Wildstar Shuts Down

Arguably the worst MMORPG moment of the year goes to Wildstar. Fans and players of Carbine’s sci-fi fantasy MMORPG could not hold back the tears when in September, the studio announced its closure. That meant Wildstar, its MMORPG released in 2014 was going to shut down later in the year as well. Since the announcements, many sources have revealed the mismanagement and issues surrounding both the studio and the game. From its hardcore beginnings that made a wider audience stay clear, to the lack of any content pipeline after launch, there are many reasons why the game didn’t meet NCSOFT’s expectations. Bottom line, the game made little to no revenue for its publishers, and became a liability. The game officially went out with a bang and farewell party on November 28th 2018.

“You Guys Don’t Have Phones?” Diablo Immortal Fiasco

Blizzard has a few forgettable moments in 2018 for sure, but earning the most fan backlash from BlizzCon this year is the Diablo Immortal reveal. Prior to the announcement, fans were hyped in anticipation for a next generation Diablo title that could successfully succeed where Diablo III can’t due to its age. Unfortunately, fans were stunned into silence when Blizzard announced that Diablo Immortal would be a mobile phone game, prompting one fan to inquire if this was an “out of season joke”. Blizzard in return, jest that fans do have phones don’t they? It was a PR disaster. Most could swallow that they weren’t getting a new Diablo game for PC, but compounding matters further, players discovered that the Immortal was just a mobile game reskin of another one of Netease’s games – the studio working with Blizzard to create the game.

Bless Online’s Curse

May 2018 will remain a very dark period for Neowiz. Bless Online has been garnering plenty of traction over the past 24 months, since it announced that it would be bringing its Korean MMORPG to Steam for the world to play, using a buy to play model that promises a non pay to win experiences. Many who’ve played the Korean version of the game didn’t believe that the game will change or improve its existing issues, mainly the lack of content, optimization and the game’s sub-par combat system. They were right. The game launched with massive hype only to fall on its face within hours, as players discovered issue after issue and began asking for refunds. Big YouTube and Twitch stars also made PSA videos warning players to stay away from it, which definitely hit the game hard. Ultimately, Bless Online went free to play months later, which only confirms what many believed in May that the Steam Early Access launch was nothing more than a cash grab.

Atlas Exposed

For something more recent, look no further than Studio Wildcard’s pirate sandbox MMO, Atlas. Revealed during the 2018 Game Awards show, the developers promised a bigger, better world than what players have seen in ARK: Survival Evolved. However, issues began unraveling the anticipation among players and streamers, as the game missed two consecutive launch deadlines, delaying the release further into December. When the game finally launched, more issues appeared. Folks were stuck at the main-menu for hours, missing any chance for a refund due to Steam’s policies. Additionally, players also uncovered through an exploit that Atlas was really, just a canned Mod for ARK titled Ocean. Some speculate that due to the popularity of the Season Pass for ARK, Studio Wildcard decided to cash in on potential revenue loss by making the mod a standalone game. True? Who knows, but this launch will go down as one of the worst in 2018, and the overwhelmingly negative reviews on Steam says it all.

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#5 World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft released its latest expansion, Battle for Azeroth this year and the behemoth of an MMORPG continues to grow. WoW’s multi-year story telling is it’s biggest draw at the moment, playing up the heat between the Alliance and Horde factions. The game does some clever things with its content in recent years to keep it fresh – better landscape quests, World Quests and BFA even introduced new ideas like Island Expeditions and Warfronts.The latter two did let the player-base down in addition to progression systems that felt “meh”, but patch 8.1 Tides of Vengeance did repair some of that damage. Ultimately though, WoW offers something for everyone, whatever your play style is. The end-game scene is still attractive with the new raids and Mythic+ content coming out regularly.

#4 Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood

Since its relaunch, FFXIV have only gone from strength to strength with each update. For new players, FFXIV offers a unique JARP fantasy experience with its huge world, tons of content from quests to story, and group content. The sub you pay ensures that content rolls out frequently, with patches usually bringing in a boat load of content to keep you busy with. The graphics hits the spot for FF fans, and the general quality of the story cinematics are top notch. Don’t rule its group content either. The game offers quite a fair few things for players to tackle, like raids, dungeon and open world content that offers tangible rewards as well.

#3 Black Desert Online

At number three is the very popular Korean MMORPG, Black Desert Online. BDO has been around for a few years now in the West thanks to Kakao Games and Pearl Abyss. Why is BDO considered to be extremely popular?

For starters, the graphics, are excellent. From the first moment you lay your hands on the character creator, you know this game is going to look good on all types of systems. BDO also boasts a very large world with some freedom to build your character through interesting Life Skills besides just combat. The PvE story content is poor, but the combat system is addictive and one of the best action combat systems around today. Furthermore, Black Desert Online is coming to consoles, the Xbox One specifically next year. Players can pre-order the game in January.

#2 Guild Wars 2

For number two, we have Guild Wars 2. Now I know that the base game is currently free, but there are restrictions and you can purchase either the Heart of Thorns or Path of Fire expansion once and unlock everything right away. And why wouldn’t you, this game is awesome, even 6 years after release.

Guild Wars 2 is one of the highest rated MMORPGs of our time and it deserves that accolade, because it introduced so many industry defining mechanics that makes MMOs fun to play. For example, the incredible world that reacts to player input, popping up huge world events and bosses that are actually a lot of fun to play and participate in. The game has a very long main story that is decent and offers decent immersion for players looking for a great theme park casual MMORPG. But don’t let that casual tag fool you – GW2’s raids and higher tier Fractals offer quite the challenge for end-gamers.

If PVP is your thing, then jump into the world renowned World vs World PVP mode. It’s servers battling each other in large battles for pride. There’s also structured PVP for small groups that are really fun and surprisingly balanced. Ultimately, Guild Wars 2 offers an amazing amount of content that you can already play for free right now. And buying to play just adds the expansion and everything else. It’s a bargain since it goes on sale often, and new content rolls out consistently.

#1 The Elder Scrolls Online

And taking the top spot on our list of the best B2P MMORPGS is The Elder Scrolls Online, as it has done the previous year. ESO has been gradually improving with each DLC and Chapter – from Morrowind to Summerset, and we’re expecting more content to drop this year like Murkmire in November.

The DLCs that has been added over the last year or so has also been of good quality. Morrowind and Summerset have added many great features to the game – PvP Battlegrounds for all, the Outfit system, player housing and much more. There’s a lot of value right now, and you don’t even need the optional subscription to start having fun. But for sheer amount of content and quality alone, The Elder Scrolls Online is absolutely good value for money when it comes to MMORPGS and a regular winner of any top buy to play MMORPGS discussion. Considering it goes on sale so much on sale especially on Steam.

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