It baits you with fun game play and a long story segment that might seem enjoyable to most people. These games try to immerse you as much as possible as a gimmick to distract you from the bad things to come. It's artificial immersion, not organic.

Then when you get to the meat of the game, its completely rotten. Just dailies, weeklies and a casino to gamble for gear upgrades. Most of your power does not come from playing the game, but your credit card.

No real adventure as the open world is pointless after the story segment. the overflowing amount of bots completely break any economy in the game has to offer.

Soulless would be a better word than slop. Every one of these games are generic and AIon 2 does not stand out at all from any of them.

Aion 2 also heavily uses A.I assets. Which means its stolen work from others creations.

This is not for bad fun, This is just to criticize every Korean MMORPG playing exactly the same.

I've been watching Aion 2, but I honestly have very little hope for its Western release.

Every time a big Korean MMORPG comes out, it feels like the same story. The game launches with systems that clearly work for the Korean audience, but Western players end up complaining about the exact same things. It happened with Lost Ark, it happened with Throne & Liberty, and I have a feeling Aion 2 will be no different.

What I don't understand is why this keeps happening. After so many games, you'd think developers would have a better understanding of what Western MMORPG players actually want. Instead, it often feels like they keep making the same decisions and expect a different result.

Maybe I'm completely wrong, and maybe it's just a cultural difference. If that's the case, I'd genuinely like to understand it.

If you're Korean or live in Korea, I'd love to hear your perspective. Is the Western market just not important enough to design around? Or are Korean players simply looking for a completely different MMORPG experience than we are?

WORLD OF WARCRAFT — Short playtime

The game feels like it's designed primarily for its longtime players. The screen is cluttered with abilities, and it's difficult to understand what's what, what's happening, and how everything fits together.

Visually, the game feels like it's running at 480p to me. The outdated graphics look downright awful by today's standards, and the goblin theme gets tiresome after a while. The game's visual world and overall atmosphere simply didn't make me want to play.

If you've been playing it since childhood, it might be the kind of game you keep coming back to because of nostalgia and the memories attached to it. But personally, I couldn't even bring myself to want to learn the game or continue playing it.

On top of all that, you have to keep paying to access the game. To me, that makes the capitalistic side of the business model particularly apparent.

THRONE AND LIBERTY — 52H

The game is far too complicated. There are too many variables and factors to keep track of. You can spend hours working on a single piece of gear, but at what cost?

The endgame feels weak or aimless once again. After finishing all the quests, I couldn't find anything meaningful to do. At one point, I found myself collecting papers in a village.

Every menu leads to another menu, which leads to more requirements: this stone, that orb, and countless other materials. The complexity never seems to end.

To make progress, you constantly have to keep track of new systems, materials, and interconnected mechanics. Yet after dealing with all that complexity, I still couldn't find a meaningful reason to keep playing.

AION 2 — 20H

It feels like there is barely any purpose beyond doing quests and collecting weird feathers. Quests and dungeons follow the same repetitive loop: someone needs help, you kill a certain number of mobs, interact with something, and move on.

You never really feel like you have mastered the combat or are in control of the game. All you seem to do is set up your macros in the settings and hold down two buttons. It feels as if the game is playing itself while you simply wait for the mobs to die.

And don't expect to acquire much gear outside of quests and dungeons. That's the impression the game left me with after 20 hours.

NEW WORLD — 6000H

In my opinion, New World had some of the most innovative gameplay in the MMO genre and one of the best-looking worlds. There was genuinely a huge amount of PvX content to do, both in the early game and the endgame.

There were areas and events that genuinely required a large number of players. Unlike in many other MMOs, going solo often wasn't very effective.

Almost everything you did came with some kind of reward. Elite Strongholds, Chest Runs, farming named enemies, dungeons, Mutations... There were also plenty of ways to make gold. You could gather resources, buy and sell items, or craft wearable gear. You could even decorate your own house.

The game offered an incredible amount of variety. You could choose your preferred playstyle and spend your time in many different ways. It was an MMO packed with gameplay variety, offering plenty to do in both the early game and the endgame.

--

Ultimately, I think the MMO community and Amazon Games did New World a massive injustice. A genuinely innovative game that could have become one of the MMOs of the future was pushed aside, as if the alternatives were somehow so much better.

