Massivelys Best Of 2022 Awards
It is almost the end of the year, a time for merriment, camaraderie, and cynical analysis of all the MMO triumphs and tragedies that 2013 provided us.
Right this moment, Massively's staff honors the best of the most effective (and the worst of the worst) for the yr 2013. Each author was permitted a vote in every category with an anything-goes nomination course of. No MMO, company, or headline was off the table, as long as it met the factors. Can WildStar make it to three 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 subsequent 12 months? And just what constituted the most important MMO screw-up of the final 12 months?
Get pleasure from our picks for the most effective MMOs, expansions, studios, tales, and innovations of 2013... and our most-anticipated for 2014 and past.
Best New MMO of 2013: Remaining Fantasy XIV: A Realm RebornRunners-up: Tie between Neverwinter and Defiance
Jasmine: Ultimate Fantasy XIV, arms down. This sport managed to achieve one thing I thought was impossible: Sq.-Enix took a recreation that I considered the worst MMO I've ever played and turned it into one thing that retains me logging in every chance I get.
Eliot: Should you had asked me two weeks ago, I would have stated Ultimate Fantasy XIV with out reservation. Now do not get me improper; every little thing good about the original version is dropped at the forefront, and all the things unfavourable has either been eliminated or minimized. However the 2.1 replace and the housing fiasco have pushed house the concept we're not out of the woods and that we're simply looking at an era of bold new errors. If these issues get fixed, then I've excessive hopes for the long run; if not, it will be a shocking example of a gorgeous turnaround followed by a shameful crash.
Best Expansion or Replace of 2013: Guild Wars 2's Tremendous Adventure BoxRunners-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 Tremendous Adventure Field patch stands out in such a profound manner as a result of many players thought it was nothing more than an April Fools' Joke. The official webpage was up to date with amazing pictures from an 8-bit world accompanied by a hilarious, cheesy, '80s-style industrial. Once i logged into the game and realized that SAB was really in the game, my jaw hit my desk. There have been three full ranges of this 8-bit world full with secrets and techniques, puzzles, boss battles, authentic music rating, and customized sound effects -- a full platforming adventure recreation 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 private deployable buildings push it simply over the sting. The Cellular Depot has made long-term exploration a really possible career by allowing tech 3 ships to refit anyplace in deep house, and Ghost Sites have added some additional reward for these scouring deep space. The change to warp acceleration has additionally mounted the disparity between small and enormous ships and enabled actual hit-and-run model warfare again.
Greatest Non-Conventional MMO or Pseudo-MMO of 2013: Path of ExileOther nominees: Hearthstone, Dota 2, Cube World, Defiance, MUSH
Matt: Path of Exile will get my vote for this one. The oldsters at Grinding Gear Video games have taken the time-honored motion-RPG method popularized by Diablo and twisted it up into an expertise that feels each contemporary and acquainted. Eschewing traditional lessons and development in favor of an nearly inconceivably large skill tree and permitting gamers to customize their potential loadouts by 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 one thing here for your entire informal-hardcore spectrum.
Justin: Hearthstone. If just about everyone's in beta, does it rely? I say it counts. Blizzard's got a cash cow hit on its fingers, and the mix of World of Warcraft and Magic-lite is solely impressed. Plus, it's fairly fun.
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. However alas, that's not what Cryptic had in thoughts for the sport, and players did not recognize Neverwinter for what it was: a enjoyable recreation that you just spend a couple of minutes to a few hours enjoying to unwind from the daily stress. wzjxzz Once i revisited the sport, I used to be truly shocked at how a lot enjoyable I had. I do not should stress about rotations or builds or the usual MMO worries. I simply log in, pound through a few dungeons, then carry on with my day.
Tina: I believe a lot of people boxed Neverwinter beneath the "more of the identical" category without giving it a chance. The standard charm is up to date properly by the 4th Version Dungeons and Dragons freshness.
Jef: Defiance is not setting the world on hearth or something, but I enjoyed my time in it, and that i keep it put in in case I would like some sci-fi shooter action with questing and a function.
