Which titles are going to rock the MMO gaming space in 2011
and beyond,
bringing something new and perhaps even revolutionary to the stage?
That's the question the Ten Ton Hammer editors gathered to answer. We
looked at the movers, the shakers, and the innovators and assembled our
top picks.



DC Universe
Online

“Action-based” is an overused phrase
nowadays; it’s come to
be synonymous with “lack of auto-attack.” But all the MMOGs we’ve
referred to
as action-based in the past – Age of Conan, Dungeons and Dragons
Online, etc. –
just aren’t in the same category as DC Universe Online.The rock ‘em
sock ‘em gameplay is every bit
as visceral as your average sequelized console game and… I like it. I
know, I
know, I’m supposed to be an MMORPG purist and hate all things
button-mashy, but
the controls and combos are relatively simple and intuitive. It would,
of
course, get tiresome if it weren't for the well-paced and surprisingly
cerebral
boss fights.

But attention-consuming gameplay does
not a gamechanger
make, and the real reason DCUO is made the list is this: is SOE does
nothing
more than deliver a viable PlayStation 3 online title on January 11th,
they’ll have changed the videogame landscape forever.Over 41.6 million
PS3 consoles have been sold
(as of href="http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdataps3_sale_e.html">September
2010), and even if three-quarters of those buyers only use it
as a
glorified blu-ray player, that’s a tremendously huge untapped market
for MMO
gaming.

How many in the console crowd will
stick around to pay a
monthly subscription? We’ll have some idea as early as next month, and
the
answer will determine just how much of a gamechanger DCUO really is.

-Jeff
“Ethec”
Woleslagle

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Will DC
Universe Online players stick around long to play in the Joker's
Funhouse? Time will tell...very soon.

FIREFALL

Lessons were learned in the wake of href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/89524">APB’s demise.
For one, PvP and
window dressing isn’t enough to
sustain an open world shooter – the good get better and the mediocre
players
get lit up and quicklylose
interest.What
online shooters sorely need is co-op and
solo paths of progression to gain skill and gear, and a compelling
storyline
doesn’t hurt either.Another
major
lesson from APB’s downfall is that convoluted nickel-and-dimey business
models
don’t work in the shooter space, which is a big reason why both href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/926">Global
Agenda and href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1012">CrimeCraft
are now
free-to-play.

Enter href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2731">FIREFALL,
which is
the first online shooter to be released with these lessons firmly in
mind. At
PAX we were treated to an early look at the game by World of Warcraft
ex-team
lead Mark Kern, and the irony wasn’t lost on us. Just as WoW was an
aggregator
of all good things from its MMO predecessors, FIREFALL looks to take
the
top-notch server performance, class diversity, skill-based
(no-dice-roll)
gameplay, character development, and class balance lessons of Global
Agenda.
Then the Red 5 team saw fit to toss in drop-in style co-op play, a
cell-shaded,
detail-oriented graphical look, and a nuanced story a la Borderlands,
baking in
the free-to-play model CrimeCraft launched with in 2009.

As if that wasn’t enough, Red 5 then
blew our minds with
large-scale scripted (or “dynamic”, to use the current buzzword)
content, as
when the Melding attacks Dredge in the href="http://www.firefallthegame.com/">gameplay
demo. Is this the one team-based action shooter to rule them
all? The WoW
of the online shooters? 2011 may tell.

-Jeff
“Ethec”
Woleslagle

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Are we
catching a glimpse of the "WoW of online shooters" when we look at
FIREFALL?

End of
Nations

With a number of successful beta
events under its belt and
the official launch just over the horizon, all eyes are currently
transfixed on
Rift. However, End of Nations, another upcoming title under the Trion
Worlds
umbrella, is equally worthy of gamers’ attention.

Unlike the vast majority of its
peers, End of Nations defies
easy genre classifications by boldly providing an answer to the
question, “who
got their RPG chocolate in my RTS peanut butter?” The result is a
perfect
marriage of both sides of the multiplayer coin. In other words, End of
Nations
offers a unique experience for gamers who value the ability to advance
and
define characters over time as well as those more inclined to obsess
over
hardcore RTS leaderboard rankings.

But these descriptions merely scratch
the surface of what
EoN brings to the multiplayer table. The ability to command and advance
an
entire unit of permanent troops, embark on large scale PvE and PvP
missions,
and customize to your heart’s content are all components of the much
larger
package that, in this writer’s opinion, make it one of the most
compelling new
titles currently in development. It takes what we think we know about
either
genre it draws heavy inspiration from – RPGs and RTS – turns it on its
ears,
ultimately leaving us wondering why no one has thought of it sooner.

-Reuben
“Sardu” Waters

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There's no
facing the End of Nations without a cool assault vehicle.

TERA

TERA is appearing to do something
that few others have
considered attempting since the solo-ease revolution of 2004. Through
their
action combat system, Bluehole Studio offers a unique challenge in
group
combat. Not only will players have to have quick reflexes and reaction
time,
but they'll need to be intimately familiar with their class.

