Massively OP’s Best of 2017 Awards: Biggest MMO Industry Disappointment of 2017

By
Bree Royce
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Massively Overpowered’s end-of-the-year 2017 awards continue today with our award for Biggest MMO Industry Disappointment, which was awarded to EverQuest Next’s cancellation and No Man’s Sky’s lack of multiplayer in a tie last year. Disappointments can be games, launches, patches, trends, stories, sunsets, all manner of topics in the MMORPG genre and orbiting sub-genres. Don’t forget to cast your own vote in the just-for-fun reader poll at the very end.

The Massively OP staff pick for Biggest MMO Industry Disappointment of 2017 is…

THE SAD DEATH OF MARVEL HEROES

​Andrew Ross (@dengarsw): The shutdown of Asheron’s Call 1 & 2. My god. Just… such a huge chapter of my life closed with barely a whimper. What a terrible way to start 2017. On the plus side, it did get MJ to finally jump in, and mainstream gaming sites mentioned the situation. I just hope it was enough for Turbine to actually, secretly, work on doing something with the IP, especially as Landmark of the former EverQuest name also saw its historical brand threatened. Runner up: I’m admittedly biased, but the Pokemon Go-fest disaster seems to fit here really well. A birthday event that press were told was social ended up essentially selling power, a global event many players didn’t even know about, and Niantic failing not only in the tech department but in their ability to read the audience in front of them. What a hot dumpster fire that was, and thanks to AR, the flames were felt in both meat-space and virtual space.

​Brendan Drain (@nyphur): Toxicity and harassent in general this year. Feels worse than last year.

Brianna Royce (@nbrianna): Nothing disappointed me more personally and professionally this year than to see Gazillion shutter and Marvel Heroes tossed out in the street by not just Gazillion but by Disney as well, neither of which company lifted a finger to communicate the early sunset of the game to loyal paying players. I’m still livid about it, and that’s without even fully processing the personal pain as I played it myself. Shame on all of those companies. My runner-up would be the mishandling of The Secret World and the balls it took Funcom to not just try to play both the MMORPG and non-MMORPG side of the gamerbase but seriously ask MMORPG players to come back after sidelining their longstanding accounts and characters, not to mention maintenance-moding two other MMORPGs with nary an announcement or apology.

Eliot Lefebvre (@Eliot_Lefebvre): I have never been fond of Marvel Heroes. I think it was a poor use of the license and a rather thin reskinning of Diablo II, but superheroes. And yet it was a well-liked game with what appeared to have a solid playerbase. Turns out nope, that was all a pile of lies, and it just kept getting worse after unexpected silence about everything. It was cruddy, uncool to players and purchasers, and generally a crappy ending to a game that lots of people really enjoyed. Just because I won’t miss it doesn’t mean it wasn’t upsetting.

Justin Olivetti (@Sypster): Marvel Heroes bungling and its sad, pathetic death. I honestly loved this game so much a year or two ago, and it really deserved so much better than to have the PC version be virtually abandoned and then Gazillion and Disney to shut it down in literally the worst way possible on the worst week possible. How could this great MMO have fallen so low with such a hot IP?

Larry Everett (@Shaddoe): Secret World Legends was an opportunity to really make a difference in a game that has some amazing storytelling. But they didn’t even really put a new skin on it. The combat for SWL is definitely different than TSW’s, but it wasn’t so different that it made the combat better. I didn’t think the combat system itself was broken, so just like many MMOs before it, SWL fixed something that wasn’t broken and left things like terrible animations and graphics in. I might get some hate for voicing my opinion here, but really don’t like SWL.

MJ Guthrie (@MJ_Guthrie): I am answering this one for me personally: The loss of SMITE Rivals and Amazing Eternals is my biggest disappointment. Yes, I know these aren’t MMORPGs, but dangnabbit it affected me. Apparently if MJ loves a game outside her comfort zone, it’s doomed! If I have to select a MMORPG, I add my voice in with the Marvel Heroes vote. How it all went down is horrible: losing the game, the studio, and all the devs jobs!

Tina Lauro Pollock (@purpletinabeans): Aside from the usual reasons for voting for this game’s closure being a massive disappointment, I feel personally guilty about the shutdown on Marvel Heroes because on paper it is an MMO that excites me yet I didn’t get around to meaningfully engaging with it.

The death of Marvel Heroes took our award for Biggest MMO Industry Disappointment of 2017. What’s your pick?

Reader poll: What was the biggest MMORPG disappointment of 2017?

  • The death of Marvel Heroes (27%, 188 Votes)
  • The increase of toxicity in MMOs (14%, 98 Votes)
  • The sunset of the Asheron's Call franchise (7%, 49 Votes)
  • Pokemon Go's Chicago event disaster (1%, 5 Votes)
  • The mishandling of The Secret World (13%, 89 Votes)
  • The maintenance-moding of Anarchy Online and Age of Conan (2%, 17 Votes)
  • The slow progress of games like Star Citizen, Crowfall, and Camelot Unchained (18%, 128 Votes)
  • The CCP implosion over VR and loss of the EVE CM team (3%, 21 Votes)
  • The loss of SMITE Rivals or The Amazing Eternals (1%, 5 Votes)
  • The derail and sale of The Repopulation (3%, 22 Votes)
  • No news on New World (4%, 31 Votes)
  • Nothing (3%, 18 Votes)
  • Something else (tell us in the comments) (3%, 22 Votes)

Total Voters: 693

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Poll options include all stories nominated plus others we thought would be worthy.

MOP’S 2017 AWARDS (SO FAR)
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