To balance out our traditional Daily Grind on MMOs that contribute to the death of the genre, it seems only fitting to do one on the MMOs that push the genre forward too. In fact, this is one of the categories that pops up every year as a possible formal award, but it’s often sidelined by things like “best indie,” since let’s face it, a lot of the genre’s innovation is happening in indies. And a lot of those indies aren’t done yet. Not even close. So they’re not up for many awards.
That brings us to the question of the day then. I’m not talking about your favorite MMORPG, here, mind you. I’m talking about the individual ideas they’re bringing to the whole genre. Camelot Unchained, for example, has the potential to revolutionize large-scale combat and AI. Pantheon’s perception system is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in an MMORPG (the closest cognate is maybe WildStar’s paths). And Torchlight Frontiers is trying to make housing cool again.
What was the most innovative MMO of 2018, launched or not – and why?
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!
Maybe I just didn’t look hard enough but I can honestly say that 2018 was a pretty dry year for MMOs in general from what I experienced. There were some nice coop games but nothing really stood out for me that year. It was mostly the singleplayer games that really took the show for 2018 if you ask me.
Agreed!
I’m going to aggree with Jeffery. Occupy White Walls has given me something that is relaxing, interesting, and dare say – educational. It’s inspired me to be more creative, and it has a great community that is just as interested in being a wanna-be art dork as I do (and has real art dorks that are super supportive).
Occupy White Walls has given me exactly what I’ve been missing from other MMOs. While almost every other game focuses on combat in one way or another, OWW focuses on creation and curation instead. It’s fun, relaxing, and has a great community.
Innovative is hugely overrated. As an example: A teenager going through a wizard school was an overwritten trope. Then Harry Potter was published. It does not need to be innovative, it just has to be good.
That doesn’t mean innovation is not good, merely that making a quality product is just as important.
None of them. At least none of the released ones.
And the examples of upcoming games you give – I disagree that they’re “innovative”. Camelot Unchained is your standard “large-scale WvWvW” game, which isn’t bad but which has been done before. And Pantheon’s “Perception” shit – from what I’ve read on official site, it sounds more like an artificial annoyance, especially the part about “In Pantheon, Wizards will be able to perceive things that a Warrior cannot. Through prayer, a Cleric may gain insight into an area, or a creature, that a Rogue could never know”. This is a bad game design, not an “innovation” of any kind – I should NEVER be FORCED to play as a specific class or FORCED to be grouped up with another player to discover certain piece of story or reach certain area. Forced exclusionism like that is always bad (and which, unfortunately, still exists in many forms in many MMO games).
Actually perception skills are a core part of classic d&d rules so kudo’s to them for being able to implement them in an online version of Pantheon. If you don’t like those games don’t play, my understanding is that they are trying (not sure how successful they will be in that) to recreate a Pantheon experience, not a please all people kind of game.
Innovation? You mean like a BR module? Heh.
Nope. No innovation. We are starving for it. That is why EQN was going to… be…
Crap. This was a trap, wasn’t it?
You got baited, my boy
The biggest innovation seems to be turning everything into a battle royale so I’m not sure this is a category I’d care about.
Occupy White Walls.
You won’t get anything more innovated than that currently I don’t think. The question of course, would anyone like it? :)
Yeah, that one is definitely innovative. I couldn’t get into it, but I can’t fault them for thinking outside the box.
None, for 2018. (or 2017 and 2016, for that matter)
Edgy.