Very few things get me as excited as the announcement of a new expansion for a favorite MMO. Expansions are thrilling events, stirring up publicity and community interest, serving to attract both new and old players alike to their release.
A truly terrific expansion can even feel like a game’s launch all over again, particularly if it can keep technical issues to a minimum while reinvigorating the game without ruining it. I’ve played mediocre expansions that played it too safe, horrible expansions that broke things that worked, and wonderful expansions that gave me great hope for that MMO’s future.
Among my favorite releases were City of Villains, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, and Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan. I’d love to hear from you today about the best expansions, campaigns, and stand-alone products you’ve experienced and what made them so great!
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
I like the Star Wars Old Republic expansions. None of them are perfect but i still like them
COV was pretty nice! I remember going on my lunch break to pick it up with friends at work the day it came out. Other then SWTOR that is the last MMO we all played together. Now we are all playing different things now, which makes me kinda sad.
JamesCrow Aw man Red Alert was fantastic! I really wish they made games like Red Alert and Emperor of Dune.
Hmm that’sa a hard one. I’d say somewhere between FFXI’s ‘Treasures of Aht Urghan’ and WoW’s ‘Wrath of the Lich King’ are probably the closest to my favorites, or really the best time I had in either of those two games ^__^
not a xpac in the traditional way, but GW: factions! in the end i liked nightfall more after the years, but i was stoked to play factions at the time!
As much as I want to say City of Villains was the best MMO expansion of all time, it should not be missed that the reception it got resulted in the following:
Champions Online launching without a second faction.
Star Trek Online planning to launch without a second faction, and only getting half a second faction at launch because one developer (who wasn’t around for CoV) heavily evangelized it.
D&D Neverwinter launching without a second faction and no plans for one ever.
I’d have to go with WoW’s Burning Crusade for two reasons: First, it was my first experience of an MMO expansion, and I’d only been playing WoW a few months, so everything was still fresh and exciting.Â
Second, it was before everything had to be stupid easy for everyone. Heroics were a serious butt kicker for a casual player like me, and my inner masochist loved the challenge. It was not uncommon for us to have to just give up and walk away some runs. They stayed at least moderately challenging throughout most of the lifetime of the xpack, instead of being an outgeared snoozefest a month in.
1. Eve Online – Trinity. Massive graphical update that kept me playing regularly for the next three years. Boot.ini fun!
2. WoW – WotLK. The end of WoW as far as I am concerned. Amazing landscapes and storyline, Wintergrasp, return of Naxx, etc.
3. Guild Wars – Nightfall. Really fun story to play through with memorable characters and huge improvements for playability.
I wish I could post a larger list, but expansions that seem compelling at the time often exposed a game’s flaws for me more often then compelled me. The endless, expensive EQ2 expansions, LoTRO’s mini updates that added grind and greed, SWTOR’s lackluster Rise of the Hutt Cartel, etc, etc. Expansions can show a game that is bereft of new ideas, content or adds needless grind, frustration or expense. Or walking in stations (lol!)
EQ2 – Desert of Flames
The first expansion to EQ2 which added such unique and interesting elements to an already amazing game. It was a new flavor with 3 factions, a peacock series, some new heritage quests all marinated in a rich “Arabian Nights” theme. The music was enchanting, and the quests lines flowed so well and the expansion contained some of the hardest group content to “that” date and getting your carpet was a such a satisfying achievement among other challenges and all culminating in the final crowning accomplishment to become the Hero of Maj’Dul.
Allot of my fond memory was also the people as well. We had all meet and bonded ‘6 of us’ shortly after the EQ2 launch, we had such a firm synergy that the DoF was exactly what this group wanted, hard challenging content.
wanderv15 Mines of Moria was epic… The hall with stone-trees with its music was/still is -> Immersion never seen before.