We’re continuing our tour back through 2024, one month at a time, in MassivelyOP’s MMO Year in Review today.
World of Warcraft shocked the genre in November as the team behind the 20-year-old MMORPG announced that next year’s Midnight expansion will have housing, something players have been begging for and developers have been rejecting for… well, 20 years. Finally, eh?
Final Fantasy XIV Mobile got a formal announcement, WoW Classic Classic launched, Corepunk and Brighter Shores officially hit early access, New World finally got a roadmap, LOTRO released its Legacy of Morgoth expansion, ArcheAge Chronicles got another delay, EVE Online cranked out its Revenant expansion, and Guild Wars 2 dropped its Godspawn update.
Here’s the whole recap from November of this past year, from our top news stories of the month to our best editorials.
TOP NEWS STORIES OF NOVEMBER 2024
Post-sunset, The Wagadu Chronicles team says it considered and rejected open-sourcing the game
NetEase’s Destiny Rising officially enters closed alpha today – here’s how to sign up
The studio behind Kickstarted MMO Past Fate releases a co-op survival side project called Tuonela
Riot Games promises that it’s still ‘working hard’ on the Riot MMORPG
Ashes of Creation’s alpha two is underway as players tried to murder their own game director
Star Citizen sees sales dip by a significant margin for the month of October
Crafting MMORPG Haven and Hearth officially launches on Steam with its World 16 reset
Brighter Shores officially launches into early access today, hoping to court RuneScape players
Lord of the Rings Online releases its 10th expansion, Legacy of Morgoth, this afternoon
Kakao Q3 2024: ArcheAge 2 aka ArcheAge Chronicles has been delayed yet again
Riot Games’ Arcane S2 launches this week as new details about an abandoned League of Legends movie surface
MMO Business Roundup: NetEase stocks dip over internal fraud and corruption investigation
Final Fantasy XIV just announced a collab with a… camping gear brand
Chrono Odyssey narrows down its launch window to Q4 2025
Interview: Drakantos discusses multiplayer open world content, monetization, testing, and more
EVE Online’s Revenant expansion has officially launched – its 50th major release since 2003
Ubisoft faces proposed class action lawsuit over shutdown of The Crew
Final Fantasy XIV’s first post-Dawntrail content update, Crossroads, is officially live
NCsoft Q3 2024: NCsoft teases Aion 2 for 2025, says Throne & Liberty sales ‘surpassed internal projections’
Neverwinter’s 30th module – Return to Pirates’ Skyhold – launches November 19
Guild Wars 2’s Janthir Wilds: Godspawn update arrives November 19 – plus we’ve got roadmap updates
EG7 Q3 2024: EverQuest, LOTRO, and Palia gave Daybreak its best quarter all year
Overwatch 2 launches Overwatch Classic, Diablo IV says way too many of y’all are playing Spiritborn
Pearl Abyss Q3 2024: Black Desert declines, EVE Online flattens, Crimson Desert dithers
Elder Scrolls Online releases U44 on console as ZeniMax Workers United goes on strike
Guild Wars 2 just launched on the Epic Games Store – here’s the new trailer
Warcraft Direct: World of Warcraft Midnight has player housing, WoW Classic Pandaria in 2025, and WoW Classic Classic
Sea of Thieves is ‘fixing’ Safer Seas by making it… less usable for leveling
Say hello to Ruckus, the team behind your new favorite co-op smash-and-grab survival game
Nexon vows to add jiggle physics to The First Descendant, preps S2 for December
Star Wars The Old Republic confirms GU 7.6 for early December but delays its story launch for quality reasons
MMO Business Roundup: Embracer Q2 2024, Steam toxicity, and GOG’s game preservation program
Phoenix Labs is introducing transparent lockboxes to Dauntless
Blizzard insists World of Warcraft’s housing won’t just be Garrisons 2.0
Minecraft and War Thunder military leaker is sentenced to 15 years in prison
Unity’s CEO says he flew around the world to understand why devs didn’t like runtime fees
Neverwinter 30th module, Return to Pirates’ Skyhold, is live on PC and console today
Square-Enix and Lightspeed Studio officially announce Final Fantasy XIV Mobile
EverQuest II’s 21st expansion, Scars of Destruction, officially launches today
Fractured has officially launched its first season – and it’s free-to-play now, too
Lord of the Rings Online is revamping Mines of Moria for the December 4 launch on the legendary servers
New World is merging 12 of its crossplay servers just weeks after the Aeternum launch
WoW Classic Classic launches tonight with fresh progression servers and some changes
Path of Exile 2’s December 6 early access boasts six classes, three acts, and endgame
PlanetSide 2 confirms NA server merges, plans new assault facilities and faction-agnostic mecha for 2025
Stars Reach unveils the earliest stages of its player housing homesteading system
Daybreak confirms work on EverQuest 3 is happening, though it might not be called EverQuest 3
So the WoW Classic Classic fresh start anniversary launch last night was pretty smooth
Throne & Liberty says over 3900 players took part in its biggest castle siege to date
Niantic admits to using Pokemon Go player data to train an AI-powered 3-D map tool
New World drops a roadmap, season 7 outline, and new ‘seasonal worlds’ plan
Corepunk has officially launched into early access
NetEase Q3 2024: Stocks perks up in spite of revenue dip, NetEase cuts Worlds Untold loose
Rumor: Ubisoft is developing a cozy MMO with voxel-based building mechanics
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF NOVEMBER 2024
Design Mockument: Exploring alternatives to the typical MMO trinity
LOTRO Legendarium: How should LOTRO handle ‘the levels issue?’
