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The year 2012 is fast approaching, and for most MMO fans out there, it's an incredibly welcome time. The MMORPG scene is going to change dramatically in 2012, and from what we've seen via trailers and demos, it's almost already safe to assume that a few MMOs coming out next year are already on schedule to lead the pack. Forget about mindless questing and needless instances, next year is all about the upgraded graphics, fast-paced action, and of course, lots and lots of storytelling.
Some of the MMOs coming out in 2012 won't even include MMO staples like leveling. Many are shying away from the subscription model, and most importantly for a lot of MMO fans out there, many of the new MMOs aren't fantasy based. Of course a few will be, but some that are coming out will be much more modern, or even futuristic, rather than the standard swords, magic, and shields.
So without further ado, let's take a look at some of the best looking MMORPGs coming out in 2012. Of course, as these massive games aren't out yet, this list is based purely on what we've played and seen so far, and as is usual with MMOs, anything is subject to change.
Guild Wars 2
Release date: TBA 2012
Guild Wars 2 is the follow-up to ArenaNet's popular 2005 fantasy action-MMO. However, Guild Wars 2 is taking absolutely everything to the next level, and it's hard to not be impressed by its potential. The game features character-driven stories which are built upon choices made during character creation, and those origin stories will impact the entire gameplay experience.
Not to mention there's an extremely versatile combat system which changes based on which weapons you have equipped, giving players the flexibility to switch on the fly from one type of gameplay to a completely different one.
- PREVIEW: Guild Wars 2 Gamescom 2011 Preview -- The Lasting Effects of Bone Dragons and Origin Stories
GW2 also promises an innovative questing system, whereas instead of mindlessly doing tasks for NPCs, there will be a Dynamic Event system. Dynamic Events basically allow the choices players make to have both an immediate and long-lasting ramifications upon the world around them.
On top of all that, Guild Wars 2 features a stunning art style, beautiful music, and enough story and lore to get any MMO fan hyped for what it has to offer.
The Secret World
Release Date: April 2012
The Secret World is not your traditional MMO. Its contemporary setting sets it apart from almost all of the other offerings on this list, and on top of that, it's one of the most story-driven MMOs we've ever seen, aside from Star Wars: The Old Republic.
In The Secret World, everything is true. All the myths, legends, lore, folktales that you've ever heard of are real, and it's a conspiracy theorists dream. There are secrets dormant in the pyramids, living cities hidden in the earth's core, and noxious zombies wandering the streets of New England. The game puts a heavy emphasis on the plot, and most in-game missions will be built around cut scenes and voice acting.
The game puts players in to secret socities and urges them to find out the meaning behind these paranormal happenings and work together to decipher the methods behind the madness.
On top of all this, The Secret World is taking an entirely new approach to MMO progression and doing away with pesky things like classes and levels. Instead, there will be around 500 skills for players to cherry pick and essentially build their own type of player as if it were a card deck.
TERA
Release date: Spring 2012
TERA is an upcoming Korean MMORPG from En Mass Entertainment. While questing, you'll also run in to huge dragons, armored beasts, and gross spiders with swords, shields, magic, and arrows. It's your classic fantasy MMO with an action-packed twist. TERA focuses on fast-paced, real-time action combat, where players must actively dodge in order to defend themselves. Plus, it features some extremely pretty graphics thanks to the Unreal Engine 3.
- PREVIEW: E3 2010: Tera Preview
Another thing that sets TERA apart is its non-target battle system. Targeting is manual, meaning you can't just click or tab to an opponent, you must manually target them with a crosshair. This game mechanic is one that we haven't seen much of in MMOs, and it's one that we really liked.
TERA has already seen a South Korean release to positive reception, so it's likely that when the game is finally localized, it will join the ranks of some of the other best action MMORPGs like Dragon Nest and Vindictus.
Dust 514
Release Date: Spring 2012
Dust 514 is a Playstation 3 and PlayStation vita exclusive MMOFPS set in the Eve Online universe. Details are still somewhat sparse on this unique title, but basically the story will revolve around the ground battles that take place on planets in the Eve Online universe. Dust won't have classes. Instead, players will have a specialization based on choices that they've made. There will also be customizable vehicles, and player housing will exists. What's neat about Dust 514 is that the things that happen in it will have an effect on players in Eve, and eventually the two communities will supposedly meld in to one.
