So here we are again, at the transition for another year, and let me tell you that I am glad this column went a little bit later. It is not because there was late-breaking news that resulted in a game almost being unceremoniously ejected from this list, but it certainly does help taking that into account… and holy heck a lot of the games that used to show up here have fallen off in recent years. But we’re going to do this thing, and fortunately that shift doesn’t mean we don’t have a full set of games to go on here.
As always, value is a complicated prospect to measure in any kind of objective sense, so this one is not really a ranked list beyond the vague choice of how I felt while writing it. Thus, if you are deeply upset that your game of choice is here but only at number eight instead of number two… I’m sorry. I can understand why you’re upset, but it’s not worth getting worked up about it. Would you like a hug? Maybe some hot chocolate? That always calms me down.
1. Final Fantasy XIV
There’s still not much to say about this game that hasn’t been said many times now, to the point that it’s kind of redundant with every prior installment of this column, but let’s give it a go anyway. Final Fantasy XIV provides an exceptionally robust set of content offerings, a rock-solid update schedule, and a consistently high quality to what it provides. That hasn’t changed over the past year, nor does it look likely to change over the next year. (Indeed, next year’s patches promise some real bangers.)
2. Guild Wars 2
And yeah, nothing is likely to dethrone Guild Wars 2 from its place any time soon. For a while there post-Path of Fire, it looked like things were getting a bit shaky over here, but ArenaNet pulled back together for End of Dragons, and since then the game is sitting pretty. On a giant cat mount, if the picture above is any indication. With a whole new housing system in the game, the future looks bright and full of hidey-holes. At least until the sequel comes out to shake things up again.
3. World of Warcraft
What’s kind of astonishing to me – and I mentioned this in the column about the biggest stories of the year – was how World of Warcraft spent most of the year screwing up and then pretty successfully reclaimed its narrative with The War Within’s launch. However, even without that, the game’s multiple different modes of play between various classical permutations and the main game means that you get a fair chunk of value (especially if you’re willing to run Blackrock Depths often enough in order to make yourself feel something again).
4. Lord of the Rings Online
I surely do not want to see this title go anywhere in anything remotely approaching the near future, and Daybreak’s financials suggest that’s not even close to happening, but when it finally happens, I feel like we are all going to have to acknowledge how much this is not only a valuable game but a game that has consistently treated its source material with a reverence and love you couldn’t dream of for any other game. It’s just an incredible value with so much game and so much love for the very concept of Tolkien’s work.
5. RuneScape
Do I need to state again that I do not even see a fraction of the appeal of RuneScape as a title? No, I don’t think I do. If you do see the appeal of it, then you certainly get a lot of it, and in two continually updated flavors that clearly have a lot of designer energy going into them. If you don’t see the appeal but want to… well, you will need to ask someone else about that; I’m not the one to convince you. But there is sure a lot of it.
6. Warframe
Every year I get to make one pick that’s really out of left field, and this is my pick for this year, and it’s hard to really argue with the idea that the game has definitely put out a lot of content over its lifespan. Especially with the 1999 update this year providing a whole lot of story and a whole new style of relationship-based gameplay, thus giving players even more stuff to fixate on. Also offering a whole new meaning to the idea that the game features a lot of grinding, wink wink nudge nudge.
7. Throne and Liberty
Gosh, I did not think this game was going to have legs when it finally made it over here for a lot of reasons (its tumultuous design history alone, for example), but it really has proven to not just offer value but some real staying power. It hasn’t cracked the top tier just yet, but in a year where nothing else went right for Amazon’s game division, this went very right and is definitely poised to deliver moving into 2025.
8. The Elder Scrolls Online
It is not a fun year to enjoy adventuring around in Tamriel, I tell you what (imagine that in the Hank Hill voice). With this game announcing that it’s blowing up its content delivery schedule for the next year, we’re all pretty worried about the game’s future, and to a certain extent “value” is an investment based on future returns. But even if the game seems bound and determined to bork its release schedule, there’s still a long history of great content in the game, the vast majority of which can be enjoyed for free or at least for extremely cheap. That’s pretty good! Next year, well… we’ll see if you still get to be on here.
9. Black Desert
So Black Desert had a couple of down years. I don’t think anyone, even the game’s most ardent fans, could really disagree with that. You could even argue that this year was still a bit of a downer for the title, and I wouldn’t necessarily disagree. But it has kept offering content, and it has kept offering more and more solid value along the way. It may not be at its height again, and it may never reach its highest points again either, but it’s clear there’s a lot of life left in the game and a lot of stuff to do if you’re taking the dive.
10. Dungeons & Dragons Online
I think of this game as kind of Lord of the Rings Online Lite. All of the nice things you can say about the former title go for this one as well, just maybe not quite as effusive with praise. But it also shares the other game’s love of giveaways on older content, so there’s a real path to getting a whole lot of content for very little up-front investment here.
11. City of Heroes
Last but not least, it is really hard to compete with an all-time great MMORPG being available at the price of Actually Completely Free. Not free with cosmetic microtransactions, but actually free. Yes, there are donation drives to keep the servers up, but that’s not buying an outfit; that’s a PBS fundraising drive. (Which may no longer exist, I haven’t watched TV in a decade.) The return of City of Heroes is a real value to our entire community, and it’s a great value for the money, especially when that money is Nothing Dollars.
Everyone likes a good list, and we are no different! Perfect Ten usually takes an MMO topic and divides it up into 10 delicious, entertaining, and often informative segments for your snacking pleasure. And per tradition, we’re cranking this column up to eleven with our annual special features in the End-of-Year Eleven!
