MMO Year in Review: Star Citizen’s alpha 3.0 finally arrives (December 2017)

We’re taking a time-machine back through our MMO coverage, month by month, to hit the highlights and frame our journey as we head into 2018!

Far from being a slow month for MMOs and the site, December has been hopping these last few years, spurred on partly by of our massive awards and end-of-the-year content rollout. But plenty of MMOs added fuel to the fire: Star Citizen pushed its alpha 3.0 out the door at the very last minute, under siege from the Crytek lawsuit, Squadron 42 doubts, and criticism over its latest concept ship tank sale; Wild West Online delayed into the new year following the gutting of its open PvP system; and RIFT studio Trion stepped into quite a mess – twice – when it posted a pay-to-win currency pack and a $100 random mount lockbox up for sale (and later backtracked on both).

Read on for the whole list and have a happy new year!

EA caught in lie over Star Wars Battlefront II customization, brings lootbox madness to UFC 3

Trion ‘still in active discussions’ with Bluehole over Devilian

Camelot Unchained hypes Saturday Night Sieges, promises big announcements next month

Milwaukee settles lawsuit over Pokemon Go-inspired park ordinance

Hawaii state representative calls on game industry to self-regulate on lockboxes

Riot’s new promo video argues e-sports are indeed sports

Niantic will reboot Ingress into Ingress Prime next year

Warframe on how studios should ‘learn to fight superficial microtransaction integration’

Shadow’s Kiss ends Kickstarter with 300% funding and several stretch goals

EVE Online’s Arms Race update offers more ships to free players today

Wild West Online’s early access has been delayed into next year

Star Wars Galaxies’ main emulator got a major infrastructure upgrade and the Village Jedi system

Destiny 2’s Curse of Osiris DLC arrives

Blade & Soul’s Dawn of the Lost Continent launches today (and it has a flying pirate ship)

Wild West Online seems to be dropping FFA PvP in favor of faction-based PvP

Dungeons & Dragons Online launches the Mists of Ravenloft

Crowfall studio ArtCraft just raised another $6M from investors to launch the game

Hearthstone: Kobolds and Catacombs is live today with free card packs

Destiny 2’s endgame is now helpfully locked behind Curse of Osiris access

The Crew 2 has been delayed deeper into 2018

RIFT puts an endgame currency out for real-money sales

Path of Exile’s War for the Atlas expansion is live today

RIFT pulls pay-to-win packs out of the store — for now

Sword Coast Legends ends development – grab it from Steam while you can

Savage Hunt’s website brings Dragon’s Prophet sequel online

New Zealand declares lootboxes not gambling under the law

Secret World Legends patches in winter event, barbershop, and plastic surgeon

Lord of the Rings Online’s big raid patch arrives sans raid

Interview: ArcheAge’s 4.0 Maelstrom launches December 13 with changes to lunagems, raid finder, and more

ARK Survival Evolved’s paid Aberration expansion has launched

Guild Wars 2’s Wintersday celebrations are live along with the condition and balance patch

Black Desert’s Pearl Abyss on feedback, cadence, and avoiding ‘aggressive’ business models

Pantheon begins pre-alpha testing for high-end backers

Classic EverQuest’s Ring of Scale expansion is live

Black Desert’s Mystic is fully playable today, just watch out for the yeti

Crytek sues Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium, alleging copyright infringement

RIFT would like to sell you a random mount for $100

The developer of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds laments the lack of video game IP protection

Extra Credits on how to win, lose, and measure gamer trust

Funcom gets $10.6M investment, signs deal to handle Conan and other RPG properties

Wild Terra officially launches out of early access today

ARK Park has been delayed to spring 2018 for ‘polish and optimization’

The Repopulation restarts its test world but removes backer tiers

World of Warcraft’s second Antorus wing opens for the raid finder as allied races are datamined

Chronicles of Elyria dives into friends and family alpha

Elder Scrolls Online’s Matt Firor says ZeniMax has least ‘two years’ of additional content planned

Funcom is launching a ‘saga server’ specialty shard for Age of Conan called Saga of Zath

Check out the brand-new Squadron 42 video starring Mark Hamill

Star Citizen has put out yet another expensive concept ship, and it’s a tank – literally

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has officially launched today; are you playing?

Dark Age of Camelot is developing a free-to-play option for 2018

Apple now demands lootbox odds disclosures from Appstore games

Pearl Abyss to western Black Desert players: ‘We want BDO to last for another 20-30 years’

CIG delayed its holiday Star Citizen/Squadron 42 stream over technical issues

Here’s what Civil War-themed MMO shooter War of Rights has been up to since Kickstarter

Elder Scrolls Online announces new chapter and three DLC, including Dragon Bones, for 2018: ‘We are not slowing down at all’

Destiny 2’s playerbase is melting down over holiday lockboxes in Eververse

Chronicles of Elyria hunts for a publisher, enables store gifting, and battles ‘harbingers’

Star Citizen’s alpha 3.0 is now playable by all backers

Elite: Dangerous’ community mounts its most daring rescue yet

Make My MMO: The biggest MMO crowdfunding news of 2017

Lizard Squad leader convicted for 2014 cyberattacks on H1Z1 and John Smedley

Camelot Unchained wraps up the year with exciting portents of things to come

CCP is working on ‘a new and highly ambitious MMORPG’

Academics weigh in on ‘gaming addiction’ claims

Fan puts together a lengthy set of dreams for a Marvel MMO

Roberts Space Industries delivers a hefty holiday dose of Squadron 42 previews and a 2017 retrospective

Call of Duty swatting incident leads to man’s death in Kansas

The Daily Grind: Did Marvel Heroes just get the worst-managed MMORPG sunset of all time?

