[Column] General: Three Words for 2013

SBFord

Rob Lashley has chosen three simple words that he believes sums up 2013 perfectly. See what words he's chosen before heading to the comments to sum up 2013 in your own words. 

If I was forced to pick three words to sum up this year it would be: voxel, KickStarter, and Reborn. This time last year if you had asked me what the word voxel meant I would have looked at you like you were growing something out of your head and then proceeded to look it up on the internet.  Since then CubeWorld took the internet by storm, EverQuest Next showed the world that you could be a voxel and not have to look like you were built out of Legos, and Trion is doing their best “me too!” with Trove. For a while there was not a YouTube channel that didn’t have a CubeWorld video on it. I think the husband and wife team at Picroma did a great job of making this novelty of a game and a masterful job of marketing it. Hopefully 2014 will see some updates made to the game to breathe more life into it. 

Read more of Rob Lashley's Three Words for 2013.

DocBrody

This was a pretty lame year for new MMOs

 

What will be remembered:

1. Star Citizen campaign

2. The week where the forums were spammed with 100% Camelot Unchained threads, then all talk vanished when the campaign ended

3. The speculation and hype before the EQ Next presentatiom, and watching the presentation

 

Rockniss

Im going to go with
EqNext -for obvious reasons, Warlords because it's still the major player in mmorpg's and looks to continue to be so, and Consoles - despite what they can do now its a matter of will they do

Samhael

"You are going to see Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn at the top of a lot of gaming websites for MMO Game of the Year. This really is not a celebration of how good XIV:ARR is as much as it is an indictment of how weak this year’s candidates are. "

 

I think that's a pretty freaking solid statement. I wish I could have gotten in to FFXIV as much as others but I got a couple of weeks out of it. Now I'm working my way through every RTS game I missed out on due to MMOs for the last 5 years. (and Steam sales...)  We need new MMOs! (but *good* MMOs, don't rush 'em!)

Fearum

I would describe 2013 in 3 words ... Free to Play. It seems like companies are buying into the F2P/cash shop trend and big players like SOE have vowed nothing but F2P on all their games now. Its making money no matter what the game is like as long as it is F2P people seem to throw money at it. Its sad and I hope this bubble bursts soon which it probably will because of the endless F2P games being released.

Nadia

Originally posted by DocBrody

This was a pretty lame year for new MMOs

What will be remembered:

1. Star Citizen campaign

2. The week where the forums were spammed with 100% Camelot Unchained threads, then all talk vanished when the campaign ended

3. The speculation and hype before the EQ Next presentatiom, and watching the presentation

4. longest running ad campaign I've ever seen on this site:  Scarlet Blade,  boobies or bust!

VincerKaden

Originally posted by Nadia

 

4. longest running ad campaign I've ever seen on this site:  Scarlet Blade,  boobies or bust!

Which is pretty much the same thing.

Gravarg

My 3 words would have to do with one game and one game only.  If I had four words it would be Reborn though hehe.

 

My 3 words for 2013:  Warlords of Draenor.  Yes even "of" takes a spot hehe.  I was unsure where the story of Warcraft was going, but I had a feeling that Garrosh would escape some how, as soon as they didn't chop off his head right there.  I did not know what Garrosh would do with his freedom however.

 

The thing that makes Warlords of Draenor so exciting for me is that this is where I always thought that World of Warcraft should have started.  Back when I first heard there was going to be a Warcraft MMO, I instantly thought...DRAENOR!  Then they could progress the story and reiterated it over the next 20+ years like they did with the RTS games.  I always wanted to ride with Grommash and chill with Durotan (pun intended lol).  I really get into games that have a lot of lore behind them, and Warcraft's large amounts of lore start just before the opening of The Dark Portal.  Yes there's stuff like ancient elves being addicted to magic and ancient troll empires ruling the world, but other than a few major names there weren't many until this timeframe.  I still like where World of Warcraft started in the timeline, but I always wanted to go to Draenor.  

When The Burning Crusade was released I was a little disappointed from a lore stand point.  It seemed everything was about Blood Elves and Dranei in Outland, and barely any reference that this used to be the homeland of the Orcs.  After Hellfire Penninsula you almost never ran into anything Orc.  I guess things can change that fast, but I was wanting something more.  It was a fun expansion though, and it's still the best times for WoW, even more than Vanilla (please leave torches and pitchforks at home lol)

Asteriveth

1) Boring

2) Boring

3) Boring

There was a lot of talk and not much substance this year. Other than logging into MWO infrequently in 2013  (don't ask me why since it sucks in its current state), I have not really played any MMO's this year. The genre is becoming stale and needs some new blood. I did do a weekend in ESO and that did not scream "ground breaking" to me. I hope some of the other titles planned have something new to offer. 

