Over the past decades, various MMORPGs have launched that managed to build up enormous hype before their release, only to disappoint bitterly afterward. MeinMMO recalls some of these online role-playing games.
After World of Warcraft with its unbelievable success in 2004 or 2005 kicked off the golden era of MMORPGs, there were exciting announcements, beta starts, or launches of new online role-playing games almost every quarter over the following years.
Especially from 2005 to 2014, various genre representatives tried their luck, banking on a renowned license and thus generating enormous hype within the MMORPG community. The recurring question was whether a potential WoW-killer might soon appear, ready to take the genre to a new level.
However, the anticipation was often followed by disappointment. Even with a large team and an even larger budget, it is almost impossible to launch a comprehensive, complex MMORPG with sufficient polish and the optimal server capacity that has enough content for most players, is enjoyable, and for which the first updates are almost ready upon launch.
The result was various disappointing MMORPG launches, which quickly stifled the respective hype, or games that, despite their existing qualities, failed to attract a sufficient number of genre enthusiasts to their servers for the long term, leading to their offline status after just a few years. MeinMMO recalls some of these cases in this list.
If you want to jump directly to a specific game in the list, you can do so via the table of contents.
WildStar
Setting: Science Fiction | Developer: Carbine Studios | Release Date: June 3, 2014 | Discontinued: November 28, 2018 | Payment Model: Initially Pay2Play, then Free2Play from 2015
When 17 former Blizzard developers set out in 2005 to create a new MMORPG for NCsoft under the banner of Carbine Studios, they didn’t have a renowned license for the project, but they did have World of Warcraft on their resumes.
One of the trailers for WildStar:
When WildStar went live 9 years later, it quickly became clear that fans weren’t expecting a revolution in the genre. Instead, it was more of a best-of compilation of what theme park MMORPGs had excelled at over the past decade – challenging raids for large groups, countless quests, and housing, for instance.
Coupled with eccentric humor, colorful graphics, and an action-oriented combat system, where it was crucial to avoid enemy telegraphs and heavy attacks.
WildStar landed a solid 13th place in the community vote for the best MMORPGs of all time:
What were the problems? WildStar came out at the end of the golden era of MMORPGs due to its long development time, and its hardcore approach, focus on large groups, and subscription model no longer fit the spirit of 2014.
Ten years after WoW, there simply weren’t enough players interested in scheduling multi-hour gatherings several times a week with many like-minded people to achieve first kills in raids after numerous wipes. The trend was moving more towards small groups, solo content, and maximum flexibility.
Additionally, the launch had several bugs, especially in the endgame, and a slow pace concerning the provision of new content. By 2015, the shift to a Free2Play model followed. Only four years after launch, the servers were taken offline.
Unlike with Zenimax, Bethesda, and Elder Scrolls Online, which also came out in 2014 with various problems, there apparently wasn’t anyone at the responsible publisher NCsoft who had a say and was willing to put the necessary effort into WildStar to turn the fundamentally good foundation into an MMORPG that could establish itself among the giants for years. What a shame.
MeinMMO demon Cortyn is known to be a big fan of the game. Here you can once again say your personal farewell, full of nostalgic memories of an MMORPG that, despite its existing qualities, could never meet high expectations: Farewell, Wildstar – A tribute to a great MMORPG
