Massively OP’s Best of 2017 Awards: Best MMO Expansion of 2017

Massively Overpowered’s end-of-the-year 2017 awards continue today with our award for Best MMO Expansion or Update of 2017, which was awarded to World of Warcraft: Legion last year. And like last year, 2017 had plenty to choose from! Every update and expansion to an MMORPG was eligible, as long as it launched in this calendar year, although honestly we had so many strong full-scale expansions that the updates barely stood a chance!

The Massively OP staff pick for Best MMO Expansion or Update of 2017 is…

​Andrew Ross (@dengarsw): From an outside perspective, Stormblood. I have Morrowind installed despite not having any nostalgic references for me to lure it in (just bears), but the hype and intensity of the player-base is infectious. I actually just “maybe”-ed to play it with real life friends of a friend since I keep hearing the story’s pretty good.

​Brendan Drain (@nyphur): Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire.

Brianna Royce (@nbrianna): Just Path of Fire’s mounts, all by themselves, push Guild Wars 2’s second expansion to the front of this year’s top expansions, and that’s saying a lot since I also loved Morrowind and can only salute Stormblood for its solid performance. But of course, Path of Fire had much more than mounts; it’s also now got the most stunning landscapes in any MMORPG. I’ve had to grit my teeth over some of ArenaNet’s shenanigans this year, but Path of Fire deserves this crown.

Eliot Lefebvre (@Eliot_Lefebvre): Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood does everything that FFXIV’s first expansion did right over again, does several more things right on top of that, produces a better story and more engaging systems, and generally massively improves the game while keeping the same core loops that people have been enjoying for years now. It’s a picture of what a big boxed expansion should be. Runner-up: The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind.

Justin Olivetti (@Sypster): Morrowind. Bringing back one of the most iconic and beloved Elder Scrolls settings was a great decision, as was the new Warden class and allowing players to start a new character in that region instead of having to level through a lot of old-world content.

Larry Everett (@Shaddoe): It’s expected that I’m going to say Morrowind, and that’s exactly what I’m going to say. I think this expansion to the game really breathed new life into the game, and it also expanded the game’s lore and gameplay options. It introduced instanced PvP and more group PvE, too. I played through the main storyline more times than I played through any other series of quests in the whole game. It was very entertaining, and engaging despite being pretty much the same everytime I ran through it.

MJ Guthrie (@MJ_Guthrie): I give best expansion to Warframe’s Plains of Eidolon. Instead of just offering more content, this expansion literally expanded the scope of the game by leaps and bounds, driving it into open world territory. For second place I nominate Guild Wars 2’s Path of Fire simply because by adding in really fun mounts, the game actually enticed me back in to play after never catching my interest over the years!

Tina Lauro Pollock (@purpletinabeans): Oh come on… you know my vote already, don’t ya?! I have to give it to Guild Wars 2 Path of Fire: The mounts are incredible and enhance my play experience for not only expansion-specific content but central Tyrian and Heart of Thorns zones. The story quality has improved significantly and there was so much of it that it took me a clear two months to finish writing about it all – phew! The nostalgia factor has been immensely positive and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere in Season 4 too. This was a quietly confident release for ANet that made no bold promises and simply delivered on what was promised.

Guild Wars 2’s Path of Fire won our award for Best MMO Expansion or Update of 2017. What’s your pick?

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