Massivelys Better Of 2022 Awards

It is practically the end of the yr, a time for merriment, camaraderie, and cynical evaluation of all the MMO triumphs and tragedies that 2013 offered us.

In the present day, Massively's employees honors the better of one of the best (and the worst of the worst) for the 12 months 2013. Every author was permitted a vote in each category with an something-goes nomination course of. No MMO, firm, or headline was off the desk, as long because 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 finest studio? Which MMO is most more likely to flop next yr? And just what constituted the largest MMO screw-up of the last 12 months?

Take pleasure in our picks for the most effective MMOs, expansions, studios, stories, and improvements of 2013... and our most-anticipated for 2014 and beyond.

Greatest New MMO of 2013: Ultimate Fantasy XIV: A Realm RebornRunners-up: Tie between Neverwinter and Defiance

Jasmine: Remaining Fantasy XIV, palms down. This game managed to realize something I assumed was impossible: Sq.-Enix took a recreation that I thought-about the worst MMO I've ever played and turned it into something that retains me logging in each probability I get.

Eliot: In the event you had requested me two weeks in the past, I might have stated Remaining Fantasy XIV without reservation. Now don't get me mistaken; every little thing good about the original model is brought to the forefront, and every thing damaging has either been eliminated or minimized. But the 2.1 replace and the housing fiasco have driven house the idea that we're not out of the woods and that we're just looking at an era of bold new errors. If these issues get mounted, then I've high hopes for the long run; if not, it will be a shocking instance of a beautiful turnaround followed by a shameful crash.

Best Growth or Update of 2013: Guild Wars 2's Super 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 Journey Box patch stands out in such a profound manner because many players thought it was nothing greater than an April Fools' Joke. The official webpage was up to date with amazing photographs from an 8-bit world accompanied by a hilarious, cheesy, '80s-model commercial. Once i logged into the game and realized that SAB was really in the sport, my jaw hit my desk. There were three full ranges of this 8-bit world full with secrets, puzzles, boss battles, original music rating, and customized sound results -- a full platforming adventure game neatly tucked inside of my MMO.

Brendan: I've written a good bit on why I like this 12 months's Odyssey and Rubicon expansions, but Rubicon's private deployable structures push it just over the edge. The Cellular Depot has made lengthy-time period exploration a extremely 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 house. The change to warp acceleration has additionally fixed the disparity between small and huge ships and enabled real hit-and-run model warfare once more.

Best Non-Conventional MMO or Pseudo-MMO of 2013: Path of ExileDifferent 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 formulation popularized by Diablo and twisted it up into an expertise that feels both fresh and acquainted. Eschewing conventional classes and development in favor of an virtually inconceivably huge ability tree and permitting players to customize their potential 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 here for your entire casual-hardcore spectrum.

Justin: Hearthstone. If just about everyone's in beta, does it count? I say it counts. Blizzard's acquired a money cow hit on its fingers, and the mixture of World of Warcraft and Magic-lite is solely impressed. GAMING Plus, it is pretty 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's not what Cryptic had in thoughts for the game, and gamers did not respect Neverwinter for what it was: a fun game that you just spend a few minutes to a couple of hours enjoying to unwind from the every day stress. After i revisited the sport, I used to be actually surprised at how much enjoyable I had. I don't have to stress about rotations or builds or the usual MMO worries. I simply log in, pound via a few dungeons, then carry on with my day.

Tina: I believe lots of people boxed Neverwinter below the "extra of the identical" class without giving it a chance. The traditional charm is up to date properly by means of the 4th Version Dungeons and Dragons freshness.

Jef: Defiance isn't setting the world on hearth or anything, however I loved 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 objective.

Most Anticipated for 2014 and Past: EverQuest NextRunner-up: WildStarDifferent nominees: EverQuest Next Landmark, ArcheAge, Destiny, Pathfinder On-line, TUG, The Elder Scrolls Online

Brendan: There are some nice MMOs on the horizon, but the one I'm trying forward to essentially the most is EverQuest Subsequent. I am an absolute sucker for sandboxes, and the idea of a fantasy sandbox with a voxel-based and utterly destructible world has me completely excited! The large monetary success of Minecraft has impressed a deluge of voxel-based video games in recent times, however no sport has yet finished the function justice. EQ Next promises to be as removed from these blocky worlds as doable whereas retaining much of the same sandbox gameplay.

Bree: The day I discovered Star Wars Galaxies was closing, Smed reassured a teary-eyed me that SOE was working on an even bigger and higher sandbox. That sandbox turned out to be EverQuest Subsequent. I am banking on SOE's potential to parlay all the pieces it discovered from SWG -- especially the errors -- into EQN. There are other good sandboxes on the horizon, absolutely, but nothing as prone to thrive as Subsequent.

Justin: Revolutionary sandboxes or large fanbase followings apart, I'm rooting for Carbine to drag off a wacky sci-fi themepark in WildStar. I virtually hope it does not launch tremendous-massive so that it will probably grow from phrase-of-mouth as a substitute of developer hype.

Richie: I am looking forward to WildStar. Ever since I quit World of Warcraft, a part of me has missed having a couple of nights every week as scheduled hangouts with my associates. I am itching to raid once more, and it seems as if WildStar will have the most effective endgame features of the 2014 MMO crop.

Most 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 don't suppose ESO will make much of a splash. I doubt it's going to fail as a sport or as a venture, but I predict that lots of people will determine that it did when it would not set the entire world on fire.

Bree: I think ESO will launch just fine and acquire a variety of box and sub fees initially, but long-term, it's in hassle. MMORPG followers are sick of story-pushed single-player themepark MMOs, console fans will likely be mystified by subs and a 3-approach PvP endgame, and Elder Scrolls followers will wander again to the lore and mods of their solo sandboxes. I'm actually undecided for whom the game is meant, and that i say that as a TES fanatic.

