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It is nearly the end of the 12 months, a time for merriment, camaraderie, and cynical analysis of all the MMO triumphs and tragedies that 2013 supplied us.At present, Massively's workers honors the better of the perfect (and the worst of the worst) for the year 2013. Each writer was permitted a vote in each category with an something-goes nomination course of. No MMO, company, 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 best studio? Which MMO is most prone to flop subsequent year? And just what constituted the largest MMO screw-up of the last 12 months?Take pleasure in our picks for one of the best MMOs, expansions, studios, stories, and improvements of 2013... and our most-anticipated for 2014 and past.Greatest New MMO of 2013: Last Fantasy XIV: A Realm RebornRunners-up: Tie between Neverwinter and DefianceJasmine: Final Fantasy XIV, hands down. This sport managed to achieve something I thought was not possible: Square-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 every probability I get.Eliot: If you had asked me two weeks ago, I'd have said Remaining Fantasy XIV with out reservation. Now don't get me incorrect; every thing good about the unique version is dropped at the forefront, and everything adverse has both been removed or minimized. However the 2.1 replace and the housing fiasco have driven house the concept that we're not out of the woods and that we're just taking a look at an era of daring new errors. If these points get fastened, then I have excessive hopes for the longer term; if not, it'll be a shocking instance of a stunning turnaround adopted by a shameful crash.Greatest Expansion or Update of 2013: Guild Wars 2's Tremendous Adventure BoxRunners-up: Tie between EVE Online's Odyssey, EVE Online's Rubicon, and Star Trek On-line'sLegacy of RomulusRichie: Guild Wars 2's Tremendous Adventure Box patch stands out in such a profound method as a result of many players thought it was nothing more than an April Fools' Joke. The official web site was up to date with wonderful pictures from an 8-bit world accompanied by a hilarious, cheesy, '80s-type business. After i logged into the game and realized that SAB was actually in the game, my jaw hit my desk. There have been three full levels of this 8-bit world full with secrets, puzzles, boss battles, unique music rating, and customized sound effects -- a full platforming journey recreation neatly tucked inside of my MMO.Brendan: I've written a fair bit on why I love this 12 months's Odyssey and Rubicon expansions, but Rubicon's private deployable structures push it simply over the sting. The Mobile Depot has made lengthy-term exploration a extremely feasible profession by allowing tech three ships to refit wherever in deep area, and Ghost Sites have added some additional reward for these scouring deep space. The change to warp acceleration has additionally fixed the disparity between small and enormous 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, MUSHMatt: Path of Exile gets my vote for this one. The oldsters at Grinding Gear Games have taken the time-honored action-RPG system popularized by Diablo and twisted it up into an expertise that feels each contemporary and familiar. Eschewing conventional courses and development in favor of an almost inconceivably large ability tree and allowing players to customise their potential loadouts by means of interchangeable gems are simply two of the distinctive spins Path of Exile brings to the table, and with its number of leagues and competitions, there's one thing right here for your complete casual-hardcore spectrum.Justin: Hearthstone. If nearly everyone's in beta, does it depend? I say it counts. Blizzard's received a cash cow hit on its arms, and the mixture of World of Warcraft and Magic-lite is solely impressed. Plus, it is pretty enjoyable.Most Underrated MMO of 2013: NeverwinterRunner-up: DefianceLarry: Neverwinter launched with a wide audience and the hopes of being a full-fledged Dungeons and Dragons MMO. However alas, that is not what Cryptic had in mind for the sport, and players didn't appreciate Neverwinter for what it was: a enjoyable game that you spend a couple of minutes to a couple of hours enjoying to unwind from the daily stress. After i revisited the sport, I used to be really surprised at how a lot fun I had. I do not should stress about rotations or builds or the usual MMO worries. I simply log in, pound by a few dungeons, then carry on with my day.Tina: I feel lots of people boxed Neverwinter beneath the "extra of the identical" class with out giving it a chance. The standard charm is updated properly through the 4th Version Dungeons and Dragons freshness.Jef: Defiance isn't