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 2017.
Overwatch may have captured the attention of the mainstream gamer in May, but core MMORPG players had eyes on indie startup Soulbound Studios and its sandbox Chronicles of Elyria, which ran the biggest MMORPG Kickstarter of the year amid concerns over its PvP design and business model.
Meanwhile, the WoW legacy server battle raged on, and WildStar capped off a new patch with a series of downers, losing lead devs and clout alike.
Read on for the whole list!
TOP NEWS STORIES OF MAY 2016
The Nostalrius team on hopes for a legacy World of Warcraft server
Why Brad McQuaid chose Pantheon over reviving Vanguard
Trove players protest the expansion’s new gem system
Daybreak scrambles new servers after DC Universe Online’s huge Xbox One launch
Chronicles of Elyria’s Kickstarter is now live
Here’s the Black Desert commercial that’s sweeping the airwaves
Chronicles of Elyria Kickstarter hits nearly a third of its funding in less than 24 hours
WildStar opens the doors to Vault of the Archon
Star Trek Online announces its third expansion: Agents of Yesterday
Overwatch open beta is live until May 9th
Atlas Reactor switches from a free-to-play to buy-to-play model
Activision-Blizzard Q1 2016: Activision-Blizzard posts results ahead of WoW Legion, Overwatch
Elite: Dangerous launches Engineers update beta
WildStar announces new class/race combos
ArcheAge empowers guilds to build cities
Nostalrius team surveys community about a World of Warcraft legacy ruleset
Empyrean is building ‘MMOs you can beat’
Chronicles of Elyria’s got lots of land, and big donors get first pick
Tree of Savior has officially launched
World of Warcraft: Legion beta starts this Thursday
PayPal ends chargeback protection for crowdfunding donations
Perfect World will publish Motiga’s MOBA Gigantic
Surprise! The Secret World launches Issue #15
Daybreak polls EverQuest II players on ‘prestige servers’
Crowfall delays features for more polish, looks at a ‘soft launch’
Star Trek Online is launching on consoles this fall
Almost 10 million people logged into Overwatch’s beta
NCsoft Q1 2016: Blade & Soul is booming, WildStar is tumbling
The9 exchanges half of its shares in Red 5 for stake in Cayman Islands cashmere corp
WildStar loses more developers as Donatelli, Behrens depart
Nostalrius heads to Blizzard in June
Trion Worlds CEO: RIFT’s retention rate is ‘astounding’
Mark Kern to deliver Nostalrius petition to Blizzard next week
Old School RuneScape bans players for racism, harassment
World of Warcraft will unlock Gnome Hunters before the expansion launch
Black Desert expands world and PvP with Valencia, refuses costume alteration refunds
Sword Coast Legends launches Rage of Demons DLC, delays console ports
Elder Scrolls Online’s Matt Firor on game population, not going F2P, and defining MMOs
Funcom’s Q1 2016 revenues, costs decline
Trion CM Celestrata has big plans to clean up ArcheAge’s ‘toxic community’ image
AdventureQuest 3D is the cross-platform MMORPG that might hook you
Overwatch’s launch day has arrived; here’s our giant roundup
Chronicles of Elyria rules out PvE servers, non-human races, and mages (sorta)
SMITE has officially racked up 20,000,000 players
‘Boundless MMO’ Dual Universe announces itself to the world
Asta officially launches with its first major expansion
Funcom secures major private investments
Analyst argues game devs are abandoning free-to-play in some genres
Mark Kern says he’d buy Firefall back if it sunsets
EVE Online war update: The Imperium loses its territory
Landmark announces a June 10th launch date
Darkfall has gone… dark
Mark Kern says Blizzard took his vanilla WoW petition meeting ‘very seriously’
No Man’s Sky confirms August delay rumors, fields death threats
Online games publishers Gamigo and Aeria are undergoing a ‘strategic merger’
DUST 514 sunsets today
Blizzard cracks down on Overwatch porn
The Elder Scrolls Online launches the Dark Brotherhood DLC today
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF MAY 2016
EVE Evolved: Fixing EVE’s New Player Experience (again)
Jukebox Heroes: City of Heroes’ soundtrack
Perfect Ten: The final minutes of beloved MMORPGs
EverQuesting: The gaffe of gating EverQuest II’s content behind a sub
Massively Overthinking: The sandbox MMORPG disconnect
WoW Factor: Content gaps, polish, and the Legion release date
First impressions of TERA’s Secrets & Shadows update and flying mounts
Perfect Ten: What your MMO character type says about you
First impressions: Overwatch offers nothing new (yet), but I’m buying it anyway
LOTRO Legendarium: Nine years in Middle-earth
EVE Evolved: CCP Games on the future of EVE Online’s PvE
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s class weaknesses and why they matter
Desert Nomad: The misplaced individuality of Black Desert
Perfect Ten: My highlights from pre-launch MMO hype
WoW Factor: Alternative content release models for WoW and beyond
Jukebox Heroes: Great tunes from dead MMOs
EverQuesting: The absurd number of things to do in EverQuest II
Guild Chat: How to get real-life friends to join your MMORPG guild
Tamriel Infinium vs. Hyperspace Beacon: Elder Scrolls Online and SWTOR as storytelling giants
Perfect Ten: Apologies I must make to my fellow Overwatch players
Jukebox Heroes: Wild West MMO tunes
Getting perspective on Chronicles of Elyria’s planned PvP and PvE featureset
ALL 2016 MONTH-IN-REVIEW POSTS TO-DATE
MMO Year in Review: Blade & Soul reaches western shores (January 2016)
MMO Year in Review: A wild Black Desert approaches (February 2016)
MMO Year in Review: EverQuest Never (March 2016)
MMO Year in Review: WoW’s legacy server snarl (April 2016)
MMO Year in Review: Carebear tears of Elyria (May 2016)
MMO Year in Review: The Landmark and WildStar Steam parade (June 2016)
MMO Year in Review: Pokemon madness (July 2016)
MMO Year in Review: We are Legion (August 2016)
MMO Year in Review: A whole New World (September 2016)
MMO Year in Review: One foot in One Tamriel (October 2016)
MMO Year in Review: New Eden free-for-all (November 2016)
MMO Year in Review: Turbine gave the ring to the eagles (December 2016)
