There's also already a fully functioning RO3 private server called Genesis that launched recently. I never really thought about it in the context of MMORPGs, but it seems like AI is making reverse engineering and private server development faster and more accessible than we've ever seen

Developers often forget to make the world they’re asking you to live in have a soul. We’ve seen it time and time again, with every new release, these MMO’s keep falling into the same trap of prioritizing mechanics and graphics instead of making the world the slightest bit interesting and non-generic. I genuinely roll my eyes every time an upcoming MMO tries to market itself by showing off these enormously computer generated terrains and complicated combat systems that cover your screen in particle effects. It’s the same corporatized bs every single time. No heart, no soul, just empty systems designed with nothing in mind but profit.

When I think about successful mmorpgs, i think about runescape, i think about world of warcraft, final fantasy, eso… but then I ask myself, why these games? What separates them from the rest? Why do they have such longevity and a devoted player base? What keeps people playing these games across decades?

I thought about runescape because it is one of the best examples of an MMORPG that has survived longer than any other. A deceptively simple game. But what makes it so damn good? The combat isn’t anything crazy, the world is pretty ugly, so what makes it so endearing?

The answer is pretty simple. The world has a soul. It has an identity. Think about it, from the moment you spawn in, each character you interact with is interesting and has personality. The dialogue is often humorous, witty, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. The NPC’s also move around, which by itself seems like it wouldn’t make much of a difference because often times they’re just moving around in preset paths. But it’s such a simple little thing that surprisingly goes a long way towards making the world feel alive.

I wish more games took a page out of runescapes book. Talking to NPC’s shouldn’t be a chore, it should be part of the fun. Runescape makes you excited to talk to the NPC because you’re always wondering what silly thing they’re going to say next. It’s not an obstacle, it’s not a time sink like most games make it feel.

I couldn’t help but notice this when playing Aion 2. I couldn’t care less what the NPC’s had to say. several hours in and i can’t name a single character off the top of my head. To ask of me to spend so much time in this world and you can’t even make me remember the names of the characters who I share a world with is a clear sign that your world has no soul, and it’s likely I will not feel like this is a place I want to spend all my time in.

What do you guys think, is this a big turn off for you when deciding whether you want to spend more of your time on an MMO?

Hey guys, Phil aka JCServant here. The Homecoming team has released their newest patch, and it has a lot of fun things in it. Including...

Marquee Features

• Citadel Task Force Revamp - 'Industrial Evolution'
• New Arena Mode - PvPvE Onslaught
• New Kallisti Wharf Story Arc - 'Prime Time Sublime'
• New Powersets -  Light Affinity,  Sonic Aura

Powers & Gameplay Adjustments

• Adjustments:  Traps,  Force Field,  Sonic Resonance,  Empathy, &  Super Strength
• Damage Cap Increase for several ATs
• Claws +  Stone Armor on  Tankers /  Brutes
• PvP Adjustments + Diminishing Return Removals

 Various Adjustments, Improvements & Fixes

• Many New Costume Parts & Fixes
• Brandished Claws & Stowed Shields
• Claw Customization for Arachnos Widows
• Labyrinth of Fog Zone Progression
• New Wave of Aether Rewards
• Supergroup Base Texture Swapping
• Solo +5 Rewards Fixed
• NPC AI Adjustments
• ...And much, much more!

Personally, I'm really enjoying the new Sonic Aura on both my new Sentinel and Tanker - and Super Strength feels really good without the crash. I have several youtube vids up showing these off as well (They're easy enough to find) For those who enjoy PVP, the new Arena mode looks VERY interesting.

Find all of the details here - https://forums.homecomingservers.com/patch-notes/issue-28/page-4/issue-28-page-4-r47/ or check out my video where I read the notes for you :)

(For those who may not know, Homecoming received an official green light from NCSoft to run a private server of City of Heroes, keeping this great MMO from the past alive! You can download and play today for no charge whatsoever. The old MTX's are now available in the game for normal purchase from a vendor with in game currency.)

To those who don't already know, Return of Reckoning is a project run by fans (i believe?) of warhammer online which closed it's doors in 2013.

It's what people call a "shard" or "Private server" I believe. It only has around 700 active people on peak times EU. However, this game really showed me that I can enjoy a game even with these "dead" numbers.

It's a PvP focused MMO, with many PvE aspects aswell. However, I heard even strictly non-pvp players are enjoying the PvP in this game. You basically fight in frontlines, form large battle groups and go to ham. Or you can select to roam around and kill people, but thats another story.

