MMO

After being available in some form for more than 16 years, it's kind of amazing that RuneScape hasn't had a mobile release yet. After all, the browser-based MMO seems like a decent fit for mobile devices from a graphics perspective, and with 200 million registered accounts, the audience certainly seems to be there. Developer Jagex has finally realized this, announcing that it will soon be releasing a mobile client for RuneScape.

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The launch of the long-awaited and long-delayed Final Fantasy XV has brought the franchise back into the spotlight. That includes the MMORPG version of the game. Final Fantasy XIV is about to enter a new chapter in its life that will introduce not just new places but a new character class as well. And to entice both new and retired newbies back into the fold, Square Enix is waiving the 14-day limit to free accounts, letting you play as long as you want, until you hit the level cap.

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There's no question that World of Warcraft is the most successful MMO of all-time. After 11 years, the game is still running strong, with more current subscribers than any other. But this wasn't going to be their only MMO. For years there were whispers about another planned MMO, named Titan. But what happened?

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Earlier today the news broke that one of the most popular World of Warcraft emulation servers is being taken offline. The reason that it's going dark is due to the threat of legal action from Blizzard against both the team running the server, and the hosting provider that keeps it online. While Blizzard is legally in the right, it does bring up some interesting questions about the way MMOs change over time.

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Online games have been around for a while, but EverQuest gave birth to the MMO as we know it. Yes, Ultima Online did come first, but I'd argue that EverQuest really popularized the genre. Daybreak Games (formerly Sony Online Entertainment) has been hard at work on the third installment of the MMO series, dubbed EverQuest Next for some time. Unfortunately, it would seem that all of their hard work was for naught.

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What do you do when you've sunk a ton of money into a MMO that never really took off? Well, first you take away the mandatory monthly subscriptions, and then you offer people a chance to win a million bucks. At least that's the route that Zenimax has taken with The Elder Scrolls Online.

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The MMO market is pretty saturated these days. There was a time where you had only a handful of options, such as Everquest, WoW and Star Wars Galaxies. Now you can't throw a rock without hitting half a dozen “WoW killers” that have gone free-to-play. So how can a publisher get their game to stick out in your mind, when you're looking for something to play? One option is to offer players a million bucks to try out your game.

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When you play an MMO like World of Warcraft, you always had to choose between wearing gear that looked good, and gear that actually helped you. Sure, there are high tier sets that look fantastic, but if everyone is wearing that same set, then you lose any sense of individuality in the game. That's why Blizzard introduced their transmogrification system. And that system is getting an overhaul in the next expansion.

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When your game is 11 years old, you might think it's hard to keep changing things up. However, Blizzard is still continuing to do so with World of Warcraft. Over the weekend they announced some of the features we can expect out of the forthcoming expansion, Legion.

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Blizzcon is this weekend, which means there will be a whole host of announcements from Blizzard. While we can speculate on the kinds of updates we'll see to the Diablo and Starcraft franchises, we already have an idea of what to expect when it comes to World of Warcraft. Thanks to Blizzard accidentally spilling the beans on Battle.net earlier today, we know when we can expect the next expansion to drop.

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With barely two months to go before its first and most massive expansion yet, ArenaNet has dropped a bombshell to entice more gamers to try out one of the longest (but definitely not the oldest) running MMORPG franchises in the market. Anyone can now play the base game of Guild Wars 2 absolutely for free. But that sounds a bit too much like going "free-to-play" and that is exactly the perception that ArenaNet is trying to avoid by not using the term and emphasizing that most things are still in status quo.

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LEGO Minifigures Online hast left its Beta once again, this time bringing a serious effort without the "free-to-play" nonsense of the past. This version of the game, being released for the first time today, will cost you - but only one time. Once you've got the game, the only paying you'll be doing is if you'd like to buy your own minifigures in real life - in physical toy stores - allowing you then to enter codes to gain access to the figures you've purchased. Other than that, you're free to go wild. This version of the game is the first to launch cross-platform on Windows PC, OS X, Linux, iOS (iPhone), and Android, all at once.

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