Game from the early 2000s was big in Korea, China and had good following in Europe.

Old School grind fest, currently still up and running with a recent update and a lot of returning players.

Build your warrior/mage or craft.

https://myth-of-soma.com

Anyone else have memories of this game?

NCsoft has announced that Aion 2 will enter early access in the West on September 30, 2026, for PC. This date specifically refers to the game’s early access launch, available to players who purchase a Founder’s Pack. The full free-to-play release will follow on October 5, 2026.

Three Founder’s Pack editions are available :

• The Standard Pack $24.99 includes early access, a resource chest, and the exclusive Vanguard of Atreia title.
• The Deluxe Pack $49.99 also features an armor appearance and the Eternal Sun weapon skin.
• The Ultimate Pack $99.99 includes the Moonlight Aria outfit, the Black Dragon pet, and the Blazing Sun wings.

After 10 years of mostly solo and then eventually duo development, as well as a dozen playtests, my free-to-play indie 2D platformer MMORPG Soul's Remnant finally launches into Early Access on August 13th via Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3451980/Souls_Remnant

If you enjoyed classic MMOs like MapleStory, Ragnarok Online, and Mabinogi, then this game is for you.

Soul's Remnant features a classless skill system, hundreds of items to hunt down, dungeons and bosses to take on with friends, crafting and gathering, and a killer 40+ song original soundtrack written by myself! The game is built for players who love grinding, partying up, trading, and building a character your own way, all within a fully player-driven economy. And to top it all off, there’s absolutely no pay-to-win as monetization is only through cosmetics and convenience.

Wishlist Soul's Remnant on Steam and join us come August 13th!

Just a random thought I had while playing Guild Wars, thinking of how a big thing is that there is not much of a power creep and the whole horizontal progression thing. Of course there is some vertical progression trying to get legendaries and all that, but you can get up to speed very quickly to do a lot of content fast, which is really cool.

I am also playing a game called Farever which is an MMO light and so far every new weapon you get even if it is the same type of weapon like there are two different great axes right now one is named world splitter, one is Judgment and they have the same attack chain animation but totally different abilities and buffs and passives and skills attached and those have different inimations and styles.

What if there was a game where the grind was not necessarily for new and better stats gear but for new abilities and gear that might be better or worse depending on what role you want or how you want to play. Like, sure, you get your base class or weapon skills, but the incentive to go and kill enemies and bosses would be new skills and/or new gear that has special new abilities. The skills would not necessarily do more damage, but they would broaden your playstyle and give you more choices and freedom on how to play. Maybe there is some way to level them once you get them so there is some power creep because I like the idea of getting stronger, but I also feel like in some games the power gap is just too much. You would still have to choose between what skills to equip, but you get a broad selection.

I am not too well-versed in the complexities of how games are made, but I am sure it is more difficult to build skills than to just build different armors and weapons with different states. But games have different bosses with a ton of different attacks, so if there is a way they can just transfer those abilities and animations to the playable characters.

Just food for thought. What do you guys think?

My first MMORPG was Ultima Online. I was around 10 years old, and although I barely understood the game, one thing amazed me: almost every character I met was another real person. That felt magical.

A few years later, I discovered World of Warcraft.

As a teenager, I was insecure about my appearance, so meeting new people in real life wasn't easy. In WoW, nobody knew what I looked like. We met while questing, added each other to our friends lists, and logged in after school hoping the other person was online.

When I played Lineage II and many other MMORPGs. Eventually life got busy, and games faded into the background.

Years later, after a difficult period in my life, I found myself back in an MMORPG. This time, it's LU4. Different people. Same feeling.

I still enjoy wandering through towns full of player shops, teaming up with random people for quests, and inspecting high-level players, wondering how long it'll take me to get there.

Some places just feel familiar, no matter how much time passes. For me, MMORPGs have always been one of those places.

10 years ago, even 20 years ago, there were a huge number of MMOs where you could do everything every isekai anime showcases. You'd play the tutorial, meet someone, they'd ask you to join their guild, you joined, made new friends, then eventually joined the TeamSpeak, Ventrilo, forum, or whatever social platform they used to arrange raids, parties, and everything related to the game.

