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!
Guild Wars 2 came out hard this month with the launch of Bound by Blood, the first chunk of its new “saga” content that’s replaced the old “season” cadence. Meanwhile, Astellia Online and Caravan Stories formally launched in the West, Star Trek Online released Awakening, PlanetSide Arena and Ashes of Creation Apocalypse hit early access, Bless Online and Fallen Earth said their last goodbyes, and Tencent bought nearly a third of Funcom.
Read on for the whole list from September of this past year!
TOP NEWS STORIES OF SEPTEMBER 2019
Guild Wars 2 community clashes over Icebrood Saga announcement disappointment
World of Warcraft Classic now has its world-first level 60 player
Skyforge’s Ignition update is live on PC with the brand-new Firestarter class
Fallen Earth is going offline indefinitely (but hope remains for a reboot)
City of Heroes Homecoming players have rolled almost a million toons to date
PAX West 2019: Elder Scrolls Online’s Rich Lambert on performance, LFG, and dragons
EVE Online studio CCP Games confirms it’s still working on an unannounced MMORPG
Black Desert releases the complete Megan Fox ‘Follow the Light’ trailer
Casey Hudson says BioWare still has a ‘big team working on Anthem’
Path of Exile’s Blight expansion is just about to go live for PC players
Cube World is back, and this time it’s launching on Steam this fall
Astellia Online offers $10 subscription as an alternative to buy-to-play
Make My MMO: Star Citizen’s alpha 3.6.2 is live, but some features have been postponed
EA’s infamous ‘sense of pride and accomplishment’ post now holds a Guinness record – for Reddit downvotes
Bless Online has officially sunsetted – RIP, Bless
Funcom is still working on co-op shooter and multiplayer Dune game, according to Q2 2019 financials
Japanese MMORPG Caravan Stories officially launches in North America today on PlayStation 4
Star Trek Online Awakening is officially live today, starring Discovery’s Anthony Rapp
Path of Exile cancels new lockboxes-within-lockboxes after ‘intensely negative’ feedback
Interview: Star Trek Online’s Al Rivera on Discovery’s Awakening and beyond
World of Warcraft’s private servers are emptying in the wake of WoW Classic, but they aren’t empty yet
Fallout 76 creates player ire by selling a food-saving refrigerator for $7
TonyV leaves City of Heroes NCsoft negotiations, resigns from Titan Network
UK parliament committee calls for ban on selling lockboxes to kids, deems games industry ‘wilfully obtuse’
Predictably, the ESA rebuffs UK call to ban lockboxes, citing nebulous transparent lockbox plan
ArcheAge drops Shadows Revealed graphics video in time for fifth birthday celebrations
EVE Online officially ends its nullsec blackout today
Guild Wars 2 money-making video for the ‘middle class’ prompts calls for economy transparency
Gamer involved in swatting murder gets 15 months in prison and a two-year gaming ban
E3 2020 wants more consumers, more celebrities, and to pay major media outlets to ‘control the message’
Elite Dangerous’ new tutorial and new shop currency are live today
Blade & Soul’s Storm of Arrows update is now live – here’s the trailer!
City of Heroes Homecoming is now banning accounts for… real-money trading
Someone in RuneScape spent $62K on microtrans according to UK Parliament report
PlanetSide Arena has officially launched into early access – here’s the new trailer
Police nab WoW Classic DDOS suspect who tanked the game earlier this month
Gamigo just delayed ArcheAge Unchained – and Shadows Revealed – to October 15
For Science: Study suggests racial stereotyping underpins campaign to blame real-world violence on video games
SuperData August 2019: WoW Classic drives a massive subscription surge
Check out Cube World’s launch trailer as it officially hits closed beta on Steam
Ashes of Creation’s Apocalypse hits early access today – are you trying it out?
