We’re taking a tour back through our MMO coverage, month by month, to hit the highlights and frame our journey before we launch into 2020 and a whole new decade of MMOs!
Pearl Abyss expanded its western reach this month with the launch of Black Desert on Xbox One – just one of two console launches for the game this year.
Meanwhile, Gamigo put down RIFT’s progression servers, The Division 2 launched, Anthem strugged mightly, Google and Apple and Epic vied for supremacy, the Call of Duty swatter got what was coming to him, EVE Online put nearly 4000 people on a battlefield, and classic EverQuest turned 20 years old.
Read on for the whole list from March of this past year!
TOP NEWS STORIES OF MARCH 2019
Elite Dangerous has shifted the ‘majority’ of its live team to what sounds like a massive 2020 expansion
Camelot Unchained now boasts a record 5100 bots and humans in a single battle
Blizzard posts update on WoW Classic, implies it’s still launching this summer
Into the Super-verse: Taking a closer look at City of Heroes’ Paragon Chat
Derek Smart says he’s working on partnership deals to revivify 2009 MMORPG Alganon
Black Desert has officially launched for the Xbox One with an ambitious content cadence planned
PWE is sunsetting the Foundry system in Star Trek Online and Neverwinter
Shroud of the Avatar studio Portalarium temporarily closes office in favor of remote studio
The people best able to afford VR have the least interest in the gaming associated with VR adoption
Guild Wars 2 drops WvW warclaw mount, Lounge, and class balance tweaks in today’s patch
Anarchy Online’s first-ever progression server, Rubi-Ka 2019, is now live
Exclusive: Upcoming MMORPG Astellia Online deep-dives its skill systems
Black Desert Online developer Pearl Abyss is working on a new family-friendly game code-named Project V
DDO and LOTRO’s one-day downtime is now at three days and counting
Kickstarted MMORPG Ashes of Creation delays alpha one slightly for infrastructure refactoring
BioWare doesn’t think Anthem’s ‘loot is lame’ – it’s fixing damage scaling bugs next week
Artifact continues to hemorrhage players as fans plead for a sign from Valve
Chronicles of Elyria vows to ‘bring the storm’ this year, according to new dev blog
Legal proceedings between Crytek and Star Citizen’s Cloud Imperium move to alternative dispute resolution
World of Warcraft: Classic is now planned to get six phases of content over time
RIFT prematurely ends its progression server run
The Division 2’s early access begins as Ubisoft details the living world endgame
Indie space-mining MMO Exocraft has launched today
Ashes of Creation says it’s aiming for the ‘largest organized PVP battles of any MMORPG’ in castle siege blog
EverQuest’s Holly Longdale discusses Daybreak’s reacquisition thrust
Blade & Soul’s major Legacy of the Hongmoon update is live today
The first chunk of Fallout 76’s Wild Appalachia patch has launched today
Dual Universe counts 30,000 simulated players on the same planet in its latest alpha
Indian police arrest 10 over PUBG ban
Star Citizen begins Evocati testing of alpha 3.5, Evocati testers leak the hell out of that noise
Paradox Interactive continues to drop hints of a possible Vampire: the Masquerade game
Gamigo has now confirmed RIFT’s upcoming battle pass
Daybreak’s definitely-not-owner Columbus Nova is back in national news again
Google is launching Stadia, a ‘game platform for everyone’ in a ‘new era of gaming,’ this year
BioWare discusses Anthem post-launch: ‘This is all a learning experience for us’
WoW Classic dishes on plans for Alterac Valley as Blizzard fundraises for WoW esports
Albion Online goes free-to-play next month as Oberon update rolls out today
Lady toons are finally in the current Star Citizen alpha test
Superdata February 2019: EA’s Apex Legends and Anthem crushed it as Blizzard fumbled
World of Warcraft considers level squish, confirms RP realms for WoW Classic
The Division 2 reflects on launch, looks toward the coming weeks in state-of-the-game address
Project SU is an Epic Games-backed mobile sandbox MMO coming in 2019
FFXIV Fan Festival Tokyo 2019: Liveblog of the opening keynote
EVEsterdam 2019: EVE Online explorer visits every star system without being killed
Guild Wars 2 wants to bring former players back to Tyria with new initiative
Epic’s Tim Sweeney on the Epic Games Store, self-publishing, and proper moderation
Apple reveals Apple Arcade, yet another subscription service for games
Funcom’s next horror game, Moons of Madness, is set in the Secret World universe
Path of Exile officially launches on the PlayStation 4 today, having doubled playerbase since 2017
Electronic Arts lays off 350 people from multiple teams, draws down presence in Japan and Russia
Super Adventure Box is live this week in Guild Wars 2 with new racing adventures
EverQuest Next failed to clear its ‘technical hurdle,’ but Daybreak hasn’t given up on a sequel
Call of Duty swatter receives 20 years in prison
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF MARCH 2019
WoW Factor: Why people are mad at Battle for Azeroth, part two: The Heart of Azeroth
Massively Overthinking: Reconsidering the all-in-one MMO
The Daily Grind: What would it take to get you to try a battle royale game?
