We’re taking a time-machine back through our MMO coverage, month by month, to hit the highlights and frame our journey before we head into 2018!
August was dominated by several competing stories that just wound throughout the whole month: The Secret World’s TV series venture as produced by Johnny Depp, the full reveal of Guild Wars 2’s Path of Fire expansion, and Star Citizen’s multiple delays and demos.
We also saw launches for World of Warcraft’s Argus, Elder Scrolls Online’s Horns of the Reach, Lord of the Rings Online’s Mordor, ARK: Survival Evolved, LawBreakers, Fragmented, and Tree of Life. And if you squint, you can just see the first inklings that PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was already taking off.
Read on for the whole list!
TOP NEWS STORIES OF AUGUST 2017
Everything you need to know about Guild Wars 2’s Path of Fire expansion, launching September 22
Hacker claims to have made a living cheating in MMOs for two decades
Lord of the Rings Online’s Mordor expansion is officially live with a launch trailer
SuperData’s mid-2017 report reflects a wildly expanding gaming industry
Activision-Blizzard Q2 2017: Destiny 2 outperforms Destiny, WoW ‘time spent’ improves over 2016
Path of Exile: The Fall of Oriath launches today
Crunch mode caused a young Netmarble game developer’s death, Korean government says
Video games on Kickstarter continue to struggle thanks to fading consumer confidence
Wild West Online denies that its alpha has been delayed
NCsoft Q2 2017: Guild Wars 2 drops to new all-time low, Blade and Soul heads to console
Albion Online hit with ransom demand during weekend DDOS outages
Destiny 2’s Pop-Tarts and energy drink promo is everything wrong with this industry
Final Fantasy XIV passes 10 million worldwide players and gets a small patch
LawBreakers officially launches today; here’s the new ‘Skilled AF’ trailer
Shroud of the Avatar raised almost $700K from investors, $67.5K from donors last night
Rumor: World of Warcraft’s next expansion leaked
Guild Wars 2 begins selling level 80 character boosts
No Man’s Sky is finally getting multiplayer by way of ‘joint exploration’
Check out Star Citizen’s absurdly detailed in-game hologram smartwatch
Blizzard memo indicates renewed focus on hiring diversity
PSA: Guild Wars 2’s mounts may be causing motion sickness issues
Make My MMO: Star Citizen scrubs release windows from 3.0 schedule, Fig investors turn a profit (August 12, 2017)
The Elder Scrolls Online’s Horns of the Reach DLC is live
EVE Online revenge war update: The war machine stalls
Blizzard has decided to keep Battlenet around after all
Johnny Depp will produce a TV show based on The Secret World
The Repopulation-spinoff Fragmented has reached release on Steam
Interview: Daybreak’s Just Survive drops H1Z1 branding for massive revamp and relaunch today
Camelot Unchained teases beta with a new ‘guiding principles’ doc
Conan Exiles rolls out The Frozen North expansion to PC and Xbox One
Tokyo is now open in Secret World Legends
Otherland is revived on Steam as Drago takes over publishing duties
Mass Effect: Andromeda ends single-player support, forges on with multiplayer updates
SkySaga shuts down production and goes on hold indefinitely
Star Citizen brought part of 3.0 to Gamescom
Black Desert censures Pearl Abyss Taiwan employees found cheating
Tree of Life launches and goes ‘beyond the journey’
Star Wars: The Old Republic has launched Crisis on Umbara
Greed Monger creator says its failure ‘plagues’ him, offers recompense to backers
Gamescom 2017: Star Citizen demos ‘real-time, player-driven facial animation’
Destiny 2’s PC beta gets off to a rocky start
ARK Survival Evolved launches today; get caught up here with the trailer and roundup!
