the game was kinda enjoyable at first, but can we cease with that actual system now? Thanks. (I am already putting my vote in for 2015's Biggest Development to be "the top of voxel-based mostly online video games.")
Most Improved in 2013: Final Fantasy XIV
Runners-up: Tie between Star Wars: The Outdated Republic and RuneScape three
Jasmine: Final Fantasy XIV. It improved so much from 1.0 to 2.0 that it performs like an almost totally completely different game. I do not assume you will get rather more improved than that.
Beau: RuneScape three brought so much to the older game that it really is a unique game. It is at all times been dynamic and felt like a dwelling world, but this relaunch made it that much better.
These are our picks. Howsabout yours?
