2013 MMOs In Review

I hate these year-in-review kinds of posts. So what do I do? Write one, of course. Because everyone’s doing it.

This is my review of 2013.

2013 began with GW2 fizzling out because of its lack of endgame progression. I still popped in now and then throughout the year to look at the Living Story but it’s just an occasional diversion.

I played in one of the last betas of Defiance before it came out in April. I wanted to like it, but I wasn’t hooked. I’m generally not a fan of shooter MMOs. (Late in the year, however, I bought the game and played a little bit more.)

The next major MMO I played was Neverwinter. I started playing in the “open beta” in May and spent more money on it than I should have because I was an idiot. I enjoyed it a lot though. Unfortunately it doesn’t have much endgame so it’s kind of a play-once-and-you’re-done kind of game. I stopped playing in June and only occasionally pop back in.

Coincidentally, Rift went free-to-play in June, which sparked me to play that again and finally get my main Mage through the Storm Legion content to 60. My interest faded again when I realized I didn’t want to get into the guild raiding routine.

For most of summer, I took a break from MMOs and played a bunch of Steam games, including Dark Souls, The Walking Dead, Tomb Raider, and a number of Assassin’s Creed games.

The only other big MMO release in 2013 was Final Fantasy XIV, which I bought and played in October. I liked it a lot, but I drifted slowly away from it after the first month. To this day, I’m not sure why. I can’t think of anything wrong with the game. I think it’s just general MMO fatigue.

I spent the rest of the year bouncing back and forth between a million different MMOs searching for one that would really “hook” me. I re-played EQ2, LotRO, TERA, Aion, and WoW. I played a number of older MMOs for the first time, including Mortal Online, Fallen Earth, and Wizardry Online.

I participated in an Elder Scrolls Online beta weekend in November, but I’m not allowed to talk about it yet. I will be rebellious, though, and say that I liked it.

Not much else to talk about. The best new MMO of the year was Final Fantasy XIV, hands down.