The end of 2024 is approaching rapidly and it is now time to look back at the still current MMORPG year. What high and low lights were there? MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz draws a conclusion.
After the preview of the upcoming MMORPG year 2025, it is now time to reflect on the past months. In terms of quantity, genre fans probably cannot complain about all that has happened in the realm of online role-playing games in 2024. There haven’t been this many exciting new releases in a long time. But what about the quality?
Below I will share my personal highlights and disappointments, but we will also look at the most important launches, expansions, and early access starts. You can jump directly to the section that interests you the most through the table of contents.
In 2024, there was so much exciting new content for the genre of online role-playing games that many other genres were left behind. For this, Karsten was able to get his hands on almost all exciting new releases, expansions, and early access starts.
The MeinMMO community has voted – the best MMORPGs of all time:
The most important new releases of 2024 in the MMORPG sector
- June 21: Tarisland
- July 24: Fractured Online (leaves Early Access)
- October 1: Throne and Liberty
It has been ten years since fans could look forward to exciting new releases for the MMORPG genre almost quarterly. 2014 was the last such strong year, with Wildstar, The Elder Scrolls Online, and the global launch of ArcheAge.
Accordingly, one must be quite pleased about 2024, that at least three titles crossed the release finish line. However, many more releases were actually planned.
- Blue Protocol was supposed to finally be released globally after its release in Japan, but was then canceled in August.
- The post-apocalyptic MMORPG Ashfall from NetEase (with music by Hollywood legend Hans Zimmer) was originally scheduled to be released on Steam in the third quarter. This has now been silently canceled. Only in China is there still movement.
- In September 2022, it was still stated that ArcheAge 2 should be released sometime in 2024. It is now clear, that the start will probably occur in the first half of 2026.
Considering how poorly Fractured and Tarisland have been received by players and how many potential frustration points the “best new MMORPG of the year 2024” – Throne and Liberty – has drawn attention to since its launch, my conclusion regarding the most important new releases can only be sobering. It was significantly worse than hoped.
Our talk about the launch of Throne and Liberty:
The biggest expansions from 2024 for established MMORPGs
- May 20: Cataclysm for WoW Classic
- June 3: Gold Road for The Elder Scrolls Online
- July 2: Dawntrail for Final Fantasy XIV
- August 20: Janthir Wilds for Guild Wars 2
- August 26: The War Within for World of Warcraft
- September 12: Land of the Morning Light: Seoul for Black Desert
- October 15: Aeternum for New World
- November 6: Morgoth’s Legacy for The Lord of the Rings Online
That there was an incredible amount to play starting from the second quarter was largely due to the established MMORPGs. You can see it yourself in the list: Almost every major MMORPG received an extensive expansion in 2024. And I had fun with some of the addons for weeks.
In addition, important updates came, such as the recent one for SWTOR, the release of New Legacy for Ultima Online, the monthly patches for Lost Ark, which introduced solo raids, the first European server for Albion Online, and much more.
This year, however, Blizzard made the biggest impact among the established ones. The amount of content they put online for the great anniversary of World of Warcraft was simply absurd. There was:
- new expansions for World of Warcraft (The War Within) and WoW Classic (Cataclysm) with subsequent content updates
- the continuation of the Season of Discoveries from WoW Classic
- the provision of new servers for WoW Classic Fresh
- the launch of Plunderstorm mode for WoW
- the premiere of Mists of Pandaria Remix
I personally only had time this year for the campaign of The War Within and a nostalgic visit to Pandaria. But that is Blizzard’s current strategy: to offer a suitable WoW content for as many genre fans out there, which draws them back to the servers from time to time. The goal seems to be working. Also the umpteenth version of WoW Classic was overwhelmed at launch.
Next up is the next page with early access starts, highlights, disappointments, and a conclusion.
- 1
- 2