Vitae Aeternum: How to fix New World Aeternum’s endgame with rewards and content relevance
Wisdom of Nym: The key takeaways from Final Fantasy XIV’s Crossroads live letter
Vitae Aeternum: How to fix New World Aeternum’s endgame with chase items and solo play
Choose My Adventure: Roaming the wild frontier of Red Dead Online with a posse of friends
MMO Hype Train: Brighter Shores is a totally chill RuneScape clone
First Impressions: Brighter Shores has gobs of potential buried under mountains of grind
WoW Factor: Is World of Warcraft’s War Within the ‘come back’ expansion Blizzard wanted it to be?
Massively Overthinking: How long should it take to level to endgame in MMORPGs?
Perfect Ten: 10 ways to put your MMO back on players’ radars
Vague Patch Notes: Living like a rock in MMORPGs
Well Fed: How I took an MMO joke sandwich name and made it real – and real delicious
Wisdom of Nym: Things I want from Final Fantasy XIV that I fully expect to never get
Choose My Adventure: Roaming the wild frontier is the quintessence of Red Dead Online
Perfect Ten: Why I still love Final Fantasy XI today
WoW Factor: Thoughts on World of Warcraft getting housing and Classic Classic fresh start servers
Vague Patch Notes: Going solo isn’t a problem in MMORPGs
Fight or Kite: Age of Empires Mobile is a gacha-encrusted, overmonetized monstrosity
Massively Overthinking: What are the great ‘popcorn games’ in the MMORPG genre?
WoW Factor: Home is where the heart is, even in World of Warcraft
MMO Hype Train: Into the Echo and the wish for a time travel MMO
Wisdom of Nym: Initial impressions of Final Fantasy XIV’s Crossroads dungeon and alliance raid
The Soapbox: The War Within is the best World of Warcraft’s endgame has ever been
Flameseeker Chronicles: Hands-on with Godspawn, Guild Wars 2’s latest release
Choose My Adventure: My life as a Moonshiner in Red Dead Online
LOTRO Legendarium: Riding out into Lord of the Rings Online’s Legacy of Morgoth
Perfect Ten: Utterly silly MMO transmedia synergy over the years
Vague Patch Notes: The ridiculous marketing doublespeak around MMORPGs
Massively on the Go: Pokemon Go’s Max Raid and Gigantamax Battles aren’t helping the community
Path of Exile 2 early access hands-on: A Witch, a Sorceress, and a Ranger walk off the gallows
Massively Overthinking: Breaking the load-bearing mechanics in MMORPGs
Four Winds: The early leveling experience in Amazon’s Throne & Liberty
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV Mobile might not be for you, and that’s fine
Massively on the Go: Preparing for Pokemon Go’s Wild Area event
Perfect Ten: The allure of a fresh start MMO server
Fight or Kite: Skygard Arena blends Final Fantasy Tactics and Into the Breach
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s Crossroads story beats are decidedly odd
Casually Classic: WoW Classic Classic is more than just another hit of nostalgia
Choose My Adventure: Red Dead Online is a multiplayer buried treasure
Perfect Ten: Lessons from unsuccessful MMORPGs that I wish designers would learn
Vague Patch Notes: MMORPGs are more popular than you think
Massively on the Go: Pokemon Go’s Wild Area was a resource sink event
Massively Overthinking: Our favorite MOP stories of 2024
WoW Factor: A World of Warcraft housing wishlist
Not So Massively: The dizzying complexity of ZeroSpace’s beta
LOTRO Legendarium: 10 additional helpful tips for your LOTRO journey
THE FULL 2024 YEAR-IN-REVIEW
MMO Year in Review: City of Heroes comes home (January 2024)
MMO Year in Review: PlanetSide on the move (February 2024)
MMO Year in Review: The bewildering announcement of Guild Wars 3 (March 2024)
MMO Year in Review: Stop killing games (April 2024)
MMO Year in Review: Cataclysm redux, Pandaria remix (May 2024)
MMO Year in Review: A Gold Road to a new New World (June 2024)
MMO Year in Review: Dawntrail, our summer destination (July 2024)
MMO Year in Review: War Within, Janthir Wilds (August 2024)
MMO Year in Review: ArcheAge Chronicles (September 2024)
MMO Year in Review: The rise of the Amazon MMORPG (October 2024)
MMO Year in Review: Moving house to Midnight (November 2024)
MMO Year in Review: Pantheon and Path of Exile 2’s festive debuts (December 2024)
