Massivelys Best Of 2022 Awards

It is practically the end of the 12 months, a time for merriment, camaraderie, and cynical analysis of all the MMO triumphs and tragedies that 2013 offered us.

At present, Massively's staff honors the better of the most effective (and the worst of the worst) for the 12 months 2013. Each writer was permitted a vote in each class with an anything-goes nomination course of. No MMO, firm, or headline was off the table, as long because 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 prone to flop subsequent 12 months? And just what constituted the biggest 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.

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

Jasmine: Closing Fantasy XIV, palms down. This sport managed to realize one thing I assumed was not possible: Square-Enix took a sport that I thought of the worst MMO I've ever performed and turned it into one thing that retains me logging in every chance I get.

Eliot: Should you had requested me two weeks ago, I would have stated Last Fantasy XIV without reservation. Now don't get me improper; all the pieces good about the original model is dropped at the forefront, and the whole lot detrimental has both been eliminated or minimized. But the 2.1 replace and the housing fiasco have pushed house the concept that we're not out of the woods and that we're just looking at an era of daring new mistakes. If these issues get fixed, then I have high hopes for the long run; if not, it will be a shocking instance of a beautiful turnaround adopted by a shameful crash.

Best Growth or Replace of 2013: Guild Wars 2's Super Adventure FieldRunners-up: Tie between EVE Online's Odyssey, EVE On-line's Rubicon, and Star Trek Online'sLegacy of Romulus

Richie: Guild Wars 2's Super Adventure Box patch stands out in such a profound approach as a result of many gamers thought it was nothing greater than an April Fools' Joke. The official webpage was up to date with wonderful photos from an 8-bit world accompanied by a hilarious, cheesy, '80s-style business. Once i logged into the sport 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, puzzles, boss battles, unique music score, 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 really like this 12 months's Odyssey and Rubicon expansions, but Rubicon's personal deployable constructions push it simply over the edge. The Mobile Depot has made long-term exploration a extremely feasible career by permitting tech three ships to refit wherever in deep area, and Ghost Sites have added some additional reward for these scouring deep area. The change to warp acceleration has additionally mounted the disparity between small and large ships and enabled actual hit-and-run model warfare once more.

Best Non-Traditional 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 folks at Grinding Gear Games have taken the time-honored action-RPG method popularized by Diablo and twisted it up into an experience that feels each contemporary and familiar. Eschewing conventional lessons and progression in favor of an nearly inconceivably enormous talent tree and permitting players to customize their means loadouts by interchangeable gems are simply two of the unique spins Path of Exile brings to the desk, and with its number of leagues and competitions, there's something here for the complete casual-hardcore spectrum.

Justin: Hearthstone. If just about everybody's in beta, does it rely? I say it counts. Blizzard's bought a money cow hit on its hands, and the mixture of World of Warcraft and Magic-lite is just inspired. Plus, it's fairly fun.

Most Underrated MMO of 2013: NeverwinterRunner-up: Defiance

Larry: Neverwinter launched with a wide viewers and the hopes of being a full-fledged Dungeons and Dragons MMO. But alas, that is not what Cryptic had in thoughts for the sport, and players didn't respect Neverwinter for what it was: a fun sport that you simply spend a couple of minutes to a few hours playing to unwind from the daily stress. Once i revisited the sport, I used to be actually shocked at how much enjoyable I had. I don't should stress about rotations or builds or the usual MMO worries. I merely log in, pound via a couple of dungeons, then carry on with my day.

Tina: I think a lot of people boxed Neverwinter beneath the "more of the same" class with out giving it an opportunity. The traditional charm is up to date nicely through the 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons freshness.

Jef: Defiance is not setting the world on fireplace or something, however I enjoyed my time in it, and that i keep it installed in case I need some sci-fi shooter action with questing and a goal.

Most Anticipated for 2014 and Past: EverQuest NextRunner-up: WildStarOther 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 trying forward to probably the most is EverQuest Subsequent. I am an absolute sucker for sandboxes, and the concept of a fantasy sandbox with a voxel-based and fully destructible world has me absolutely excited! The large monetary success of Minecraft has impressed a deluge of voxel-based video games in recent times, but no game has yet completed the characteristic justice. EQ Subsequent promises to be as removed from these blocky worlds as potential while 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 working on an even larger and higher sandbox. That sandbox turned out to be EverQuest Subsequent. I am banking on SOE's ability to parlay all the pieces it learned from SWG -- especially the errors -- into EQN. There are other good sandboxes on the horizon, absolutely, however nothing as more likely to thrive as Next.

Justin: Innovative sandboxes or massive fanbase followings aside, I'm rooting for Carbine to tug off a wacky sci-fi themepark in WildStar. I virtually hope it would not launch super-massive in order that it may possibly grow from phrase-of-mouth as an alternative of developer hype.

Richie: I am trying forward to WildStar. Ever since I give up World of Warcraft, a part of me has missed having a couple of nights each week as scheduled hangouts with my mates. I am itching to raid once more, and it appears as if WildStar can have the most effective endgame options of the 2014 MMO crop.

Most More likely to "Flop" in 2014: The Elder Scrolls OnlineRunner-up: Dust 514

Anatoli: "Flop" is a very loaded term in terms of MMO. I do not assume ESO will make a lot of a splash. I doubt it's going to fail as a sport or as a enterprise, however I predict that lots of people will determine that it did when it does not set the whole world on fire.

