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 2018!
In March, NCsoft astonished MMORPG players by announcing it was resurrecting City of Heroes character Statesman… in MOBA Master X Master. It didn’t go over well, particularly among gamers still nursing grudges over NCsoft’s sunset of (and refusal to sell) CoH itself.
Meanwhile, Funcom finally revealed that the Secret World reboot it had been teasing would actually mean the death of the MMO and a reboot as more of a multiplayer RPG.
Read on for the whole list!
TOP NEWS STORIES OF MARCH 2017
Trove counts almost 10M players ahead of March 14 console launch
MMO publisher Gamigo buys MMOGames.com
Eternal Crusade discusses the rationale and timing behind its free-to-play shift
Camelot Unchained sees ‘a light at the end of the tunnel’
Black Desert is due for a ‘full-scale graphic remastering later this year’
Path of Exile creates the industry’s first ‘transparent’ lockbox
Revelation Online soft launch is here! Check out our roundup and trailer
Dean Hall’s space sandbox MMO Ion is dead
Gigantic developer Motiga lays off roughly a fifth of its employees
VR MMO OrbusVR has not only funded but doubled its Kickstarter goal in one day
Conan Exiles will have no boners on Xbone
WildStar launches the Power of the Primal Matrix
PAX East 2017: Shards Online changes its name to Legends of Aria and goes full MMORPG
The Repopulation will be playable Sunday, back on Steam later in March
Nexon is heavily affected by China’s new game import laws
No Man’s Sky reaches 1M players in its Foundation era
Skyforge’s new LFG tool is live with Stand United today
PAX East 2017: TERA is coming to Xbox One and PS4 this year
EVE Online players lead $14,000 massacre in a busy trade hub
PAX East 2017: En Masse tells us all about TERA’s console port
PAX East 2017: Talking Conan Exiles on the show floor with Funcom
PAX East 2017: Naoki Yoshida on Final Fantasy XIV’s new jobs, old jobs, and future patches
PAX East 2017: Jumping and climbing through Chronicles of Elyria’s pre-alpha
Ship of Heroes will seek $400,000 in Kickstarter funding
Elite Dangerous disappoints players with paid ship decals and far-off ‘Space Legs’
Why gacha is the ‘gotcha’ tactic of MMO sales
PAX East 2017: Introducing Rend, a three-way survival sandbox from Frostkeep Studios
Raph Koster explains why griefing in virtual reality isn’t going away
Roblox is taking the online kid world by storm with 48M monthly users and $92M in new investment
Hi-Rez puts SMITE Rivals development ‘on hold’
Blizzard seeks $8.5M from cheat software company Bossland
Pantheon attempts to woo the Kickstarter community with its progress
EVE Online overhauls PLEX currency system, ending tales of PLEX-stuffed ship destruction
Dark and Light hit with another delay, this time to summer 2017
2013 MMOARPG Path of Exile hit peak concurrency in March thanks to its latest patch
Chronicles of Elyria limits how many $10,000 monarchs will rule over its lands
Remembering EverQuest Next
Master x Master announces closed beta, adds City of Heroes’ Statesman
TERA’s EU branch claims player numbers have ‘risen massively’
NCsoft rep says bringing City of Heroes toons to Master x Master was his ‘passion project’
Black Desert GM punishes a player with a writing assignment
Funcom CEO suggests that gamers are suffering MMO ‘fatigue’
WildStar just lost its lead combat designer
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF MARCH 2017
Hyperspace Beacon: Why I’m taking a break from Star Wars: The Old Republic
Perfect Ten: Every MMORPG bestiary ever
Choose My Adventure: The overwhelming opening of WildStar
Massively Overthinking: Mainstream misconceptions about MMORPGs
The Daily Grind: What’s the worst advice you were given as an MMORPG newbie?
Chaos Theory: Speculating on The Secret World’s relaunch
LOTRO Legendarium: A guide to starting fresh in Lord of the Rings Online
Flameseeker Chronicles: Getting to grips with Guild Wars 2’s Bastion of the Penitent
The Perfect Ten: A plague of MMO bears
Tamriel Infinium: The secret plot of Elder Scrolls Online’s Morrowind
Choose My Adventure: Poisoning the well in WildStar
EverQuesting: The Domino effect on Daybreak and EverQuest II
Massively Overthinking: That moment when your MMO looks like a ‘fire sale at an exotic pet store’
The Soapbox: Everyone’s being dumb about Star Wars: The Old Republic’s lightsaber
PAX East 2017: Hands-on with the surprisingly fun Kritika Online
Tamriel Infinium: Battlegrounds will change Elder Scrolls Online PvP forever
Choose My Adventure: A high-level venture in WildStar
Massively Overthinking: When social play in MMOs is predatory by design
LOTRO Legendarium: Heading into the Wastes as update 20 advances
EVE Evolved: What’s the deal with EVE’s PLEX changes?
Leaderboard: The Elder Scrolls Online Morrowind ‘chapter vs. DLC’ fee debate
The Soapbox: What the Mass Effect Andromeda kerfuffle ought to teach us about games criticism
Flameseeker Chronicles: Creating a better balance in Guild Wars 2 raiding
Here’s why everyone’s pissed off about City of Heroes NPCs in NCsoft’s MOBA
Hyperspace Beacon: If you’re not playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, why are you still subbed?
Choose My Adventure: Wrapping up WildStar
Perfect Ten: Memories of an Anarchy Online noob
The Survivalist: Massively OP’s guide to multiplayer survival sandboxes
Massively Overthinking: The City of Heroes Master X Master debacle
WoW Factor: The good and the bad of World of Warcraft’s patch 7.2 date
Guild Chat: Tips for meeting guildmates in real life
Exclusive Interview: Funcom on the Secret World Legends reboot and the end of updates for The Secret World
Hyperspace Beacon: Star Wars The Old Republic will finally allow us to switch factions
Why World of Warcraft’s item level scaling is really, really, dumb
Choose My Adventure: Gearing up for Black Desert
Exclusive Interview: Funcom’s Romain Amiel on Secret World Legends’ combat revamp and more
Perfect Ten: More terminology the MMORPG genre needs
The Soapbox: Why is Pokemon GO still a tech demo?
ALL 2017 MONTH-IN-REVIEW POSTS TO-DATE
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)
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