MMO-Trends: ArcheAge der große Gewinner im September

The MMO ArcheAge is the second most played MMO among Raptr users. The Free2Play game was placed at rank 7.

Every month, Raptr announces the numbers on its blog regarding which PC games users who have Raptr installed spent the most time playing. This is not an “absolute trend.” Fans of games that appear further down the list swear that it is absolute nonsense. However, since there is no other way to obtain any numbers to track trends, and since Raptr has a player base that reaches into the millions, the numbers from Raptr have gained some attention.

At the top of the table, the MMO trends are similar to those in the football league. It is not really exciting. In September, League of Legends remains unchallenged at position 1, while World of Warcraft comes in at rank 2, having recently lost to DOTA 2, but has since regained a lead. The MOBA SMITE still ranks surprisingly high, although not as strongly as in August. A rank 6 is still worth all honor.

It is likely that playtime for World of Warcraft will increase a bit already in October, and with the release of Warlords of Draenor in November, it is expected to explode. Whether it will be enough to challenge League of Legends remains to be doubted.

ArcheAge rises high, here to stay

Ranked seven and thus quite high, ArcheAge enters the scene. The Free2Play MMO benefited from several factors that increased its hours played. A release tends to encourage significantly more play than usual: the character has to reach level 50 before thinking about peace of mind again. This is also the case in other MMOs. Additionally, ArcheAge has a game mechanic – ideal for the hour measurement at Raptr – that “rewards” players for staying online even if they are not super-active in gameplay.

Even if you calculate it roughly, rank seven is indeed impressive and aligns with statements from Trion Worlds, claiming to have welcomed more than two million players and that the influx exceeded all expectations. Considering that ArcheAge just launched for everyone on September 16 and was not live at the beginning of the month, these are impressive numbers.

According to Raptr, it looks like ArcheAge will again make it into the top 10 in October.

Little spectacular in Guild Wars 2, Hearthstone, Final Fantasy XIV, and World of Tanks

The other MMOs (or at least the games that we follow on mein-mmo.de) are not making any particularly spectacular jumps. World of Tanks has introduced a new rally mode and is increasing slightly. Guild Wars 2 had a rather quiet time in September despite the feature update, and it remains quiet around the game even now in October; in September, GW2 fell from 12 to 13, and it could drop a little further.

Even in Final Fantasy XIV, despite bombshell announcements every two days, everything is still in the future. So far, October has been calm; maybe something will happen with the release of 2.4 in November that will be measurably reflected in the ranking. Hearthstone is also experiencing a quiet phase after the Naxxramas release. The game remains popular, but nothing notable is happening right now, although that could change with new announcements expected at Blizzcon in early November.