Nearly no investment is needed: you just login and start playing PvP , or just peacefully do quests.

as a PvP player this is a fresh air. But I suggest trying it even if you are a strictly PvE player. Especially if you like warhammer fantasy, you will love it.

I traveled to locations like Praag, Karak Eight Peaks. There are TONS and I mean TONS of quests. Every NPC feels and functions like they have something to give/say. Community is omega helpful. Although it had 200 online active, people are chatting about things and helping each other out.

Maps feel amazing for some reason. Everything feels so nostalgic YET it doesn't bore you out after 5 minutes. The games UI is highly customizable, the graphics don't look half bad.

I was just questing around and this game triggered a sense of adventure in me that I never experienced for a long, long time. I wish I could've played this game on it's peak. But I will cherish it for as long as I can knowing that there are still players like me around.

All we hear about is Aion2. But what about MapleStory Classic? It was on my radar but then I have learned they are providing 2 weeks of early access with packs. I decided to wait for f2p launch which on oct 21.

For those who's playing, how is the game going? Does it feel like actual MapleStory Classic and how is the p2w situation in the game. Do you think f2p can enjoy the game for what it is and how is the population so far in EA?

Thanks in advance.

For players who have a F2P or Preferred account

If you have not logged into a character since January 1, 2026, that character name will be released into an unreserved pool and can potentially be claimed by another player on November 12th.

• If you would like to keep your character name, you must log into the game before November 12, 2026.
• If you want to keep every character name, you must log in with every character before the date above.

https://www.swtor.com/info/news/article/20261014-1

I killed the title. gg.

I find the reaction on the RuneScape subreddit since Reignited was cancelled genuinely fascinating, and honestly a little ironic.

I'm seeing posts celebrating the cancellation and then immediately encouraging all the disappointed potential new players to come try RS3 anyway.

Anyone who was excited about RSR was met with:

"Just make a new account."

"Why does it matter that other people are ahead of you?"

"They would've quit after two weeks anyway."

"It's the exact same game."

I feel like some of them genuinely cannot understand that the appeal was never just the game itself. It was the experience of starting an MMO alongside thousands of other people. Populated early-game areas, everyone progressing together, a fresh economy, and just the excitement of a new launch.

Making a level 1 character in a 25-year-old MMO is not the same experience, no matter how many times they insist that it is.

And now that Reignited is cancelled, suddenly we're being told how welcoming the community is and how we should all give the existing game a chance.

I'm sure plenty of existing players genuinely mean well, but from the outside, the past two weeks haven't exactly made this community look particularly welcoming.

Also frustrating is seeing people dismiss the positive reactions outside this their eco chamber. Jagex itself said that the interest from new and returning players exceeded expectations. Yet some people on r/runescape seem convinced they know exactly how those players would have behaved, how long they would've stayed, and why their excitement wasn't legitimate.

Reignited actually made me excited to give RS3 a proper shot. Because I wanted to experience that fresh-start MMO atmosphere.

And now I'm watching people celebrate its cancellation while simultaneously wondering why people like me aren't rushing to create accounts on the existing servers

Also ironic how the community can't make up their minds: Was Reignited attractive enough to threaten the future of veteran worlds, or was nobody going to stick around after two weeks anyway?

Hey everyone, we are the team behind the upcoming VR MMORPG - Eldramoor!

We know that VR isn't really common around r/MMORPG but we've seen some threads related to it here, so wanted to check in with you all. :P

Our team have been developing Eldramoor VR MMORPG for some time now and it will be on Steam and Meta Quest 3 & 3S standalone devices.

If you're curious about our journey, you're more than welcome to join us! :D And if you have questions (even if you never played VR before) shoot them up!

Thanks to the moderators for allowing us to introduce ourselves. ❤️

🔗Join our Discord Community
🔗Eldramoor: Haven in the Mist on Steam

Hi everyone. There's this game that is bugging me.

I wonder if anyone also played this game that i vaguely remember or if this was just a fever dream game.

Here are the details i remember:

-It was Gaiaonline/Dragonfable era 2010ish?

-It is an MMO played in browser.

-There is a class with "execute" skill. (Which i used for some time as IGN to other online games)

-Title probably has "Gaia" on it. Cool world for me that time since i play PS1's Grandia and Gaia is boss in it.