 

movros99

We can't discuss kickstarters without mentioning two things.

First, Star Citizen.  So far they've raised $35 million in crowdfunding and some predict this could reach almost $100 million by its actual release date.  The fans have spoken.  They, well, we are tired of big name studios reneging on promises, producing WoW clones, and rushing out unpolished products lacking promised concepts. 

Second, Camelot Unchained.  Marc Jacobs has a pedigree as honored as Chris Roberts and yet he is failing to mimic a successful revenue generating model.  Currently it is impossible for fans to contribute to CU as they stopped accepting donations after the Kickstarter campaign ended. 

To be fair Marc has been battling skin cancer and he hasn't been able to devote his full attention to the project.  But, he must realize that the mere $2 million the Kickstarter campaign collected plus the million or so dollars he and investors have provided will not make a fully polished game.  Game developers, sound designers, animators, and music composers all cost money to hire and there are still servers to be purchased to host the game.  Marc must consider opening donations to further fund the game and modeling the alpha/beta phases of Star Citizen wouldn't be a bad idea.  CU could release a PvP battleground and perhaps the housing modules as part of the alpha phase to backers. 

Marc Jacobs better have something brilliant planned before interest in the game fizzles. 

Lustmord

Darkfall: Unholy Wars

angerbeaver

I'm happy with FFXIV:ARR, I'm just concerned once ESO/Wildstar/Starbound release the numbers in my Guild will dwindle =/

Kyleran

I'd add the word sandbox as well, seems like every new title in development drops it frequently when describing their gameplay.

Kyleran

Darn new cell phone.

doodphace

Originally posted by movros99

We can't discuss kickstarters without mentioning two things.

First, Star Citizen.  So far they've raised $35 million in crowdfunding and some predict this could reach almost $100 million by its actual release date.  The fans have spoken.  They, well, we are tired of big name studios reneging on promises, producing WoW clones, and rushing out unpolished products lacking promised concepts. 

Second, Camelot Unchained.  Marc Jacobs has a pedigree as honored as Chris Roberts and yet he is failing to mimic a successful revenue generating model.  Currently it is impossible for fans to contribute to CU as they stopped accepting donations after the Kickstarter campaign ended. 

To be fair Marc has been battling skin cancer and he hasn't been able to devote his full attention to the project.  But, he must realize that the mere $2 million the Kickstarter campaign collected plus the million or so dollars he and investors have provided will not make a fully polished game.  Game developers, sound designers, animators, and music composers all cost money to hire and there are still servers to be purchased to host the game.  Marc must consider opening donations to further fund the game and modeling the alpha/beta phases of Star Citizen wouldn't be a bad idea.  CU could release a PvP battleground and perhaps the housing modules as part of the alpha phase to backers. 

Marc Jacobs better have something brilliant planned before interest in the game fizzles. 

I'm sorry...this is not a knock on Marc Jacobs or anything...but Chris Robert's pedigree is light years (pun intended) ahead of his...

Po_gg

"What are three significant things you think can encapsulate this year?"

Tough one, I can put up only two, and both are more like a concept or idea yet, than a released product. And only representing 2013 from my pov.

- content building. Not mainly in the obvious, CubeWorld / Trove meaning, more like UGC, like the Foundry in Neverwinter, or the Dungeon Kit in SotA, Landmark, SOE's Marketplace for player designed items, or the transferable (to the next world) creations in Trove. Before that STO's Foundry was the only major tool for player created content, it seems 2013 was a turning point, companies seem ready to giving more freedom to the players nowadays for building their own content pieces. At least when those stuff will go live, I mean, beside the Foundry.

 

- SotA design. You mentioned it as well "which is an MMO, but isn’t an MMO, and is way too complicated to explain in a few short sentences." I admit (and I wrote it before too), maybe because of me being more like an rpg-er than an mmo-er, I love SotA's planned "solo / friends-only / mmo" design. I'm a bit angry that Garriot chased the Apogee of fear instead of jumping into SotA a few years earlier, maybe that way Zenimax would've choose the same for ESO... edit: because it'd be the perfect setting for an mmo from single player roots, giving a single player game which can be played with friends, or like an mmo, by the choice of the player.