Star Citizen unveils a new ship that lets players pull other players out of hyperspace
Cryptic is hiring (again?) for its Magic: the Gathering MMO
Ultima Online turns 22 years old today, teases upcoming Jolly Roger update
Amazon says it’s still ‘working hard’ on its MMORPG New World
World of Warcraft players take to the streets of Orgrimmar over Sylvanas
Cyberpunk MMO Zenith just raised more than a quarter of a million dollars on Kickstarter
Last Oasis delays early access again, this time to next year
Fallen Earth begins its Last Stand
Interview: ArcheAge Unchained’s Merv Lee Kwai on housing, RMT, and the future of the game
Don’t panic, but Tencent just bought 29% of Funcom
Preview: Dual Universe demos alpha 2’s player economy, solar system, and space stations
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF SEPTEMBER 2019
Not So Massively: Pagan Online’s launch addresses its biggest beta problems
Wisdom of Nym: Checking the health of Final Fantasy XIV’s healing metagame in Shadowbringers
Flameseeker Chronicles: What we saw (and what we didn’t) in Guild Wars 2’s Icebrood Saga announcement event
Global Chat: WoW Classic impressions mega-compilation
Choose My Adventure: In which Apex Legends makes me feel extremely old
Perfect Ten: MMORPGs made by tiny teams
Warframe of Mind: Where to look to find the lore in Warframe
Vague Patch Notes: How MMO studio communication and player confidence really work
First impressions of WoW Classic – from a total World of Warcraft newbie
Massively Overthinking: Do you ever feel guilty about ‘freeloading’ in a free-to-play MMO?
PAX West 2019: A first dip into Elder Scroll Online’s Dragonhold DLC
Leaderboard: Does Guild Wars 2 need another expansion?
The Soapbox: There is no MMO that can fix a broken MMO community
The Game Archaeologist: Is it worth the hassle to update graphics in older MMOs?
Fight or Kite: Crowfall’s new Infected content is the best thing added to the pre-alpha
Wisdom of Nym: Predicting the next Final Fantasy XIV jobs far too stupidly early
EverQuesting: Live in EverQuest II’s Baubleshire and Oakmyst Forest again – for a fee
Working As Intended: What it means to be an MMORPG
Choose My Adventure: A stronger, straighter start in Legends of Aria
The Daily Grind: What little details delight you about WoW Classic?
Tamriel Infinium: The Elder Scrolls Online’s economy needs a casual friendly option
Perfect Ten: The many modes of social experience in MMOs
PAX West 2019: Examining mental health and community in upcoming MMO Destiny’s Sword
Vague Patch Notes: Timesinks, sunk time, and MMOs
Massively Overthinking: Let’s ban a word from the MMORPG lexicon
MMO Burnout: Greedfall is a pretty interesting swing for the fences, even when it misses
EVE Evolved: EVE Online is losing players, and no one can agree on why
Lawful Neutral: Examining Ashes of Creation’s controversial referral program
LOTRO Legendarium: The bold life of a player chicken
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s patch 5.1 is on its way after the first live letter
Not So Massively: How unrealistic expectations hobbled Heroes of the Storm
The Daily Grind: How much does an MMO’s art style determine whether you’ll try it?
Choose My Adventure: Accidentally naked adventures in Legends of Aria
First impressions of Guild Wars 2’s Icebrood Saga prelude, Bound by Blood, now live
Warframe of Mind: A guide to finding Warframe’s lore fragments
Perfect Ten: Why Fallen Earth was a flawed gem of an MMO
Vague Patch Notes: Do video games really need trade shows anymore?
Leaderboard: Astellia Online vs Archeage Unchained
Massively Overthinking: Is the age of the $15 subscription coming to an end?
The Daily Grind: When was your ‘MMO birthday?’
The Game Archaeologist: The day Dungeons and Dragons Online dropped the free-to-play bomb
Fight or Kite: Guild Wars 2 PvP – where good intentions and stubbornness meet
EVE Evolved: Is the EVE Online community a force for good in the world?
Wisdom of Nym: The Final Fantasy XIV philosophy and why it matters
Choose My Adventure: Diary of a Legends of Aria desert wildman
First impressions of Caravan Stories: More a gacha game than an MMORPG
Perfect Ten: The biggest moments in Final Fantasy XIV’s storytelling
Second impressions: Astellia Online’s launch version is a solidly average MMO
WoW Factor: No, Battle for Azeroth’s story hasn’t paid off by the end of the war campaign
Desert Oasis: A guide to the best Mediah grindspots in Black Desert
Massively Overthinking: MMOs, challenge, and flow
Vague Patch Notes: Crime and punishment and intent in MMOs
The Daily Grind: If you could bring back an MMO for a single day, what would you do in it?
LOTRO Legendarium: Minas Morgul is off to a better start than Mordor
Not So Massively: Lessons MMORPGs could learn from Fortnite
Wisdom of Nym: Speculating on Final Fantasy XIV’s new relic weapons
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)