Firefall
Release Date: TBA December 2011
Firefall is a futuristic MMOFPS that takes place on Earth and incorporates both third and first person shooting in a huge open world. Think of a game that mixes Gears of War with Team Fortress 2 complete with a nice Borderlands cherry on top, and you've essentially got Firefall. The MMO features single-player and squad-based co-op missions, but rather than simply running around questing, you're going to playing objective based maps that will test your skills.
- PREVIEW: Firefall Hands-On Preview
Firefall features classes, or Battleframes, that are each integral parts of a group, or great on their own. You've got the big-gunning Assault, the stealthy Recon, the supportive Engineer, and the curative Medic. Each class gets their own customizable armor, that can be changed before battles to give them a leg up over their opponents. Firefall also has loot, bosses, jetpacks, aliens, and top of everything else, it's free-to-play.
This is one of the few MMOs that is really stepping outside of the box next year, and with the eSports multiplayer components combined with the single player free-to-play offering, this is the type of game that will definitely catch a lot of people's eyes when it hits in 2012.
Planetside 2
Release date: TBA
Sony Online Entertainment is bringing back the grandfather of MMOFPS with Planetside 2. Rather than offering a brand new world, this MMO features the same staples that Planetside fans have come to love. The open-world battles are back, and this time can feature up to 2000 simultaneous players duking it out in large-scale PVP maps. The concept of territory control laying a part across the entire open world of the game is back, and one of the main concepts behind the game is how controlling different territories affects the resources factions and squads accumulate. You'll try to advance in your faction by doing mission objectives for squads and players.
The game will also feature certain pay-to-play aspects and will include a cash shop to sell things for customization. If you love sci-fi weaponry and massive PVP combat, then this could be your home run of next year.
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
Release Date: TBA
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is the fourth World of Warcraft expansion pack. It was announced at BlizzCon 2011 and introduces the famous Pandaren race to Azeroth. That's right, WoW is getting Pandas.This expansion is taking a step back from the formula of the other expansions, and instead of adding one huge new bad guy for everyone to kill, Blizzard is instead adding a new race and a new class, the Monk, to the game.
The serene, Asian-inspired Pandaria will also be explorable in the expansion, which is a place that many WoW fans have been hoping to travel to for some time now. There will also plans to include nine new dungeons, three new raids, and four new battlegrounds to the already existing massive MMORPG. On top of that, Mists will raise the level cap from 85 to 90, and will also include a Pokemon-esque pet battle system that has collectors pretty excited.
Wildstar
Release Date: TBA
At Gamescom this year, NCSoft revealed that Carbine Studios had quietly been working on this MMO for the last few years. It's a lush, beautiful MMO that takes what works from other MMOs and runs with them. Not much has been revealed about the game, but it will include some innovative elements like leveling through exploration, and dynamic events.
- PREVIEW: WildStar Hands-On Preview -- Far From Your Typical Fantasy MMO Starring Magical Bunny Women
The actions players take, whether they be killing certain types of enemies, or talking to one NPC ove Another, will have ramifications in Wildstar's world, which is something that could be a new trend in the MMOs of the future.
Titan
Release date: TBA
Titan is the codename for Blizzard Entertainment's new MMO that has been in the works since 2007. Now that it's the end of 2011, we still don't really know very much about it. We don't know the setting, the story, or anything about it other than that's it's supposed to be a "casual" MMO. But coming from the people who made the most addictive MMO of all time in World of Warcraft, I have a hard time believing that Titan is going to be casual. Hopefully by the time I have to write this article next year, we'll have a lot more details about this highly anticipated project.
And there you have it. What are some MMOs that you're excited to play in 2012?
Comments are Closed
Comments
Displaying 1–20 of 51
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ReneBKinder
"My best one is Runescape - A 3D fantasy browser based most popular MMORPG where players set their own goals and objectives from fighting non-player character (NPC) monsters.
You can learn and share your views about this game at http://www.fanup.com/games/2"
TE5LA
Tera has nice graphics and a good combat system, but I quit playing after 3 days and have nearly a month sub left because it got boring quickly.
GW2 also looks good but doesn't introduce anything new to the MMO genre. the combat is also very poor because you get into a large group and you can't see what's going on. It becomes a huge clickfest.
