I feel like we need to discuss why MMOs as a genre were never good, but how they were also fucking amazing. This is all due to when MMOs became a thing.
Most if not all MMOs people actually care about were from the early 2000s. They were all pushing the boundaries of capitalism over video games with either a subscription or whatever the hell is wrong with the korean industry, but, and I must stress this, but…they came out during the ONLY MOMENT they would've been successful.
They were social spaces, social WORLDS in fact, they were by definition larping sims. In an era where that was still a new thing. From 2003-2012, MMOs had THIS as their main wow factor. This is also their only staying power in media ABOUT video games, their sense of community and ability to break barriers…of course, all those external pieces of media also made it about how MMO players were losers, but nontheless, that was why they became a genre.
After social media became a permanent staple of human life, MMOs had practically no point anymore. Most of them were already garbage gameplay wise. This is why we all want classic wow, or classic maple, or the return of wonderking (which, by the way, looks like actual garbage, to my dismay).
We didn't "grow out" of MMOs, that is what idiots with no argument say to shut you up, the WORLD outgrew MMOs, and sadly, we have been conditioned to not be impressed or enamoured.
>what the fuck are you saying OP??
I'm saying what I mean, anon. Maybe I was groomed by this industry to endure capitalism, but DAMN IT, there was a time talking to someone as your personal chibi avatar was cool and FUN! Now it's a fucking bore, I cannot understand why anyone would play an MMO in 2025, almost all of them are bad wow clones.
I miss the MMO part, but most certainly not the RPG part. Levelling systems are annoying, they either mess up the balancing for non-linear games or render null the difficulty curve for linear games.
I could see a MMOMV (Massive Multiplayer Online MetroidVania) having potential.
I used to play Mabinogi when I was a broke ass kid hopping from f2p mmo to f2p. It grabbed at the time due to how different it felt from everything else. The setting being based on irish mythology, the combat being a weird offshoot of typical mmo combat where now individual hits cause hitstun and knock back and skills having a rps relationship where certain ones can counter and stop others (though nowadays this aspect of the game is getting sanded off), your character aging overtime, all the sandbox elements like there not being any set classes or an entire system to creating custom music, I could go on. However the game is a massive grindfest and those who're willing to open up the wallets will always be ahead of you in it. I heard it's getting remade in UE5 or something but I don't think I have the time or patience to play it (or any other mmo) whenever that happens. Regardless, it was a fun experience even if I managed to not make friends in an mmo because I was scared of people thinking I was ass at the game.
>bad wow clone
funny considering wow is probably the worst of the currently popular ones in terms of gameplay
>>44755Honestly discord in particular did a lot to gut the social aspect and accelerate the breaking up of the community into cliques. Either way it's probably just my autism but Maplestory is the only one that ever grabbed me. I still play it. The upcoming winter update looks really promising.
Also, like war, capitalism is fun when it's a video game, i figured mmos were more like closely regulated market economies via a central body (the corp running it), not necessarily a free one. Or is there a difference?
Anyone ever play the goat, OG Tibia?
I set up azerothcore with ollama controlled playerbots and they're better than actual wow players.
It's a dream for a solo player. If you have a home server and like wow, I highly recommend it.
>>48039Why? "Single player MMO" is an insult used against games
>>48061By the terminally multiplayer whose opinion I, another anon, do not care for
>>48066I meant insult used against single player games with MMO-like gameplay.
>>48061If a party of bots can beat molten core, then I do not care to play with real players.
The worst part about mmos ARE the players. There is nothing worst than waiting for 6 hours to finish a raid, and because one player has "wife agro", youre locked out for the rest of the week. And this isn't even a pug vs guild thing, it's just how end game content in mmos are.
Maybe I'm anti social, but I really forget I'm playing on a private server with 1500 bots running around when I'm just questing.
>>48099>The worst part about mmos ARE the playersHence why PvP MMOs are better than PvE focused ones. In both you meet annoying dipshits, but the former encourages you to kill them.
>>48100there are still pvp oriented mmos that aren't pay2win for the chinese to flex their wealth ?
>>48102Idk, I play Albion Online, which is pay2win but in a way that only meaningfully affects guild competition, so as a solo player I dont concern myself with it.
>>45955Based. Best pvp mmo.
>>48117Carried by its atmosphere imho. The WoW-style gameplay feels very outdated. Do I really need entire hotbar filled with abilities that boil down to "deal X damage"?
I miss wonderking. The reboot is just a soulless cash grab which breaks my heart. Finally back after so long and its… That
Hell I also loved lost saga.
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