Neverwinter: Elemental Evil
Genre: Fantasy MMORPG | Developer: Cryptic Studios | Platform: PC | Release of the expansion: April 21, 2016
What was this addon? The addon introduced the new class of the Oathbound Paladin to the game, and the level cap was raised to 70. The new campaign, which revolves around a dark cult, is playable from level 60.
Why was it so controversial? Neverwinter’s Elemental Evil introduced hardly any major innovations apart from the Oathbound Paladin. However, the Paladin was completely overpowered in the beginning. The maps where the story took place were recycled, and the missions mainly involved grinding.
Fans felt that Elemental Evil did more harm than it brought improvements or innovations. There was even an apology from the lead designer.
How did the game fare afterwards? Neverwinter bounced back after all the criticism and focused on providing better quests and more diverse areas in subsequent expansions.
More emphasis was also placed on testing new features in advance so that future releases would not cause as much damage.
Star Wars Galaxies: NGE
Genre: Space MMORPG | Developer: Sony Online Entertainment | Platform: PC | Release of the expansion: November 17, 2005
What was this addon? Sony Online Entertainment sought to introduce major changes to the MMORPG with NGE (New Game Enhancements) to modernize it. This led to streamlining of the profession system, and combat became faster and more action-oriented.
Additionally, quests were added, causing Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) to shift from a sandbox model to a theme park MMORPG.
Why was it so controversial? Players took to the barricades due to the changes. They did not want a theme park MMORPG and also missed the original tactical combat system. The new profession system was rigid and offered not as many options as the old one.
Basically, nearly everything in NGE was criticized as it turned SWG into almost a different game.
How did the game fare afterwards? Star Wars Galaxies lost a massive number of subscribers. The disappointment was so great that a large part of the community turned their backs on the MMORPG.
SWG never recovered from the disaster surrounding NGE. Although it continued for several more years, it had to be shut down on June 24, 2011. Nowadays, it is only playable on private servers.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Knights of the Fallen Empire
Genre: Space MMORPG | Developer: Bioware | Platform: PC | Release of the expansion: October 27, 2015
What was this addon? The fifth extension of the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) began a new adventure. The hero spent 5 years frozen in carbonite and awoke during a time when the Eternal Empire had seized power. With new and old companions, you had to take up the fight.
Knights of the Fallen Empire is a very story-driven expansion that aimed to focus on telling cinematic stories.
Why was it so controversial? Curiously, Knights of the Fallen Empire was not bad upon release. The story surrounding the Eternal Empire was told in good Bioware style. But that was also the problem.
Knights of the Fallen Empire played out like a single-player RPG rather than an MMORPG. MMO fans were not happy about that. Too much of the game took place in instances. Additionally, some fans were disappointed about what had happened to former companions.
How did the game fare afterwards? Bioware quickly shifted direction and introduced more gameplay features for group players in the subsequent expansion, Knights of the Eternal Throne, including uprisings and the Galactic Command mode.
This was further developed with the 2019 release of the addon Onslaught, which focused on MMO elements. SWTOR has been doing well since then, but players still desire more extensive expansions.
What expansions in MMOs did you find really bad? Let us know in the comments.
By the way, even in the successful MMORPG World of Warcraft, not every expansion is a hit with the fans. You even voted for the worst WoW expansion of all time on MeinMMO.
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