I'm waiting for The Secret World now. Got my preorder and a bunch of freebies from the Facebook Secret War promo. Took 10 hours to reach Secret Agent. If anyone would like to join me for the beta weekends launch, PM me for info on my TeamSpeak server.
Mitch-Coner
I think that the Secret world looks pretty damn good, def. going to be checking that out. I like WoW but the expansion are redundant, and i dont want to pay $30 every two months anymore
The5thTotem
Something tells me that Wildstar is gonna replace WOW, its been waiting for its chance and now when WOW is at its weakest Wildstar will claim the throne.
Scionide
GW2 is looking perfect. They aren't showing half-edited videos that hide gameplay (like other over-hyped MMOs have) or showing only cinemas and hiding behind them. They show actual gameplay and events and pvp.
WoW is... well crap. I mean, if you still enjoy it, then keep on. But why are so so so many saying how tired they are of WoW and how they aren't playing anymore, but are still willing to give them money for an expansion? Really, Blizzard gets so much money, and the expansions are mediocre. And they obviously didn't send some of that money toward D3. D3 (as colorful and pretty as it is) doesn't look all that great considering what it COULD look like with today's technology. Blizz is not unique or creative anymore in my opinion, they just make average games slowly, while taking your money.
android_22
How can you say it is a epic fail. Like to see some proof, possibly having some facts to back up your empty statement may improve the giving a crap factor for what comes out of your mouth. Just saying.
ellelon1
I've been looking forward to GW2 for a while now. I think if most people kept up on it, they would see that it is going to be an Amazing game. Sadly a lot of people just seem to think it's going to be the same as GW which isn't the case AT ALL. I'm also looking forward to Secret World. So far those are the two MMO's that actually seem to be thinking outside the box and bringing something new to the table. I hope they don't disappoint. I know GW2 won't. Don't have enough info on Secret World to make a call on it yet. Hoping to get into the Beta. I couldn't even get through the Wildstar trailer. Looks like something made specifically for 10 year olds. Will check out MoP, but I'm pretty sure I know what to expect from Blizzard by now lol. Still, I'll buy it, play it for a couple months, and be bored of WOW again lol
DrowNoble
The Secret World is the one I'm waiting for. Both for the real world setting and the "no classes" gameplay. It's either going to be awesome or suck beyond belief.
I admit Wildstar looks interesting, I'll probably check out reviews when it comes out.
Could care less about Pandas in WoW. Years ago players wanted them as an alliance race and Blizzard told them would never happen. I guess having nearly 2 million subs bail on them made them change their minds. Cataclysm was rather lackluster, Pandas doesn't seem to be any improvement just Same Stuff Different Expansion.
lingoes
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Preview Trailer . I am looking forward it. http://www.blizzard.com
thejacobjohnson
The trailer for that one game with the bunny girl looked nice, but that says absolutely nothing about the game itself--Looking forward to trying out The Secret World though!!! They have posted a lot of content already, it's really interesting. Give it a look if you have the time, it's well worth it:
http://thesecretworld.com/ga meplay
fashionxxzz
fashionxxzz's comment is abusive and has been removed.
jhr
Guild Wars 2 and Firefall. I think Blizzard has run out of ideas for WOW. A fricken panda race?!
Darkhollow
Looking forward to try out Guild Wars 2 when it comes out and of course Mists of Pandaria.
Jackal91
That GW2 trailer is so beautiful. =)
Blitzkaiser
if i wna escape reality FFXIV 2.0 is still on my list even though its pretty messed up right now, but next year i will try GW2 it just looks so promising
ultima12
The game I'm most interested in in this list would have to be The Secret World. It looks amazing and it's a very original idea. That game has some real potential.
ultima12
TOR is just Wow wearing a Star Wars costume. It looks like a good game but it won't have anywhere near the success that Wow had and still has. It'll take something completely new and innovative to really pull people in. There needs to be a game that completely redefines the genre. Wow clones won't do it.
Metalhead980
Guild Wars 2, The Secret World, Wildstar & Firefall are on the list for next year for me.
colin12
If people would actually take the time to actually look into Guild Wars 2 and see all that it has to offer they would probably see that it is going to be the best.
GW2 = Innovation.
gunzilla29
I'll just wait for FFXIV 2.0, thanks anyway.
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