The MMOBomb Staff's Favorite MMOs Of 2024

The year is quickly wrapping up it's time to look back at what we've been playing all year. This isn't going to be a list of JUST MMORPGs or hell, even games that actually came out in 2024. Instead, I've asked some of the MMOBomb staff to give me their personal favorite MMO of the year. Basically, what game that caters to a massively multiplayer audience was your favorite all year.

That means we'll have expansions to older games, games that make a comeback, and all kinds of genres on the list, but hey, maybe it gives you an idea of a game to check out if you haven't in a while!

I also asked the staff to give an "Honorable Mention", too, so you have even more to choose from if you're looking for something to play.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: I asked the team for these earlier this week and they all came in at different times so I decided to write the entire piece from my point of view to make my life easier.)

Q's Pick: Final Fantasy XIV

I knew the answer to this one before I asked it. Q immediately went for FFXIV. It's mainly about story when Q actually has time to game and FFXIV's just has her captured, even in some of the small side stories. "The story's compelling. Even the little side things. Always nice to see side things you did come back later. Like one of the dialog options in the Unlost World being to say that an area looks like Lyhe Mheg and have G'raha freak out about it," she said.

It probably shouldn't surprise you that her honorable mentions come in more on the story side of things than the "truly MMO" side of things, either. Genshin Impact and Honkai (both Impact and Star Rail) both make her lists if you are, like her, all about being told a wonderous tale.

Jason Winter's Pick: Guild Wars 2

I thought for a moment Jason would go a different way with his pick. He's quite the Crusader Kings 3 fan, by the way, and the Roads to Power expansion was sure to draw him in. I figured he'd use the "there's multiplayer" excuse and go with it.

However, Jason went with a long-time favorite of his and picked Guild Wars 2. In his words, "It's just easy to enjoy." After being in the wild for 12 years, I can see that. Whether you want to drive some main story, play the fashion game, do some exploring, or craft legendaries, there's plenty of roads for new players to take and (for the most part) you aren't locked from doing one thing by HAVING to do another... again, for the most part.

His honorable mention, despite all the recent woes with the title and its company, is Overwatch 2. Jason's been following and playing OW and OW2 forever so this wasn't a huge surprise to me and shouldn't be to you if you've followed us for any length of time. What WAS surprising here is that Jason gave a quick nod to the recently launched Marvel Rivals saying, "I can see how it's going to be a contender next year."

Troy Blackburn's Pick: The Lord of the Rings Online

For some reason this past year, Troy found himself sucked into LOTRO. That by itself happens all the time. For years, LOTRO has been the MMORPG that both Troy and I go into for a few weeks then leave for months. No real reasons caused us to leave, we just never stayed.

This year the bug really bit into Troy, though. He ended up buying expansions and finally got a character to level cap after starting over at least a dozen times. What was it this time that hooked him? I mean, he already knows the main story, right?

According to Troy, he actually fell in love with the systems. The combination of quality content and systems that have been refined over and over made a more dated MMORPG his main all of a sudden.

I fully expected New World to be his honorable mention, but the last 24 hours have changed things dramatically. We all know Troy has been looking forward to the release of Marvel Rivals, but since its launch literally yesterday it just shot it up his list. Had it come out any earlier, it may have surpassed LOTRO as his pick.

Magicman's Pick: World of Warcraft: The War Within

If you know me then you probably expected to see FFXIV here. FFXI is still my favorite MMO ever, and FFXIV is certainly my "main" MMORPG today. Honestly though, Dawntrail just hasn't stuck the landing with me. I was barely invested in the MMO's new story direction and honestly have used that time to play other things.

Surprisingly, I've found myself in World of Warcraft: The War Within quite a bit since its launch... and I've been actually ENJOYING WoW again for the first time in a long time. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a perfect expansion by any stretch of the imagination. The story is ok as it throws in a few unearned monologues, and the class changes are fine. Mythic+ is still a mess, but I don't expect massive changes there in the near future.

However, the dungeons are quite nice, I loved the raid, delves are certainly a welcome addition to the solo content line, and the story makes me hopeful of where the next expansions in the whole "Worldsoul Saga" will be taking things.

It may not be the proverbial "return to form" yet, but I subbed for longer than just the expansion launch month, so that's saying something.

My honorable mention is ultra specific, though. It's New World: Aeternum... but ONLY on console, on the ultra chill console-specific server, and only as a casual "sit on the couch and do some stuff" MMO. I won't spend forever in Aeternum, and I am concerned for its future still, but as a way to relax for a few hours in the living room, I've played it more than I ever did at its original PC launch.

I'm sure I'll got back to Elder Scrolls Online as my fallback MMO soon, but New World is doing ok for me right now.

Wilfredo's Pick: The Elder Scrolls Online

Wilfredo's pick could very well have been my own pick as The Elder Scrolls Online is my "casual" MMO of choice. For Wilfredo, it all comes down to the recent Gold Road expansion. With features that players have been asking for over and over, like Scribing, and a new zone and story that add to the MMO's already expansive world, exploration is top of the list for Wilfredo. Few MMOs do that part better than Elder Scrolls. Sure, its combat may not be for everyone, but there's plenty of individual stories, a vast array of maps to chart, and the best part is you can pretty much start in whatever expansion you like.

While the full jury may still be out on New World: Aeternum, Wilfredo gave the Amazon Games title his honorable mention, mostly for its revamped new player experience. How things shape up longer-term may be a subject Wilfredo comes back to after some more time in the revamped title.

Dinofries' Pick: Artale

Ok, you will probably have to look this recommendation up, I know I had to do so. A few months ago, Nexon dropped the MapleStory Worlds creation platform. Artale is actually on that platform. I'm not surprised that a MapleStory fan like Dinofries found joy in some "Worlds" creations, but I am stunned one became his favorite for the year.

Matt says, "While modern MapleStory is infested with FOMO, Artale embraces what made MapleStory great before the Big Bang Update. I feel like a kid again playing Artale, and I have not been this addicted to an MMORPG in a long time."

Speaking of going back to roots but in a new way, if you watched previous episodes of the Always Online podcast, you'll probably remember that Dinofries was a fan of World of Warcraft's Season of Discovery mode. However, he's dropped it lately due to subsequent changes, so that isn't his honorable mention. Instead he would recommend you try out Classic World of Warcraft's recently launched fresh servers as a suitable honorable mention worth the nostalgia hit.

Zach Sharpes's Pick: World of Warcraft: The War Within

Score another vote for WoW from someone who, like me, would never have guessed they'd vote for WoW! This year's been a bit light for Zach in respect to playing MMOs, but one he always goes back to when a new expansion hits is World of Warcraft. While he does have gripes with the design of WoW these days, he found TWW comforting and is looking forward to seeing what else is in store with the Worldsoul Saga.

As for an honorable mention, Zach loves Path of Exile and would put the sequel on this list already, even ahead of actually playing it. However, since it is still VERY early on for PoE2, he'll say the original PoE is still worth a gander. While not fully an MMO, it provided the blueprint for its successor that is already a smash hit. Zach gives huge props to GGG for their many years supporting PoE1 and building it out to be the best ARPG on the market. He can't wait to dive into PoE2 later this month!

Alright, now you do yours! What was your your MMO game of 2024? New, old, expanded, doesn't matter! Let us know below and Happy Holidays!