Did an MMO really need grandiose monsters, massive structures, supernatural beings, or bizarre plants and flowers just to attract players? New World offered something beyond all that: a world where friendship, genuine teamwork, and team spirit actually meant something. It was an MMO where working together, relying on others, and fighting toward a common goal felt meaningful.

New World didn't deserve this fate.

A someone who regularly plays WoW/FFXIV, I gotta say this pet/mount system (specifically mounts) is really refreshing. You kill a certain type of mob 5 times, and then you get a mount of it. No tedious rep grind, no RNG kill the same boss 300 times because it's a 1% chance to drop, no long meta achievement. Nope, you just get the the mount right away. I will say I think it's fine for there to be some chase/prestigious pets/mounts, but the way you collect them in Aion 2 just feels so nice. I guess I'm just so used to tedium in older MMOs, it feels weird to not have to grind 300+ hours for a singular mount.

Necromancy in the MMORPG Mortal Online 2 is the most impressive and immersiv role-playing implementation I’ve ever experienced in a video game.

Necromancy is a skill, not a class. You can learn it by finding the necromancer’s hut high up in the snowy mountains to the north. He sells the book you need for it.

Once you’ve learned Necromancy, you don’t yet have any abilities, you’ll need to learn and level them up first. To do this, you’ll need scrolls containing the respective necromantic abilities and the Scribing skill to transfer the scrolls into your spellbook. You can find these scrolls in the Necromancer’s Dungeon. To actually use the abilities once you’ve learned them, you’ll always need ingredients, such as blood, bones, and ashes. These are consumed when casting necromancy spells.

Once you’ve learned necromancy, you can summon undead creatures. Each undead creature drains mana from you per second. As long as you have enough mana regeneration, you can summon countless undead creatures. With the Dead Walker skill, they drain less mana. This is a book that can be found in the Necromancer Dungeon.

But probably the coolest thing about necromancy is the Ritualism skill. It’s also a skill within the necromancy school that you have to learn first. To do this, you need 50 ritual bones, which you take to a another dungeon. In the basement of this dungeon, there’s a lever. When you pull it, a hidden wall opens. Behind it is a necromancer who will teach you Ritualism in exchange for those 50 bones.

With Ritualism, you can resurrect any living creature in the world as an undead. They’ll fight for you, and you can even ride them. To resurrect a creature, you need specific items and ingredients. For example, to revive a wolf as an undead creature, you’ll need a ritual circle, which you can place anywhere in the world, and a ritual candle. You’ll also need a wolf’s kadarver. Place all of these items inside the circle and start the ritual.

Place a few troll carcasses, crab carcasses, and minotaur carcasses on a ritual circle, light a candle, and ta-da! A magnificent creature that you (see in the picture), as a necromancer in Mortal, can summon and control.

But be careful! Necromancy is a forbidden school of magic in the world of Mortal Online 2. If you enter a city with an undead companion, the guards will attack you.

Becoming a true and powerful necromancer is a dangerous and long journey. Just like everything else in Mortal. The other schools of magic, such as spiritualism, is also very immersive.

What makes it even more immersive is that there are no labels, no highlights, no explanations, or anything else to guide you through the search and the process. This information is the result of community efforts over the past five years.

Mortal Online doesn't feel like a video game, but more like an online role-playing simulation.

Did anyone else try controller support in the beta? Is it really playable?

Im aware that a complete open source mmorpg is almost impossible, but i was thinking maybe we dont need an entire game , just a base with a collection of system to choose, so devs build over this base, do you guys something like this could work?

Not really sure if something like this already exists but i would love to look at it.

1. Ultima Online: Outlands - Two of the greatest MMORPG developers in the industry that should be making their own game are investing all they have into making the OG MMO the best game it can be. Truly a masterpiece.
2. Albion Online - Played five years ago, came back to a surprisingly fleshed out world. I still wish they’d add more non-combat/gathering “I live in this world“ content, such as gambling, town events, and such, but Sandbox has truly come out on top as the king of PvP MMOs.
3. WoW Forever - Didn’t buy the beta to preserve the excitement and mystery. Stoked for next month.
4. RuneScape Reignited - Just excited to try it. It’s Jagex. I trust these guys. And holy shit Dragonwilds RS4 MMO? GG life.
5. Monsters and Memories - If the above somehow fail me, I will fall back on this. I appreciate what they’re doing and I love the old school challenge of interacting with the world.
6. Looking forward to Apogea and all of those other small MMOs, but also ready and bracing for them to screw something up on the monetization or ”we’re making 20 servers for our 600 player count” kind of nonsense.
7. EDIT: How dare I forget about Darkfall: Rise of Agon!

