Massively OP’s 2019 Awards: Best MMO Event

December 25, 2019 12:00 PM

Massively Overpowered’s end-of-the-year 2019 awards continue today with our award for Best MMO Event, which was awarded to Elite Dangerous’ Enigma Expedition last year. Last year, we expanded this award beyond the bounds of holiday-specificity to include studio-led and player-led events across the whole spectrum of the genre. After all, MMOs aren’t just about mega-updates; plenty of online games revolve around dynamic events, competitive tournaments, and social celebrations!

And the MassivelyOP staff pick for the Best MMO Event of 2019 is…

ADVENTUREQUEST 3D’S KORN & ALICE IN CHAINS CONCERTS

Andy McAdams: I believe my exact nomination here was “I have an existential problem with the word ‘Best’ in 2019,” and I stand by my nomination.

Brianna Royce: I half expected Elite’s Distant Worlds 2 event to win this year, but so many folks threw in for AdventureQuest 3D, and I’m pretty delighted for it. AQ3D somehow talked both KORN and Alice in Chains into performing in the game. What? It happened. It was definitely the niftiest and most noteworthy in-game MMORPG event of the year.

Carlo Lacsina: BDO fishing events.

Chris Neal: AQ3D concerts. I never thought that Artix Entertainment, the team that created a browser game I used to sink an embarrassing number of hours into, would get the rights to play KORN and Alice in Chains music or secure their licenses, but here we are. Funny ol’ world, innit?

Colin Henry: AQ3D concerts. This is one of those things that is so ridiculous, it could only happen in AQ3D. Not only did Artix Entertainment somehow get a real-life, mainstream band to record a concert to be played for an in-game event, but that it managed to do so twice in one year.

Eliot Lefebvre: Uh. There were some? (Seriously I never have opinions on this one.)

Justin Olivetti: Hats off to those insane Elite Dangerous caravaners who made a multi-month journey — in real time! — across the galaxy to the far edge of space. That’s the sort of awesome player-created content that I love to see in MMOs.

Mia DeSanzo: BDO has events going on pretty much constantly, and I felt like the release events for the Shai class were appropriately grand. The AQ3D concerts were something new and different though, so I see why that won. If I were voting again, though, I would choose the ESO’s kill-dragons-to-help-cats campaign.

MJ Guthrie: AQ3D concerts. Hands-down this went to AdventureQuest 3D’s Battle Concerts! Many games are reusing their same holiday events without anything new, and a few have added some additional elements. But AQ3D didn’t just think outside of the box — it tore the box down and recycled it! Starting with KORN, player got to listen to the band play and even hear a brand-new song all while battling monsters and getting themed loot. Back stage VIP pass holders could also go talk to NPC members of the band and learn things about them and get special cosmetics and pets. It didn’t end there: Next up was the Alice in Chains concert. And more are expected.

Samon Kashani: AQ3D concerts. Yes, these concerts are crazy awesome. I don’t play, but I really love that they were able to pull in some bands from out of left field on us!

Tyler Edwards: Anthem’s Cataclysm. Good story, new stuff to do every week, fun mechanics, and almost disgustingly rewarding. In-game events don’t get much better than this.

AdventureQuest 3D won our award for Best MMO Event of 2019. What’s your pick?

Reader poll: What was the best MMO event of 2019?

AQ3D Korn and Alice in Chains concerts (13%, 31 Votes)
Elite Distant Worlds 2 (9%, 20 Votes)
Fortnite's Marshmello concert (3%, 7 Votes)
Black Desert's fishing and Shai events (2%, 4 Votes)
Elder Scrolls Online's kill-dragons-to-help-cats campaign (25%, 58 Votes)
Anthem's Cataclysm (2%, 5 Votes)
EVE Online's Aether Wars and World Tour (3%, 8 Votes)
WoW's 15th anniversary events (8%, 19 Votes)
Fallen Earth's Last Stand (0%, 1 Votes)
LOTRO's Weatherstock (18%, 42 Votes)
Guild Wars 2's Dragon Bash (9%, 20 Votes)
Something else (please do tell us in the comments!) (7%, 15 Votes)

Total Voters: 230

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How does MassivelyOP choose the winner?

Our team gathers together over the course of a few weeks to nominate and discuss candidates and ideally settle on a consensus winner. We don’t have a hard vote, but we do include written commentary from every writer who submitted it on time so that you can see where some of us differed, what our secondary picks were, and why we personally nominated what we did (or didn’t). The site’s award goes to the staff selection, but we’ll include both it and the community’s top nomination in our debrief in January.

How does MassivelyOP populate this poll?

Poll options include all events nominated plus a few others we thought should be included.