By way of some of our href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/tera-group-play">hands-on
time with the game last year it was evident that TERA group play will
be both a
joy and something to be feared. Typing while in combat is a difficult
task, so
it's quite likely the serious player will be using voice chat almost
exclusively. In addition, players will likely be even more hesitant of
pick up
groups. If a tank isn't quick on the combos, all is lost. If a healer
cannot
aim their spells quickly and precisely, the group is doomed. If DPS is
unfamiliar with their mana regeneration abilities, enemies won't die.

It's going to take a lot of
coordination and trust. This
kind of game play will be richly rewarding for those who love a
challenge and
possess the skill set necessary for the game. The downside, of course,
is that
it leaves the casually non-committed out in the cold a bit. It will be
tough to
find a home and group of friends if you can't keep up with the pace of
the
game.

-Ben de la
Durantaye

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Action
combat and big hacking weapons--that's what this Asian game is made of.

Rift

Rift brings a lot to the table in
2011, but not exactly in a
never-been-done-before way. One of its most unique aspects, the soul
attunement
system, is often compared to World of Warcraft’s talent tree and dual
spec
system. And yet, Rift kicks that system up a notch or two. Players can
attune
up to 3 souls—specialized classes within a given archetype--which
already makes
the game a min-maxer’s dream (or nightmare, depending on how you look
at it).
But on top of that, Rift also allows players to purchase roles. Want a
spec for
raiding, a spec for small groups and a spec for soloing? Purchase new
roles and
you have the ability to tweak to your heart’s content. This beefed up
class
system may not be perfect—there’s some player grumbling that anything
but a
mostly single-speced class is far too gimped to be effective—but it
does break
new ground.

The soul attunement system aside,
gamers who’ve played the
Rift beta are the first to admit that it isn’t a revolutionary game in
other
respects. In fact, discussions of Rift often invoke comparisons to
World of
Warcraft, Warhammer Online, EverQuest II and even the defunct Tabula
Rasa. Most
of these comparisons are positive, and none of them are particularly
unfair or
inaccurate, so why do we consider Rift a game changer?

The answer is simpler than it would
seem—polish. Rift
combines some of the best elements from other AAA MMOGs, from the
wildly
successful to the demised, and wraps them into a polished package with
solid
lore and a compelling storyline. The first thing players notice about
Rift is
that it just works. The UI is
unobtrusive and intuitive, the quest system makes sense and players are
led
from area to area and NPC to NPC without any real hand holding. Yes,
the game
has some intricacies for players to figure out (and really, that’s half
the
fun), but overall it’s dead easy to pick up and play without ever
finding
yourself thinking, “I wish this game had….”

You
might say that
polish isn’t game-changing, and that’s fair enough. We should expect
games to
be polished at launch, shouldn’t we? But in the past year or so few
have
launched virtually bug free and running smoothly. If beta is any
indication,
Rift will. I believe Rift will shatter the strange but seemingly
pervasive
notion among gamers that no game can launch polished. Rift is bringing
polish
back.

-Karen
“Shayalyn”
Hertzberg

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Speak
softly, but wield a ginormous hammer.


Test Drive
Unlimited
2

MMO Racers have been attempted in the
past, but most of
these resort to an arcade-like experience with gimmicky power buffs and
loosely
translated car upgrades. Test Drive Unlimited 2 is promising to be the
first
fully immersive online racer.

The irony here is that the game's
potential success has
little to do with the actual racing. The draw of the game is the level
of
detail put into the world and its inhabitants. Each car is replicated
to a tee
from the official specs of the real vehicle. Every road driven is one
that
actually exists in the real world (see our href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/tdu2/interviews/alain-jarniou-12-28-10">recent
interview for the juicy details). And if you're not one for
racing games,
the draw is that you won't even have to race to enjoy TDU2.

Players can spend days at the online
casino, gambling with
friends and strangers at persistent poker tables or slot machines. They
can buy
and decorate homes, buy a wide away of apparel to obtain the perfect
look for
their avatar, have plastic surgery to alter their build and features,
or just
drive around the island in exploration and discovery of achievements.

We've all dreamed of being rich and
showing off flashy cars.
Now we can actually do it in a game that is as close to the real thing
as you
can get without actually having a six figure salary.

-Ben de la
Durantaye

 

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With luck
all your competition will ever see is your tail lights.

Diablo III

The first and most obvious impact
Diablo III will have is,
well…the fact that it’s Diablo III. There’s no doubt, with an IP like
Diablo
and a developer like Blizzard, that this game is going to be huge and
gamers
will flock to it like kids to the neighborhood ice cream truck. In
terms of
sales alone, D3 will be game-changing enough to warrant a mention on a
list of
(primarily) MMO titles.

