There's just nothing exciting in the MMO genre anymore. It's such a depressing thought, but if you're not playing one of the DECADE OLD MMOs, you're not playing an MMO. And have very little to look forward to for YEARS. What do you think? Are you having as much fun in the MMO genre as you used to?

Blue protocol has gotta be one of my biggest disappointments ever. So much potential being wasted

MMO means "massively *monetized* online games"

Part of it too I think is that when I was growing up, there was a mixture of minors and adults playing MMOs. But what games are kids getting into these days? I remember all throughout highschool I was always trying out new games, new communities, making new friends, but I feel like now the MMO genre is strictly adults and what do we not have a lot of to spare? Time. So it's going to make it really hard to sustain the genre if there's no way to rope another generation into it too. That's just my thought on it.

P2W, P2ADVANCE, P2SKIP P2COSMETICS are just the cancers to mmos

Aren't we all old friend 😔

"Pseudo MMO" is probably the way of the future for mmos. Games that mimic or simulate that MMO feel. Like monster hunter world, and wilds in the future, large public lobbies at most.

Everyone’s forgetting genshin, tof, hi3, and ww are all singular player rpg games with co-op. These games are not massive multiplayer online games

speaking of future MMO's, does anyone know if Plan 8 is still going through or is it dead or non-mmo now?

MMO was a genre that could have succeeded if people had a genuine desire to participate. Every time something happened in the MMO community, it was either developers stealing starter money and leaving an unfinished mess or no effort was made to make it fun.

I was so hype for Blue Protocol...But now I don't know what to feel

I thought I was the only one thinking like this honestly I havent even been on this page because of it and I completely understand it's not on you but keep up the good work you are still very informative and help with your content whenever it is posted

I'm still of the belief that MMORPG has evolved into the survival genre. Sure, can't get thousands on a server like old-school MMOs, but the playerbase is there for them.

After I had my 7 year run with Black Desert there was nothing else to look forward to, I pretty much "settled with PSO2:NGS" while shifting my attention towards Gatcha games.

Blue Protocol was the end for me, i was very hyped about the game, but it got infinity delayed, launched only in japan, banned everyone who tried to enter from outside and never got out. Then, i finally realized, it felt like i was hit with a rock, that the era of anime mmorpgs truly died, 10 years later it was, incredible, however, time changes, letting everything on the past, a time, that we can only remember as flowers of a beatiful past. And here i'm, lost, whitout any kind of passion, for life, for gaming, living empty waiting for something to bring life and color back to my grey vision. Even myself, if there was any, i can't find anymore.

Well I think it all boils down to the fact that "back in the day" MMO was just a word, and that word was connected with good games you could play and socialize with other people around the world. The players of that era have all grown up now and the current generation of gamers use other forms of social media platforms to connect (such as Facebook, KZfaq, Twitch, Reddit, Twitter and so on). All they need a game to be is just good and entertaining, it does not even need to be online or multiplayer to do that. Anyway I have typed too much. Good video!

The issue with MMOs is just that the take A LOT of time to play and thus ppl can mostly only play one of them. That plus a monopoly makes it very hard to really hard to actually compete in the market.

This video was due a while ago and i wondered if you ever were seriously going to do. Thank you for voicing our concerns.

Did you try moonlight blade mobile bro?

The idea of mmo’s died a long time ago. People do not have time for this shit and there all built to time gate you to get you into a store, an then its slow decay over the course for a few years at best

Even Wayfinder, a game with one of the bigger f2p mmo publisher on the market, Warframes Digital Extremes, lost said publisher and went back to the drawing board and changes in a co-op style game instead of the 'promised' mmo. So sad for the people that bought the founders packs.

It sounds like you hit the same realization I did back when Peria Chronicles was canceled. Back then, I said Blue Protocol was gonna be my final destination for MMOs and I'm sticking to that gun. I still love the genre. There's just something magical of being able to explore a world with your own character and see other players doing the exact same thing in an adventure that never ends. But the ones we have now, are pretty much all we're ever going to have and any one of them could shut down at any moment if they have a dry spell of profits. Maybe one day we'll have a new mainstay in the genre but I don't see it happening soon. Obviously, that means I have to do it myself. I, God, will save us!

What game is playing in the background?

The problem with MMOs, at least to me, is that they're just not good games. I was sold on the IDEA of MMOs over a decade ago, and I follow you, MMOByte, because I'm still sold on the idea of MMOs. I'm still hoping to find an MMO that I'll enjoy playing. But the MMOs I've played so far never kept my attention because compared to any other game that I can play (such as Skyrim, or Divinity Original Sin 2, or Mass Effect, or X4) they're simply just boring and bad games. Worse yet, most of them feel like they're designed to frustrate me into paying my way to content that is at least marginally enjoyable. I'm subscribed to Humble Monthly. I get new fun games to play every month. There's no reason, then, to waste my time on something I don't enjoy.

