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Working As Intended: The MMOs we lost in 2014
Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote about how Vanguard's early stumbles foreshadowed the changing MMORPG industry. In January 2007, when Vanguard lurched its way to launch, the genre was barely a decade old; it was booming, and it had never suffered hardship on a massive scale. In the west, we'd seen only three "major" MMOs sunset (Motor City Online, Earth and Beyond, and Asheron's Call 2), and only one MMO, Anarchy Online, had "gone F2P," though we hadn't yet thought to call it yet because it was such a rare and new thing. In fact, it wasn't until 2008's first big wave of AAA, post-World of Warcraft MMOs launched and mostly flopped that MMORPG players gave much thought to the future of the genre and how WoW had reshaped (and possibly broken) it. Maybe not even then. Here in 2015, sunsets are commonplace, and the vast majority of modern MMOs have adopted some sort of subscriptionless model. Last year, we lost more than a dozen MMOs, including Vanguard itself, all of them wiped from the face of the earth (at least until someone decides to resurrect them), and several more under development were canceled, leading to concern among industry watchers like those of us who pen for Massively. Let's try to get some perspective and revisit the MMOs we lost in 2014.
Lunia goes offline on January 1st
It's been a rough year for MMOs, with several high profile titles going dark over the last 12 months. Unfortunately, it looks as though 2013 has a last-minute casualty to add to the pile in the form of Lunia, the free-to-play action-arcade RPG from All-M. According to an update on the game's official Facebook page, Lunia will be taken down permanently on January 1st, 2014. The game's website is also set to be disabled on the same date. Fans of Lunia can still share memories via the Lunia Facebook page, which will remain open even after the game's servers power down. [Thanks to Mehighlow for the tip!]
Warrior Epic closes its doors
After a year and a half in service, Warrior Epic looks to be destitute. The free-to-play MMO had its service shut off on Friday by ijji, which posted the following announcement in the company's forums: "As of November 12th, 2010, Warrior Epic will no longer be serviced through ijji.com. The ijji Warrior Epic team would like to thank you for your support during this journey. As a token of our gratitude for your loyalty, we would like to reward you an ijji loyalty package. If you had registered for an ijji Warrior Epic account, you will receive an email with full details on this loyalty package. Thank you again for your support, and we look forward to seeing you in our other exciting games!" Details of the loyalty package can be found on this thread, where ijji promises to hand out items for former Warrior Epic players if they register for GunZ or Lunia. Warrior Epic was developed by UTV True Games, the same studio behind Mytheon and Faxion Online.
Lunia releases Chapter 7 and doubles their affection
It's always a little frustrating to have to wait for installments of a story you're enjoying, but at the same time it makes it that much more satisfying when each part comes out. Fans of Lunia have plenty of reason to be satisfied, as Chapter 7 of the heavily anime-influenced and cel-shaded title has just been released. And if that weren't enough reason to be happy, players are being given the opportunity for increased experience via the new Double the Love event running through June 23rd. The chapter update adds ten new stages to the game, as well as a new level for raid stages and a new set of equipment for players. It also continues the game's central plotline, with level 60 and up players continuing to search for a way of reviving the princess Eir. Players can experience both the Double the Love event and the full update on Lunia right now, so if you're a current or former player, take a look at the patch notes to see what's changed.
Mana Energy Potions being sold in Lunia MMO
Right, stay with us now -- Harcos, creators of the gaming-themed "beverage" Mana Energy Potion, have formed a partnership with multiplayer game portal Ijji to bring the "beverage" to the latter company's anime-influenced MMO, Lunia. Yes, the game-themed Mana Energy Potion has disembarked from the physical plane, and returned to the virtual world, either adding another layer of originality to the "beverage," or stripping said originality away altogether.You may also be wondering why we keep putting quotes around the word "beverage." That's to symbolize the fact that if we were telling you this story in person, we'd be doing the finger-quote thing every time we said the word, as if to convey our less-than-favorable feelings towards the "beverage." Get it? No? How about this -- Mana Energy Potions taste like rotten prison wine. Is that clear enough for you?