I loved as well when the FC devs mentioned before Dragon's Spine, that after the single server tech will go live, they will also implement a method like SotA's friends-only shards - and strangely it was before the first news about SotA, so maybe it was their idea in the first place.

A great concept I think. Trove has a bit similar part too with Cornerstones, a separate, undisturbed solo place within the world, in which your creations are carried over to the following worlds.

Kyleran

Originally posted by doodphace

Originally posted by movros99
We can't discuss kickstarters without mentioning two things. First, Star Citizen.  So far they've raised $35 million in crowdfunding and some predict this could reach almost $100 million by its actual release date.  The fans have spoken.  They, well, we are tired of big name studios reneging on promises, producing WoW clones, and rushing out unpolished products lacking promised concepts.  Second, Camelot Unchained.  Marc Jacobs has a pedigree as honored as Chris Roberts and yet he is failing to mimic a successful revenue generating model.  Currently it is impossible for fans to contribute to CU as they stopped accepting donations after the Kickstarter campaign ended.  To be fair Marc has been battling skin cancer and he hasn't been able to devote his full attention to the project.  But, he must realize that the mere $2 million the Kickstarter campaign collected plus the million or so dollars he and investors have provided will not make a fully polished game.  Game developers, sound designers, animators, and music composers all cost money to hire and there are still servers to be purchased to host the game.  Marc must consider opening donations to further fund the game and modeling the alpha/beta phases of Star Citizen wouldn't be a bad idea.  CU could release a PvP battleground and perhaps the housing modules as part of the alpha phase to backers.  Marc Jacobs better have something brilliant planned before interest in the game fizzles. 

I'm sorry...this is not a knock on Marc Jacobs or anything...but Chris Robert's pedigree is light years (pun intended) ahead of his...

 

It is? One contributed to making DAOC, arguably one of the best mmos ever made while the other last made single player games over 15 years ago.

As for the funding issue, maybe, just maybe he is trying to deliver the game he promised the backers, without sticking his hand out every other month promising every increasing goals. He publishes updates all the time to the backers, and so far he appears to be on track. We'll see later this year when some folks are supposed to get alpha access.

doodphace

Originally posted by Kyleran

Originally posted by doodphace

Originally posted by movros99

We can't discuss kickstarters without mentioning two things.

First, Star Citizen.  So far they've raised $35 million in crowdfunding and some predict this could reach almost $100 million by its actual release date.  The fans have spoken.  They, well, we are tired of big name studios reneging on promises, producing WoW clones, and rushing out unpolished products lacking promised concepts. 

Second, Camelot Unchained.  Marc Jacobs has a pedigree as honored as Chris Roberts and yet he is failing to mimic a successful revenue generating model.  Currently it is impossible for fans to contribute to CU as they stopped accepting donations after the Kickstarter campaign ended. 

To be fair Marc has been battling skin cancer and he hasn't been able to devote his full attention to the project.  But, he must realize that the mere $2 million the Kickstarter campaign collected plus the million or so dollars he and investors have provided will not make a fully polished game.  Game developers, sound designers, animators, and music composers all cost money to hire and there are still servers to be purchased to host the game.  Marc must consider opening donations to further fund the game and modeling the alpha/beta phases of Star Citizen wouldn't be a bad idea.  CU could release a PvP battleground and perhaps the housing modules as part of the alpha phase to backers. 

Marc Jacobs better have something brilliant planned before interest in the game fizzles. 

I'm sorry...this is not a knock on Marc Jacobs or anything...but Chris Robert's pedigree is light years (pun intended) ahead of his...

 

It is? One contributed to making DAOC, arguably one of the best mmos ever made while the other last made single player games over 15 years ago. As for the funding issue, maybe, just maybe he is trying to deliver the game he promised the backers, without sticking his hand out every other month promising every increasing goals. He publishes updates all the time to the backers, and so far he appears to be on track. We'll see later this year when some folks are supposed to get alpha access.

One helped make DOAC...while the other is responsible for the Wing Commander series, pretty much ushering in high end graphics and cenematic storytelling in video games in general, Starlancer (2000), Freelancer (released after DAoC in 2003...so ya), not to mention came up with the idea for Privateer....and aside from Lord British, almost single handedly made Origin what it was. I didn't realise "time since" (though you were wrong about it) trumps all of the literally industry changing projects Chris Roberts created or led.

I get that you adore DAoC, and rightly so, but lets not get crazy here.

