Notes

Massively's Better Of 2022 Awards
It's practically the top of the 12 months, a time for merriment, camaraderie, and cynical evaluation of all the MMO triumphs and tragedies that 2013 supplied us.

At the moment, Massively's staff honors the better of the best (and the worst of the worst) for the year 2013. PERSIANCATRESCUE.COM Each author was permitted a vote in every class with an something-goes nomination course of. No MMO, firm, or headline was off the desk, as long as it met the criteria. Can WildStar make it to a few 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 best studio? Which MMO is most likely to flop subsequent year? And simply what constituted the most important MMO screw-up of the final 12 months?

Enjoy our picks for the very best MMOs, expansions, studios, tales, and improvements of 2013... and our most-anticipated for 2014 and beyond.

Finest New MMO of 2013: Remaining Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
Runners-up: Tie between Neverwinter and Defiance

Jasmine: Closing Fantasy XIV, palms down. This game managed to achieve something I believed was not possible: Sq.-Enix took a game that I thought of the worst MMO I've ever played and turned it into one thing that retains me logging in each chance I get.

Eliot: When you had requested me two weeks in the past, I might have stated Final Fantasy XIV with out reservation. Now do not get me improper; all the things good about the unique model is dropped at the forefront, and everything destructive has either been removed or minimized. But the 2.1 update and the housing fiasco have driven home the concept we're not out of the woods and that we're simply looking at an period of daring new errors. If these issues get mounted, then I have excessive hopes for the longer term; if not, it's going to be a shocking instance of a stunning turnaround adopted by a shameful crash.

Finest Expansion or Update of 2013: Guild Wars 2's Tremendous Journey Field
Runners-up: Tie between EVE Online's Odyssey, EVE Online's Rubicon, and Star Trek Online's
Legacy 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 webpage was up to date with amazing images from an 8-bit world accompanied by a hilarious, cheesy, '80s-model business. Once i logged into the sport and realized that SAB was really in the sport, 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 results -- a full platforming journey sport neatly tucked inside of my MMO.

Brendan: I've written a good bit on why I like this yr's Odyssey and Rubicon expansions, however Rubicon's personal deployable buildings push it just over the edge. The Mobile Depot has made lengthy-term exploration a extremely possible career by allowing tech three ships to refit anyplace in deep space, and Ghost Sites have added some additional reward for those scouring deep space. The change to warp acceleration has additionally mounted the disparity between small and enormous ships and enabled real hit-and-run style warfare again.

Greatest Non-Traditional MMO or Pseudo-MMO of 2013: Path of Exile
Different nominees: Hearthstone, Dota 2, Cube World, Defiance, MUSH

Matt: Path of Exile gets my vote for this one. The oldsters at Grinding Gear Games have taken the time-honored motion-RPG formulation popularized by Diablo and twisted it up into an experience that feels both fresh and familiar. Eschewing traditional classes and progression in favor of an virtually inconceivably enormous skill tree and allowing players to customize their ability 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 right here for all the casual-hardcore spectrum.

Justin: Hearthstone. If just about everyone's in beta, does it depend? 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 simply inspired. Plus, it is fairly fun.

Most Underrated MMO of 2013: Neverwinter
Runner-up: Defiance

Larry: Neverwinter launched with a wide 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 sport, and gamers didn't admire Neverwinter for what it was: a fun recreation that you spend a few minutes to a few hours playing to unwind from the daily stress. After i revisited the game, I used to be actually shocked at how much fun I had. I don't have to stress about rotations or builds or the usual MMO worries. I merely log in, pound by a couple of dungeons, then carry on with my day.

Tina: I feel lots of people boxed Neverwinter beneath the "more of the identical" class without giving it an opportunity. The normal charm is up to date nicely by the 4th Version Dungeons and Dragons freshness.

Jef: Defiance is not setting the world on fireplace or something, but I enjoyed my time in it, and that i keep it installed in case I would like some sci-fi shooter motion with questing and a objective.

