2008 is poised to be the year of the MMO, with several high-profile games set to go live in the following calendar year. The near-ubiquitous World of Warcraft will see its second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, sometime in the first quarter. Faithful WoW addicts have committed every last detail to memory and are already visiting Northrend in their dreams, so the details are hardly worth mentioning. As with all MMORPG expansions, Wrath of the Lich King is the online equivalent of an arcade timer, prompting players to insert more quarters for continued play. For the uninitiated, the level cap has been raised, there's a new continent to explore, a new class and instances... eh, why bother listing the new goodies? The expansion won't bring in new players, and will sell at nearly a one-to-one ratio with the current active user base. Full disclosure: here's to hoping that Blizzard's next MMORPG (hinted at by a Blizzard employee) is based on the Diablo franchise.
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is easily the most-anticipated MMORPG expansion of 2008
Wrath of the Lich King has the trademark Blizzard attention to detail
Now that we've got that out of the way, we can move on to the year's new releases. If Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean is too sanitized for your tastes, Sony Online Entertainment's Pirates of the Burning Sea may be the MMO that suits your inner pirate. YouGamers' own Jarno Kokko took the game for a brief whirl, and while his initial impressions were tempered by performance issues, it appears as though the game has potential. If the issues are cleaned up in time for the January 22 release, this seafaring online adventure may be the online game for you.
Sony is banking on the currently popularity of all things pirate with its MMORPG Pirates of the Burning Sea
Finally, what you've been waiting for - Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, an MMORPG based on the fantasy world of Robert E. Howard
If you're not interested in testing out your sea legs, a number of other MMOs are slated for a first-quarter release. Arnold Schwarzenegger may be taking a political stance against violent video games as Governator, but the character he once played is making a return to computer screens in Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Going live on March 25, Eidos Interactive's Funcom-developed MMORPG is set in the fantasy world of author Robert E. Howard, and promises combat-heavy gameplay within a richly developed (and visually stunning, if preview shots are to be believed) game world. With an advanced graphics engine and a semi-real-time melee combat system, Age of Conan may have the elements to bring in the ever-important subscribers at launch time. Crom!
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