You could genuinely make real life friends that lasted for years or even decades. While there was always a "big" MMO like WoW, there was enough room for everyone. Almost every month a new MMO was announced, and it had a healthy enough population.

I remember some of my best memories from that era were just sitting at 2 AM with people, fishing and talking about life, or meeting someone while doing PvP and becoming friends, or just helping random newbies. Even those martial arts MMOs that suddenly came out, where you could run while holding hands with random party members or people you married IG lol. I even joined RP-heavy servers and enjoyed them a lot.

Nowadays, all online games feel empty. I really don't know how, but even the most popular online games lack that social element that made you fall in love with old MMOs. I've tried modern games, but I always end up getting bored because everyone is hyper-focused on PvP or the solo PvE experience, and you can do everything by yourself, so you never really need to interact with anyone.

I think the closest I've come to feeling that vibe again was with New World and Hardcore Classic Wow, but even then... New World came out 5 years ago and is already dead.

Is there any current MMO that still has this? Or any game? I've tried the cozy, chill games, but I just can't connect with them. They feel boring in the long run. Or maybe it's just me. Maybe the games still have it, and I'm just old.

The crave to play mmo again hits me and I thought of downloading rift but sadly the game is dead.

I was thinking to make a full party of people who want to start from scratch as a group and do all the content together with no rush or anything, take it slow and enjoy the ride. Newbies, old players, doesn't matter who and what you are. Everyone is welcome (idk how many people can be in a group) worst case we can have 2 parties or something.

[EUROPE] but NA people are welcome aswell, we will manage it somehow.

Will make a discord if there is a demand.

Edit: we can try other games and try to find the mmo that hits the best for all of us, feel free to suggest something different.

Solved!!! Infinity Online

I hope this is the right place.

I'm looking for the name of a very old 3d online free to play beat'em up action game that had a anime like asthetic and rpg elements for PC.

I don't remember much but you could chose 1 character from a list and it was gender locked. One of the male characters looked like a shirtless tribal barbarian holding a sword in one hand and a metal gauntlet/claw like equipament with pointy fingers in the other

He uses the gauntlet/claw to slash enemies like wolverine too

Maybe he had white hair (not sure)

Maybe an animal skin skirt with zebra pattern around the waist, not sure

The other character was a female using a big scythe

Something tells me she wears a red dress (again not sure)

It had more characters but I only remember 2. Each character had a different weapon and fighting style and you could unlock more character with currency.

Fantasy setting. One of the first stages had a beach/tropical vibe to it like an island full of trees and plants

The game is not open world, it progresses stage to stage while you level up killing monsters.

It was a coop game (4 ppl in a party? But u could play solo too) gameplay fast paced beat'em up kinda like continent of ninth against enemies and monsters but very old maybe 2005-2010 (I really don't know)

No Chinese asthetics, more like anime league of legends vibe visuals as far as I remember

It's not divine souls, elsword, grand chase, c9, rakion, krytika, rusty hearts, dragonica, dragon nest

I don't remember much about the game so if you can't help me, don't worry about.

Don't need to stress much over this because my memory of this game is very foggy and it could be some wrong information provided

Thanks in advance! Idk how to put the image displaying on the post sorry

reference

https://imgur.com/a/j9jTvBz

Thought some folks here would appreciate this video, Noclip just released a documentary on the history of MMORPGs.

It would direct link it but I think that’s against community rules!

If you haven’t watched their stuff before, they’re probably my favorite gaming YouTube channel.

Their documentaries are incredibly well-researched, they get access to developers most outlets don’t, and they do a great job pushing back against a lot of the oversimplified or just plain wrong narratives that tend to spread online about game development.
Figured this community would enjoy it. Looking forward to watching it myself.

When I was in WoW from early vanilla till mid MoP (my bread and butter for almost 10y) - raiding was the definition of the whole point of an MMO. The questing was just a beeline, and it was that fiending in the end with guild schedules and the loot drama that was the real dopamine for me. In a way it was the social element coming full circle with the endgame loop that requires truly a lot of people - to be on board for the same thing. When I thinka bout it, 40 man raids in vanilla were ehm something special (I mean it) but not something I would care to repeat either. 