Most Anticipated for 2014 and Beyond: EverQuest SubsequentRunner-up: WildStarDifferent nominees: EverQuest Subsequent Landmark, ArcheAge, Future, Pathfinder Online, TUG, The Elder Scrolls On-line
Brendan: There are some nice MMOs on the horizon, but the one I am looking ahead to essentially the most is EverQuest Next. I'm an absolute sucker for sandboxes, and the idea of a fantasy sandbox with a voxel-based and fully destructible world has me completely excited! The massive monetary success of Minecraft has inspired a deluge of voxel-based mostly video games in recent years, but no recreation has yet carried out the feature justice. EQ Next promises to be as far from these blocky worlds as potential whereas retaining a lot of the same sandbox gameplay.
Bree: The day I discovered Star Wars Galaxies was closing, Smed reassured a teary-eyed me that SOE was engaged on a good greater and better sandbox. That sandbox turned out to be EverQuest Subsequent. I'm banking on SOE's skill 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 Subsequent.
Justin: Modern sandboxes or huge fanbase followings aside, I'm rooting for Carbine to drag off a wacky sci-fi themepark in WildStar. I almost hope it would not launch tremendous-massive in order that it could possibly grow from word-of-mouth as a substitute of developer hype.
Richie: I am looking ahead to WildStar. Ever since I quit World of Warcraft, a part of me has missed having a couple of nights each week as scheduled hangouts with my associates. I'm itching to raid once more, and it seems to be as if WildStar could have the very best endgame features of the 2014 MMO crop.
Most More likely to "Flop" in 2014: The Elder Scrolls On-lineRunner-up: Mud 514
Anatoli: "Flop" is a really loaded term in relation to MMO. I do not think ESO will make much of a splash. I doubt it'll fail as a sport or as a venture, however I predict that lots of people will resolve that it did when it would not set the whole world on fireplace.
Bree: I believe ESO will launch simply advantageous and accumulate quite a lot of box and sub fees initially, however lengthy-term, it's in bother. MMORPG fans are sick of story-driven single-participant themepark MMOs, console followers can be mystified by subs and a three-way PvP endgame, and Elder Scrolls followers will wander again to the lore and mods of their solo sandboxes. I am actually unsure for whom the game is meant, and i say that as a TES fanatic.
Matthew: I am probably not a fan of The Elder Scrolls collection, so perhaps I'm biased, however I am unable to see the web model having the success of the single-participant installments.
MJ: If I were forced to hazard a guess, I would say ESO. It feels as if there's a dark shadow of "cannot meet expectations" hanging over it.
Best Studio in 2013: Sony On-line EntertainmentRunner-up: Trion WorldsHonorable Point out: Tiny Speck
Beau: SOE continues to churn out video games, however the studio does so on its own terms. Love it or hate it, you can't deny that SOE has done many, many things that have changed the course of MMOs.
Mike: SOE seems just like the studio that has the most effective hold on what the market needs. It keeps releasing participating new content for its present properties, and EverQuest Next looks like the first fantasy MMO to actually strive anything new since Ultima Online. SOE additionally has a strong popularity for making big promises and failing to ship, however I'd say it had an excellent 12 months. No query all eyes are on EQN in the approaching years.
Toli: Glitch's shutdown last 12 months was downright tragic, but Tiny Speck has made every effort to maintain the spirit and neighborhood alive, going as far as to release the sport's property into the public domain only in the near past. That is preposterous, and i imply that in the best possible method.
Biggest 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 anything to counsel there was a second game on SOE's horizon. On this trade, that's simply unheard of.
Tina: EverQuest Subsequent. Everybody simply went nuts, and for good cause!
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 suspect Blizzard went again to the drawing board on Titan because of EQN.
Jef: Star Citizen. Chances are you'll not want to play it, and you could also be uninterested in the Chris Roberts hero-worship, however you cannot deny the affect that it is had and continues to have on the way in which games are made.
Largest Disappointment of 2013: Mud 514Different nominees: Defiance, Warhammer's sunset, the Kickstarter craze, Age of Wushu, Neverwinter, uninspired MMO design, traditional subscription fashions, no EverQuest Subsequent at SOE Dwell, 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 dead horse right here, but console-solely plus identical-old-shooter-gameplay equals meh. And CCP hyping the crap out of the EVE Online connection wasn't notably smart since there really is not one.