 

DocBrody

Originally posted by doodphace

Originally posted by Kyleran

Originally posted by doodphace

Originally posted by movros99

We can't discuss kickstarters without mentioning two things.

First, Star Citizen.  So far they've raised $35 million in crowdfunding and some predict this could reach almost $100 million by its actual release date.  The fans have spoken.  They, well, we are tired of big name studios reneging on promises, producing WoW clones, and rushing out unpolished products lacking promised concepts. 

Second, Camelot Unchained.  Marc Jacobs has a pedigree as honored as Chris Roberts and yet he is failing to mimic a successful revenue generating model.  Currently it is impossible for fans to contribute to CU as they stopped accepting donations after the Kickstarter campaign ended. 

To be fair Marc has been battling skin cancer and he hasn't been able to devote his full attention to the project.  But, he must realize that the mere $2 million the Kickstarter campaign collected plus the million or so dollars he and investors have provided will not make a fully polished game.  Game developers, sound designers, animators, and music composers all cost money to hire and there are still servers to be purchased to host the game.  Marc must consider opening donations to further fund the game and modeling the alpha/beta phases of Star Citizen wouldn't be a bad idea.  CU could release a PvP battleground and perhaps the housing modules as part of the alpha phase to backers. 

Marc Jacobs better have something brilliant planned before interest in the game fizzles. 

I'm sorry...this is not a knock on Marc Jacobs or anything...but Chris Robert's pedigree is light years (pun intended) ahead of his...

 

It is? One contributed to making DAOC, arguably one of the best mmos ever made while the other last made single player games over 15 years ago. As for the funding issue, maybe, just maybe he is trying to deliver the game he promised the backers, without sticking his hand out every other month promising every increasing goals. He publishes updates all the time to the backers, and so far he appears to be on track. We'll see later this year when some folks are supposed to get alpha access.

One helped make DOAC...while the other is responsible for the Wing Commander series, pretty much ushering in high end graphics and cenematic storytelling in video games in general, Starlancer (2000), Freelancer (released after DAoC in 2003...so ya), not to mention came up with the idea for Privateer....and aside from Lord British, almost single handedly made Origin what it was. I didn't realise "time since" (though you were wrong about it) trumps all of the literally industry changing projects Chris Roberts created or led.

I get that you adore DAoC, and rightly so, but lets not get crazy here.

 

yep Chris Roberts is in a whole different league

Sajman01

Three words:

The Downfall Continues

Three significant things:

1) ArenaNet sells out to corporate greed. Guild Wars 2 buried behind paywalls, timers, and stat grind.
2) The decline of MMO PvP and the rise of the MOBA.
3) EQ Next, TESO, and WS provide no hope for the mediate future.

Wizardry

I would say Mr.Lashley's assessment of 2013 is spot on,i see it exactly the same way,Voxels,Kick Starters and reborn.

We have NEVER seen a game bounce back like  FFXIV did and Voxels seems to be in every developer's plans,albeit in a VERY cheap way,like just jumping on the bandwagon.

Kick starters,well they are beginning to annoy me,a VERY lame gimmick to get money from gamer's and to think gamer's have complained about spending their money on an actual product,well how about NO product,makes no sense.I almost feel it is like people who feel special to hold a credit card or the newest cell phone,like they feel they are someone special once they fund a game.

Every single game coming out now,is designed to run cheap,at a very low cost.Developers seem far more focused on profit/loss than QUALITY of game design.

Aside from ESO which to be honest,i have not followed at all,there is not one single quality game that came out in 2013 or coming out,only a bunch of speculation.

There are a several games which i have seen that deserve at least a following or a look see,but still NOTHING "finished" OF QUALITY.

I would rather see kick starters die out completely,not because i want to see people unemployed,it is because the market is too flooded with crap,we need to narrow down the developer's and get some quality coming out.With thousands of game studios,nobody is willing to risk the long term giant investment,there is simply too much competition and luck.

Blizzard obviously has the money to build something EPIC,but they have never had the pressure to do so,they have a following that will buy anything they put out.

I always hope the next day will be a better one,possibly some great news,however it is often riddled with same old same old.Let's hops something in 2014 catches us by surprise and sets a new standard for gaming

Kyleran

Originally posted by doodphace

Originally posted by Kyleran

Originally posted by doodphace

Originally posted by movros99

We can't discuss kickstarters without mentioning two things.