I quit when I burned out hard enough and I realized I wasn't having fun anymore, I was maintaining a second job that cost me money. To this day I only have one other “entertainment” subscription , and that’s HBO Max (because I’m always rewatching the Sopranos lmao)

Coming back to any MMO now, I’m always approaching them with a different goal in mind. To chill after work, because I can no longer enjoy them as time sinks that I need to set my clock to. I can’t play them that way without feeling guilty as an adult, without disregarding about more than half of my real life obligations and responsibilities. It don’t make it any easier none of my immediate friends are hc gamers, and at best I can get my wife interested only in the cozy variety of MMO (Palia, if you consider it an MMO) and the upcoming Loftia, which is about the closest fit the two of us can get on board on.

Whatever I do play today, for my own soul, I do it for being in the world and that sense of adventuring and exploration, and the story (LOTRO and WoW Classic, where… funnily enough… I do not raid) 

I’m currently leveling in WoW HC with that addon that reads all the quest logs, so it feels like I’m immersing myself in the whole story and that PEAK worldbuilding that classic had. And discovered how much fun it can be without trying to rush to the endgame even if developers (especially for retail) force the endgame to be the intended experience. 

I know that I will die pre lvl 40 again, but I am finally enjoying the adventure, the road itself instead of the destination. I guess that’s the gist of the classic experience, in the end: doing your own thing and having fun your own way, with your own people, and not giving a F about what others may think. And consciously resisting the FOMO, just locking it out of your mind and focusing on the experience in front of you… It increasingly seems like the only way a grown man can enjoy an MMO now.

I see this is the only game that has those classes (vampire, hunter and alien) and i'm curious if someone still playing this.

I think everyone can agree that this sub has seen a massive amount of posts fitting this criteria. It feels like we have seen up to a dozen, if not more, per week, sometimes multiple per day. Every single time it's the same thing. Clearly using AI for everything, super premature state of the game, no steam page, almost always a solo "developer" who refers to their "team" behind the game. These are prototypes at best, 99.9% of them will never see the light of day. It's a waste of all of our time when someone with zero game development experiences decides that because AI exists, they are suddenly qualified to create the hardest genre of game to create.

IMO the rules for posting your upcoming game should include:

• Steam page is required. Steam at least has some vetting process in place. This would weed out almost all of these posts.
• The poster should be transparent about not only AI usage in their initial post, but their experience as a game developer. I think it's great for people to build games as a hobby or learning experience (even if you're learning absolutely nothing by having AI do everything), but it's disingenuous to advertise it as a real upcoming serious project.

Thoughts? I can't imagine this would be a controversial rule for the vast majority of this sub.

Once Human has some of the most interesting and well done enemy NPC models I've ever seen in a post apocalyptic game. My favorite is the Siren Head because I don't think I've seen or played another game that has captured the artwork for this one as amazingly. It is so creepily well done, even down to the mechanics.

I originally went to the game because my friends dragged me to play but I ended up staying for the long haul. I'm an introvert by nature but the community has been so warm and welcoming that I ended up meeting a lot of incredible people.

I have played since launch and have enjoyed every aspect the game has to offer. They are currently celebrating their 2nd anniversary which is really cool because the devs are staying connected with their community on a regular basis. They're not perfect by any means but out of any game I've ever played I don't think I've ever seen a dev team that listens to their community as quickly as this one does.

I went from looting and shooting to exploring and building because since launch they've consistently worked on improving the game. I am a tough critic since I've been around so long but their building system and unique world has kept me intrigued. They recently added a bunch of free goodies for their anniversary right now so if you were ever curious about checking them out this would be a good time to do it, if for no other reason go claim the free stuff lol. IE. Car skin, Outfit, Building pack and etc.

One thing I often find in a lot of newer MMOs (and by extension modern versions of old MMOs) is that loot isn’t really part of the journey anymore - it’s at the end.