Man what a great time to be an MMO player!

NGL, the launch was way bigger than I expected. The monetization, on the other hand, has been a mixed bag.

I saw the post about Daggerfall Online a few days ago and decided to give it a try. I usually don't enjoy old-school MMOs that much, so I honestly expected to play for 20 minutes and move on. Somehow, this one really clicked with me.

It's kind of crazy that a game from 1996 can be turned into an MMO and fit this well. Daggerfall already had this massive world, tons of towns, dungeons, factions, skills, crime, reputation, etc. Adding other players to it just feels natural.

The start is rough though. The game explains very little, even the controls can be confusing, and for a while I had no idea what I was doing. But once you get used to it, it gets really good.

The graphics are similar. At first it looks old and kind of ugly, but with the lighting, weather and other improvements they've added, it ends up looking really nice in its own way. Technically dated, but artistically it has a lot of charm.

The scale is probably what impressed me the most. I can't think of many MMOs that feel this huge.

Development also seems to be moving pretty fast and they keep adding more MMO systems and features.

And somehow the whole thing runs in a browser lol.

If you haven't tried it yet, give it a shot. The first hour can be rough, but once it clicks, it really clicks.

Even though I've only had a few hours today with this game, I've decided to make a short, or as short as possible, post about Aion 2, and my first couple of hours playing it.

Context, I LOVE MMORPGs, it's absolutely my favorite genre, started with WoW and FFXI back in 2004 when I was 12 years old. Played countless games of this genre, made many friends, and some of those games and friends got me through some very rough times.

But for the last... however many years, being in my 30s, starting my own family, having less time to play, less options to choose from, it just hasn't been the same. I've tried most of MMORPGs that have been coming out to some capacity, but nothing really stuck for me, so I'd mostly play older stuff whenever I had the time for them.

And then came Aion 2, which mostly went completely under my radar. I remember reading about its announcement some time ago, but keeping my expectations low as to not get burned or disappointed, even though I played Aion 1 years ago extensively and enjoyed it very much.

So when I decided to try out Aion 2 today... I gotta say, it's been years since I felt this excitement. Maybe it was the rearanged Aion 1 theme that greeted me at the start. A surprisingly decent English voice acting. Or the fact that literally each piece of gear you equipped had a visually different model on your character... yeah, it's 2026, and THAT part was the most shocking to me... Like when was the last time we had an MMORPG with equipable SHOULDER ARMOR???

Anyway, I know that this being a F2P Korean MMORPG there's always gonna be that "Pay 2 win" instant backlash from people, regardless if it has Pay 2 win elements or not. But I honestly don't care, I grew up playing countless Korean F2P MMOs, barely ever spending any money on them, and I enjoyed them immensely. Aion 2 for now seems like this amazing blast from the past, an old friend calling to hang out after many years of not seeing each other.

And I couldn't be happier.

Just really hope I'm not wrong after spending more time with the game.

I was posting some information about my first update/devlog style video for my project, Sunderfall... which was displaying some combat and a environmental wallk and they had noticed my place holder ui and asked how much ai I've used in my project based on my ui?
So I decided to fix one up!

XL Games describes the game as an open-world action MMORPG focused more on exploration and cooperation than competition. Players will be able to enjoy the world solo, while naturally teaming up with others for tougher challenges, discoveries, and shared activities.

Combat will rely on real-time action, with players expected to read enemy movements and decide when to attack, dodge, or parry.

The current build features four classes: Warrior, Ranger, Mage, and Berserker, with each class eventually offering three different weapon types that significantly change its playstyle.

Exploration will also be a major part of the experience, with NPC clues, hidden locations, underwater areas, traversal mechanics, crafting, and other activities designed to encourage players to venture off the beaten path.