-It is a 2D. Kind of like NeoQuest movement but MMO.

-During combat there is a bar in the bottom. Then there is a sweet spot for attack or was it crit. Your equipped weapon icon slides left to right then left to right. You click when it is at the sweet spot to attack.

-Other player can join your combat.

-Definitely not zOMG and Heroes of Gaia. I played those as well.

Sorry for the lengthy post. Hope everyone have a good day. :)

EmberQuest is a humble little MMO with a small-town atmosphere. It's not trying to be the next "WoW killer," reinvent the genre or anything like that. The goal is to create a fun, welcoming world that feels alive, where there's always something to do.

You can fish, mine, chop trees, craft equipment, explore the world, complete quests, fight bosses, trade with other players, join guilds, or just hang out. If you're feeling competitive, there's open-world PvP, ranked arenas, and group PvP events. There's also extremely rare magic hats that let you summon the dead, levitate or turn into a Grizzly bear.

The game doesn't take itself too seriously. It's got a lighthearted, slightly ridiculous sense of humor, a colorful world, and plenty surprises. I wanted to capture some of that old-school MMO charm, where the world feels like a community.

It's free to play, check it out!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5328820/EmberQuest/

In my opinion, the best combat system shouldn't force players to choose between standard action combat and tab-targeting, being along the lines of a fluid hybrid of both styles through unique UI design. Have tge camera automatically track mouse movements for real-time aiming, while also letting you instantly free your cursor by holding the Alt key. This setup gives you total tactical freedom without forcing you to memorize complex keybindings or constantly fight against your own user interface.

Also, Individual skill + environment should matter just as much as your gear. So, have there be a balancing act between dodging, blocking, and parrying to have your reaction time be a ultra present factor. Combine that with an environmental chemistry system that lets your elemental spells physically alter the terrain, combat stops feeling like a predictable, static rotation script. Instead, it evolves into an unpredictable, fluid dance where your survival depends entirely on how well you can read the battlefield and exploit the shifting environment.

I know the game is pretty much dead (rip), but I remember doing nothing but fishing for 10 hours a day on ArcheAge, I've also played WoW for 10 years maybe and lots of other MMOs but I never got something that was as engaging as fishing in this game, this was straight up addicting, and with all the robbery and pressure you had to turn in ur fish kind of created an atmosphere of danger around the world that I haven't been really able to replicate anywhere.

Back on my server (Enla), we had a lot of fishing groups and raids that we had to manage just to be able to fish in peace because there were pirate gangs all day everyday and even same-faction robbery happening. I still remember to this day having a full raid of fishermen with around 15-20 boats then the infamous Black Pearl Galleon (at the time you needed like 1100 pieces of a paper to make it) came in and crashed the party.

Get them beep boobs at it. Who the fuck cares about Adobe

Things are starting to get really interesting; 1 day after releasing the WoW WotLK decompilation project, they release WoW Cataclysm decompilation project https://github.com/SatyPardus/wowdecomp15595

Guess there were some hiccups with steam side of release, but the browser version is up and running. Professions are no longer class locked, and have been slightly compressed too. Not obviously gonna be everyone's cup of tea, but if you've got the time I encourage ya to check it out.
Norroth.com to be clear

I noticed that many popular MMOs heavily rely on influencer marketing. They invite influencers/streamers/content creators to podcasts, in-person events or directly sponsor them for what ever.

The issue is that content creators are very often heavily dependent on one specific game which means player acquisition is almost never given and for MMOs that fail in player retention influencer marketing might be even worse.

Does Influencer marketing just amplify the 'Echo chamber' effect of mmos or is it irrelevant?

I checked the metrics of popular content creators of the 'top 5' mmos which are frequently sponsored or used for advertisement for their 'main' mmo by the Game studio and when ever they switch games their marketing power goes to void.

(Saw a couple of mmo-podcasts recently and there were almost always 1-2 persons I did not know and they were almost always content creators)

I'm a dev on a small indie MMO, and we're testing player housing with about 150 players in our next playtest.

- Houses sit on real plots in a village, in the open world, visible to everyone.

- You rebuild yours piece by piece with materials you gathered. Interiors are instanced.

- There are 83 plots. Houses can be resold to other players.

At scale, this breaks: not enough plots, or the village turns into an endless suburb.

If you had to keep houses in the open world, how would you handle it? And what did you love or hate about housing in the MMOs you've played?