First, Star Citizen.  So far they've raised $35 million in crowdfunding and some predict this could reach almost $100 million by its actual release date.  The fans have spoken.  They, well, we are tired of big name studios reneging on promises, producing WoW clones, and rushing out unpolished products lacking promised concepts. 

Second, Camelot Unchained.  Marc Jacobs has a pedigree as honored as Chris Roberts and yet he is failing to mimic a successful revenue generating model.  Currently it is impossible for fans to contribute to CU as they stopped accepting donations after the Kickstarter campaign ended. 

To be fair Marc has been battling skin cancer and he hasn't been able to devote his full attention to the project.  But, he must realize that the mere $2 million the Kickstarter campaign collected plus the million or so dollars he and investors have provided will not make a fully polished game.  Game developers, sound designers, animators, and music composers all cost money to hire and there are still servers to be purchased to host the game.  Marc must consider opening donations to further fund the game and modeling the alpha/beta phases of Star Citizen wouldn't be a bad idea.  CU could release a PvP battleground and perhaps the housing modules as part of the alpha phase to backers. 

Marc Jacobs better have something brilliant planned before interest in the game fizzles. 

I'm sorry...this is not a knock on Marc Jacobs or anything...but Chris Robert's pedigree is light years (pun intended) ahead of his...

 

It is? One contributed to making DAOC, arguably one of the best mmos ever made while the other last made single player games over 15 years ago. As for the funding issue, maybe, just maybe he is trying to deliver the game he promised the backers, without sticking his hand out every other month promising every increasing goals. He publishes updates all the time to the backers, and so far he appears to be on track. We'll see later this year when some folks are supposed to get alpha access.

One helped make DOAC...while the other is responsible for the Wing Commander series, pretty much ushering in high end graphics and cenematic storytelling in video games in general, Starlancer (2000), Freelancer (released after DAoC in 2003...so ya), not to mention came up with the idea for Privateer....and aside from Lord British, almost single handedly made Origin what it was. I didn't realise "time since" (though you were wrong about it) trumps all of the literally industry changing projects Chris Roberts created or led.

I get that you adore DAoC, and rightly so, but lets not get crazy here.

 

Perhaps if you read up a bit on the history of both you'll learn that not everything Chris touched turned to gold, in fact his past is a bit checkered at times.  (and that movie of his, ack) Mark created quite a bit, ran multiple companies, and of course, actually has delivered MMO's before, some successfully, others not so much.

But hey, both are back at it again, should be interesting to see what they turn out.

 

Ozmodan

Originally posted by Kyleran

Originally posted by doodphace

Originally posted by movros99

We can't discuss kickstarters without mentioning two things.

First, Star Citizen.  So far they've raised $35 million in crowdfunding and some predict this could reach almost $100 million by its actual release date.  The fans have spoken.  They, well, we are tired of big name studios reneging on promises, producing WoW clones, and rushing out unpolished products lacking promised concepts. 

Second, Camelot Unchained.  Marc Jacobs has a pedigree as honored as Chris Roberts and yet he is failing to mimic a successful revenue generating model.  Currently it is impossible for fans to contribute to CU as they stopped accepting donations after the Kickstarter campaign ended. 

To be fair Marc has been battling skin cancer and he hasn't been able to devote his full attention to the project.  But, he must realize that the mere $2 million the Kickstarter campaign collected plus the million or so dollars he and investors have provided will not make a fully polished game.  Game developers, sound designers, animators, and music composers all cost money to hire and there are still servers to be purchased to host the game.  Marc must consider opening donations to further fund the game and modeling the alpha/beta phases of Star Citizen wouldn't be a bad idea.  CU could release a PvP battleground and perhaps the housing modules as part of the alpha phase to backers. 

Marc Jacobs better have something brilliant planned before interest in the game fizzles. 

I'm sorry...this is not a knock on Marc Jacobs or anything...but Chris Robert's pedigree is light years (pun intended) ahead of his...

 

It is? One contributed to making DAOC, arguably one of the best mmos ever made while the other last made single player games over 15 years ago. As for the funding issue, maybe, just maybe he is trying to deliver the game he promised the backers, without sticking his hand out every other month promising every increasing goals. He publishes updates all the time to the backers, and so far he appears to be on track. We'll see later this year when some folks are supposed to get alpha access.

True, BUT Mr. Jacobs then broke the game and avoided fixing it until it was too late.  When the entire game populace screams at you that your game is broken, you had better fix it instead of putting a few bandaids on it.   His subsequent work all flopped, at least Chris Roberts has success without failure on his pedigree.

