I’m not playing it at the moment but the most recent one i was actively subscribed to was ffxi. I find that now when I want to pay an MMO I stray away from the wow likes (if i want that style it’s xiv for me though). I like the older ones that use more archaic combat systems because they’re often very unique on a genre where everything now feels very similar.
Actually, nowadays it’s very soloable: you can experience all of the story by yourself thanks to the Trust system. I only recently tried it, and control scheme wasn’t as bad as I expected (but you do need some patience). From what I gather you don’t really need to learn about macros and gear swapping mid fight in order to clear story content.
You had to team up to accomplish anything, so it was easy to make friends. The game also had zero handholding, which made it incredibly immersive. You can still experience the game as it was in 2004 on the private server HorizonXI. It’s popular and has thousands of people online at all times.
In addition to the community-aspects others have noted, the combat system is a bit slower-paced and extremely strategic. The jobs(classes) are all extremely unique and the sub-job system allows you to play them differently as needed. You can switch jobs on one character so you really grow attached to your specific character rather than making different characters for different classes.
You can swap-gear mid combat which gives you a lot of situational flexibility that makes it feel like you’re actively contributing to your success or failure. As an example you might have a set of great for a specific ability, or switch to defensive gear if you draw the enemy’s attention.
Additionally, the story is really nuanced and the side-characters are often very realistic in their choices, motivations, and there is a sense of consistency throughout the world that really makes it feel “lived-in” in a way a lot of other MMOs don’t bother with.
Honestly I could go on and on. It’s just a really special world and will stick with me for life. Even a few years out from playing I still get the itch to go back constantly. Vana’diel is like a second home for me.
I usually jump between Guild Wars 2 and the Elder Scrolls Online myself. But Warframe has been on the side of them as well since forever, but its more of MMO lite.
GW2 is very nice when it comes to combat and such, even if the large world events aren’t really my cup of tea as the FX gets pretty bad. The story is decent enough and there is no subscription option at all. You do however need to buy the expansions and the living world story to get the entire game, i think there is a “complete pack” on steam. But its free to play the base game even though free accounts are very limited and should be seen more as an endless trial.
ESO has a far better world and deeper lore than GW2 does but i find its combat to be especially awful. A subscription is practically mandatory if you want to do crafting as there are a /lot/ of crafting materials and not a lot of inventory space. With the subscription you get access to the crafting bag which is just unlimited storage for crafting materials. The subscription also gives you access to all the episodes and expansions apart from the latest one. The story is often good, but nothing too exceptional.
Warframe is completely different as its a third person shooter. Its got some of the best movement in the business imo. Its entirely free to play as well with ways to earns everything in game, including the premium currency as its tradable between players. Its got some of the wildest lore of any game ive played and as such is quite unique in its take on sci fi. The story is great, but relatively short. If you do give this one a shot and hate the gameplay its not going to be for you as there is a lot of grind. But if you want to play a space ninja/walking WMD bouncing off of the walls while murdering hordes of enemies its definitely worth a try.
Guildwars has been my choice for quite a while now. I enjoy most things about it, and it doesn’t feel like a job either. I can do my things, take a break, come back and still have fun. Plus all the cash shop items can be bought with in-game gold, which i do regularly.
Apart from that, I still really like ESO, in theory, but Zenimax continue showing incompetence and greed, so the interest there is decreasing fast. And that’s a shame
Age of Mythology: Retold. By far. It only came out in September and already it’s my 7th most-played Steam game of all time.
It was never in contention for the goty, by frankly I’m disappointed that it didn’t win its own category at least, because it is just so good. It delivers so perfectly on what it promised. It’s a remake that feels like how your nostalgia remembers the OG game, adding in excellent modern polish and exciting gameplay while keeping the core of what made the 2002 game so great.
I’ll probably try Project Rubi-ka when they reopen the servers/help them out with some bug hunting, since Anarchy Online, despite its flaws, is still the best MMORPG I’ve played to date… which is kinda sad tbh
I played a lot of MMOs during childhood but they’re not fun anymore to me. I hop on FF14 when a new expansion drops, play for like a month and go play something else. I miss the big group content sometimes but my schtick nowadays are these 4-player multiplayer games with actual good combat, maybe with like a lobby of more people to interact.
