MMO Year in Review: WildStar Reloaded (September 2015)

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.

ArcheAge should consider itself fortunate that WildStar relaunched this month, else the beleaguered sandbox’s many missteps this month might have propelled it to the top of the September list. Other notable events of the month included the Pathfinder Online project virtually imploding, Brad McQuaid’s Pantheon project getting an infusion of money, and Star Citizen’s war of words continuing across the internet.

Here’s what else happened in the MMO world in September 2015.

WildStar: Reloaded launches free-to-play

Pathfinder Online lays off almost entire staff

EverQuest Next has a big internal playtest today

RSI’s attorney responds to Smart’s Star Citizen demands

PAX Prime 2015: Guild Wars 2’s free-to-play model and publishing takeover

Elite: Dangerous welcomes pilots to close quarters combat

SWTOR vets form new studio, partner with Nexon

Marvel Heroes studio Gazillion hit with layoffs [Confirmed]

Here’s a helpful summary of Star Citizen’s release schedule

Elite: Dangerous has sold 825,000 copies

Blade and Soul beta begins October 30th, still launching Q1 2016

Asheron’s Call still offline after two weeks

Star Citizen changes forum permissions to combat harassment

Destiny sold 6.3 million copies its first month

Camelot Unchained’s procedurally generated terrain build runs for over 100 hours

ArcheAge goes offline for two days for 2.0 and server merges

Crowfall raises another million, previews collector’s edition

Guild Wars 2 Mordrem event stumbles

ArcheAge patches in Heroes Awaken, reveals server merge compensation

ArcheAge Heroes Awaken got up, hit snooze, and went back to sleep

‘SWG 2.0’ Divergence Online hits alpha 3, launches Indiegogo campaign

EverQuest II’s 12th expansion will be a legit expansion

Host your own sandbox with Wurm Unlimited on Steam

DarkScape introduces free-for-all PvP ganking to RuneScape

World of Warships leaves drydock for live waters

ArcheAge adds $250 item pack to its store

Destiny’s new expansion creates a headache for non-buyers

Star Citizen is safe from the FTC so far, letter to backer suggests

Venus Rising is in beta, plans for launch later this year

Sword Coast Legends delays its launch again

Divergence Online’s Ethan Casner on SWG 2.0, open PvP, and edgelords

CSE is creating 30 classes for Camelot Unchained

Ultima Online celebrates 18th birthday, plans October 8th expansion launch

TwitchCon 2015: Guild Wars 2’s Heart of Thorns trailer; the Ranger’s Druid is a healer

Star Citizen studio ‘grows’ dev team, claims layoffs are ‘streamlin[ing]’

That Wizards of the Coast vs. HEX lawsuit has finally been settled

Project Copernicus was in trouble long before its $75M loan

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen gets investors, development is continuing

RIFT is upping its subscription price slightly with its next patch

Perfect Ten: The 10 MMO memories we all have

Stick and Rudder: Star Citizen is starting to come together

Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2 raiding factsheet

Massively Opinionated: Which MMORPG has the best F2P model?

Perfect Ten: The top 10 craziest skills in Project Gorgon

WoW Factor: Between now and Legion

Why I Play: Final Fantasy XIV

MMO Mechanics: Economic stagnation in MMO economies

Tamriel Infinium: Six great things to do in Elder Scrolls Online that aren’t endgame

Massively Overthinking: Underrepresented MMO music genres

MMO Burnout: Star Wars Uprising

The Game Archaeologist: Anarchy Online

EverQuesting: EverQuest franchise expansion announcements erode more trust

Perfect Ten: Ten well-known voice actors behind SWTOR’s characters

Chaos Theory: Small steps – The Secret World’s progress

Nexus Telegraph: Ten tips for new and returning WildStar players

Jukebox Heroes: Your top 20 favorite MMO soundtracks

WoW Factor: A wishlist for World of Warcraft’s Legion expansion

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)