But having a huge IP doesn’t mean
that Blizzard can rest on
its laurels and refuse to innovate. What new element will D3 bring to
the
table? Arguably, the biggest is the rune system. Other games have
offered means
for gamers to enhance powers, but Diablo III will take this concept
further
than any game has to date. The runes in Diablo III will not simply
tweak
existing powers by adding things like damage, range or decreased
casting time,
they will allow players to radically change the function of those
powers. A spell
that allows your Witch Doctor to hurl
flaming skulls, for instance, could be tweaked so that those flaming
skulls
leave fiery trails of damage or even bounce.

Customization is an expected
component of the online gaming
experience today. Blizzard is aimed toward answering those expectations
with a
system that takes customization to the extreme, giving players a
never-before-seen degree of control over their character’s abilities.
Game-changing indeed.

-Karen
“Shayalyn”
Hertzberg

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Skill runes
equal customization nirvana.

Star Wars:
The Old
Republic

Do yourself a favor and forget all
the bad press stemming
from the EA
Louse
blogging
incident that Star Wars: The Old Republic has received in the last few
months.
SWTOR is still a BioWare game, and bazillion dollar failure isn’t in
BioWare’s
curriculum vitae. The fact that “Star Wars” appears in the title means
that the
game is practically a license to print money (as the developers of lots
of
mediocre Star Wars games can attest. I’m looking at you, Force
Unleashed, and
especially at the sequel).  

As much as it pains me to say it,
EA’s marketing is spot on:
The Old Republic will win on story, but not in the tired old
“story-driven
visceral experience blah blah” sense. I’m talking about replayability.
You
could love your character and class to pieces, but at some point you’re
going
to get bored. Someday everyone hits their Stranglethorn Vale and starts
wondering about what other experiences await.

The most successful MMORPGs, notably
EverQuest and World of
Warcraft, reward you for starting over with diverse starting locations
and
unique classes. And in SWTOR, replayability isn’t just a solo pursuit.
Group-based decisions will lead to consequences that maybe you’re not
so happy
about. If your namby-pambygroupmates
opts for light side when you vote for a dark side option, you won’t
take a
faction hit, but you’ll probably want to go back and see what happens
if you
let the engineering team get sucked out of the airlock.

So I’ll go ahead and say it: God
bless you, EA BioWare, for
spending Liberia’s GDP on branching content, story, VO, what have
you.It’s about time we have a
universe we can
interact with, not just on.
And if all the classes play half as
well as the href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor/previews/tython-jedi-knight">Jedi
Knight
did, you have yourself a long-term subscribing alt-aholic. And maybe,
just
maybe, a few million more folks just like me.

-Jeff
“Ethec”
Woleslagle

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Damn.Maybe
those were
the droids we were looking for.

Guild Wars 2

While a number of upcoming MMOGs are
being developed to push
the gameplay envelope in new directions, one title in particular is on
the
verge of bursting that envelope wide open at the seams. Not content to
simply
churn out a graphically enhanced remake of the original, ArenaNet could
very
well redefine the genre as we currently know it with href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2">Guild Wars 2.

True, the much hyped approach to
dynamic content could be
seen as a logical evolution to open grouping and public questing - two
systems
that numerous developers have been scrambling to implement to varied
degrees of
success over the past few years. But the complete package that Guild
Wars 2 has
to offer has picked that ball up and run with it farther than many of
us would
have expected, at least not any time this decade.

Combined with a fully featured
personal story system, a
unique approach to combat and skills, and a massive replayability
factor, the
dynamic events system in Guild Wars 2 is truly just the icing on the
virtual
cake.

I could easily wax poetic about my href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/previews/dancing-with-destiny">hands-on
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/previews/pax2010/hands-on-part-two">experiences
with Guild Wars 2 until the cows come home and learn to recite
Shakespearian
sonnets, but instead I’ll leave you with the following quote href="http://dougblot.blogspot.com/2010/08/brains.html">from
the blog of
former ArenaNet employee Doug Williams which I feel sums up exactly
what kind
of impact GW2 will have:

“Having
played Guild Wars 2 I can
honestly say that the
whole fantasy MMO genre is about to have its teeth knocked out. The
only teeth
that will be left are the ones that it'll be choking on. Then it will
die, and
all that will be left is GW2.”

- style="font-weight: bold;">Doug Williams, Art
Director for Undead
Labs
(another project worth keeping on your watch list)

-Reuben
“Sardu” Waters

 

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From
dynamic content to personal stories, Guild Wars 2 is being designed to
have an impact on its players.



There it is, our peek at some of the multiplayer titles we believe will
be game-changers. Did we hit the mark? Have we missed a game you feel
should be on our list? We look forward to hearing your thoughts and
comments.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Guild Wars 2 Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Karen is H.D.i.C. (Head Druid in Charge) at EQHammer. She likes chocolate chip pancakes, warm hugs, gaming so late that it's early, and rooting things and covering them with bees. Don't read her Ten Ton Hammer column every Tuesday. Or the EQHammer one every Thursday, either.

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