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Feb 22, 2024 · The pinnacle of the multiplayer experience is the massively multiplayer online game, or MMO (also known as MMORPGs). These vast games receive a consistent influx of new content, and let...
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By Cat Bussell
last updated 5 February 2024
Sink your teeth into the best MMORPGs ever made
(Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)
The best MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) don't just offer expansive worlds but also provide vibrant communities for you to enjoy them with.
World of Warcraft
The gates are open Average Amazon review: ☆☆☆☆☆ Today's Best Deals View at Amazon View at Amazon View at Best Buy Why we love it World of Warcraft invented the modern fantasy MMORPG. To this day, Blizzard Entertainment's flagship MMO continues to carry the torch lit by its original innovations, offering a wide fantasy world rich with tough challenges and engrossing lore. Platforms available: PC Easily one of the best MMORPGs of all time, World of Warcraft practically invented the modern form of the genre when it was originally released in 2004. By offering enormous fantasy environments with minimal loading screens, World of Warcraft had an almost open-world feel, encouraging players to form spontaneous groups to face up to the challenges on offer. Since then, the game has been through a total of nine expansions, each offering a chance to iterate on these mechanics, allowing Blizzard to fine-tune the experience. In its current incarnation, World of Warcraft retains the expansive setting but possesses far stronger storytelling chops, offering a fantasy epic of impressive scale and depth. Plus, with three new expansions on the horizon, it looks as though there's plenty to look forward to in the game's future, too.
EVE Online
Corporate wars Average Amazon review: ☆☆☆☆☆ Today's Best Deals Check Amazon Why we love it EVE Online may be two decades old, but its online sci-fi sandbox is just as vibrant (and cutthroat) as it's ever been. In developer CCP's simulated galaxy, players call the shots, taking on roles as heroes and villains in the game's emergent story. Platforms available: PC, browser, and tablet (though not available on mobile, the game does have a companion app) EVE Online is, arguably, the best MMORPG when it comes to emergent player-driven narratives. In EVE, you play as a pilot with your own collection of starships. Overcome the game's steep learning curve, and you'll soon find that the galaxy's your oyster. Want to stake your claim on disputed territories? You can join a player alliance and wage war alongside thousands of others. Prefer making things to breaking things? You could take up mining and become an industrial tycoon. Not of the lawful persuasion? Piracy's always an option. EVE does little to hold its players' hands, but more than makes up for this in terms of the agency it offers. While developer CCP has crafted a game that can be intimidating at times, EVE Online rewards dedicated players by allowing them to do almost anything they set their mind to. The careers on offer boggle the mind with their breadth and diversity. There's even an EVE pope. Plus with the addition of a free-to-play version of the game in 2016, there's never been a lower bar to entry.
Guild Wars 2
Secrets uncovered Average Amazon review: ☆☆☆☆☆ Today's Best Deals View at Amazon (PC) View at Amazon (Download) View at Amazon (Download) Why we love it Guild Wars 2 is a breath of fresh air, offering a take on combat that separates it from the MMORPG pack. Rather than picking from a huge list of spells, Guild Wars 2 asks you to commit to a specific loadout in battle, helping to give your character a sense of uniqueness. Platforms available: PC One of the more innovative titles on our best MMORPGs list, Guild Wars 2 offers a well-told single-player storyline on top of a wide range of breathtaking environments. In addition to oodles of world quests, Guild Wars 2 actively rewards players for surveying the world and tracking down landmarks. While the action-oriented combat system is great for getting your blood pumping, NCSoft's decade-old MMO provides a fantastical world ripe for exploration. Guild Wars 2 also includes a large amount of well-written, voice-acted dialogue which does wonders for inviting players into its world. More than that, the MMORPG dispenses with many traditional fantasy tropes, offering a novel list of species and classes for players to enjoy. Few games let you play as a rifle-toting tree-person, or a laser-shooting illusion wizard, but Guild Wars 2 will oblige you.
What is the best MMORPG now?
Though Final Fantasy 14 continues to impress, ideas of 'best' are very subjective. Those looking for a stellar storyline and well-developed characters will find what they're looking for in Final Fantasy 14, while those keen on exploration would probably be better served by Guild Wars 2 or The Elder Scrolls Online. In the same way, if you're looking for more open-ended sandbox games, EVE Online and Runescape are some of the best MMORPGs that you could play. With their shared emphasis on player agency, both of these titles allow you to interact with their worlds on your own terms - a must for some players.
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- Neverwinter. Neverwinter is a surprise. It is thematically Dungeons & Dragons, taking the places, classes, spells, and abilities from the tabletop game and then cramming them inside one of the best MMORPGs.
- Lost Ark. The hit Korean MMO finally made it to Western shores, and we gave it 9/10 in our Lost Ark review. At its heart, it’s a “superb dungeon crawler”, where you play as an adventurer looking to make their fortune in the land of Arkesia.
- Black Desert Online. Black Desert Online received a graphics overhaul in 2018 to remaster the original (and already gorgeous) MMO, breathing new life into the game.
- New World. New World is as much a sandbox survival game as it is a traditional RPG. It dispenses with the typical character creation of other fantasy MMOs – there are no other races aside from humans, and classes are replaced with attributes, and skill systems that grant you the freedom to experiment with different character build at your leisure.
A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are games that differ.
- Fraser Brown
- Final Fantasy 14. Release Date: 2013 | Developer: Square Enix |Payment Model: Subscription | Steam. Final Fantasy 14's journey has been a long road full of disappointment.
- World of Warcraft. Release Date: 2004 | Developer: Blizzard | Payment Model: Subscription| Battle.net. No other MMO has had a greater impact on the genre and the entirety of videogames as a whole quite like World of Warcraft.
- Guild Wars 2. Release Date: 2012 | Developer: ArenaNet | Payment Model: Buy to play | Guild Wars 2 shop. The original Guild Wars would have been firmly in the PvP section of this list, but for the 2012 sequel ArenaNet took a broader approach, giving us an MMO with the diversity and scale of World of Warcraft, but with a mountain of quirks and activities that are all its own.
- Lost Ark. Release date: 2022 | Developer: Smilegate | Payment model: Free to play | Steam. If you like your combat over-the-top and fast-paced, MMOARPG Lost Ark might be your new best friend.
Jun 17, 2021 · Top 10 Best MMOs. Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. By Cohen Coberly June 17, 2021. Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can...
Mar 12, 2024 · The best MMO (massively multiplayer online) games let you experience brand new worlds alongside thousands of other people, allowing you to become part of something bigger than yourself....
