With no end to the pandemic in sight, I’ve found myself delving into MMORPGs in my spare time. Whether it’s Guild Wars 2 or World of Warcraft Vanilla, I always compared them to my time spent in Telera. Eventually, I decided to play my favorite MMO rather than playing games that offer similar experiences with different dressing.
The question inevitably becomes: “Is the game dead?”
As much as I loathe the concept of games dying, it’s easy shorthand to describe a game being abandoned by it’s developer and either shutdown or, at best, put into maintenance mode. Rift still has a community of devoted players, making major cities less barren than I expected. Instant adventures are equally as populated, giving players easy access to grouped content. In all other ways, however, Rift can be considered being in maintenance mode.
Although I wasn’t privy to the events as they occured, it looks like Trion Worlds went under recently and sold the rights of Rift to Gamigo. The new owners seem content in keeping the servers updated and using their limited resources to address community issues, such as recently patching their player report feature.
If you believe the rumors, I also hear good news about world boss content being experimented with on the PTR. This, combined with the already existing seasonal content, is enough to keep me logging in and checking out the game every once in a while.
Can an MMO designed to bring players together quickly and easily ever be truly dead? Sure, LFG queues don’t pop as quickly as they used to (or at all) but you can get folks to join you in chat if you’re patient. Instant adventure solves most murder hobo needs, while PVP, crafting, raids, slivers, and chronicles are all still accessible.
It’s hard to recommend an MMO in maintenance mode without adding a million caveats, so I’ll try to keep this simple. Rift is easily one of my favorite MMOs, if not games, and has a lot of great story and fun gameplay to explore for those looking to find it. If you also want flexible and interesting class choices and build opportunities, plenty of group PVE content, and a unique story/aesthetic, Telera may still have something to offer.
‘Tis the season to reflect on the past 11 months, including all of the games we’ve played along the way. With everything else going on in the world around us, it’s sometimes nice to focus on the things that bring us together through mutual enjoyment and appreciation. Since I’m not a stickler for rules, I’ll be extending this out to any games I’ve played this year, not just those released within the last four quarters. Keep in mind that these are purely based on my opinions and are limited to games I’ve personally played firsthand. Enjoy!
Best Fighting Game – Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid
Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid – nWay Inc
Runner’s Up: Tekken 7, Under Night In Birth Exe: Late [st], Smash Bros Ultimate, Fighting EX Layer, Fate Stay: Unlimited Codes, Battle High 2 A+
There is a reason why there are a lot less categories in my list this year than normal and that reason is Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid. Not only would it win Underdog of the Year, Best DLC of the Year, and Best Updates of the Year, but Battle for the Grid is also an amazing fighting game to boot! This little fighting game has had its fair share of ups and downs since its release, but the developers have proved that they’re willing to work on improving the game and providing amazing additional content as the community grows and the competitive landscape develops. If you’re a fan of versus-style fighting games, the Power Rangers franchise, or labbing combos in kusoge fighters, Power Rangers: BftG is well worth your time.
Best Multiplayer Game – Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2: Icebrood Saga – ArenaNet
Runner’s Up: Apex Legends, AutoChess, World of Warcrat (Vanilla), Overcooked
Rarely does an MMORPG recapture my attention as swiftly and as totally as Guild Wars 2 did this year. I played the game upon its original release and a little bit after the release of Heart of Thorns, but a recent surge in players due to frequent updates drew a group of my friends and me in for another go. It’s hard to say how much of my experiences playing Guild Wars 2 were due to the game itself or instead due to the thrill of playing an MMO with a group of friends, but either way, it’s well deserving of the best multiplayer experience I’ve had this year.
Best Party Game – Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Nintendo
Runner’s Up:Gubs, Fighting EX Layer, Overcooked, Wipeout Omega Collection
First thing’s first, Super Smash Bros. is, and has always been, a fighting game. It also happens to be a kick ass game to throw on during a party to beat the crap out of your friends. With Ultimate staying true to its name, the latest release in the franchise acts as a kitchen sink collection of classic video game IPs, a playable video game museum of sorts. Not only does this version have the largest roster and the most guest characters, but the gameplay stands out by improving on the gameplay formula and adding even more features than I thought was possible. To top it all off, the Switch allows for portable Smash Bros., making the game even more mobile and suited for bringing to your friends house to jam a few sets or play with all of your friends.
As a game designer, I try to keep myself up-to-date on all of the latest releases, especially those developed by the legendary Richard Garfield. In an attempt to recreate some of the industry disruption brought about by the release of Magic: the Gathering, Mr. Garfield’s Keyforge provides a completely unique style of competitive card game limited format. Instead of buying booster packs and drafting a deck, Keyforge allows players to buy an entirely distinct deck of their own, randomly assembled by an algorithm to create one that is wholly unique. What may sound like a shallow gimmick at first only serves to complement what is an incredibly engaging and interesting strategic card game, similar in many ways to Magic: the Gathering without all of the superfluous crap weighing it down.