World of Warcraft rockets to Argus in patch 7.3 today
Absolver launches with a flurry of kicks, punches, and prospects
Destiny 2’s PC open beta has arrived
Trion Worlds’ Scott Hartsman rebuffs financial panic rumor
Digital Extremes announces retro permadeath MMO ‘Survived By’
Tamriel Infinium: ZeniMax’s Rich Lambert on Elder Scrolls Online content development, past and future
Funcom celebrates ‘most profitable half-year’ in studio’s history and changes logo
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF AUGUST 2017
Perfect Ten: The circles of MMORPG combat hell
Tamriel Infinium: Impressions of Elder Scrolls Online’s Falkreath’s Hold dungeon, part of the Horns of the Reach DLC
Chaos Theory: To Steam or not to Steam your Secret World Legends account
Elite Dangerous: A ground-pounding newbie’s perspective
Massively Overthinking: Gathering our thoughts on Guild Wars 2’s Path of Fire
Choose My Adventure: Get out of here, DC Universe Online
LOTRO Legendarium: First steps into Mordor
Chaos Theory: Guide to Secret World Legends’ Whispering Tide event
Wisdom of Nym: The losers we see in Final Fantasy XIV’s jobs
The Daily Grind: What’s the best MMORPG for gamers who are sick of raiding?
EVE Evolved: A massive war for revenge is brewing in EVE Online
Flameseeker Chronicles: Cautiously optimistic about Guild Wars 2’s Path of Fire expansion
Perfect Ten: Fresh approaches for familiar MMORPGs
Hyperspace Beacon: Star Wars The Old Republic’s Uncle Owen problem
Choose My Adventure: Starting completely fresh in Shroud of the Avatar
Wisdom of Nym: Why does Final Fantasy XIV feel so much better now?
The Game Archaeologist: EverQuest Online Adventures
Guild Chat: What to do if drug use impacts your MMO guild
Perfect Ten: MMOs obsessed with the floating islands trope
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR’s Umbara is shrouded in darkness
Flameseeker Chronicles: Impressions of Guild Wars 2’s Path of Fire preview weekend experience
Choose My Adventure: Finding my way in Shroud of the Avatar
Deep-diving Gloria Victis’ swordplay and siege warfare
Massively Overthinking: Alone together vs. forced grouping in MMORPGs
LOTRO Legendarium: A trip back through LOTRO’s expansions
EVE Evolved: The strategy and narrative of EVE’s revenge war
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2 Elite Specialization preview weekend impressions
Touring Trove’s new Eclipse expansion with the Trion team
Perfect Ten: MMO experiments in transmedia synergy
Chaos Theory: Funcom can still fix Secret World Legends’ Aurum fiasco
Hyperspace Beacon: Impressions of SWTOR’s Crisis on Umbara update
Choose My Adventure: Finding the fun in Shroud of the Avatar
The Game Archaeologist: Furcadia
Guild Chat: Enacting change in an MMORPG guild
Perfect Ten: The 10 saddest MMORPG stories
Choose My Adventure: The why behind Shroud of the Avatar
Massively Overthinking: Female characters and gender-locked classes in MMOs
ALL 2017 MONTH-IN-REVIEW POSTS TO-DATE
MMO Year in Review: Landmark is wiped off the map (January 2017)
MMO Year in Review: A home of your own in Elder Scrolls Online’s Tamriel (February 2017)
MMO Year in Review: City of Heroes necromancy in Master X Master (March 2017)
MMO Year in Review: Ship of Heroes abandons Kickstarter (April 2017)
MMO Year in Review: Ashes of Creation vs. Wild West Online (May 2017)
MMO Year in Review: Morrowind, Stormblood, and Secret World Legends (June 2017)
MMO Year in Review: July was the high mark of the year for MMORPGs (July 2017)
MMO Year in Review: Johnny Depp + Secret World = profit? (August 2017)
MMO Year in Review: Expansion 2 for Guild Wars 2 (September 2017)
MMO Year in Review: Lockboxes, CCP, and Destiny 2 (October 2017)
MMO Year in Review: WoW Classic and the doom of Marvel Heroes (November 2017)
MMO Year in Review: Star Citizen’s alpha 3.0 finally arrives (December 2017)