Not that familiar with Cubeworld, it is not something the kids talk about, now Minecraft is another matter.

Kickstarter is the first word that comes to mind.  A lot of studios throwing the word Sandbox around without really understanding what it really means.  Finally the last word I would use is the absence of any new MMO's to release.

DamonVile

Originally posted by doodphace

Originally posted by movros99

We can't discuss kickstarters without mentioning two things.

First, Star Citizen.  So far they've raised $35 million in crowdfunding and some predict this could reach almost $100 million by its actual release date.  The fans have spoken.  They, well, we are tired of big name studios reneging on promises, producing WoW clones, and rushing out unpolished products lacking promised concepts. 

Second, Camelot Unchained.  Marc Jacobs has a pedigree as honored as Chris Roberts and yet he is failing to mimic a successful revenue generating model.  Currently it is impossible for fans to contribute to CU as they stopped accepting donations after the Kickstarter campaign ended. 

To be fair Marc has been battling skin cancer and he hasn't been able to devote his full attention to the project.  But, he must realize that the mere $2 million the Kickstarter campaign collected plus the million or so dollars he and investors have provided will not make a fully polished game.  Game developers, sound designers, animators, and music composers all cost money to hire and there are still servers to be purchased to host the game.  Marc must consider opening donations to further fund the game and modeling the alpha/beta phases of Star Citizen wouldn't be a bad idea.  CU could release a PvP battleground and perhaps the housing modules as part of the alpha phase to backers. 

Marc Jacobs better have something brilliant planned before interest in the game fizzles. 

I'm sorry...this is not a knock on Marc Jacobs or anything...but Chris Robert's pedigree is light years (pun intended) ahead of his...

Are you implying he was bred to be a super dev ?

Arglebargle

Originally posted by Kyleran

Originally posted by doodphace

Originally posted by Kyleran

Originally posted by doodphace

Originally posted by movros99

.

 

 

Perhaps if you read up a bit on the history of both you'll learn that not everything Chris touched turned to gold, in fact his past is a bit checkered at times.  (and that movie of his, ack) Mark created quite a bit, ran multiple companies, and of course, actually has delivered MMO's before, some successfully, others not so much.

But hey, both are back at it again, should be interesting to see what they turn out.

 

The cult of personality surrounding Chris Roberts is pretty amazing.  Doubtless swells his head to an even greater size.   I fully expect his backers to be sorely disappointed.    The longer he doesn't have to deliver anything concrete, the longer he can continue to sell the fantasy.   And the fantasy is always perfect, for each individual.   Chris Roberts' best skill is selling Chris Roberts.   

 

But the Star Citizen phenomenom has got to be a huge boost for the development of other space games.  So there is that plus.

 

For the 'no failure' crowd, you only have to look at his Hollywood career of awful to mediocre, money-losing films.  Strange how his new found love of gaming emerged just as his Hollywood career cratered.  Even referencing the gaming field, he is regularly credited with being the 'genius' behind games that he was only peripherally involved in, while the mention of games of his that released years late are somehow conveniantly ignored.

 

I've no dog in the DAoC fight, as I don't care for that style at all;  no personal interest regardless of quality.

Lyrian

The year of 2013 should be summed up with these three words.

Promises, Promises, Promises.

We have kickstarter projects giving us seemingly massive projects with what we've wanted to see that other developers haven't been able to touch. But the big projects we saw this year (SC) is still ages out. With the scope of some of these projects still increasing as money is funneled into it, are we even going to see them in 2014? If we do, what shape will they be in? Who knows?

We have EQN and L voxel technology but we aren't even sure what we're getting in the near future. EQ minecraft? What about EQN? Are we going to see that in 2014? We definitely better see it damn soon and I don't mean a shiny website with information on it! They want it to be all new age/cutting edge, but all they seem to be doing now is using up this MMO gap for Project Titan and other competitors to catch up!

Reborn was great, but that's just it. Was. Great. The content is gone and done! The 2.1 update should have been a 3.0 expansion in time for Christmas. They've gone and used the 'MMO gap' to take advantage of a lackluster market in 2013 and revitalized their product, but have failed to put a stranglehold on it. Looking at what's out and what's coming, they're going to be facing a ruthless chokeslam from Wildstar come spring, and where will we all be then?

Lets hope 2014 is a year for Delivery. All we have right now though is smoke and mirrors.