setting the world on fireplace or anything, however 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 goal.Most Anticipated for 2014 and Beyond: EverQuest NextRunner-up: WildStarOther nominees: EverQuest Subsequent Landmark, ArcheAge, Future, Pathfinder On-line, TUG, The Elder Scrolls On-lineBrendan: There are some great MMOs on the horizon, but the one I am wanting forward to essentially the most is EverQuest Next. I'm an absolute sucker for sandboxes, and the thought of a fantasy sandbox with a voxel-based and completely destructible world has me absolutely excited! The massive financial success of Minecraft has impressed a deluge of voxel-primarily based games in recent years, however no sport has yet achieved the feature justice. EQ Subsequent guarantees to be as removed from those blocky worlds as attainable whereas retaining much of the same sandbox gameplay.Bree: The day I realized Star Wars Galaxies was closing, Smed reassured a teary-eyed me that SOE was engaged on an even bigger and better sandbox. That sandbox turned out to be EverQuest Subsequent. I am banking on SOE's capacity to parlay all the pieces it discovered from SWG -- particularly the mistakes -- into EQN. There are different good sandboxes on the horizon, absolutely, however nothing as more likely to thrive as Next.Justin: Innovative sandboxes or large fanbase followings apart, I am rooting for Carbine to pull off a wacky sci-fi themepark in WildStar. I nearly hope it does not launch tremendous-big so that it may develop from phrase-of-mouth as a substitute of developer hype.Richie: I'm trying ahead to WildStar. Ever since I stop World of Warcraft, part of me has missed having a few nights every week as scheduled hangouts with my pals. I'm itching to raid again, and it seems to be as if WildStar could have the perfect endgame features of the 2014 MMO crop.Most More likely to "Flop" in 2014: The Elder Scrolls OnlineRunner-up: Mud 514Anatoli: "Flop" is a very loaded term relating to MMO. I don't think ESO will make much of a splash. I doubt it will fail as a recreation or as a enterprise, however I predict that a lot of people will determine that it did when it does not set the entire world on fireplace.Bree: I believe ESO will launch simply positive and gather a whole lot of box and sub fees initially, however lengthy-time period, it's in trouble. MMORPG fans are sick of story-pushed single-participant themepark MMOs, console followers will be mystified by subs and a 3-approach PvP endgame, and Elder Scrolls fans will wander again to the lore and mods of their solo sandboxes. I am truly undecided for whom the sport is intended, and i say that as a TES fanatic.Matthew: I am probably not a fan of The Elder Scrolls sequence, so maybe I am biased, however I am unable to see the web version having the success of the only-player installments.MJ: If I had been compelled 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 Online LeisureRunner-up: Trion WorldsHonorable Point out: Tiny SpeckBeau: 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 accomplished many, many issues which have changed the course of MMOs.Mike: SOE appears just like the studio that has the very best hold on what the market needs. It keeps releasing partaking new content for its existing properties, and EverQuest Next appears to be like like the primary fantasy MMO to really attempt anything new since Ultima On-line. SOE also has a solid reputation for making massive promises and failing to ship, but I'd say it had an excellent 12 months. No query all eyes are on EQN in the coming years.Toli: Glitch's shutdown final 12 months was downright tragic, but Tiny Speck has made each effort to keep the spirit and neighborhood alive, going so far as to launch the sport's belongings into the general public domain only recently. That's preposterous, and i imply that in the absolute best approach.Greatest Story of 2013: The reveal of EverQuest Next and LandmarkRunners-up: Tie between Star Citizen's Kickstarter success and Final Fantasy XIV's relaunchMJ: EverQuest Subsequent Landmark grabs this one as a result of the game got here actually out of nowhere! There was not a single whisper, trace, leak or something to counsel there was a second recreation on SOE's horizon. In this trade, that is simply unheard of.Tina: EverQuest Next. Everybody 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 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. You might not want to play it, and you could also be bored with the Chris Roberts hero-worship, however you can't deny the impression that it is had and continues to have on the best way video games are made.Greatest 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 Subsequent at SOE Live, the