Matthew: I am not really a fan of The Elder Scrolls sequence, so perhaps I am biased, however I can not see the online model having the success of the only-participant installments.

MJ: If I have been pressured to hazard a guess, I might say ESO. It feels as if there's a dark shadow of "cannot meet expectations" hanging over it.

Finest 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. Like it or hate it, you cannot deny that SOE has carried out many, many things that have changed the course of MMOs.

Mike: SOE appears like the studio that has the most effective hold on what the market desires. It keeps releasing participating new content material for its current properties, and EverQuest Next seems to be like the primary fantasy MMO to really try anything new since Ultima On-line. SOE additionally has a solid reputation for making massive promises and failing to deliver, however I might say it had a very good 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 keep the spirit and group alive, going so far as to launch the sport's assets into the public domain only recently. That's preposterous, and i mean that in the best possible way.

Largest Story of 2013: The reveal of EverQuest Next and LandmarkRunners-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 game got here actually out of nowhere! There was not a single whisper, hint, leak or something to suggest there was a second game on SOE's horizon. In this trade, that is simply unheard of.

Tina: EverQuest Next. Everyone just went nuts, and for good motive!

Matthew: EverQuest Next. For the reason that announcement, it appears 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 as far as to say I think Blizzard went back to the drawing board on Titan because of EQN.

Jef: Star Citizen. You could not need to play it, and you could also be bored with the Chris Roberts hero-worship, but you can't deny the impression that it's had and continues to have on the way video games are made.

Largest 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 Dwell, the gloom and doom surrounding World of Darkness, and Guild Wars 2's residing story.

Jef: Dust 514. I might be beating a lifeless horse here, but console-only plus same-previous-shooter-gameplay equals meh. And CCP hyping the crap out of the EVE On-line connection wasn't notably clever since there actually isn't one.

Mike: This may be a cop-out, however I'm pinning this on the complete MMO style. The 12 months was dominated by numerous re-treads of familiar fantasy worlds and a variety of uninspired work from builders that ought to actually know better (Trion, I am 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 need stop asking for handouts through Kickstarter.

Eliot: Kickstarter. We have had a lot of funding drives for games, some successful, some not, with nearly every single one among them promising the identical primary gameplay philosophies, none of which has been backed up by actual finished MMOs. At the least a kind of studios has gone back to the effectively and requested for extra money from Kickstarter backers, and I don't think about it is going to be the primary. It's not a development I am joyful to see, and one that I've already written about at size. There's some great stuff on Kickstarter, however this year's glut was unpleasant.

Largest Blunder of 2013: Subscription fashions for Elder Scrolls On-line and WildStarDifferent nominees: Console MMOs, Every thing ESO does, LucasArts' closure, Blizzard's lore sexism, Star Wars: The Previous Republic's area 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.

[Update: We speak more about this award and the rationale behind it in December 26th's Ask Massively.]

Eliot: WildStar's business model at the very least appears to be taken from a guide written by somebody with the vaguest knowledge of trade trends, but ESO's seems to have been designed with the assumption that each different recreation that went free-to-play after launch (also known as "just about every game that has launched inside the previous 4 years") was a worse recreation than ESO will be. Can we please cease pretending that you would be able to launch with a subscription now?

Mike: I feel, in the long run, putting a subscription price on The Elder Scrolls On-line will turn out to be a pretty bad concept. Bethesda will make piles of cash before it is pressured to shift to free-to-play, however I am undecided what the value will probably be by way of loyalty to the brand. If followers feel burned or taken advantage of, the Elder Scrolls franchise will endure. A subscription payment essentially says, "You'll stop World of Warcraft/EVE Online/Final Fantasy XIV for this," and that is exceptionally daring from a studio that is never made an MMO.

Tina: I truthfully do not see how CCP can keep its dedication to finish World of Darkness while frequently slicing the team. We need to see some solid leads to 2014 to prove otherwise.

Biggest Innovation or Development 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 lines, actiony MMOs, voxels, and Warhammer's sunset.

Toli: I like that trends are swinging again towards a variety of gameplay features this year. Voxels! Sandboxy issues! I turn around and abruptly MMOs are launching with housing once more! Holy smokes!

Matt: I'm joyful to see more studios tapping into the sandbox market. From heavy-hitters like EverQuest Next and Star Citizen to less-hyped titles like Pathfinder Online, the sandbox genre is gaining a whole lot of traction.

Larry: Defiance was a disappointment as a game, however as a product it broke the mold. I really enjoyed the tie-in launch of a tv series with an MMO. I do not suppose different games need to repeat this mannequin exactly, but I do suppose that tie-ins, crossovers, and multi-media launches add value to a product. And i additionally consider that outdoors-the-field pondering needs to be inspired in MMOs, even when it does in the end flop.

Justin: Oculus Rift: Could VR come again to be an actual future for MMOs? It is a possibility, and what teases we're seeing this yr have whet my need to try it out for real.

Shawn: Closing Warhammer On-line. I mean, the game was kinda fun at first, however can we cease with that actual formula now? Thanks. (I'm already placing my vote in for 2015's Biggest Development to be "the end of voxel-based on-line games.")

Most Improved in 2013: Final Fantasy XIVRunners-up: Tie between Star Wars: The Old Republic and RuneScape three

Jasmine: Remaining Fantasy XIV. It improved so much from 1.Zero to 2.0 that it plays like an nearly fully completely different recreation. I don't assume you will get rather more improved than that.

Beau: RuneScape 3 brought a lot to the older game that it really is a distinct recreation. It is at all times been dynamic and felt like a residing world, but this relaunch made it that significantly better.

Those are our picks. Howsabout yours?