Yeah Ive noticed mmo news channels have been changing due to the lack of MMOs, I got my PC too late 😭

what is the game on the gameplay?

i don't envy the position you're in, i've felt like there hasn't been any significant, promising, big mmo news in maybe close to a decade. i couldn't imagine having a channel almost entirely dedicated towards covering mmos and trying to find things to talk about and show regularly. i feel like it always ends up being the same few mmos you always mention as far as recommendations. anyway, sometimes i wonder if maybe i've just played too many mmos myself and am jaded or burnt out on the genre or if they genuinely just suck. because even if i go back to try out the old ones, like ffxiv or eso or swtor they're cool but still dont keep me engaged. i went back to black desert recently and i had a lot of fun with it. but the lack of, and terrible, pve content currently present i think is the main reason i have no drive to continue playing it.

We really need to study the fall of mmo companies…

We had this exact same thin with the horror genre.. Then indie devs took up the mantle! Indie devs will do the same with mmos.. You're going to see in the next few year 2d, or low budget mmos.. The genre will come back its a question of when

*The Critically-Acclaimed MMORPG FINAL FANTASY 14.* 💯😎 *With an expanded Free-trial which you can play through the entirety of the Heavensward,* *and the Stormblood Expansions up to level 70 for FREE with no restrictions on playtime.* *Discover a massive World with deep Story and fight the most difficult Bosses in all MMORPGs.*

Man, I resonated so hard with this video, as someone who has been playing MMOs for like 22 years and is currently reinstalling GW2 for the 11th time because there's just nothing to play, I feel this video paints an excellent representation of our frustration with the genre. Bro hug.

tarisland came out yesterday.. any thoughts?

The MMO genre was never meant to be one that could sustain more than a handful of top contenders at a time. It shouldn't be looked at or treated like any other "genre" such as RPG, platformer, action, whatever. It is a live service game, and very few free-to-play MMOs survive long enough to make a dent. The biggest ones typically have brand recognition (Star Wars, ESO). Even the top two subscription-based MMOs are associated with a recognizable brand. The rare exception is Guild Wars 2, which has no pre-existing fanbase outside of the obvious GW1 - but that never really made the same splash as 2 did. Everything else that has come out in the last 20 years, even if they made a huge impact like Lost Ark, has since died off or lost a major percent of their player base. Rift. Eve. BDO. New World. Wild Star. Warhammer. It's not because "MMOs are dead." It's because the genre cannot financially support more than a handful of them. People cannot afford (literally, and also time-wise) to play them all. They are HUGE time sinks, and even F2P ones have some kind of cash shop to invest in. They are an ongoing investment that most people cannot juggle. Every other genre has games that exist with finite end points. The game is done, and you move on. MMOs are designed to keep playing. But most people aren't interested in keeping up to date with more than 1 or 2 neverending stories at a time. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

The very first MMO I played was AQW 13 years ago (Adventure Quest Worlds) and enjoyed it so much. Nowadays I don't get that feeling anymore from these "MMO" games.

What game is he playing in the backround?

is tower of fantasy whats playing in the background?

1. Nobody wants to socialize online anymore. We've come full circle to the point where most people would rather put music on, afk grind, then get off the game. Guilds are just dead space for people to have free buffs, nobody WANTS to queue up and party up with 'randoms' everyone wants entire strangers. MMo's thrived, because of the multiplayer aspect. Nobody wants to play with strangers anymore. 2. The COST to keep MMO's running is insane, their just not lucrative unless you have a prescription model that's ALONGSIDE expansions. OR you produce enough content that people will spend money on in a F2P manner, but then if you do the former people complain, and if you do the latter people complain. 3. MMO's were designed to have people stay with it. Too many people rush through MMO content, drain it, then toss it aside. That's a HUGE part of the issue. :/ Their games made for you to log on for a few hours every day, not to be binged all at once like a single player game.

You're spot on man. Deep down we're all still trying to re-visit that first time mmo experience but I don't think that will ever happen again. At best, I hope the future will have a re-ermegence of MMO hype but I fear that is a long ways out.

This is true! I've been watching videos like yours every now and then for years to see if anything new has come out of games where you can just play something new because you just need a break from playing the same old games again and again... but no, nothing good things are coming out... I've tested Tower of Fantasy and PSO a little, but they don't last me long at all... It's just sad that there are no more good games coming out and I always end up playing old games like WOW or SWTOR or Guild Wars 2 have to go back in order to be able to play anything worth it. Its just sad as an gamer who love to explore new worlds and so on...i hope it will change even if the chancec are not that high😅

its crazy to think about the fact that all the top mmo's are all over 10 years old,some over 20,this is an issue that only seems to plague mmo's

I completely agree. It's over for the MMO Genre.