Most Anticipated for 2014 and Beyond: EverQuest Next
Runner-up: WildStar
Different nominees: EverQuest Next Landmark, ArcheAge, Future, Pathfinder Online, TUG, The Elder Scrolls Online

Brendan: There are some great MMOs on the horizon, however the one I am wanting forward to the most is EverQuest Subsequent. I'm an absolute sucker for sandboxes, and the idea of a fantasy sandbox with a voxel-primarily based and utterly destructible world has me absolutely excited! The massive monetary success of Minecraft has inspired a deluge of voxel-primarily based games lately, but no recreation has yet performed the feature justice. EQ Subsequent promises to be as removed from those blocky worlds as doable whereas retaining a lot of the identical sandbox gameplay.

Bree: The day I realized Star Wars Galaxies was closing, Smed reassured a teary-eyed me that SOE was engaged on an excellent greater and better sandbox. That sandbox turned out to be EverQuest Next. I'm banking on SOE's capability to parlay every little thing it learned from SWG -- especially the mistakes -- into EQN. There are other good sandboxes on the horizon, completely, but nothing as more likely to thrive as Next.

Justin: Innovative sandboxes or huge fanbase followings apart, I'm rooting for Carbine to drag off a wacky sci-fi themepark in WildStar. I almost hope it doesn't launch tremendous-huge so that it will probably develop from phrase-of-mouth as a substitute of developer hype.

Richie: I'm looking ahead to WildStar. Ever since I give up World of Warcraft, a part of me has missed having a few nights every week as scheduled hangouts with my mates. I'm itching to raid once more, and it appears as if WildStar could have the perfect endgame features of the 2014 MMO crop.

Most Likely to "Flop" in 2014: The Elder Scrolls On-line
Runner-up: Mud 514

Anatoli: "Flop" is a really loaded term in terms of MMO. I don't assume ESO will make much of a splash. I doubt it'll fail as a game or as a enterprise, however I predict that a lot of people will decide that it did when it doesn't set the entire world on fire.

Bree: I believe ESO will launch simply high quality and gather plenty of box and sub charges initially, however long-term, it is in bother. MMORPG followers are sick of story-driven single-participant themepark MMOs, console followers will likely be mystified by subs and a 3-way PvP endgame, and Elder Scrolls fans will wander back to the lore and mods of their solo sandboxes. I am really not sure for whom the sport is meant, and i say that as a TES fanatic.

Matthew: I am not likely a fan of The Elder Scrolls sequence, so possibly I am biased, however I can't see the net model having the success of the single-player installments.

MJ: If I were compelled to hazard a guess, I'd say ESO. It feels as if there is a dark shadow of "can't meet expectations" hanging over it.

Finest Studio in 2013: Sony Online Entertainment
Runner-up: Trion Worlds
Honorable Mention: Tiny Speck

Beau: SOE continues to churn out video games, but the studio does so by itself terms. Love it or hate it, you can't deny that SOE has performed many, many things that have modified the course of MMOs.

Mike: SOE seems just like the studio that has the most effective hold on what the market desires. It retains releasing partaking new content for its existing properties, and EverQuest Next seems to be like the first fantasy MMO to really attempt anything new since Ultima Online. SOE also has a stable reputation for making big guarantees and failing to deliver, however I would say it had a very good yr. No query all eyes are on EQN in the approaching years.

Toli: Glitch's shutdown final 12 months was downright tragic, however Tiny Speck has made every effort to maintain the spirit and community alive, going as far as to release the game's assets into the general public area just recently. That's preposterous, and i imply that in the best possible way.

Biggest Story of 2013: The reveal of EverQuest Next and Landmark
Runners-up: Tie between Star Citizen's Kickstarter success and Remaining Fantasy XIV's relaunch

MJ: EverQuest Next Landmark grabs this one because the game came actually out of nowhere! There was not a single whisper, hint, leak or something to suggest there was a second recreation on SOE's horizon. On this industry, that's merely unheard of.

Tina: EverQuest Subsequent. Everybody just went nuts, and for good cause!

Matthew: EverQuest Next. For the reason that announcement, it seems as if the entire future of the industry is colored by comparisons to our new savior. I'm not going to disagree. I'll exit on a limb as far as to say I believe Blizzard went back to the drawing board on Titan due to EQN.

Jef: Star Citizen. You may not want to play it, and you may be tired of the Chris Roberts hero-worship, but you cannot deny the influence that it's had and continues to have on the best way games are made.

