This year's list can't be as bad as last year's:

Lord of the Rings
Tabula Rasa
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Hellgate: London
Fury

Three of those games are dead (or soon to be) and one had a launch so bad that the company was shut down and the game traded shortly afterward.   Now LotRO seems to be doing okay and there are efforts to keep Vanguard going but let's face it  '07 was a pretty wreteched year.    I think this year offered a somewhat better selection if only by the somewhat larger percent of games that won't die.

It is eerie seeing the similarity of the failed games between this and last year's selection.   McQuaid ousted from Vangaurd & Garriott 'leaves' TR.   Gaute tossed from AoC from this year.    There are lessons to be learned that could be applied to the 'Most Anticipated' catergory if only the community remembers the history of MMORPGs and not get caught up in developer hype that ignores it. 

someone made a comment about.. mmo's going to hell in a handbasket, kinda getting this about the site now. . becoming way to bias. . an to much crying...

2008 was definately the most crappy year for new MMO releases in ages. None of the titles were good or innovative. Most of the titles released set in my junk pile of games. Not one game i bought this year saw more then a 1 month sub payment.  I spent more time playing old faithful games then i did new games this year. Yeah my vote * None of the above*.

Originally posted by Stradden

Originally posted by JonMichael

Hey Jon,

Love your polls, but I have to disagree with adding the "none of the above" option.   If you don't have it for your other "best of" polls, it shouldn't be on this one either.  If people didn't like any of the games released this year, they have the option of not voting. 

This will only encourage anyone whose present game isn't on the list or a game they don't like on the list  to vote "none of the above" and make it look like this year's games are less than appealing.

 

I'd agree, except that in this case, I've heard and seen so much response on the forums throughout the year that I felt that the "none of the above" category was totally warranted. For example, I didn't read post after post of folks complaining about there being "no good expansions" this year, nor did I see enough of it in terms of company, or even anticipated for next year.

All year long though, we've been hearing people voice that exact opinion about this specific category, that's why we chose to put it in there.

To the person who suggested that we nominate "other" rather than none of the above...

Those are two completely different things. While perhaps "other" is a category we will use in the future, we can't simply replace "none of the above" with "other". Other implies that there was another not-nominated game that people wanted to vote for, but couldn't, not that they were genreally dissatisfied with the crop of new games this year.

The "none of the above" option wasn't given lightly and it was given in this specific category for a very specific reason.

I hope that clears things up for you.

 

I think this makes perfect sense as far as this year's poll is concerned because there has been a lot of discontent voiced (not only here but on other forums and websites as well) with this year's crop of games, but I would really like to see both of those options - 'Other' & 'None of the Above' - added to every future poll.  It would add balance as well as giving you, the MMORPG.com editorial staff, a litmus test showing not only whether or not the category truly does have a few real winners but  also showing how well you made your decision as to who and what to include in your polls and whether or not your criteria for inclusion needs to be re-examined.
 

That said, I am not going to vote in this category simply because I have not played a single one of them, yet.  All of the blurbs added in the descriptions as well as the other media I've seen and the research I've done into each of them makes all of them look & sound good, and I may actually end up trying a few (if not all of them when I complete the building of my new system ) over the course of the next year.  But I have also heard a lot of bad opinions (as well as some good) from those who have played the nominees.  So rather than go on hype or second-hand opinions, I will withhold my vote not even voting for the most recently launched (I chuckled at the launch info ) nominee - None of the Above - because I didn't think that that would be a fair vote either, in my case at least.

WAR gets my vote, hands down.

Played AoC since launch to one month ago , a game of such contrast between awesome and awful design.

Played WAR ea , didnt get into the lore , the ambience wasnt  imensive at all for me ,no need to waste more time for me on that game.

Followed  PoTbS for some time but didnt bother to try it as i read what was it major flaws.

Atlancita online - turn based combat isnt for me in a mmo.

My previous exprience with mmo is mostly EQ2 and some months of  VG and GW.

The reason i wont wote for AoC or WAR is that with all the hype and promises the devs delivered (especially AoC ) , and the budget and time they had availible,  im dissapointed they didnt make more immnesive and fun games  compared to the ones i mentioned.

I it was on the list i would vote for The Cronicles Of Spellborn , been playing it for a week and so far it seems inovative , creative and genuine by base design  . I think it has much more vision and orginality  than the 4 on the list.

"If you are one of those folks who honestly and truly has not found even a small amount of fun in any of the four games mentioned above, then this category is for you. By voting None of the Above, you are stating that this year's crop of MMOs was not only poor, but to your mind, so completely unplayable that no redeeming factors could be found in the nominated games."

There are a few admirable features within this lot but each still fell short as a complete package. I was extremely underwhelmed by them. 

"POOR" and "completely unplayable" is a ridiculously extreme definition for the "none of the above" option.

"Best"  infers a positive. Unplayable is waaaay on the end of the spectrum. Mediocre doesn't deserve a "best"...unless you are the kind of person who asks others "what is the best kind of cancer?"

I haven't been happy with the genre for a long time. People with lessor expectations might try to convince me that there are some new MMO's with innovative gameplay. I don't buy it.  MMO's have scaled back or dumbed down almost every possible feature, including the game worlds themselves (instanced zones). 

None of the above for me.

The only decent game I played the whole year was Lotro, and it's not all that innovative either.

Didn't vote.

