State of Play: Where do the MMORPGs WoW, ESO, GW2, FF14, and Black Desert stand at the beginning of 2017?

WoW – The Test Winner Raps Again

Where does WoW stand?

WoW is approximately halfway through the “Legion” expansion cycle, at 7.1.5. The upcoming patches 7.2 and 7.3 are already pretty much ready. You can see quite well where the journey is heading.

Blizzard is now delivering significantly more patches again. The MMORPG has recovered, and the mood is significantly better than before. Especially the ongoing “endgame content” works again in WoW: Legion, after it totally collapsed in Warlords of Draenor, leaving people with nothing to do.

It is uncertain whether WoW has really turned the corner with Legion. After three mixed expansions and six lean years, Legion is a ray of hope.

WoW was very successful in its first 6 years with the base game, Burning Crusade, and Wrath of the Lich King. After that, three weak to mediocre expansions followed with Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria, and Warlords of Draenor. Now fans are cheering Legion because it represents a significant quality improvement. It is somewhat different from before, but at least a return to the old quality is recognizable.

How does it continue with WoW?

Probably all according to plan. So 7.2 and 7.3 will be content patches, they are tinkering with the formula and certain mechanics. But nobody really expects Blizzard to make more than marginal changes beyond an expansion or to deviate from the course.

The motto at Blizzard is actually always: Stay the course.

Fans are expecting more content, more raids, more story, and they will get it.

It will be interesting to see what happens after the end of Legion. Will there be a long period of nothing again, or has Blizzard really, as promised, finished the next expansion much earlier than in the previous years?

What is the perspective of WoW?

WoW has proven with Legion that it can adapt to the market and can adapt good ideas from other games. Artifact weapons, world quests, scaling, legendary items – these are all not things that Blizzard invented now, but they are trends and ideas that correspond to the times. Blizzard has succeeded in taking these ideas and keeping WoW fresh and attractive.

The question remains the same as for the last 6 years: Wouldn’t a restart be good for WoW? A new game with contemporary graphics and a different combat system? Could WoW achieve the exceptional status it had in its early years again, or would it no longer be “WoW,” but just another game among many?

Maybe Blizzard will surprise us. It is strange times in the MMORPG market.

Years ago, no one would have given a penny for ESO. Guild Wars 2 was seen as a great revelation. WoW and Final Fantasy XIV were practically written off. Black Desert had been heard of only distantly. Today, the MMORPG world looks very different.

We look forward to the next time we take a look at the MMORPGs in the State of Play.

Perhaps next time we will already see one of these 7 games here in the State of Play:

The 7 most promising MMOs and MMORPGs in 2017