Greatest Disappointment of 2013: Mud 514
Other nominees: Defiance, Warhammer's sunset, the Kickstarter craze, Age of Wushu, Neverwinter, uninspired MMO design, conventional subscription fashions, no EverQuest Next at SOE Dwell, the gloom and doom surrounding World of Darkness, and Guild Wars 2's residing story.

Jef: Mud 514. I could 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 particularly wise since there really isn't one.

Mike: This may be a cop-out, but I'm pinning this on all the MMO style. The yr was ruled by numerous re-treads of acquainted fantasy worlds and a lot of uninspired work from builders that ought to really know higher (Trion, I am taking a look at you). With the line between MMO and non-MMO getting blurrier by the minute, MMO developers must get their acts collectively in the event that they're hoping to stay aggressive. And they want stop asking for handouts through Kickstarter.

Eliot: Kickstarter. We've had lots of funding drives for games, some profitable, some not, with almost each single one in every of them promising the identical basic gameplay philosophies, none of which has been backed up by precise completed MMOs. No less than a type of studios has gone again to the nicely and asked for more money from Kickstarter backers, and I do not think about will probably be the primary. It's not a trend I am pleased to see, and one that I've already written about at length. There's some great stuff on Kickstarter, however this year's glut was unpleasant.

Greatest Blunder of 2013: Subscription models for Elder Scrolls On-line and WildStar
Other nominees: Console MMOs, Every part ESO does, LucasArts' closure, Blizzard's lore sexism, Star Wars: The Outdated 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 public sale home fiasco.

[Replace: We discuss extra about this award and the rationale behind it in December twenty sixth's Ask Massively.]

Eliot: WildStar's business model at the least seems to be taken from a e book written by someone with the vaguest information of business tendencies, but ESO's seems to have been designed with the assumption that each different sport that went free-to-play after launch (often known as "just about every game that has launched inside the previous four years") was a worse sport than ESO will likely be. Can we please cease pretending that you could launch with a subscription now?

Mike: I think, in the long term, putting a subscription charge on The Elder Scrolls On-line will transform a pretty dangerous thought. Bethesda will make piles of cash before it's pressured to shift to free-to-play, however I'm unsure what the price might be when it comes to loyalty to the model. If fans feel burned or taken benefit of, the Elder Scrolls franchise will undergo. A subscription charge primarily says, "You will give up World of Warcraft/EVE Online/Final Fantasy XIV for this," and that's exceptionally bold from a studio that's by no means made an MMO.

Tina: I honestly don't see how CCP can keep its commitment to finish World of Darkness while regularly cutting the crew. We need to see some strong results in 2014 to prove in any other case.

Greatest Innovation or Trend of 2013: The return of sandbox gameplay
Runner-up: Defiance's transmedia synergy
Different nominees: Oculus Rift, Guild Wars 2's cadence, streaming video games, blurring genre traces, actiony MMOs, voxels, and Warhammer's sunset.

Toli: I like that trends are swinging back towards a variety of gameplay options this 12 months. Voxels! Sandboxy issues! I flip around and abruptly MMOs are launching with housing once more! Holy smokes!

Matt: I'm comfortable 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 genre is gaining lots of traction.

Larry: Defiance was a disappointment as a sport, but as a product it broke the mold. I really loved the tie-in launch of a tv sequence with an MMO. I don't assume different games want to copy this model exactly, however I do assume that tie-ins, crossovers, and multi-media launches add value to a product. And that i also believe that outside-the-field thinking must be encouraged in MMOs, even when it does ultimately flop.

Justin: Oculus Rift: Might VR come again to be an precise future for MMOs? It's a chance, and what teases we're seeing this yr have whet my desire to strive it out for actual.

Shawn: Closing Warhammer Online. I mean, the sport was kinda enjoyable at first, however can we cease with that exact system now? Thanks. (I'm already placing my vote in for 2015's Greatest Trend to be "the top of voxel-primarily based online games.")

Most Improved in 2013: Final Fantasy XIV
Runners-up: Tie between Star Wars: The Old Republic and RuneScape 3

Jasmine: Last Fantasy XIV. It improved a lot from 1.Zero to 2.Zero that it performs like an virtually solely different sport. I do not assume you can get far more improved than that.

Beau: RuneScape three introduced so much to the older sport that it actually is a special game. It's at all times been dynamic and felt like a dwelling world, however this relaunch made it that much better.

Those are our picks. Howsabout yours?

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