Post by Morreion on Dec 31, 2019 23:14:36 GMT -5
Massively OP’s 2019 Awards: MMORPG of the Year
And the MassivelyOP staff pick for the MMORPG of 2019 is…
ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE
Andy McAdams: ESO. I went back and forth on this between ESO and FFXIV — both games that I played a whole lot this year. This wasn’t the best year for MMOs and there weren’t even many that passed my test of, “did they intentionally light themselves on fire and then look surprised?” It was a depressingly short list. Ultimately, I voted for ESO because of the non-linear nature of the game, the story and the insane amount flexibility of play the game allows. While FFXIV has hands down the best story, it’s still a very gated, on-rails experience. Neither game has really innovated much over the last year and it’s largely “The Game, sequela” but it doesn’t change the fact that they were still just solid games.
ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE
Andy McAdams: ESO. I went back and forth on this between ESO and FFXIV — both games that I played a whole lot this year. This wasn’t the best year for MMOs and there weren’t even many that passed my test of, “did they intentionally light themselves on fire and then look surprised?” It was a depressingly short list. Ultimately, I voted for ESO because of the non-linear nature of the game, the story and the insane amount flexibility of play the game allows. While FFXIV has hands down the best story, it’s still a very gated, on-rails experience. Neither game has really innovated much over the last year and it’s largely “The Game, sequela” but it doesn’t change the fact that they were still just solid games.
Massively OP’s 2019 Awards: Most Anticipated MMO
And the MassivelyOP staff pick for the Most Anticipated MMO for 2020 and beyond is…
BOOK OF TRAVELS and TORCHLIGHT FRONTIERS
Colin Henry: Book of Travels, Torchlight Frontiers. I like the Diablo gameplay style, but I’ve never liked the grimdark atmosphere of Diablo and many of its clones. Torchlight, with its cartoony graphics and more colorful palette, was the game that really got me into the genre. As you might expect, I was a big fan of Marvel Heroes, but when that shut down, there was really nothing like it to turn to. Torchlight Frontiers seems like the first game that has come along that has really come close. From what I’ve played of beta, I don’t think it will be the perfect game or anything, but I’m excited to see how it pans out! Any game that lets me choose between playing as a robot and a railroad engineer is bound to be good.
BOOK OF TRAVELS and TORCHLIGHT FRONTIERS
Colin Henry: Book of Travels, Torchlight Frontiers. I like the Diablo gameplay style, but I’ve never liked the grimdark atmosphere of Diablo and many of its clones. Torchlight, with its cartoony graphics and more colorful palette, was the game that really got me into the genre. As you might expect, I was a big fan of Marvel Heroes, but when that shut down, there was really nothing like it to turn to. Torchlight Frontiers seems like the first game that has come along that has really come close. From what I’ve played of beta, I don’t think it will be the perfect game or anything, but I’m excited to see how it pans out! Any game that lets me choose between playing as a robot and a railroad engineer is bound to be good.
Massively OP’s 2019 Awards: MMO Studio of the Year
And the MassivelyOP staff pick for the Best MMO Studio of 2019 is…
PATH OF EXILE’S GRINDING GEAR GAMES
Chris Neal: Grinding Gear Games. When a studio keeps on cranking out terrific content and updates like Grinding Gear Games does, it definitely entices you to want to play their stuff even if you know you’ll probably be awful at it. That’s the sign of a good games studio to me. Also, of course, it treating its employees well, naturally. Grinding Gear Games seems determined, focused, and well-rounded. Also, they are stupidly informative with their posts, hot damn.
PATH OF EXILE’S GRINDING GEAR GAMES
Chris Neal: Grinding Gear Games. When a studio keeps on cranking out terrific content and updates like Grinding Gear Games does, it definitely entices you to want to play their stuff even if you know you’ll probably be awful at it. That’s the sign of a good games studio to me. Also, of course, it treating its employees well, naturally. Grinding Gear Games seems determined, focused, and well-rounded. Also, they are stupidly informative with their posts, hot damn.
Massively OP’s 2019 Awards: Best MMO Trend
And the MassivelyOP staff pick for the Best MMO Trend of 2019 is…
THE RISE OF ROGUE SERVERS
Brianna Royce: My first choice for best trend was the MMO industry’s push to bring large-scale PvP back to the forefront of play, from Camelot Unchained and Ashes of Creation to Dual Universe and EVE Online. Nobody but me seems to care, alas. Fortunately, I’m just as happy to see the rise of rogue servers this year, especially since I’ve been playing on several of them myself. I mean, yes, these servers have been around for so many games for a million years. I remember working on one myself for Ultima Online as a kid like 20 years ago, and of course our readers have watched us cover them as we could for ages. What’s new is the overall shift in MMO gamers’ mentality toward emulators and unauthorized servers, what we call rogue servers. That community opinion has clearly warmed as MMOs continue to sunset and game preservation efforts ramp up. We don’t get much snark or shaming for covering them anymore. There’s much less fear too, and much more defiance from gamers trying to reclaim their games by insisting that they belong in a museum – or better yet, to all of us when the studios are done with them. Maybe this was inevitable, but either way, I’m here for it.
