Although World of Warcraft continues to dominate the MMORPG scene, the genre is growing steadily and developers are experimenting with a wide variety of settings and game mechanics, with mixed results. There are a few big titles due 2011, like Star Wars: The Old Republic and Guild Wars 2, so hereâs a look ahead at what we might be playing in the upcoming months
Guild Wars 2
The first iteration of Guild Wars very nearly dispensed with the rulebook on how to make an online RPG and moved away from many of the characteristics that define âmassivelyâ multiplayer games, with considerable success. The plan for Guild Wars 2, however, is to go for more of that persistent world feel while retaining a lot of the stuff that made Guild Wars so popular, like story-driven content and PvP tournaments. They also intend to stick to the same revenue model, which means no subscription fees.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Itâs curious that no sci-fi MMORPG to date has really succeeded in becoming a smash hit. A few have arguably come quite close: notably Star Wars Galaxies and Eve Online, but sci-fi games just havenât managed to get the same sort of traction as their fantasy counterparts. If any game has the IP, funding, and development team to change that, itâs Star Wars: The Old Republic. Although it is Biowareâs first MMORPG, they have vast experience making both RPGs and Star Wars games.
DC Universe Online
Is there room for more superhero MMORPGs with City of Heroes and Champions Online already catering to fans of this genre? SOE and DC Comics think so, and theyâre betting that people will want to delve into a world with well-known characters from DC franchises like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. You wonât be able to play as one of these famous heroes, but you will fight along with them as a hero of your own design. Youâll also be able to play as a villain, if youâd rather show off your skills as a criminal mastermind. DC Universe Online will be set primarily in Metropolis and Gotham City to start out. No release date has been set at this time.
Rift
Rift will be the first MMORPG from Trion Worlds, and one of its primary features will be dynamic environments. Rifts are apparently like temporary portals to another plane of reality that can occur at almost any time and place in Telara, giving invaders the opportunity to attack. The gameâs two player factions are engaged in protecting the world from these invasions, as well as fighting each other. Rift uses a fantasy setting with many familiar classes among the 20 being offered, which fall under four main âcallings.â Thereâs no official release date yet, but they are accepting beta applications.
Tera Online
A number of games have tried to bring action-game combat mechanics to the massively multiplayer format, without a whole lot of success, apart from maybe PlanetSide. Bluehole Studio plans to turn that all around with Tera Online, a fantasy MMORPG with an action-based, console-style combat system. The character models could almost be right out of Lineage 2 or Aion, which is to be expected given that there are several of NCsoft veterans heading up the development team, and Bluehole Studio is based in Korea. The graphics are very stong, but Korean games often struggle to gain widespread appeal in North America and Europe.
Jumpgate Evolution
Along with Lego Universe, NetDevil is developing a sequel to their Jumpgate spaceship MMO. Jumpgate Evolution will continue their tradition of offering twitch-based combat and a convincing flight model. Three playable nations are planned for the game, and the idea is to have large-scale PvP battles in space. If youâve been hankering to break out your joystick and head-tracker for some action reminiscent of Wing Commander or FreeSpace, Jumpgate Evolution is a game to keep your eye on.
Secret World
True to its name, Funcomâs upcoming horror-themed MMORPG, Secret World, is still mostly a secret, but there are a few things they have revealed. The game is using the same graphics engine as Age of Conan, and it will be set in real-world locations including New York, London and Seoul. Secret World will have no classes or levels, and it revolves around the premise that there is truth to a variety of myths and conspiracies, like vampires, zombies, and so on. Theyâve released a couple of short trailers with really nasty-looking monsters in them.
Age of Empires Online - released sometime in the first half of 2011, they hope. Dangit! Can't wait ;D On Topic: Nice reviews Secret World seems quite unique and I may look it up soon enough.
i signed up for the rift beta, but didn't get in :'( now ima play wow until it comes out I've tried lots of other mmos but they just cant beat wow yet....
now ima play wow until it comes out I've tried lots of other mmos but they just cant beat wow yet....
Haven't played alot of other MMO's. Only a free one which was Asian but I can't remember the name of it.
It was fun though not as good, but considering it's F2P, I would sure use it as a second choice.
Aion turned out to be rubbish, however the original flare it had shown in its trailers seemed awesome (especially with the hunter equivilant making about 10 more of himself and they all fired arrows, really showed off some extreme awesomeness), and I wanted to play it. I didn't though, for some reason. lol
Oh well. I really don't care too much for MMO's, I only care for Titan, in which Blizzard is developing that will be released in roughly 3 years (2 considering how close the new year is ), also Age of Empires Online which is due in the first half of 2011 ansd thus is very soon (only 6 months and I CANNOT wait)!
I hope they unveil some more secrets about Age of Empires Online, somewhat like how they did it with World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, because it still keeps people hyped up and I have generally given up hope for some games due to their absolute lack of shouting out to their fans. For an example, the maker of Epic War 2. Epic War 2 was by far the best, and I even written a guide to it, sadly the maker has not listened to the people (unless his presence is felt on other sites) and his newly released game - Dynasty Wars is great in some ways but bad in others. It seems he is experimenting with several different ways to create the flash game, Epic War 1 + 2 were the same, essentially, Epic War 3 removed the mana cost for units and also brought in more choice, Epic War 4 had brought in... well... nothing. Except the ability to have 3 heroes at once which was well done.
Actually - was that in Epic War III? I haven't played either of them in a while and they looked so the same I really can't tell the difference now.
Dynasty Wars links Epic Wars 1 + 2 with 3 + 4 in that the building buildings is integrated (but changed, I wouldn't say made better or worse, until he actually balances the game out :/ ), but also the mana cost has come back too. The spell system from Epic War III and VI is back, which is great (as I enjoyed it very much) however they require a mana cost. This is a good thing
It doesn't look all that different to something like WoW, mind you. Graphically, it is much, MUCH better. However gameplay I am unsure. :/
DC Universe is definitely different from videos I've seen, and it's very unique in that way. Rift? I haven't seen too much on it but, hey man. It looks pretty nice Is it that good though? I am unsure. The Old Republic? I'm very sceptical - everything they've told you about it is in very small quantity, teeny tiny tidbits and then your brain fills the other 80% with pure, utter perfection.
We all know games don't turn out like that. :/
The one I'm looking forward to most is Age of Empires Online. It's for free, afterall, so I don't lose anything
Please do not make your threads entirely copy paste. It is considered spam, and could easily mean your thread gets deleted. Instead, you ought to make a proper thread yourself, and possibly link to the entire article you just c/p'd. Lock due to above.