The moment someone makes one super successful MMORPG, everyone else will start doing the same. This happened with every other genre like MOBA, Battle Royale, Gacha, etc. But those companies are extremely afraid to try it because they think they'd fail and lose money🤔🤔

What are blue protocol's problems?

The problem is too much MMO games these day that player base are not enough to be MMO anymore.

People play mmos only with guides, or guides play mmos for you.

Im completely oblivious to the MMO scene but this sound something like what happened with the Fighting game scene prior to 2010, the genre wasn't seeing the surge and hype for a while until a while and now they are back. So i hope the same will happen with MMOs again one day.

Maybe try Albion onine? I finally caved to all the youtube ads...and I'm actually enjoying it. Also what's the MMo you're playing in the BG? Is that Dragon's nest?

I wonder if this is the great rock bottom moment of the MMO genre before a giant MMO just pops out of nowhere.

Could you do an interview with one of these key devs that have moved genres? I think the MMO story has some interesting journalistic content opportunities. Also, I want to make a game. What is the key thing that makes MMOs not work anymore? Is it a culture shift?

when ever i think about mmos nowadays i always think back to my favourite and get even sadder, Wildstar and how great it could be this far along

Did you change channel name? I remember Mr stix or Styx?

I think Twitter/X and other social media "trained" some players to be toxic on MMO chats as well. This has turned off new players who want to try MMOs. I could be wrong though. I am just basing this on the comments I read.

MMO's don't offer more than a chatroom with a game attached, back in the day that was new, these days every game can implement a chatroom with the right setup. The next MMO boom will likely come about when VR makes a breakthrough with locomotion, most notably with an affordable walking/movement platform like a 'VR treadmill'.

Hang in there man I feel the same, wasting away with hope but seeing none and feeling empty without a good mmorpg

ashes of creation has been in development since 2016 and it looks absolutely stunning. bought the founders pack back when it was just a kickstarter and it's insane how far it's come. definitely one to keep an eye on

This is what happens when you lead into a game development project with monetization as the primary consideration. Old MMOs were works of art and labors of love. Gameplay came first, and the assumption was that if you made a good game it would sell copies and subs and would just live forever. And they have -- all those old MMOs you mentioned are still around and still have thriving communities. They don't all have millions of players, but they are doing well enough to make a profit and support ongoing development. But now the wagon is leading the horse. It used to be that the designers and developers drove the game projects, but now it's the bean counters and the executive boards -- people who aren't experts in game development but instead are focused on profit and nothing else. Look at all the games that are consuming news cycles these days: Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, Helldivers, etc.: they are all works of art that clearly put the experience of the game before monetization. Hell, you CAN'T even spend more money on Baldur's Gate 3 beyond a "collector's edition" that has a very modest markup and it not only consumed the gaming news cycle for an entire YEAR but also made a boatload of money. You cannot make good money with a terrible game, but the bean counters and the executive boards do not understand that -- and they never will.

me too my guy, me too. all this micro transaction, cheap game play, etc. i'm tired of trying every mmo that comes out and ended up being disappointed. :(

ragnarok online enjoyers sipping tea. so many private servers, it'll take time to find a good one but they do exist, and i've sank thousands of hours in Shining Moon, and in Return to Morroc (closed but developer is launching an entirely new project with constant updates in the server discord, coming next year). I've sank thousands of hours in BDO as well, and it's really the only thing close to what I want in an MMO experience, however I was forced to sell my account over two years ago due to financial issues, was 680 GS. New world was fun for the first 200 hours, after that, I just grew tired because there isn't that "GRIND" any longer, you were just down to repeating their dungeons for different rolls on a same tier weapon, it doesn't give you dopamine if you're just going for rolls. That's why I liked ragnarok and BDO so much. There's actually RARE items, cards for RO, and rare drops like map pieces and compass parts for bdo, besides accessories modern mmos just dont hit the spot for me. I want the "Korean grind" and anime style, but I certainly do not like WuWa and genshin that much, if anything I liked honkai impact 3rd more than these two titles, but them being gacha really ruined the experience after quite some time. For now I'm just waiting for the new RO private server I'm mentioning to come out (Luna Obscura), and I will be playing other genres for now, overwatch is still fun, monster hunter world is a blast (looking forward to wilds)

I feel your frustration, out of desparation for an MMO fix, I am playing BDO. You need a break or focus on the games you currently enjoying... JRPGs?

Sad indeed. It's kinda depressing.

