This year, 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 2016.
Raph Koster kept our commenters occupied in April with his long retrospective on how Star Wars Galaxies worked and whether it failed. The Button took hold of the gaming world, WildStar F2P rumors ran rampant, and Greed Monger completely imploded.
Bonus: Someone coined the term “SHMOBA” unironically. That makes it all worthwhile. Check out the whole month below.
TOP NEWS STORIES OF APRIL 2015
Star Citizen whale talks purchases vs. donations
EverQuest II cuts expansions, debuts DLCs with Rum Cellar
Elder Scrolls Online advertises cash shop item in game
Elite: Dangerous is now available on Steam
The button is not an MMO… but it’s sure something
Greed Monger is dead in the water; sole programmer quits
Trion snaps up Linda ‘Brasse’ Carlson
Crowfall teases female Ranger archetype
Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns’ first elite spec is the Chronomancer
Crowfall’s Walton says we should blame him for Star Wars Galaxies’ NGE
EVE Online fan calculates an 18% drop in subscriptions
NCsoft West lays off Austin support staff
EverQuest Next offers a new piece of fiction for fans
How Jedi ruined Star Wars Galaxies
Crowfall unveils the badass lady Champion
Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward’s spoiler-filled trailer
World of Warcraft 6.2 adds new dungeon difficulty, zone
Black Desert adjusts for ‘casual lite’ Korean market
Rumor: WildStar box recall and promo might herald free-to-play
How Crowfall will be built for around $6M
Smedley: We will support EQ and EQII ‘for the very long haul’
WildStar is now on clearance at Best Buy
EverQuest test server accidentally discounts cash shop items to pennies
Take a look at Landmark’s overhauled landmasses
Pathfinder Online pushes for aggressive recruiting on media sites
SWTOR’s Rise of the Emperor update arrives tomorrow
Koster’s final post-mortem: Did Star Wars Galaxies fail?
Daybreak launches new site, triggers week of celebratory events
EverQuest emulator group gets a ‘written agreement’ with Daybreak
Steam empowers studios to permaban players
City of Titans demos its first costume and combat prototypes
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF APRIL 2015
Perfect Ten: How to find the right MMO for you
Perfect Ten: The 10 things every MMO’s official site should have
Perfect Ten: 10 MMOs that let you turn real money into MMO money
WoW Factor: Flying ruined everything and shouldn’t be removed
10 ways MMOs have changed the real world for the better
The Soapbox: The misguided quest for MMO stickiness
Blasting through a hands-on with TERA’s new Gunner
Ascent is MMO space simming done right
LOTRO Legendarium: Why you need to read the books if you play the game
EVE Evolved: Four lessons sandbox MMOs can learn from EVE
Massively Overthinking: The death of the MMO guild
MMO Mechanics: How strong communities are barriers-to-exit
Massively Overthinking: The pure PvE ‘niche’ of MMORPGs
LOTRO Legendarium: Why LOTRO needs a progression server
GTA Online: All the open world feels, none of the MMO grind
The Game Archaeologist: What Star Wars Galaxies life was like before the NGE
Working As Intended: Ten lessons I learned from classic Guild Wars
ALL MONTH-IN-REVIEW POSTS TO-DATE
MMO Year in Review: Daybreak’s downslide (February 2015)
MMO Year in Review: Crowfall’s Kickstarter (March 2015)
MMO Year in Review: A Star Wars Galaxies postmortem (April 2015)
MMO Year in Review: WoW’s nosedive (May 2015)
MMO Year in Review: Heavensward’s arrival (June 2015)
MMO Year in Review: Smed & Smart (July 2015)
MMO Year in Review: Into the Heart of Thorns (August 2015)
MMO Year in Review: WildStar Reloaded (September 2015)
MMO Year in Review: The SWTOR vs. Guild Wars 2 showdown (October 2015)
MMO Year in Review: Blizzard’s big plans (November 2015)
MMO Year in Review: Star Citizen’s triumph (December 2015)