gloom and doom surrounding World of Darkness, and Guild Wars 2's residing story.Jef: Dust 514. I might be beating a useless horse here, but console-only plus similar-previous-shooter-gameplay equals meh. And CCP hyping the crap out of the EVE Online connection wasn't significantly smart since there actually isn't one.Mike: This could also be a cop-out, but I'm pinning this on the entire MMO style. EBOOKMARKS The year was dominated by numerous re-treads of acquainted fantasy worlds and numerous uninspired work from builders that should actually know higher (Trion, I am looking at you). With the road between MMO and non-MMO getting blurrier by the minute, MMO builders must get their acts collectively in the event that they're hoping to stay competitive. And they need cease asking for handouts via Kickstarter.Eliot: Kickstarter. We've had loads of funding drives for games, some successful, some not, with almost every single one among them promising the identical basic gameplay philosophies, none of which has been backed up by actual completed MMOs. No less than a kind of studios has gone again to the effectively and requested for more cash from Kickstarter backers, and I don't think about it will be the first. It is not a pattern I am glad to see, and one that 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, All the things ESO does, LucasArts' closure, Blizzard's lore sexism, Star Wars: The Old Republic's area fight, FFXIV's launch woes, CCP's World of Darkness layoffs, Guild Wars 2's horrifying PR campaigns, and Diablo III's auction house 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 seems to be taken from a book written by someone with the vaguest knowledge of business traits, but ESO's appears to have been designed with the assumption that each other sport that went free-to-play after launch (also referred to as "pretty much each game that has launched within the previous four years") was a worse sport than ESO might be. Can we please cease pretending you could launch with a subscription now?Mike: I believe, in the long term, placing a subscription payment on The Elder Scrolls On-line will become a reasonably unhealthy thought. Bethesda will make piles of money earlier than it's compelled to shift to free-to-play, however I am not sure what the worth shall be by way of loyalty to the model. If fans really feel burned or taken benefit of, the Elder Scrolls franchise will endure. A subscription charge essentially says, "You may give up World of Warcraft/EVE On-line/Closing Fantasy XIV for this," and that is exceptionally daring from a studio that is by no means made an MMO.Tina: I actually do not see how CCP can keep its dedication to complete World of Darkness whereas continually cutting the crew. We have to see some stable leads to 2014 to prove otherwise.Greatest Innovation or Trend of 2013: The return of sandbox gameplayRunner-up: Defiance's transmedia synergyOther 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 developments are swinging back towards quite a lot of gameplay options this 12 months. Voxels! Sandboxy things! I turn round and instantly MMOs are launching with housing again! Holy smokes!Matt: I'm completely happy to see more studios tapping into the sandbox market. From heavy-hitters like EverQuest Next and Star Citizen to less-hyped titles like Pathfinder On-line, the sandbox genre is gaining a lot of traction.Larry: Defiance was a disappointment as a recreation, 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 suppose other video games need to copy this model precisely, however I do assume that tie-ins, crossovers, and multi-media launches add value to a product. And i additionally believe that exterior-the-box thinking must be inspired in MMOs, even if it does ultimately flop.Justin: Oculus Rift: May VR come again to be an precise future for MMOs? It's a possibility, and what teases we're seeing this year have whet my need to strive it out for real.Shawn: Closing Warhammer Online. I imply, the game was kinda enjoyable at first, however can we cease with that exact method now? Thanks. (I'm already placing my vote in for 2015's Greatest Trend to be "the end of voxel-based online video games.")Most Improved in 2013: Ultimate Fantasy XIVRunners-up: Tie between Star Wars: The Previous Republic and RuneScape 3Jasmine: Ultimate Fantasy XIV. It improved so much from 1.0 to 2.Zero that it performs like an almost completely different sport. I do not assume you may get much more improved than that.Beau: RuneScape three introduced a lot to the older recreation that it really is a distinct game. It is at all times been dynamic and felt like a residing world, but this relaunch made it that a lot better.These are our picks. Howsabout yours?