I truly do miss when a lot of MMOs had uneven gear progression and had very rare loot either by chance or discovering something that wasn’t common knowledge in the community.

I really like in MMOs when I feel like my gear is kind of pathetic and I need a reason to go out and find more through random drops or niche quests, instead of being spoon fed reliable rare upgrades which immediately make a rarity system pointless.

A lot of my experience with starting a new MMO is “just skip 80% of the ‘old’ game, and then once you get to late game it’ll start to be cool”

But I guess I really want to find an MMO that has that discovery aspect without it being one of the ‘titans’ of the industry that were made a decade or two ago.

Pre-order at: https://ffm.blackscreenrecords.com/lineage-ii

Lineage II – 22 Years is coming to vinyl! In cooperation with NC America, Black Screen Records is celebrating the game's compelling history and music by Bill Brown, Jamie Christopherson, Inon Zur & NCSOUND with this official vinyl release.

Relive the journey through Giran & Aden with 40 carefully selected tracks, pressed on shimmering gold vinyl and housed in a fully illustrated gatefold sleeve.

(Post approved by Mods 🤝)

Hey everyone,I’ve been feeling incredibly nostalgic lately. I was thinking back to the mid 2000, the golden era of MMORPGs, and one game kept popping into my head: Rappelz.I played it for years, through Epic 3, 4, 5, and so on. Even though the game was visually dated and eventual management choices left a lot to be desired, I genuinely believe that no modern MMORPG has ever managed to replicate the sheer thrill of its Pet System. For those who never played it, it wasn't just about having a passive pet following you around. The core loop was insane. You had to drop or buy blank creature cards (like a Panther, a Siren, a White Dragon, or a Cerberus). Then, you had to find a Tamer, or build an Evoker class yourself, and attempt the "Taming" process. Your heart would literally stop for a few seconds because the card could fail and break forever. But when it succeeded? The dopamine rush was unlike anything else. And then watching your pet evolve, change its form, and fight alongside you as a vital part of your build... it was pure magic.I look at the MMORPG market today, and everything feels so homogenized. It made me wonder: what if we could get that exact feeling back, but stripped of all the old, broken mechanics? What if we could experience that core gameplay without the suffocating Pay To Win elements, the mandatory Hidden Village passes, or the hyperinflation that eventually ruined the official servers? I’m actually a long time member of the community, and lately, some developer friends and I have been casually looking into the technical feasibility of a modern project. We are playing around with the idea of a "Fresh Start" spiritual successor or a deep standalone remake on a modern engine (like Unreal Engine), completely free of P2W, focused on cosmetic only shops, and with an economy starting from absolute zero.If such a project were to materialize something that respects the core Gaia/Asura/Deva mechanics and the original Taming thrill but built for the modern era how many of you would honestly dive back in? Would you prefer a pure fresh start where everyone starts naked at level 1 to experience the rush again, or do you think the old community is too attached to their legacy monopolies?I'm just gathering thoughts and community feedback right now to see if this dream is worth pursuing or if the nostalgia is just blinding me. Let me know what you think, let's discuss!

I couldn't find any good info regarding this topic which is why I thought I'd bring it up. Do you have a favourite MMO map?

I'd say one of my favourites is ESO, as I find that it doesn't feel too cluttered to navigate but still gives me all of the information I'd like without having to use filters.

No levelling, you can raise individual stats by using them, but each stat increase is harder to get. You can unlock traits and skills to influence your play style with quests or hidden conditions required to unlock them.

Each player would have to manage
• HP
• Stamina
• Mana

Classless play. You can self-identify as a certain few classes, and NPCs can comment, but for the most part, it's free rein.

A for Honour-based directional 6-sided combat cursor. Magic can work the same way with the circle expanding when casting spells that require being aimed, as some can be homing. It would make combat a more skill-based affair. Your skill level with cerian weapons or magic could affect this as well.

Unique items and skills, as well as traits for rewards, so players can compete and explore for hidden secrets.

