Polls are a quantitative sort of magic that we don’t often get from our other articles – at least when they aren’t being brigaded – which is why I love our Leaderboard column.
Let’s take a look back at our best MMO polls of the year! And if you want a few more, you can look back at our polls from 2016 and 2015 too.
10) Why do you solo in MMORPGs?
Turns out those of you who solo do it mainly because you like to play at your own pace, you like immersion, and you find grouping stressful. A surprisingly small minority of participants said they solo only because they feel forced to by games.
9) Which Daybreak MMO is most vulnerable in 2017?
Here’s a question we’ve asked every year for the last three years (and will ask again next month). In 2015, our voters effectively foretold the vulnerability of both Dragon’s Prophet and EverQuest Next and Landmark. This past year, you voted PlanetSide 2 most vulnerable. But in fact, PS2 just got a fresh update.
8) Are you playing Destiny 2?
More than half of our respondents said they were, at least shortly after launch. Intriguingly, a clear majority of those said they were playing on console, which you might find odd given our PC-centric MMORPG base.
7) Did you go back to Guild Wars 2 for Path of Fire?
A full 64% of our voters said they planned to check out Path of Fire’s preview weekend (plus another 10% who said they played the game but wouldn’t spoil themselves), suggesting that the freebie weekends were wise indeed on ArenaNet’s part. Almost half (of all voters) said they’d preordered the game after or because of the weekend.
6) Which City of Heroes spiritual successor are you most looking forward to?
City of Titans leads the pack with just under half of the vote, though you might be surprised to see Ship of Heroes edging out Valiance Online to come in an easy second place. Less than 10% of our voters said they weren’t looking forward to any of the CoH-spinoffs.
5) How should MMORPG studios communicate with players?
MMO players get really damn cranky when developers disseminate important game info on Discord and streams where devs control the messaging and very few players are actually reached. Official forums and websites, followed by in-game and launcher messages, are the clear preferred methods for communication.
4)Â Do e-sports belong in the Olympics?
Almost four-fifth of our readers do not believe e-sports belong in the Olympics, which is a bummer because it’s pretty much only a matter of time given that various Olympic committees are already discussing how to go about it and e-sports are already set for inclusion in the 2022 Asian Games. Then again, half of you don’t watch or play e-sports at all.
3) Did The Secret World’s reboot as Secret World Legends entice you to return?
We did ask this question before TSW players knew their old game would be fully shattered and that they wouldn’t be able to port their characters to the new world, but at the time (in March), a staggering majority of players said they’d play the reboot.
2) Where do you stand on ESO’s Morrowind chapter-vs-DLC pricing?
It seems like old news now, but last spring, there was a big scuffle over The Elder Scrolls Online’s Morrowind pricing structure; by classifying Morrowind as a “chapter,” ZeniMax said it wasn’t obligated to honor its promise to grant subscribers access to it as if it were DLC. But 39% of you said you weren’t fussed over that; a quarter said you were annoyed but would play anyway, while only 30% said eff that noise.
1) Under what conditions do you buy lockboxes in MMOs?
Just a fifth of our readers admitted to buying lockboxes with real money. The overwhelming majority don’t. In fact, almost half of our voters said they’d open lockboxes only if they drop for free. A principled minority – 5% – refuse to open even free lockboxes or refuse to play lockbox games altogether.