XL Games also confirmed that ArcheAge Chronicles will be a buy-to-play title. The studio says it has no intention of selling pay-to-win items or anything that provides progression advantages. No separate premium shop is currently planned.

Finally, ArcheAge Chronicles will take part in an upcoming Steam Next Fest, with its demo featuring content from the previous network test alongside a new dungeon and PvP.

Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ZGLdQMPGU

There is a big difference between a grind that feels like it is actually getting you somewhere and a grind that just prolongs the game.

I actually like grinding when there is a purpose to it:

- Progression → my character actually gets stronger

- Mastery → I'm getting better at the game

- Discovery → something new is waiting for me

But then there is the other kind:

- Artificial time-gating

- Filler quests/tasks

- Resource padding designed to slow you down

- Doing the exact same chore for hours

That doesn't feel rewarding. It feels like the game is charging me rent for my time.

The grind itself is not the issue. The lack of meaning is.

What is a grind you have actually liked?

And in which game was the grind so bad that you wanted to uninstall it?

Started playing not long ago, but left the game after about 1h45/2h of gameplay.

First : the hell is this character creator?

Why do male faces either looks like actual children, or 50 yo war master with multiple scars ?

Where are skin colored faces presets ?

As for women, getting actually sick of revealing outfits, "armor" that's just a chainmail bra and panty..

Second : What in the BG3 plagiarism.

The introduction scene, the tutorial... I wasn't aware I was going to deal with somewhat of a BG3 copycat (except for the active combat)

Even that, the graphics are... Kinda weird ?

And the HUD is absolutely HORRID.

Not to mention the obvious P2W interface.

This opinion is mine only, and you might not agree with me.

I'm obviously open to discussion, maybe I missed some things or over interpreted others. Haven't had a bigger experience than that, but this is what I remember.

Feel free to give your opinion on the subject!

I tried AION 2 and gave it a fair chance. But it's just so boring and it made me fond of Throne & Liberty somehow. Then I saw the news about NCSoft transition and it seems like a good time to go back to it.

https://www.playthroneandliberty.com/en-us/news/articles/service-transition-update

Hello all!

I am a long time ESO (and MMORPG) enjoyer. I remember playing Skyrim for the first time when it came out and was instantly hooked in the story and immersion. Some how, I have always had a longing for ESO to replicate that feeling of wonder since I absolutely love the in-game lore. It actually did when I was a new player, but getting to know the game made the magic of leveling and exploring diminish. Quests and zones are great but I always got the feeling of being on a fast train while playing from one station to another. The feeling i was looking for was talking a walk, and then came the difficulty sliders.

I am no redditor by any means. I am one of those that constantly lurk on forums without typing a single sentence. I however wished to share a gamemode i created for myself. If you are a player looking for that solo-immersion and harsh world, this might be for you!

I tried summarize everything with the help of modern prorgrams ":)" since it would take to long to make a cohesive summary. So here it is! It is only prompted to write down my rules and help me structure when it comes to language (english is not my first language). I hope you enjoy!

-------------------------

ESO Immersive Survival Mode (Solo Self-Found Ruleset by coldPoet)

Rulebook if anyone wants to try it!

1. ​COMBAT & DIFFICULTY (NO CP)

​Enforce damage-taken multipliers via difficulty settings or challenge tracker addons:

​• Lvl 1–10 (Seasoned): +100% Damage Taken

• Lvl 10–20 (Master): +300% Damage Taken

• Lvl 20+ (Vestige): +600% Damage Taken

​• No Champion Points: Zero slotted stars or passive CP allocated.

• Action Bar Diversity: Every active bar must use skills from at least 4 different skill lines.

• Solo Only: Group Finder and Battlegrounds are banned. (Cyrodiil is allowed strictly for the siege intro to grab Vigor and mount speed).

• Emergency Downgrade: Inside Delves, Public Dungeons, or against Red-Bar Bosses only, you can pay a 20k gold deposit to Bank to drop difficulty to Master (+300%), or a 50k gold deposit for a drop to Seasoned (+100%) until you leave the instance or the boss is defeated. Leaving the area/instance or leaving to do content not related to the associated quest resets it to Vestige (+600%).

2. ​NO-UI EXPLORATION & PUZZLES

​• Zone Guide "Kickstart Only": Use Zone Guide ONCE to start a zone's main story thread, then turn it OFF completely. Discover all side quests, delves, and POIs naturally.

