Massively's Better Of 2022 Awards

· 10 min read
Massively's Better Of 2022 Awards

It's practically the tip of the 12 months, a time for merriment, camaraderie, and cynical analysis of all the MMO triumphs and tragedies that 2013 supplied us.


Today, Massively's staff honors the best of the best (and the worst of the worst) for the 12 months 2013. Every author was permitted a vote in every class with an anything-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 top of our "most anticipated" pile, or did its delay dampen our enthusiasm? Can SOE repeat its win for greatest studio? Which MMO is most likely to flop next 12 months? And simply what constituted the biggest MMO screw-up of the last 12 months?


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


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


Jasmine: Ultimate Fantasy XIV, arms down. This sport managed to achieve something I assumed was impossible: Square-Enix took a sport that I thought of the worst MMO I've ever performed and turned it into something that retains me logging in every probability I get.


Eliot: In the event you had asked me two weeks ago, I might have mentioned Final Fantasy XIV with out reservation. Now do not get me flawed; the whole lot good about the original model is delivered to the forefront, and the whole lot adverse has both been eliminated or minimized. But the 2.1 update and the housing fiasco have driven residence the idea that we're not out of the woods and that we're simply taking a look at an period of bold new errors. If these issues get mounted, then I have high hopes for the long run; if not, it's going to be a shocking example of a gorgeous turnaround adopted by a shameful crash.


Finest Growth or Replace of 2013: Guild Wars 2's Tremendous Journey Box
Runners-up: Tie between EVE Online's Odyssey, EVE On-line's Rubicon, and Star Trek On-line's
Legacy of Romulus


Richie: Guild Wars 2's Tremendous Adventure Field patch stands out in such a profound means because many gamers thought it was nothing greater than an April Fools' Joke. The official web site was updated with superb photographs from an 8-bit world accompanied by a hilarious, cheesy, '80s-type business. Once i logged into the sport and realized that SAB was actually 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 score, and custom sound effects -- a full platforming journey recreation neatly tucked inside of my MMO.


Brendan: I've written a fair bit on why I like this year's Odyssey and Rubicon expansions, however Rubicon's personal deployable structures push it just over the edge. The Cellular Depot has made lengthy-term exploration a extremely feasible career by permitting tech three ships to refit anywhere in deep area, and Ghost Sites have added some additional reward for those scouring deep house. The change to warp acceleration has additionally fastened the disparity between small and large ships and enabled actual hit-and-run style warfare again.


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


Matt: Path of Exile gets my vote for this one. The folks at Grinding Gear Games have taken the time-honored action-RPG formula popularized by Diablo and twisted it up into an experience that feels both recent and acquainted. Eschewing conventional lessons and development in favor of an almost inconceivably big talent tree and allowing gamers to customize their capacity loadouts by interchangeable gems are just two of the unique spins Path of Exile brings to the desk, and with its number of leagues and competitions, there's something right here for the entire casual-hardcore spectrum.


Justin: Hearthstone. If just about everybody'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 just inspired. Plus, it's fairly enjoyable.


Most Underrated MMO of 2013: Neverwinter
Runner-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 mind for the game, and gamers didn't admire Neverwinter for what it was: a fun game that you just spend a couple of minutes to a couple of hours taking part in to unwind from the day by day stress. Once i revisited the sport, I used to be actually surprised at how a lot fun I had. I do not have to stress about rotations or builds or the usual MMO worries. I simply log in, pound by way of a couple of dungeons, then carry on with my day.


Tina: I believe lots of people boxed Neverwinter under the "more of the same" class without giving it a chance. The normal charm is updated nicely by means of the 4th Version Dungeons and Dragons freshness.


Jef: Defiance isn't setting the world on hearth or something, but I enjoyed my time in it, and i keep it put in in case I need some sci-fi shooter action with questing and a objective.


Most Anticipated for 2014 and Past: EverQuest Subsequent
Runner-up: WildStar
Different nominees: EverQuest Subsequent Landmark, ArcheAge, Future, Pathfinder On-line, TUG, The Elder Scrolls Online


Brendan: There are some great MMOs on the horizon, but the one I am looking forward to the most is EverQuest Subsequent. I am an absolute sucker for sandboxes, and the concept of a fantasy sandbox with a voxel-based mostly and utterly destructible world has me absolutely excited! The large monetary success of Minecraft has inspired a deluge of voxel-based video games lately, but no sport has but done the function justice. EQ Next promises to be as far from those blocky worlds as attainable whereas retaining a lot of the identical sandbox gameplay.


Bree: The day I learned Star Wars Galaxies was closing, Smed reassured a teary-eyed me that SOE was working on a good greater and better sandbox. That sandbox turned out to be EverQuest Subsequent. I am banking on SOE's means to parlay the whole lot it realized from SWG -- particularly the mistakes -- into EQN. There are other good sandboxes on the horizon, completely, but nothing as prone to thrive as Subsequent.


Justin: Modern sandboxes or massive fanbase followings aside, I'm rooting for Carbine to pull off a wacky sci-fi themepark in WildStar. I almost hope it would not launch super-large in order that it may possibly develop from word-of-mouth as a substitute of developer hype.


Richie: I'm looking forward to WildStar. Ever since I quit World of Warcraft, part of me has missed having a couple of nights every week as scheduled hangouts with my mates. I'm itching to raid again, and it seems as if WildStar can have one of the best endgame features of the 2014 MMO crop.


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


Anatoli: "Flop" is a really loaded time period with regards to MMO. I don't suppose ESO will make a lot of a splash. I doubt it's going to fail as a sport or as a venture, however I predict that a lot of people will resolve that it did when it doesn't set the whole world on hearth.