Best Game Narrative – What Remains of Edith Finch
What Remains of Edith Finch – Giant Sparrow
Runner’s Up: Life is Strange: Before the Storm, Guild Wars 2, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
No spoilers. I’m a huge fan of the rise in popularity of walking simulators, given that I cut my teeth on Myst and Zork back in the day, but I’m not often as taken aback as I was with Editch Finch. What started out as a quirky, narrative driven game about a young girl (think Gone Home) ended up being a surprisingly cerebral, intimate, and even scary adventure. There are some scenes in Editch Finch that I can’t say I have ever seen or experienced in a video game before and that’s not something I’ll ever forget.
Best Art Direction – Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey – Ubisoft
Runner’s Up: Final Fantasy XII: the Zodiac Age, Marvel’s Spiderman (2018), Katana Zero, Baba Is You, Tekken 7
I’ve never been a fan of the Assassin’s Creed series, especially given how many were released within the last decade, but my girlfriend is a fan and helped reintroduce me to the series by way of the Ezio Collection and Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. While the RPG elements give me pause when backstabbing a higher leveled enemy results in them shrugging it off like a mosquito bite, the game stands out as one of the most gorgeous pieces of interactive artwork there is on the market. If there is a title that shows the power of a console generation, this game might be it for me and the PlayStation 4.
Game of the Year – World of Warcraft (Vanilla)
World of Warcraft Classic – Blizzard Entertainment
Runner’s Up:Guild Wars 2, Super Smash Bros: Ultimate, Tekken 7, Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid, God of War
I’m going to cheat a little bit, given that I’ve never actually played World of Warcraft Classic. What I have played, however, is World of Warcraft prior to the release of The Burning Crusade, also known as Vanilla WoW. I’m reserving this top slot specifically for World of Warcraft Classic because, prior to this year, I would never have imagined that the re-release of a 15 year old MMORPG would not only warrant the attention of the gaming community at large, but also dominate the video game media landscape.
Obviously, this runs completely contrary to what Blizzard executives had told fans repeatedly as an excuse to not release vanilla servers in the past. It’s at least a little cathartic to be able to say that the smug developers who tried to gaslight their fans were dead wrong, not to mention that they were also missing a huge financial opportunity that they’re only now cashing in on to help save their franchise.
Woops.
And save the franchise it did! Ever since its announcement, the MMORPG community has been buzzing about what precedent World of Warcraft Classic might set for other retro MMOs. I even took a dip back into the vanilla server scene to see whether it was worth investing in the final product. For a game that’s selling point is that it is an unchanged version of a game released in 2004, being able to once again control the community’s attention is an astounding feat. Being able to do so despite Blizzard having to be dragged kicking and screaming through the entire process only makes things even more impressive.
All in all, I hesitate to award the Game of the Year to a game developed by Blizzard Entertainment, who cowardly threw their players and community under the bus instead of standing up for democracy and the right to peaceful protest. In this case, however, I consider World of Warcraft Classic a win for the fan base, as much as it will continue to enrich a company I don’t think deserves anymore of my money. The fans of Vanilla WoW have been playing the game without Blizzard for years and will continue to do so without them. The difference is that this time they finally learned to trust their fans rather than trying to convince them that they know better.
As I’ve mentioned repeatedly before, Rift is one of my favorite MMORPGs. Sadly, I don’t expect to revisit Telara anytime soon, given that the game has long since transitioned to being free-to-play and entered what is effectively a maintenance mode. Another MMORPG has caught my eye, however; I just can’t seem to keep my hands off of Guild Wars 2, especially given ArenaNet recently launched their latest Living World event, the Icebrood Saga. After spending hours reliving my adventures in Tyria, I realized that many of the reasons that I had originally fallen in love with Rift were clearly apparent in Guild Wars’ sequel. Had my favorite MMO been living under my nose all this time? Did my frustration with the changes to the class and skill system in Guild Wars 2 keep me from realizing its brilliance? Either way, let’s jump straight into the top 5 ways that Rift lives on in Guild Wars 2.
5. Group Quests
Let’s get the obvious items out of the way, shall we? Rift’s namesake mechanic involved temporal rifts opening up in the wilderness, each requiring a group of adventurers to overcome and fight back the oncoming horde of baddies. Players didn’t need to join a group or invite strangers into their own party to participate as a community to overcome a common goal. Guild Wars 2 picked up where Rift and other MMOs (Warhammer Online comes to mind) left off, allowing players to jump in and out of quests simply by completing their objectives while sharing rewards with nearby players along the way. Not only does this create a more welcoming and accessible world to play in but it creates a more streamlined experience than the more traditional fetch quests of old.