I vote AoC. For the reason that it is immense fun. The intense combat and Soeges/PvP alone would make me vote for AoC.

you know alot of folks here have stated these games were crappy but were they? i mean if you had never played a mmo in your life and came upon one of these games  how would they be judged?

i have often wondered of we old hats havent been around the block one too many times and are all a wee bit biased on what would make a mmo fun and not.

as far as buggy releases all games that are mmo have been buggy at release for someone some worse then others but i have to be honest,

When i started EQ! in june of 2k it waqs a year old and extremely buggy yet i could not put the game down,

when anarchy online came out it too was very buggy yet i couldnt put the game down , not as long as eq but it was appealing and i feel i recieved my moneys worth.

when Daoc came outy my son had his first mmo experience and to this day holds a soft spot for doac that i held for Eq.

now adays there is wow and for some reason i dont feel any other fantasy game does it as well and hold my interest nearly as well as Wow. is it a good game ? you decide but it was buggy and laggy when it hit the streets as well, yet it had that strange hook on me that eq used to have.

no game in 2008 had that feeling.

Regardless of what genre of mmo if it dont hook it will die  so hopefully in 2009 they come out with a new hook if not i have a feeling alot of us will be going outside more.

Age of Conan was the best one for me, I only quit it because there was other things which we're more fun then that at that time, but it was a fine game.

Warhammer was a major dissapointment, very boring.

Warhmmer is without a doubt the best game on that list. They all have good aspects, but war is awesome! Just how i feel,

Warhammer got my vote !!

Especially for keeping it clean and actually creating new ways of playing MMO's

good job

Originally posted by Stradden

Originally posted by JonMichael

Hey Jon,

Love your polls, but I have to disagree with adding the "none of the above" option.   If you don't have it for your other "best of" polls, it shouldn't be on this one either.  If people didn't like any of the games released this year, they have the option of not voting. 

This will only encourage anyone whose present game isn't on the list or a game they don't like on the list  to vote "none of the above" and make it look like this year's games are less than appealing.

 

I'd agree, except that in this case, I've heard and seen so much response on the forums throughout the year that I felt that the "none of the above" category was totally warranted. For example, I didn't read post after post of folks complaining about there being "no good expansions" this year, nor did I see enough of it in terms of company, or even anticipated for next year.

All year long though, we've been hearing people voice that exact opinion about this specific category, that's why we chose to put it in there.

To the person who suggested that we nominate "other" rather than none of the above...

Those are two completely different things. While perhaps "other" is a category we will use in the future, we can't simply replace "none of the above" with "other". Other implies that there was another not-nominated game that people wanted to vote for, but couldn't, not that they were genreally dissatisfied with the crop of new games this year.

The "none of the above" option wasn't given lightly and it was given in this specific category for a very specific reason.

I hope that clears things up for you.

 

I read the comments about the article and then read the article. Same as I usually do for stuff on this site. Then I promptly voted for none of the above. Not because I found no redeeming features in any of those games listed. Hell I didn't even play Atlantica Online. But I really hope none of the above gets over the line. Because at a guess, and this is pure speculation, most reasonable people will see that listed and it'll make news on other MMO sites and people will ask just what the hell is going on here at MMORPG.com.

It was a stupid option to include and the way some of the polls have been selected and narrowed down have obviously been editorial decisions. Open them up to every option for the year not the ones you want to promote. Best expansion of the year would've gone to a free Issue given out with CoH imo. Hell again I don't play any of the games but I voted Lotro because it's the only one there I'd consider playing.

voted for Warhammer. love the lore, played the battletop and pen & paper games. very innovative, to the point the mighty WoW is copying its ideas in PvP department (of course after stealing and basing the whole WoW world on Warhamer concept and lore, but who cares...)

War all the way. played conan until level 58 on my awesome HoX. Prior to the awaited pvp adjustments, gear and Turning red system which they promised almost every week. well months went by and pre-launch of WAR started, got the collectors kit played it. Loved the shit out of it especially on my server (pheonix throne) feels like 24/7 theirs scenarios and world pvp going on. Had my main a chosen totally deckedout, did the heavy metal event to get the jump start on the black guard which in my opinion is the COOLEST tank class in any mmorpg to date.

The tank that is tough to bring down, deals huge dps, and all the abilities are anti-magery and anti-tank (reducing crit change, reducing str, reducing toughness, an ability that stacks three times to reduce both int and willpower) all of which dot and do initial damage, the hatred system is awesome (building up hatred to do more damamge and unleash certain abilities that require hatred to use, while other abilities need energy. Badda bing the ability to replenish all your energy as a skill with a 20 second cool down their unstoppable, I'm only level 11 and ofcourse I sent some +16 str and toughness (two each) and one +16 initative gems to my BG to twink him out and it worked. First place in a T2 scenario when I was at level 10. 9 KBs, over 56K damage, 75 overall kills 3 deaths, and 4 solo kills.

WAAAAGHHH

I did not see lotro as a choice. If that ws on the list then i agree lotro is the best  game, but i do not think it was a choice.

When will the voting be closed and results announced BTW? Is it next year?

Disappointed by the MMORPG.com editors for having the "none of the above" option. It's fairly obvious that WoW fanboys will be hammering that option as well as people who frankly haven't played all of the games on the list.

Shocking that site admins would be so narrow minded as to put an option like that into a poll like this, makes a mockery of the entire poll.