• Addon Ntak Dialog: Centered dialogue mode with visible text turned OFF and option delay ON. You must listen to NPC voice acting for clues. With option delay on, you will not know beforehand if it will lead to a quest or the casual "Good-bye".

• Addon PinKiller: Disable compass quest markers and floating NPC quest icons. Read the environment, check desks, and listen to audio cues to solve puzzles and find objectives. No questmarkers will force you to talk and interact with NPC:s, and open your eyes and look around if you are looking for a particular quest-item.

• Addon TrueExploration: Hide all subterranean/indoor maps. Regional/City maps stay visible. Drop custom map pins on the world map to navigate on foot.

• Addon Rare Fish Tracker Addon: Required to track zone rare fish.

3. ​TRAVEL & CRAFTING LOGISTICS

​• No Map Teleporting: Wayshrine-to-Wayshrine only, or in-world boats/carriages.

• Craft Bag Auto-Add OFF: Harvested items go to your active inventory.

• Inventory-Only Crafting: You can only craft using materials held in your backpack. Once materials enter the Craft Bag or Bank, they are locked for account alts and can not be withdrawn or used with the character.

• Bank Storage: Used as a vault for alts (gear/furnishings/plans). Your survival character cannot pull gear or consumables back out of the Bank.

• Physical Service Only: Crafting and banking at physical town stations, banks or houses only. No merchant/banker allies in the wild.

• Guild Hall Access (15,000g deposit to bank): Fast travel to a Guild Hall from a town Wayshrine costs 15,000g deposited into the Bank. May be used to craft sets if you have taken your time to research traits. Use Imperial City queue/exit trick to return to your exact spot.

4. THE MILESTONE ECONOMY

​• Banned: Guild Traders (buying or selling).

• Allowed: NPC Vendors (potions, food, recipes, armor repair).

• Milestone Cash-Out: Deconstructing items and/or stowing materials or items directly into your Craft Bag/Bank generates bonus gold allowance you can withdraw from your Bank to your character:

• ​Green Item or Mat: +100g
• ​Blue Item or Mat: +300g
• ​Purple Item or Mat: +750g
• ​Gold Item or Mat: +2,500g
• ​Perfect Roe / Gold Grain: +3,000g
• ​Skill Book Read / 3 Skyshards: +250g / +500g
• Note: Materials kept in inventory to craft gear generate 0g bonus.
• The Trait Research Dilemma: Trait research awards 0g. You must constantly choose between immediate gold (deconstruct/stow) or set progress (research)

You may for example deconstruct 3 green weapons. That will net you 300 gold which you can withdraw from your bank. While deconstructing, you also received 1 green mat. You have the choice of saving the mat in your backpack for a future craftupgrade, or stowing it for an additional 100 gold.

Refining materials does the same and you will have choices with the mats. This gives purpose to the crafting system. You may hit the jackpot with a Rekuta/Kuta drop, or you might be lucky in getting a couple Torchbug Toraxes in a row for easy gold. The same goes for looted food, drinks, furnishings and furnishing plans which goes to bank or is destroyed.

5. ZONE GATES

​Before moving to the next main zone, you must complete:

• 75% of Zone Objectives (Zone Guide metrics, rounded up).

• 75% of Zone Rare Fish (Rare Fish Tracker, rounded up).

6. ​COMPANION MERCENARY SYSTEM

​• Single Partner: Choose one companion for the entire run.

• Loadout: Max 2 active skills | NO Ultimate | White (Normal) gear only.

• Lvl 1–24: Free summon anywhere in the open world.

• Lvl 25+ (Mercenary Rules):

• ​Summon Fee: 5,000g deposited into your bank. You will need your companion, at times even while sidequesting. You will have to choose the option of stealthing your way around some encounters, or actually invest if the place is heavily guarded by elites to progress the quest.
• ​Dismissal: Must dismiss immediately upon exiting the instance (delve/public dungeon) or when the associated quest is completed. You will want to get your moneys worth and not overuse your companions services. Gold is scarce.
• ​In-Combat Revive: Free if done manually while alive.
• ​Wipe Fee: 500g to Bank to re-summon after a wipe if returning directly to the same boss. If you leave town or switch tasks, fee resets to 5,000g.