Bree: I believe ESO will launch just effective and acquire lots of box and sub fees initially, however long-term, it is in trouble. MMORPG fans are sick of story-pushed single-player themepark MMOs, console fans will be mystified by subs and a 3-method PvP endgame, and Elder Scrolls fans will wander back to the lore and mods of their solo sandboxes. I am actually not sure for whom the sport is meant, and i say that as a TES fanatic.

Matthew: I am probably not a fan of The Elder Scrolls sequence, so maybe I'm biased, but I can not see the net model having the success of the one-participant installments.

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

Greatest Studio in 2013: Sony On-line EntertainmentRunner-up: Trion WorldsHonorable Point out: Tiny Speck

Beau: SOE continues to churn out games, however the studio does so on its own terms. Like it or hate it, you can't deny that SOE has accomplished many, many issues that have changed the course of MMOs.

Mike: SOE appears like the studio that has the very best hold on what the market wants. It keeps releasing partaking new content material for its existing properties, and EverQuest Subsequent seems like the primary fantasy MMO to really attempt something new since Ultima Online. SOE additionally has a solid reputation for making huge promises and failing to deliver, however I might say it had an excellent 12 months. No query all eyes are on EQN in the coming years.

Toli: Glitch's shutdown last 12 months was downright tragic, but Tiny Speck has made every effort to keep the spirit and community alive, going so far as to launch the game's property into the public domain only recently. That's preposterous, and i imply that in the absolute best way.

Greatest 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 as a result of the sport came literally out of nowhere! There was not a single whisper, trace, leak or anything to counsel there was a second sport on SOE's horizon. In this industry, that is merely unheard of.

Tina: EverQuest Next. Everybody just went nuts, and for good purpose!

Matthew: EverQuest Subsequent. Because the announcement, it appears as if the entire future of the business is coloured by comparisons to our new savior. I am not going to disagree. I will go out on a limb as far as to say I suspect Blizzard went back to the drawing board on Titan due to EQN.

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

Greatest 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 Next at SOE Dwell, the gloom and doom surrounding World of Darkness, and Guild Wars 2's living story.

Jef: Mud 514. I is likely to be beating a useless horse here, but console-solely plus same-old-shooter-gameplay equals meh. And CCP hyping the crap out of the EVE On-line connection wasn't significantly wise since there really is not one.

Mike: This may be a cop-out, however I'm pinning this on the complete MMO genre. The yr was ruled by numerous re-treads of familiar fantasy worlds and a whole lot of uninspired work from builders that should really know higher (Trion, I am taking a look at you). With the road 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 remain aggressive. And they want cease asking for handouts through Kickstarter.

Eliot: Kickstarter. We have had lots of funding drives for video games, some successful, some not, with practically each single one in all them promising the identical primary gameplay philosophies, none of which has been backed up by precise finished MMOs. No less than a kind of studios has gone back to the nicely and asked for extra money from Kickstarter backers, and I don't think about it will likely be the primary. It is not a development I'm joyful to see, and one that I've already written about at size. There's some great stuff on Kickstarter, however this 12 months's glut was unpleasant.

Largest Blunder of 2013: Subscription fashions for Elder Scrolls Online and WildStarOther nominees: Console MMOs, All the things 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.

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

Eliot: WildStar's business mannequin no less than appears to be taken from a book written by someone with the vaguest data of industry tendencies, however ESO's appears to have been designed with the assumption that every other sport that went free-to-play after launch (also called "pretty much every game that has launched throughout the past 4 years") was a worse recreation than ESO will probably be. Can we please cease pretending you can launch with a subscription now?

Mike: I think, in the long run, placing a subscription price on The Elder Scrolls On-line will turn into a pretty dangerous idea. Bethesda will make piles of cash before it is pressured to shift to free-to-play, but I'm undecided what the price shall be when it comes to loyalty to the model. If fans really feel burned or taken advantage of, the Elder Scrolls franchise will suffer. A subscription price basically says, "You will give up World of Warcraft/EVE On-line/Closing Fantasy XIV for this," and that is exceptionally daring from a studio that is never made an MMO.

Tina: I actually do not see how CCP can keep its dedication to complete World of Darkness whereas continually chopping the team. We have to see some solid ends in 2014 to show 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 genre strains, actiony MMOs, voxels, and Warhammer's sunset.

Toli: I like that traits are swinging again toward quite a lot of gameplay options this year. Voxels! Sandboxy things! I flip around and all of the sudden MMOs are launching with housing again! Holy smokes!

Matt: I am happy 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 genre is gaining quite a lot of traction.

Larry: Defiance was a disappointment as a sport, however as a product it broke the mold. I really enjoyed the tie-in launch of a tv series with an MMO. I don't assume different games need to repeat this model exactly, but I do suppose that tie-ins, crossovers, and multi-media launches add worth to a product. And that i also consider that outdoors-the-field pondering must be inspired in MMOs, even if it does ultimately flop.

Justin: Oculus Rift: May VR come back to be an actual future for MMOs? It's a risk, and what teases we're seeing this 12 months have whet my desire to try it out for real.

Shawn: Closing Warhammer On-line. I imply, the game was kinda fun at first, however can we cease with that actual components now? Thanks. (I am already putting my vote in for 2015's Biggest Trend to be "the end of voxel-based mostly on-line video games.") minecraft pixelspark servers

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

Jasmine: Last Fantasy XIV. It improved so much from 1.Zero to 2.Zero that it performs like an nearly fully totally different sport. I do not assume you will get much more improved than that.

Beau: RuneScape 3 introduced a lot to the older sport that it actually is a special game. It's always been dynamic and felt like a dwelling world, however this relaunch made it that a lot better.

These are our picks. Howsabout yours?