Mike: This may be a cop-out, however I am pinning this on the entire MMO genre. The 12 months was dominated by countless re-treads of acquainted fantasy worlds and loads of uninspired work from developers that ought to actually know higher (Trion, I am taking a look at you). With the line between MMO and non-MMO getting blurrier by the minute, MMO builders need to get their acts collectively if they're hoping to stay aggressive. They usually want cease asking for handouts through Kickstarter.
Eliot: Kickstarter. We have had lots of funding drives for video games, some profitable, some not, with practically each single considered one of them promising the same fundamental gameplay philosophies, none of which has been backed up by precise finished MMOs. A minimum of one of those studios has gone again to the nicely and asked for more money from Kickstarter backers, and I don't think about it will likely be the primary. It's not a pattern I'm pleased to see, and one which I've already written about at length. There's some great stuff on Kickstarter, but this yr's glut was unpleasant.
Biggest Blunder of 2013: Subscription models for Elder Scrolls Online and WildStarDifferent nominees: Console MMOs, Every thing ESO does, LucasArts' closure, Blizzard's lore sexism, Star Wars: The Previous 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 talk more about this award and the rationale behind it in December twenty sixth's Ask Massively.]
Eliot: WildStar's business model no less than appears to be taken from a e book written by somebody with the vaguest knowledge of trade traits, but ESO's seems to have been designed with the assumption that every other recreation that went free-to-play after launch (often known as "just about each game that has launched throughout the past 4 years") was a worse recreation than ESO will likely be. Can we please stop pretending you can launch with a subscription now?
Mike: I think, in the long run, placing a subscription payment on The Elder Scrolls On-line will turn into a reasonably unhealthy thought. Bethesda will make piles of money earlier than it's compelled to shift to free-to-play, but I'm unsure what the value will probably be in terms of loyalty to the brand. If followers feel burned or taken benefit of, the Elder Scrolls franchise will endure. A subscription charge essentially says, "You'll give up World of Warcraft/EVE Online/Remaining Fantasy XIV for this," and that's exceptionally bold from a studio that's by no means made an MMO.
Tina: I actually do not see how CCP can keep its commitment to complete World of Darkness while frequently slicing the team. We need to see some stable results in 2014 to prove in any other case.
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 games, blurring style lines, actiony MMOs, voxels, and Warhammer's sunset.
Toli: I like that traits are swinging again toward quite a lot of gameplay features this yr. Voxels! Sandboxy things! I flip around and immediately MMOs are launching with housing once more! Holy smokes!
Matt: I am comfortable to see extra studios tapping into the sandbox market. From heavy-hitters like EverQuest Subsequent and Star Citizen to less-hyped titles like Pathfinder On-line, the sandbox style is gaining quite a lot of traction.
Larry: Defiance was a disappointment as a recreation, but as a product it broke the mold. I really loved the tie-in launch of a television collection with an MMO. I do not suppose different games want to copy this model precisely, but I do think that tie-ins, crossovers, and multi-media launches add worth to a product. And that i also believe that outdoors-the-field considering must be encouraged in MMOs, even when it does finally flop. wzjxzz
Justin: Oculus Rift: May VR come back to be an precise future for MMOs? It's a possibility, and what teases we're seeing this year have whet my want to strive it out for actual.
Shawn: Closing Warhammer Online. I mean, the game was kinda fun at first, but can we stop with that actual system now? Thanks. (I am already putting my vote in for 2015's Greatest Pattern to be "the tip of voxel-based on-line games.")
Most Improved in 2013: Final Fantasy XIVRunners-up: Tie between Star Wars: The Outdated Republic and RuneScape three
Jasmine: Final Fantasy XIV. It improved a lot from 1.Zero to 2.Zero that it performs like an nearly completely different recreation. I don't think you can get far more improved than that.
Beau: RuneScape three introduced so much to the older sport that it actually is a distinct sport. It is all the time been dynamic and felt like a residing world, however this relaunch made it that much better.
Those are our picks. Howsabout yours?