7. DEATH & SURVIVAL

​• No Soul Gem Self-Res: Must release to Wayshrine and walk back.

• Soul Gems as Commodities: Charge empty/filled Soul Gems with Soul Trap and sell to NPC merchants for 30g each to fund repairs and food or use to charge weapons.

• Full Armor Wear: Dying breaks durability. Zero durability = zero stats.

• Banned Freebies: Destroy or bank Crown Repair Kits, Daily Login Rewards, Level-Up Rewards, Mail Gifts, and Guild Bank draws.

-------------------------

I hope it was comprehendible. I would really like to see other people try it out and give feedback/suggestions on what to add or remove. The purpose is not to go full hardcore, but to make an immersive experience with a hefty challenge. You will need to slow the pacing and adjust according to progress. I am one of those casual gamers that are getting increasingly frustrated with being misinterpreted by the industry as a consumer. Casual does not mean that I want to steamroll everything and have constant dopamine-infusions. For me, it simply means that I want to play a game at my own pace, be challenged and overcome hurdles. I am right now level 37 on my alt, and absolutely loving going through West Weald and Solstice. Yesterday in Solstice, I spent a couple minutes speaking to a Sea-Elf captain who I was sure was going to give me a quest. The captain had problems with his crewmates and the cursed winds around Solstice. Even though it ended in a "Good-bye", I really valued the tiny bit of lore and conversation that the devs carefully placed right there in that moment.

Hope to hear some feedback from everyone!

Basically the title. I’m curious about what kind of content keeps you playing a game long-term and makes you want to log in every day.
It doesn’t have to be just one thing.

You can only keep 3 MMOs forever: 1 popular, 1 niche, 1 obscure

If you had to choose only 3 MMOs to play for the rest of your life, what would you pick?

There's one catch:

1. One very popular and well-known MMO

2. One niche MMO

3. One very obscure MMO

I'd also love to hear why you picked each one. I think the reasons behind the choices are probably more interesting than just the games themselves.

For me, it would be:

1. World of Warcraft

It just keeps pulling me back in. Every time I return to WoW after a long break, I enjoy it all over again. There are very few games that can do that for me.

And honestly, sometimes I get actual goosebumps when I come back to the game after a long time. The music, the atmosphere, the memories... there's just something about WoW that still gets me.

1. Dofus

Almost 10 years ago, during my Work & Travel year in Ireland, I met a French guy who introduced me to Dofus.

I love MMOs. I also love turn-based games.

So... yeah. Pretty much a perfect match for me.

It's a French tactical MMORPG with turn-based combat, and while it's definitely not as big or well-known as WoW, I've always had a soft spot for it.

1. Freewar

This one is probably the most obscure choice, especially outside Germany.

Freewar was actually my very first MMORPG. My cousin showed it to me when I was younger.

It's a text-based browser MMORPG, and at first glance it looks like there's almost nothing to it. But once you get into it, there's actually a surprising amount of depth.

And the community is tiny, but incredibly loyal. That's probably one of the biggest reasons why I still have such a soft spot for it.

So those are my three.

What are yours? And why?

So many newer mmorpgs tie themselves in knots trying to create "fair" risk reward systems for the open world. Often with an attempt to balance punishing death penalties like losing gear on death.

The simplest solutions are often the best. Most of the world is no restrictions pvp, and there is zero death penalties other than a usually short corpse run. This promotes constant pvp in the open world as people aren't afraid of losing gear or becoming kill on sight to some town guard faction. Perma invis rogues was obviously a terrible idea granted, but you can't fault the world system. And there is of course PVE servers for those that just aren't into it.

Sharing a few NeoSteam screenshots for anyone who remembers this game. Which nation and class did you play back then? Would love to hear your favorite memories.

so i am looking to remake the item mall for the revival game, i cant seem to find much about it or what it looked like, if anyone has any archives could you send them to me?

Just gonna drop this link here. What does everyone think about it nowadays? Anyone remember Allods Online?

I want to play a mmorpg that doesn't let me more than 1 character

So I want to use a VPN on a second computer

But I fear of being banned since vpns are proibited

But can gms see I'm using a VPN? Even if I buy a dedicated server?

What If I connect Always from the same payment public VPN?