THE RISE OF ROGUE SERVERS
Brianna Royce: My first choice for best trend was the MMO industry’s push to bring large-scale PvP back to the forefront of play, from Camelot Unchained and Ashes of Creation to Dual Universe and EVE Online. Nobody but me seems to care, alas. Fortunately, I’m just as happy to see the rise of rogue servers this year, especially since I’ve been playing on several of them myself. I mean, yes, these servers have been around for so many games for a million years. I remember working on one myself for Ultima Online as a kid like 20 years ago, and of course our readers have watched us cover them as we could for ages. What’s new is the overall shift in MMO gamers’ mentality toward emulators and unauthorized servers, what we call rogue servers. That community opinion has clearly warmed as MMOs continue to sunset and game preservation efforts ramp up. We don’t get much snark or shaming for covering them anymore. There’s much less fear too, and much more defiance from gamers trying to reclaim their games by insisting that they belong in a museum – or better yet, to all of us when the studios are done with them. Maybe this was inevitable, but either way, I’m here for it.
Massively OP’s 2019 Awards: MMO Story of the Year
And the MassivelyOP staff pick for the Biggest MMO Story of 2019 is…
THE BLIZZARD BOYCOTTS
Brendan Drain: I’d love to point to a big positive story for this, but the biggest story of the year was undoubtedly the Blizzard Blitzchung saga. It’s been an unmitigated disaster from start to finish, from the scorched earth approach with the initial ban and immediately canning the casters on the stream to the completely mismanaged public communication and half-apologies. The overreaction to a political statement in support of Hong Kong was seen as a move by Blizzard to protect its business interests in China, and was an interesting reminder for many that despite how much we think a company is on our side, its primary legal responsibility is to the interests of its shareholders. The resulting boycotts by fans and stories of employee frustration from inside the company have made for a very interesting end of year.
THE BLIZZARD BOYCOTTS
Brendan Drain: I’d love to point to a big positive story for this, but the biggest story of the year was undoubtedly the Blizzard Blitzchung saga. It’s been an unmitigated disaster from start to finish, from the scorched earth approach with the initial ban and immediately canning the casters on the stream to the completely mismanaged public communication and half-apologies. The overreaction to a political statement in support of Hong Kong was seen as a move by Blizzard to protect its business interests in China, and was an interesting reminder for many that despite how much we think a company is on our side, its primary legal responsibility is to the interests of its shareholders. The resulting boycotts by fans and stories of employee frustration from inside the company have made for a very interesting end of year.
Massively OP’s 2019 Awards: Biggest MMO Disappointment
And the MassivelyOP staff pick for the Biggest MMO Disappointment of 2019 is…
THE CANCELLATION OF PERIA CHRONICLES & THE DECLINE OF GUILD WARS 2
Brianna Royce: I’ve been deeply disturbed by the way ArenaNet appears to have been re-absorbed back into NCsoft West this year, a move that led to not just layoffs but an apparent exodus of key devs from the studio and the clear decline in Guild Wars 2’s content, quality, communication, and business savvy. Guild Wars 2 has been my favorite live-service MMORPG for a very long time, so I consider its unnecessary decline a tragedy as well as a disappointment.
Eliot Lefebvre: Peria Chronicles, no, I wanted to love you so badly. I realize a lot of other people were way more surprised about the slide of Guild Wars 2, but to me it’s always felt more like a course correction for a game I’ve found to always be a more mixed bag than it’s credited for being. (And the fact that ArenaNet basically ceded control of the studio to Reddit did not endear it to me.) But Peria Chronicles looked so pretty, and… well, it probably played badly or was nowhere near being a playable game. So it makes sense, but I am disappointed.
THE CANCELLATION OF PERIA CHRONICLES & THE DECLINE OF GUILD WARS 2
Brianna Royce: I’ve been deeply disturbed by the way ArenaNet appears to have been re-absorbed back into NCsoft West this year, a move that led to not just layoffs but an apparent exodus of key devs from the studio and the clear decline in Guild Wars 2’s content, quality, communication, and business savvy. Guild Wars 2 has been my favorite live-service MMORPG for a very long time, so I consider its unnecessary decline a tragedy as well as a disappointment.
Eliot Lefebvre: Peria Chronicles, no, I wanted to love you so badly. I realize a lot of other people were way more surprised about the slide of Guild Wars 2, but to me it’s always felt more like a course correction for a game I’ve found to always be a more mixed bag than it’s credited for being. (And the fact that ArenaNet basically ceded control of the studio to Reddit did not endear it to me.) But Peria Chronicles looked so pretty, and… well, it probably played badly or was nowhere near being a playable game. So it makes sense, but I am disappointed.
Massively OP’s 2019 Awards: Most Underrated MMORPG
And the MassivelyOP staff pick for the Most Underrated MMORPG of 2019 is…
LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE
Colin Henry: LOTRO. I was unsure what to nominate for this one at first. Then I saw someone nominate LOTRO and I thought of course. I’ve seen a lot of naysayers scoffing at this game, saying it’s dead and going to shut down any day now, but it just keeps on cranking out quality expansions and updates, and people keep showing up to play them. It is by no means a perfect game — legendary items, anyone? — but if you want a game with a great community and a whole lot of stuff to do, don’t overlook this one.
LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE
Colin Henry: LOTRO. I was unsure what to nominate for this one at first. Then I saw someone nominate LOTRO and I thought of course. I’ve seen a lot of naysayers scoffing at this game, saying it’s dead and going to shut down any day now, but it just keeps on cranking out quality expansions and updates, and people keep showing up to play them. It is by no means a perfect game — legendary items, anyone? — but if you want a game with a great community and a whole lot of stuff to do, don’t overlook this one.
