Our Five Most Anticipated MMORPGs Of 2017

While the MMORPG craze of the last decade doesn't have quite as many new entries looking for a slice of the genre pie today, plenty of exciting takes on the classic EverQuest-style MMORPG and new, more-action and social focused options continue to appear year after year, alongside emerging and evolving genres (like survival) that take aspects of the MMO and turn them into new styles of games. 2017 has many cool titles to keep an eye on, and while there are far more than five MMOs on the way and big updates for existing titles, these are the ones we're looking forward to the most.

5. Camelot Unchained
Platform: PC
Release: TBA

Players looking for a taste of the three-realm massive war they may remember from Dark Age of Camelot should keep an eye on Camelot Unchained. With a focus on crafting, building, and whatever level of dungeon running and raiding you are looking for, Camelot Unchained promises a brutal tri-faction war on top of all the usual MMO trappings – up to and including a dungeon to fight over, The Depths, which almost certainly draws its inspiration from Darkness Falls, a Dark Age of Camelot dungeon still praised today not only for its epic battles, but the massive drama involved with destroying opposing factions as they struggle to topple a titanic boss.

4. Crowfall
Platform: PC
Release: Open-beta mid 2017

While Crowfall has some features we all know and love from traditional MMORPGs like classes, skills, progression, crafting, etc, it's also different as there's a huge meta-strategy game layered on top. There's no theme park to play in here outside of the one players create for themselves by capturing valuable resources, building alliances, and laying siege to opposing nations. It's possible to lone wolf around and make a name for yourself, but the mechanics behind Crowfall make it beneficial to find a guild. Various formats allow players to participate in campaigns which have finite timelines to declare world victors, or stay forever on an eternal kingdom where one nation could be the leader for all time. Crowfall has us captivated with an eclectic mix of old and new MMO philosophies, and we can't wait to dive in.

3. Lost Ark
Platform: PC
Release: TBA

Lost Ark promises to be that holy grail of games that's somewhere between the sensibilities of the standard MMORPG and a hack-n-slash title like Diablo. As other titles like Blade & Soul have come to North America, it's likely we'll see Lost Ark arrive sometime as well. Will it be in 2017? Maybe. The concept has been tried before, but Lost Ark looks like the most promising of the genre-melding amalgamations.

2. Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen
Platform: PC
Release:TBA

With a heavy-focus on the "old-school" MMORPG as its inspiration, Pantheon nevertheless is determined to innovate and expand upon the EverQuest-style game. With discovery and exploration factoring heavily into the play experience and a team of MMO heavyweights behind the title, if any game can bring the classic MMORPG back to the forefront of the genre, this looks like the one that can do it. Check out more in our preview here.

1. Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
Platform: PS4, PC, Mac
Release: June 20

As with many MMO expansions, players can look forward to tons of new features and a new job - The Red Mage! With "chain magic", a new raid, new dungeons, level cap increase, swimming and diving, and more,  Final Fantasy XIV continues to provide loads of things for players to do with of constant content releases during the year and giant game updates in the form of expansions. We can't wait to hop on our chocobos and take a dip in some of the new water environments this summer.

Be sure to check our our most anticipated adventure, action, shooter, and role-playing games lists as well.