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s Shadowbringers overhaul jobs, part two
Choose My Adventure: Running for my life in Legends of Aria
Perfect Ten: Totally rad ’80s cartoons that would make bodacious MMORPGs
Vague Patch Notes: It’s not the MMO endgame – it’s the sudden stop at the end
The Survivalist: Space Engineers sloughs off early access and launches with revamped survival
Massively Overthinking: The paradox MMO
WoW Factor: Why people are mad at Battle for Azeroth, part three: Leveling and scaling
The Daily Grind: If MMOs scaled back on combat, what should fill that space?
LOTRO Legendarium: The return of skirmishes in Lord of the Rings Online
EVE Evolved: The war on bots in EVE Online
Wisdom of Nym: The rotating rewards of Final Fantasy XIV’s seasonal events
Choose My Adventure: New tools, same flailing in Legends of Aria
Wandering Wraeclast: First impressions of Path of Exile’s Synthesis
The Daily Grind: Where does your MMO character sit on a D&D alignment chart?
Perfect Ten: MMOs that let you feel superheroic
Vague Patch Notes: The philosophy of challenge in MMOs
Tamriel Infinium: Stuff it, naysayers, this is the perfect time for dragons in Elder Scrolls Online
Massively Overthinking: MMOs as distraction vs. culture
First Impressions: My first three days of survival in Outlaws of the Old West
WoW Factor: The good and (very minor) bad of World of Warcraft patch 8.1.5
EverQuesting: EverQuest turns the big 2-0
The Daily Grind: What would cause you to stop playing your main MMO?
EVE Evolved: EVE Online’s storyline is about to go off the rails
Not So Massively: Welcoming a new era of online games and gaming
Flameseeker Chronicles: Fear not this night – there is hope for Guild Wars 2’s future
Choose My Adventure: Fear and loathing in Legends of Aria
Tamriel Infinium: A conversation with The Elder Scrolls Online’s Abnur Tharn
Hyperspace Beacon: Which Star Wars Galaxies emulator should I try first?
Warframe of Mind: Can we catch up in Warframe’s story before TennoCon?
GDC 2019: Here’s how CCP’s 10,000 player battle tech demo went down
Vague Patch Notes: Finding motivation within MMOs
Massively Overthinking: Designed downtime in MMORPGs
Into the Super-verse: Five reasons to be excited for City of Titans
Lawful Neutral: Dancing around Fortnite’s copyright lawsuits
WoW Factor: Battle for Azeroth’s alternative story experiment
WoW Factor: Why people are mad at Battle for Azeroth, part four: Story
Wisdom of Nym: Reactions to the Final Fantasy XIV Tokyo Fan Festival
Fight or Kite: Clawing my way back into Guild Wars 2’s WvW
The Survivalist: ARK’s Homestead update builds on disappointment
Reverse Engineering: The super scientific dangers of capturing Pokemon with your phone
Choose My Adventure: The almost-zen of crafting in Legends of Aria
Hyperspace Beacon: This is the toughest choice in Star Wars Galaxies Legends
Perfect Ten: How to determine whether an IP would make a good MMO
Desert Oasis: Reframing player perceptions of Pearl Abyss’ MMO Black Desert
Vague Patch Notes: The occupant’s dilemma in MMORPGs
Warframe of Mind: Celebrating six years of Space Ninja history
Massively Overthinking: Thoughts on the holy trinity in MMOs
WoW Factor: Why people are mad at Battle for Azeroth, part 5: Conclusions and peeling the mask
The Game Archaeologist: The Chronicles of Spellborn
MMO Cartographer: Touching all the things in Project Gorgon
ALL 2019 YEAR-IN-REVIEW POSTS SO FAR
MMO Year in Review: Anthem’s approach (January 2019)
MMO Year in Review: The mass Blizzard and ArenaNet layoffs (February 2019)
MMO Year in Review: Black Desert’s console rollout (March 2019)
MMO Year in Review: City of Heroes’ resurrection (April 2019)
MMO Year in Review: EVE’s Invasion, WoW Classic’s beta (May 2019)
MMO Year in Review: Shadowbringers, Elsweyr, and Azshara (June 2019)
MMO Year in Review: Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO (July 2019)
MMO Year in Review: You think you do, but… yeah, you do (August 2019)
MMO Year in Review: Guild Wars 2’s saga and Astellia Online (September 2019)
MMO Year in Review: The month of gaming industry self-owns (October 2019)
MMO Year in Review: A ‘tough Hearthstone esports moment’ (November 2019)
MMO Year in Review: New World, Magic Legends, and ESO Skyrim (December 2019)
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