WoW Factor: Why are we going back to factional squabbles after the end of Antorus?

The Soapbox: Evaluating gaming monetization through the lens of Nintendo’s mobile history

The Game Archaeologist: Vanguard Saga of Heroes

Guild Chat: The best way to deal with MMO burnout

Wisdom of Nym: Speculating on the next few years of Final Fantasy XIV expansions

Jukebox Heroes: Kritika Online’s soundtrack

Perfect Ten: The healthiest live MMORPGs at the end of 2017

Flameseeker Chronicles: Deep-diving Guild Wars 2’s living world S4 Daybreak

Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR, it’s time to destroy the Eternal Empire

Chaos Theory: Exploring Secret World Legend’s anima allocation and other QoL improvements

Massively Overthinking: The best and worst MMO developer quotes of 2017

WoW Factor: Reconsidering the next few months of World of Warcraft

Choose My Adventure: Wrapping things up in Secret World Legends

Leaderboard: How should MMORPG studios communicate to players?

Ask Mo: Counting the hits and misses of our 2017 predictions

The Daily Grind: Are you willing to buy good-looking MMO cosmetics?

LOTRO Legendarium: Fixing Lord of the Rings Online’s grouping problem

EVE Evolved: Calling time on EVE Online’s five-year vision

Don’t miss Massively OP’s 2017 MMO awards!

Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s 2017 in review

Leaderboard: Which MMO gameplay type encourages the worst player behavior?

Hands-on with Monster Hunter World’s weekend beta – and how it compares to Dauntless

Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2’s Hall of Chains raid wing first impressions

Perfect Ten: 20 upcoming MMOs to watch in 2018

Tamriel Infinium: Our 2017 report card for Elder Scrolls Online

Choose My Adventure: Secret World Legends in review

Massively Overthinking: Our favorite MMORPG articles of 2017

The Daily Grind: Which MMORPG has the best graphical appeal as of 2017?

WoW Factor: The fate of WoW’s class orders post-Legion, part 1

The Game Archaeologist: Revisiting the first three months of World of Warcraft

MMO Mechanics: 2017’s MMO Mechanics in review

Wisdom of Nym: Taking a peek at Final Fantasy XIV’s next patch

Leaderboard: What was the most overrated MMO of 2017?

Chaos Theory: Guide to Secret World Legends’ first Krampusnacht

What are the odds that Blizzard is making a Diablo MMORPG?

Jukebox Heroes: The 2017 Online Video Game Music Awards

The Daily Grind: Which MMO had the best 2017 overall?

Perfect Ten: The MMOs with the best value at the start of 2018

Hyperspace Beacon: A six-year retrospective of Star Wars The Old Republic

Massively OP’s Winter Holiday 2017 guide!

Choose My Adventure Year in Review: Elder Scrolls Online, LOTRO, WildStar, Black Desert, and Neverwinter

Massively Overthinking: Our MMO predictions for 2018

The Daily Grind: What was the worst MMO trend of 2017?

WoW Factor: Do World of Warcraft’s allied race requirements make sense?

The ultimate guide to The Game Archaeologist’s MMO archives

Flameseeker Chronicles: A Guild Wars 2 2017 column retrospective

The most popular Massively OP MMO articles of 2017

Leaderboard: What was the best mobile MMO of 2017?

Perfect Ten: 20 multiplayer games to watch in 2018

EVE Evolved: 2017 EVE Online year in review

Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR’s 2017 year-end report card

Wisdom of Nym: Looking ahead to Final Fantasy XIV’s 2018

Massively Overthinking: Our 2018 MMO resolutions

The Daily Grind: What’s the most expensive MMO to play at the end of 2017?

LOTRO Legendarium: Looking back at the road we traveled in 2017

MMO Year in Review: Landmark is wiped off the map (January 2017)

MMO Year in Review: A home of your own in Elder Scrolls Online’s Tamriel (February 2017)

MMO Year in Review: City of Heroes necromancy in Master X Master (March 2017)

MMO Year in Review: Ship of Heroes abandons Kickstarter (April 2017)

MMO Year in Review: Ashes of Creation vs. Wild West Online (May 2017)

MMO Year in Review: Morrowind, Stormblood, and Secret World Legends (June 2017)

MMO Year in Review: July was the high mark of the year for MMORPGs (July 2017)

MMO Year in Review: Johnny Depp + Secret World = profit? (August 2017)

MMO Year in Review: Expansion 2 for Guild Wars 2 (September 2017)

MMO Year in Review: Lockboxes, CCP, and Destiny 2 (October 2017)

MMO Year in Review: WoW Classic and the doom of Marvel Heroes (November 2017)

MMO Year in Review: Star Citizen’s alpha 3.0 finally arrives (December 2017)