Bree: I feel ESO will launch just tremendous and collect a number of box and sub charges initially, but long-term, it's in trouble. MMORPG followers are sick of story-driven single-participant themepark MMOs, console fans will probably be mystified by subs and a three-approach PvP endgame, and Elder Scrolls followers will wander again to the lore and mods of their solo sandboxes. I'm actually unsure for whom the sport is meant, and i say that as a TES fanatic.


Matthew: I am not really a fan of The Elder Scrolls sequence, so perhaps I am biased, but I can not see the net model having the success of the one-player installments.


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


Best Studio in 2013: Sony Online Entertainment
Runner-up: Trion Worlds
Honorable Point out: Tiny Speck


Beau: SOE continues to churn out video games, however the studio does so on its own phrases. Find it irresistible or hate it, you can't deny that SOE has finished many, many things that have modified the course of MMOs.


Mike: SOE seems just like the studio that has the best hold on what the market needs. It keeps releasing engaging new content for its existing properties, and EverQuest Subsequent seems to be like the first fantasy MMO to truly strive anything new since Ultima On-line. SOE additionally has a stable popularity for making big guarantees and failing to ship, but I would say it had an excellent year. No query all eyes are on EQN in the coming years.


Toli: Glitch's shutdown last year was downright tragic, however Tiny Speck has made each effort to keep the spirit and community alive, going so far as to release the sport's property into the public domain only in the near past. That is preposterous, and that i imply that in the very best method.


Largest Story of 2013: The reveal of EverQuest Subsequent and Landmark
Runners-up: Tie between Star Citizen's Kickstarter success and Last Fantasy XIV's relaunch


MJ: EverQuest Subsequent Landmark grabs this one as a result of the game came actually out of nowhere! There was not a single whisper, trace, leak or anything to recommend there was a second game on SOE's horizon. On this trade, that's simply unheard of.


Tina: EverQuest Subsequent. Everyone just went nuts, and for good purpose!


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


Jef: Star Citizen. It's possible you'll not need to play it, and you could also be tired of the Chris Roberts hero-worship, however you can't deny the impact that it's had and continues to have on the way video games are made.


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


Jef: Mud 514. I is perhaps beating a dead horse right here, but console-only plus same-old-shooter-gameplay equals meh. And CCP hyping the crap out of the EVE Online connection wasn't notably sensible since there really is not one.


Mike: This may be a cop-out, however I'm pinning this on your entire MMO style. The yr was ruled by countless re-treads of familiar fantasy worlds and lots of uninspired work from builders that ought to really know better (Trion, I'm taking a look at you). With the road between MMO and non-MMO getting blurrier by the minute, MMO builders must get their acts collectively if they're hoping to remain aggressive. And so they want cease asking for handouts by way of Kickstarter.


Eliot: Kickstarter. We've had numerous funding drives for video games, some profitable, some not, with nearly every single one of them promising the identical primary gameplay philosophies, none of which has been backed up by actual completed MMOs. At the very least a type of studios has gone again to the effectively and requested for extra money from Kickstarter backers, and I don't imagine it is going to be the first. It's not a pattern I am happy to see, and one that I've already written about at length. There's some nice stuff on Kickstarter, but this 12 months's glut was unpleasant.


Largest Blunder of 2013: Subscription fashions for Elder Scrolls Online and WildStar
Different nominees: Console MMOs, All the things ESO does, LucasArts' closure, Blizzard's lore sexism, Star Wars: The Outdated Republic's space combat, FFXIV's launch woes, CCP's World of Darkness layoffs, Guild Wars 2's horrifying PR campaigns, and Diablo III's public sale house fiasco.


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


Eliot: WildStar's enterprise model a minimum of appears to be taken from a ebook written by somebody with the vaguest knowledge of industry trends, however ESO's appears to have been designed with the assumption that each other sport that went free-to-play after launch (also called "just about every game that has launched within the previous four years") was a worse sport than ESO will likely be. Can we please cease pretending which you could launch with a subscription now?


Mike: I believe, in the long run, putting a subscription charge on The Elder Scrolls On-line will develop into a pretty bad thought. Bethesda will make piles of cash before it's forced to shift to free-to-play, however I am unsure what the value will be when it comes to loyalty to the model. If fans feel burned or taken advantage of, the Elder Scrolls franchise will endure. A subscription payment primarily says, "You'll quit World of Warcraft/EVE On-line/Final Fantasy XIV for this," and that's exceptionally daring from a studio that is by no means made an MMO.


Tina: I honestly don't see how CCP can keep its commitment to complete World of Darkness while regularly reducing the group. We have to see some solid leads to 2014 to show otherwise.


Greatest Innovation or Development 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 tendencies are swinging again toward a wide range of gameplay options this yr.  Gservers Voxels! Sandboxy issues! I flip around and all of a sudden MMOs are launching with housing once more! Holy smokes!


Matt: I am happy to see more 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 a whole lot of traction.


Larry: Defiance was a disappointment as a recreation, however as a product it broke the mold. I really loved the tie-in launch of a tv collection with an MMO. I do not assume different games need to repeat this mannequin exactly, however I do assume that tie-ins, crossovers, and multi-media launches add worth to a product. And i also imagine that exterior-the-field pondering must be inspired in MMOs, even when it does finally flop.


Justin: Oculus Rift: May VR come back to be an actual future for MMOs? It is a possibility, and what teases we're seeing this yr have whet my want to strive it out for actual.


Shawn: Closing Warhammer On-line. I mean, the game was kinda enjoyable at first, but can we stop with that actual formula now? Thanks. (I am already placing my vote in for 2015's Greatest Pattern to be "the top of voxel-based online video games.")


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


Jasmine: Last Fantasy XIV. It improved a lot from 1.Zero to 2.Zero that it performs like an nearly totally completely different game. I do not think you may get far more improved than that.


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


These are our picks. Howsabout yours?