4. Exploration
Although Guild Wars made a name for itself just fine without a persistent open-world environment, ArenaNet shifted their focus drastically with the sequel to emphasize exploring Tyria. Similarly, Rift implemented plenty of features to keep players from AFKing in their faction’s major city waiting for dungeon queues to pop. Whether it was open world puzzles, group events, or artifact hunting, the ascended of Telara always had some reason to explore the world. This seems like an essential part of any MMORPG, but what Rift and Guild Wars 2 accomplish that many other MMOs fail to do is provide a reason to explore outside of the main leveling experience. It’s an open world out there, so it makes sense to have plenty of things to do in it.
3. Armies of Invaders
In addition to the portals opening up all around Telara, Rift shook things up by having armies of enemies attack nearby towns and cities to disrupt the leveling experience. The idea of world events isn’t new, but when a giant world boss and their army of minions march on your home for the first time, it shows just how cinematic group experiences in MMOs can be. Guild Wars also embraced this as a part of their group questing mechanics. While most quests involve helping out a local farmer or harvesting resources, some involve nearby enemies laying siege to quest hubs or a zone boss killing low-level players en masse. These kinds of moments are what MMORPGs are all about, and the sense of scale and purpose just can’t be matched in other games.
2. Mentoring
MMORPGs, more often than most other genres, carry a lot of baggage from bygone eras. Some games embrace the silliness of endlessly slaying monsters on the hedonistic treadmill we call “grinding,” while others prefer not to shy away from the fact that levels as a concept are outdated. Rift and Guild Wars 2 are definitely the latter, despite the fact that both include level caps that come close to triple digits and leveling experiences that could take a few months to complete. Rift’s answer to the question of leveling was to implement a mentoring system to allow players of different levels to scale their stats to something closer in power level to make adventuring together more fun and engaging. Guild Wars does something similar, except that it is done automatically upon entering a zone, creating a seamless world that most other MMOs fail to achieve.
1. Back to the Action
When you think quick, simple fun, you probably don’t think of MMOs. Some developers have put significant work towards ensuring that isn’t the case, however. Rift, especially later in its lifespan, developed many features under the philosophy of getting players into the action as fast as possible. Their answer, among other things, was to include an Instant Adventure button that quite literally instantly teleports the player to another place and gives them a specific objective to complete with another group of adventurers. Tired of instant adventure? Try some of the singleplayer story content or instanced PVP. Crafting, costumes and other sideshows fill out the usual suite of features for a theme park MMO, but providing content is clearly not the same as guiding the player through it, which both Rift and Guild Wars 2 do spectacularly.
I hope you enjoyed this short romp through memory lane. If you’d like to read more posts like this one or if you remember a specific MMO memory that has stuck with you, feel free to let us know in the comments below.
MMORPGs seem especially prone to building devoted fan bases, leading players towards spending most of their time in one or two virtual world’s that they prefer over others. The original Guild Wars was one of those games that I will forever admire as a landmark in gaming history. ArenaNet pioneered many mechanics that pushed the genre in new and unique directions (focusing more on PVP, showing how silly the leveling treadmill is, singleplayer AI teams, etc).
Once Guild Wars 2 was announced, I admit that I was cautiously excited, but as the game got closer to release and I managed to get my hands on it, that caution quickly turned to disappointment.
Gone was the revolutionary card game-esque skill system, where players selected eight abilities to bring into combat rather than using the same skills as everyone else of that class. Players could no longer select a secondary class to diversify their strategic options. Guild Wars 2, while innovative in its own ways, removed much of what I admired most about the original.
That wasn’t enough to stop me from playing, but it did put a damper on my initial playthrough. I managed to level a warrior and travel through the world but stopped playing after a few months. It took me until 2019 to realize that Guild Wars 2 might be exactly what I need in an MMORPG at this point in my life.
The more I play GW2, the more I realize it’s stunning similarity to my other favorite MMO, Rift. Group quests keep me entertained as I romp through the wilderness with a pack of strangers, monsters attack nearby villages that need defending, exploration is rewarded, the scenery and atmosphere are gorgeous, and the skill system, while not as brilliantly elegant as it’s predecessor’s, is varied and interesting enough to keep me switching up my playstyle every couple of sessions.
The only thing that Guild Wars 2 is missing from Rift is it’s tab targeting and poorly aged questing system, both of which I do not miss dearly (although I am always nostalgic of boar killing-style quests once in a while). I wish there was fishing, but with the addition of gliders and mounts, Guild Wars 2 is just about as perfect an MMO as you can get without installing Guild Wars 1.
tommgoldrick.com 