Every time one of your stats raises, it gets harder to raise, but also every other stat gets a tiny bit harder to raise. Using the stat is the best way to improve it, with different inputs being necessary to have it count. For example, strength will go up when swinging a hammer, but unless dodging, parrying and other actions one might take in combat are done, it won't count to a certain extent. Same for casting the same spell or casting it on the same person a certain number of times in a time frame.

You could pick a race, and that race would have access to certain skills and traits naturally. They could also raise certain stats and skills more quickly.

You can "sleep" in a bed and have the chance to keep or ditch the individual stat increases you have acquired.

A skill is a measure of how proficient you are at something, with many of them being acquired and improved through common sense. Using a sword a lot will give you a swordsmanship skill and improve it. There are passive and active skills. One, like swordsmanship, is passive, whereas another, like "Super Cutter," is active.

Players can only have a certain number of these Active skills equipped at a time. Passive skills you can have as many as you like, but the more Passive skills you equip, the slower they are to level.

Traits are things that can affect how you play massively and can be unlocked by doing various things. For example, if you keep running out of Mana and you hit rock bottom in the middle of a fight 100 times, then you could unlock the trait “Blood Mage”, which switches any Active skills that use Mana to using Health instead when you run out. Another could be “Wind Walker” If you keep dodging after like a 1000th time getting a close dodge, you could have dodging cost way less stamina and have it so you can dodge mid-air, but you take more damage if hit and can no longer block.    

A very popular skill will probably be "sense", which will use the colours of the "aura" around a target to gauge its strength. Green means more than half of your stats are higher, orange means your stats are near the same and red means more than half of its stats are higher.

It would be a straight percentage increase if a weapon, skill or action required it.

Players could absolutely brick themselves when grinding. You can be a jack of all trades or a master of a few.

There will be items that are rare and can change the way you play or affect your character in certain ways. PVP will be a thing in some areas, and events like PVP tournaments could be a thing with certain items, skills and traits only available then.

Guilds will have access to certain amenities in their guild hall, such as trainers 

Player-made weapons could have certain traits applied to them if the creator knows how. It would also allow for player-made gear to have a purpose that doesn't completely eclipse endgame gear.

So in 2019 I posted this asking what info would actually help when you're trying to find your next MMO. Population, genre, what to filter on, all that. A bunch of people wrote out really detailed answers and I ended up saving the thread and using it as basically a to-do list when i started with claude code. (I have an IT background but wanted to test if my 1 idea i had along time ago could be built).

It's a real site now in beta: mmo-list.com

Figured I'd post it back here since this is where the idea came from. And I'd rather be honest about what's actually good vs what's still missing, because some of the stuff people asked for I still haven't developed.

The other reason i develoepd this was i will spend 1-2 hours a week trying to find what to try or what has a patch or what is coming back for revival (fresh-starts, classics) so i wanted somewhere to be able to look at a calendar and build my schedule around releases i can play with my guild, my friends or myself.

Stuff from the old thread that's in there:

Population was the big one everyone wanted, so every game has a population band plus live daily Steam player counts and history charts. Point being you can actually see if a game is dead before you sink 3 hours into installing it, and you can just filter those out.

The "why does every site call everything an MMO" complaint. Yeah. I'm slowly curating the list after some initial criteria so you're not wading through crypto and mobile slop or RPGs. There is still alot of curation I need to personally do and use more authorative and definitive sources to get this right.

Then the filters people wanted. PvE vs PvP focus, tab vs action combat, sandbox vs themepark, how grindy it is, solo friendly or not, full loot, controller support, payment model, a pay-to-win rating. Stuff you can actually tick and combine instead of guessing from a trailer.

There's also a little quiz that matches you based on how you like to play, which was the "recommendation engine" idea from the original post.

What's people asked for not yet implemented/what I think is missing:

- Instancing

- Class customisation

- Curating non-steam populations

- Working on the overall site score and how its derived

- Working on a better recommendation engine, using games people have played.

- I personally think i need to hand curate the list and re-play most of the active games or those in maintenance mode.

Is this just more generic AI slop? is there anything useful? Are there any features you would want to track mmorpgs? either the data about them or releases or the people who build them?