This year, we’re taking a time-machine back through our MMO coverage, month by month, to hit the highlights and frame our journey before we head into 2016.
October 2015 was the battle of the MMORPG expansions as Guild Wars 2’s Heart of Thorns and Star Wars: The Old Republic’s Knights of the Fallen Empire both launched within the same week.
Meanwhile, Star Citizen fired back at haters, Defiance’s TV series was canceled, Funcom’s The Park launched, and CCP sold off everything related to White Wolf and the World of Darkness IP.
Check out the rest of October’s best MMO news!
TOP NEWS STORIES OF OCTOBER 2015
Star Citizen’s Chris Roberts responds to publication’s ‘long troll’, threatens legal action for defamation
WildStar struggles with lag, bugs after F2P conversion [Updated]
Massively OP’s first impressions of Devilian
SWTOR will introduce level-scaling in Fallen Empire
WildStar adds temporary new servers to lighten F2P load [Updated]
Guild Wars 2 shares more guild hall details, confirms raid gearing
Dragon’s Prophet calls it quits in North America
Camelot Unchained announces early 2016 beta test
SWTOR details combat changes, level sync in Fallen Empire
John Smedley’s company moves into an office, is working on a new game
Daybreak appoints Jens Andersen Executive Creative Director, hints at new title
RIFT goes Into the Wilds today; check out the trailer
Destiny is adding microtransactions, starting with emotes
Ultima Online launches Time of Legends expansion
Funcom asks bondholders to defer company debts
Daybreak’s Jens Andersen says PlanetSide 2 ‘is really struggling’
Marvel Heroes 2016 arrives this December with tons of initiatives
Black Desert Online confirms early 2016 launch with buy-to-play model
Nexon and NCsoft part ways
Defiance’s TV series has been canceled, but the game will live on [Updated]
Wakfu rolls back EU server to June
Star Wars: The Old Republic opens up early access for Knights of the Fallen Empire
Sword Coast Legends has officially launched today
Ascent’s lead dev offers insight on the Star Citizen controversy
ArcheAge bans blockades, griefers cry about it
Guild Wars 2 celebrates 7 million accounts as Heart of Thorns arrives
Funcom is fined by Norwegian authorities
Saga of Lucimia prides itself on group-based teamplay
Funcom’s The Park releases today
LOTRO ushers in the Siege of Minas Tirith
SWTOR: Knights of the Fallen Empire officially launches
Star Trek Online sees a New Dawn
ArenaNet is tweaking Guild Wars 2’s elite specialization system
The Park promotion stirs controversy in The Secret World
CCP has sold White Wolf and World of Darkness to Paradox
The Park is not single-player The Secret World, but it might be even better
SWTOR subscriptions rose by a third after KOTFE’s reveal
Camelot Unchained’s Scouts sound pretty badass [Updated]
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF OCTOBER 2015
Perfect Ten: Why big MMO expansions are a good thing
The Game Archaeologist: The assassination of Lord British
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2 raid beta impressions
Hyperspace Beacon: Quality-of-life tweaks in SWTOR’s Knights of the Fallen Empire
Perfect Ten: Weird questions that I want answered before I play an MMO
WoW Factor: Cataclysm was bad, but revamping the world isn’t
MMO Mechanics: Three ways non-MMO IPs could create great mechanics
Tamriel Infinium: Orsinium makes me forget the things I don’t like about ESO leveling
Stick and Rudder: The best bits of Star CitizenCon 2015
Perfect Ten: MMO systems that could be great (but I haven’t seen it yet)
Nexus Telegraph: Six little WildStar elements that I love
EVE Evolved: Does skillpoint trading make EVE pay-to-win?
First impressions: SWTOR’s Knights of the Fallen Empire delivers
SWTOR: Knights of the Fallen Empire and the illusion of choice
Flameseeker Chronicles: Last-minute hopes and preparation for Guild Wars 2’s Heart of Thorns
Perfect Ten: The most innovative RuneScape experiments
Nexus Telegraph: The problem with WildStar’s paths – and how to fix them
WoW Factor: A decade of Blizzard’s bad habits
Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns launch diary: Initial impressions
Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns launch diary: Gaining masteries and lessening the grind
Wisdom of Nym: The cancelled future of Final Fantasy XIV
Hyperspace Beacon: Spoiler-filled impressions of SWTOR Knights of the Fallen Empire
EVE Vegas 2015: The future of PvE in EVE Online
Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns launch diary: How to fix an expansion iteratively
Perfect Ten: Ten really great races from MMOs
Massively Overthinking: Let’s take the classic Bartle test
ALL MONTH-IN-REVIEW POSTS TO-DATE
MMO Year in Review: Daybreak’s downslide (February 2015)
MMO Year in Review: Crowfall’s Kickstarter (March 2015)
MMO Year in Review: A Star Wars Galaxies postmortem (April 2015)
MMO Year in Review: WoW’s nosedive (May 2015)
MMO Year in Review: Heavensward’s arrival (June 2015)
MMO Year in Review: Smed & Smart (July 2015)
MMO Year in Review: Into the Heart of Thorns (August 2015)
MMO Year in Review: WildStar Reloaded (September 2015)
MMO Year in Review: The SWTOR vs. Guild Wars 2 showdown (October 2015)
MMO Year in Review: Blizzard’s big plans (November 2015)
MMO Year in Review: Star Citizen’s triumph (December 2015)
