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!
September dazzled with Guild Wars 2’s Path of Fire launch, while indies lit up PAX West, Destiny 2 rolled out to consolers, EVE Online dabbled in drama, toxicity became the new buzzword, and Chris Roberts got fed up. The oldest living games of the genre had their day too, as Ultima Online turned 20 years old and announced free-to-play.
Read on for the whole list!
TOP NEWS STORIES OF SEPTEMBER 2017
PAX West 2017: Ashes of Creation reveals December 15 alpha zero, Bear McCreary as composer
Perpetuum ends active development, eyes private servers
PAX West 2017: Ship of Heroes’ demo trailer outlines testing for 2017 and 2018
PAX West 2017: Dual Universe demos its persistent, seamless, sandbox universe
WildStar doubles-down on housing with today’s Homecoming update
Destiny 2’s console edition has officially launched around the globe
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds passes 10M sold
Raptr is shutting down on September 30th
Paragon players rage over ‘pay-to-win’ monetization changes and loot crates
World of Warcraft’s Argus hasn’t got flying – and it never will
ArcheAge goes offline for two days for massive server merges, land rush scheduled for Friday
Secret World Legends’ raid update and Manhattan Exclusion zone are now live
PAX West 2017: Ship of Heroes on exploration, community, and recapturing the magic of City of Heroes
Blizzard to open an e-sports arena this fall
City of Titans plans 2017 pre-alpha, crowdfund to ‘take things to the next level’
Magic: The Gathering announces new online game, still no word on Cryptic’s MMO edition
One of the last Asheron’s Call emulators vanished last night
No, Star Citizen’s 3.0 alpha isn’t ready yet, but here’s how to ‘breathe’ while you wait
Camelot Unchained wows DragonCon attendees with thousands of battling bots
PAX West 2017: Playing Kritika Online’s upcoming Psion class in Shattered Table
PAX West 2017: Ashes of Creation’s combat, crowdfunding, characters, and the infamous hat
EverQuest II fan news site EQ2Wire is closing its doors
Star Citizen’s Chris Roberts is ‘fed up’ with giving 3.0 release estimates
PAX West 2017: Life and death in Digital Extremes’ new MMO Survived By
PAX West 2017: A closer look at H1Z1 King of the Kill’s combat practice
Pearl Abyss is building four more MMOs as Black Desert swells to 7.65M registered users
Notorious EVE Online player banned for threatening to cut off someone’s hands in real life
EVE Online political betrayal results in record-breaking theft
Maguss is a mash-up of Pokémon Go and Harry Potter
Gunslingers arrive in Blade & Soul today after a lengthy maintenance
Black Desert rolls out free-for-all PvP server, welcomes Oktoberfest beer festivals, and teases Kamasylvia
Guild Wars 2 raids won’t be getting more difficulty options in Path of Fire ‘at this time’
Storybricks CEO shares early EverQuest Next proposal documents
Overwatch’s Jeff Kaplan on how needing to babysit toxic turds slows down game dev for everyone
Star Citizen denies claims that a backer sought and received a $45000 refund
Wild West Online’s first closed alpha has officially begun
PAX West 2017: Chronicles of Elyria’s monetization philosophy, tribe evolution, and the PvP sandbox stigma
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds breaks Steam’s concurrent user record
Hack-n-slash MMOARPG Guardians of Ember launches today
Villagers & Heroes’ Starfall expansion launches today
Guild Wars 2 Path of Fire has launched; get caught up on the expansion here!
PUBG ‘contemplates further action’ against Epic’s Fortnite battle royal mode
Guild Wars 2 counts 11 million players
20-year-old Ultima Online is going free-to-play (kinda) and getting player-generated quests
Happy 20th birthday, Ultima Online! Here’s how to get caught up on the OG MMORPG
Camelot Unchained’s Mark Jacobs on guilds, groups, and the social systems that make an MMORPG go ’round
Video game voice actors and big studios tentatively ink deal to end 11-month strike
Black Desert’s free Kamasylvia expansion launches today with tier 9 pegasi
PlanetSide 2 revamped continent locking in this week’s Critical Mass update
Diablo III will get absolutely no announcements at this year’s BlizzCon
Kritika Online moves to full launch on Steam with today’s Fractured Memories patch
Trademark registration suggests Daybreak’s new game is called Parabolic
Red Dead Redemption 2’s trailer is finally here, still launching on console spring 2018
Brad McQuaid: MMO devs are ‘making the very, very early foundations of the Holodeck’
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF SEPTEMBER 2017
LOTRO Legendarium: Is Mordor too difficult?
EVE Evolved: Get ready for EVE Online’s Lifeblood expansion!
Flameseeker Chronicles: Getting to grips with Guild Wars 2’s Path of Fire mounts
Perfect Ten: MMOs that changed their names
Hyperspace Beacon: A happy accident in Star Wars The Old Republic gives us hope for the future of CXP
PAX West 2017: Hands-on with Dauntless’ new behemoth
PAX West 2017: Trion’s PvE MMO shooter Defiance deserves a second look
PAX West 2017: Hands-on with Amazing Eternals
Choose My Adventure: Many kinds of lost in Shroud of the Avatar
Massively Overthinking: The best and worst MMOs of 2017’s PAX West
PAX West 2017: Taking a closer look at En Masse’s Closers
The Game Archaeologist: Climax’s Warhammer Online
PAX West 2017: Taking ‘control’ of TERA on console
Guild Chat: Dealing with the ‘it’s me or the MMO guild!’ ultimatum
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s ability customization
The Daily Grind: Why are you not into virtual reality?
Perfect Ten: The 10 tiers of MMORPG lore
Choose My Adventure: Shroud of the Avatar in summation
Global Chat: Not that impressed by Destiny 2
The Daily Grind: Are MMO lockboxes actually even worse than gambling?
Massively Overthinking: What keeps you from playing mobile MMOs?
The Daily Grind: Do you feel crowdfunded MMOs ‘owe’ you something?
EVE Evolved: How much toxic, antisocial behaviour should MMOs tolerate?
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s Stormblood dungeons in review
The Daily Grind: What one lesson do you wish MMO developers would learn?
Flameseeker Chronicles: Our Guild Wars 2 Path of Fire launch countdown checklist
Choose My Adventure: The return to Guild Wars 2
Perfect Ten: 10 MMORPGs with playable fairies
Tamriel Infinium: First impressions of Elder Scrolls Online’s Clockwork City DLC
EverQuesting: Is EverQuest II in a downward spiral?
Massively Overthinking: How will Star Citizen make money after launch?
LOTRO Legendarium: Six places LOTRO could go after Mordor
MMO Mechanics: Material storage and the Guild Wars 2 economy
The Daily Grind: Should MMOs get rid of levels?
Wisdom of Nym: Deep-diving Final Fantasy XIV’s leveling structure
Guild Wars 2 Path of Fire launch diary: Initial impressions
Perfect Ten: How MMORPGs become so darn complicated
Hyperspace Beacon: Outside-the-box features to look for in a SWTOR guild (or any MMO guild)
Choose My Adventure: Into the desert of Guild Wars 2
The Survivalist: How procedurally generated maps stretch the life of survival MMOs
Massively Overthinking: Weighing in on Guild Wars 2’s Path of Fire
Working As Intended: The best and worst of Guild Wars 2 Path of Fire (so far)
The Game Archaeologist: The Chronicles of Spellborn
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)