Looking forward to the new monster hunter and ER Nightreign next year. Also Destiny 2 is my guilty pleasure. The gunplay is godlike, so satisfying but omg Bungie fumbled so hard, I legit hate this company.
GW2 is probably one of the best MMOs out there, but it just no longer grabs me as it used to. I play sometimes, but in bursts. As soon as I run out of story content, I just fall off.
Lately I’ve played Corepunk and quite enjoyed it but it has ways to go still. And the servers are down for like a week now due to tech issues.
Last MMO that really grabed me long term in the last fee years was New World, but I feel the devs just don’t know what game they want. And there was huge content drought with them focusing on launching console version. I’m playing with an idea of getting the expac and make a leap of faith that it has a future because I’d really love that.
Also keeping my eye on Soulframe. It’s (or is supposed to be) a MMO lite but it looks like something that could definitely scratch an itch for me. Still in pre-alpha but I like what they are aiming for and it already plays quite well.
Palia, which is the closest I can get to a cozy, friendly MMORPG with a decent community. The lack of enemies doesn’t bother me, and I like feeling that I don’t need to grind for gear or status. That being said, the game desperately needs more content. I’m on hiatus at the moment.
As far as the others go, Everquest and World of Warcraft were/are still my favorites but I haven’t played them in years. MMORPGs are a dying breed, and today most if not all of them bring very little to the table. They don’t make 'em like they used to, that’s for sure.
These days, I prefer single player RPGs where choices matter, or games that have base-building elements and open world survival. I really don’t care for playing with other murder hobos anymore.
I think the game I’ve probably had the most fun with throughout the year and not including games I’ve recently gotten over the past month or two would have to be a 3 way tie between Balatro, Peglin, and Backpack Heroes. Balatro barely hangs on there, though, do to the boredom of playing it for long enough it’s starting to get a little boring.
I started playing GW2 at the end of 2023 an been having a blast with it! I played WoW for a decade until the combo of Shadowlands and the Acti-Blizz allegations soured me on that company forever. I tried FFXIV with everyone going over to that game and the story was good but the button bloat pushed me away from really getting into it. I then had that MMO itch at the end of 2023 again and decided to try GW2 and it’s been great. Fun story, good gameplay and most importantly no subscription. It’s so nice to be able to play with breaks and come back whenever you want to with no need to open up your wallet every time, just buy the expansions and Living Worlds once and you are done!
Every year I return to play GW2 for 2-3 month it’s always a blast. It would have been better if I had enough tine to play it constantly but. I love how fluid the combat is, I love how different classes are, I love the worldbuilding.
I’ve been playing for the past year and I’m about to quit. It really demands so much time and being on coms. I want an MMO that I can play while I have videos or a movie going on the other monitor.
I couldn't think of an amusement park MMO that would allow me to sit on a wormhole all day listening for an activation and watching youtube and not feel like I'm wasting money by not playing. the beautiful thing about eve is it requires as much of your time and attention as you're willing to give and it never feels like you're not progressing.
I feel almost the exact opposite. I don’t feel any progression and I do not enjoy the PvP elements of the game at all. I’m glad that you enjoy it, though.
Edit: by comparison, I’ve recently started playing Deep Rock Galactic and feel a great sense of progression without the game-ending effects of PvP. Losing a ship in Eve is a guaranteed time loss.
Eve is a hardcore full loot PvP game with real stakes, if that isn't your jam then Eve isn't.
The moment to moment game play is garbage but it's those moments of risking it all for glory that still get the heart racing and the hands shaking no matter how seasoned you are that's something literally no other game has been able to do for me.
I hope you at least played with friends because I couldn't think of anything worse or more boring than joining a large faceless null sec feeder corp and grinding PvE for a year in peace time.
Played many over the years and while playing think of how GW2 implemented this specific thing and become nostalgic for GW2 and start playing that again. New world was fun for a while, but I missed magic (literally), so I started gw2 again and went through two expansions over 4 months, burned out and am now 1.5 years MMO sober.
GW2 is cool like that. No subs, respects your time, many players drop in and out every few years. It’s getting old but I hope it never dies. I might start it up again this weekend…
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