All of these companies want their own MMO (their own WOW or FFXIV) to farm, but don't want to put on the same effort of these classic successful ones. Its all about announcing an MMO, farm players on it, if it has enough interest they release it incomplete and if it handles to capitalize enough, MAYBE then it will be fixed and get more content. But it doesn't matter how incomplete the game is, it will always launch with a gacha system and/or a store that uses real money

Ive genuinely always wanted to make a mmo specifically something with vampires/werewolves/mythical creatures because usual mmos are always like the same kinda formula w a twist and idk.. it bums me out, esp since idk how to even make one and would cost loads its more just a concept in my mind... i was so excited for Blue Protocol back in what? 2021? or whenever it was first announced,.. I was in like junior year of high school and now its been a year since I graduated..

I miss the Scarlet Blade days back in 2013. I met such cool people in that game despite its reputation at the time. It was hilarious seeing people camping all day in that one place called Caergate just for PVP. People took their factions so seriously on each side. It was so insane being able to instantly transform into a giant mecha robot at will and no game has really filled that void yet.

Great, can we now finally all agree the final nail has been put into this genre's coffin and move on plz, we've been waiting too long for the next great mmo, it's not happening guys...

What you think about once human

A few years from now when someone asks what mmo to play, we already know the answer; the same tired handful of 10-20 year old games. WoW, ffxiv, gw2, eso, rs, etc. New games are void of passion, the only focus is money. And the players will settle for garbage because they're desperate for a new mmo. This genre has no future.

IDK. I'm gonna try Throne & Liberty but I'm not getting my hopes up. Still waiting for Project BBQ (Dungeon Fighter 3D) for years. It's rough.

Feels like the developers are destroying the mmorpg genre themselves :P since they are intruding the games with pay 2 win mechanics and stuff.

I think Final Fantasy XIV is the best MMO. It is one of the few that doesn't send content to the graveyard for eternity for the most part every time a new expansion comes out. It feels good playing old content for new rewards years later.

I feel like a big part of the problem also is just so many games outside of just MMOs have been trying to make everything live service and seasonal type content so it becomes even more draining as the player to feel almost forced to commit to a handful of games if they want to experience everything they can or risk the constant FOMO that's becoming more and more prevalent in the industry in general. It really sucks having so many games run off of seasonal content and limited events that it becomes stressful at times and more of a chore to just say you got it done.

Yeah, it's very sad. I've been having this discussion with one of my best friends for years now. We've been looking for an MMO to play together, literally, for years, but everything we try just sucks. Nothing ever sticks. If we do find one we just play it for a day and never again. We always just end up falling back on Minecraft when we wanna play a game together. We've even discussed how Baldur's Gate 3, which isn't an MMO, is the best closest thing to an MMO nowadays. RIP to the MMO genre. I'll keep a single strand of faith alive that something good will eventually be created, but won't keep my hopes up.

I've grown old and tired of mmos just not reaching the necessary expectations. Sure, some announced are anticipating, but until then it's gacha for me. Thanks for keeping me informed about mmos and gacha throughout these days Styx.

I think the genre is just dead at this point and I don't think it's because companies think its too difficult to make them or whatever, but they've realized today's gamers aren't really into that MMO mindset of grinding PVE content for hours every day. That's why they're rebranding all these games you mentioned. "MMOs" going forward are going to GTA Online or Elden Ring or Monster Hunter or Animal Crossing, like standard games first and then a multiplayer mode on top of that. This 200 hours to the good stuff thing a lot of MMOs got going for them just isn't flying anymore. There's just way too much competition elsewhere on the internet these days. Social Media, Twitch, Tik Tok, KZfaq, mobile games, F2P games etc. You cannot compete with that shit as a slow burning MMO anymore

You ever tried conquers blade? It’s a niche mmo that’s been around for almost a decade I think.

so that means you are focusing on the other channel?

lets just wait for the day technology can make SOA-like experience 💀

:(

Companies no longer release games. Only money generators, with everything that is trendy. But since they take so long to develop, and trends go out of style, they delay them to modify them

Bro all i can say is i fucking FEEL YOU. Been saying this for years bro MMOs have actually been getting worse instead of better and all i can say is HOW???

I stop playing MMO after I play Starwars The Old Republic. Is like, there's nothing more MMO can give for me. Plus, there's no time to play MMO again. Mobile Game is now the place for me to play the game, as I like to walk around.

Gachas has been the new MMO's for many years now. What you can expect realistically is more gachas with more multiplayer functionalities. It's far easier to design a single player open world, and keep the multiplayer to lobby/instanced game play.

MMO's have been dead since around 2011. People have been seeking alternatives ever since, this is hardly a new feeling. Its odd to see this video in 2024. The main thing is that for at least until 2018 there was still a huge amount of momentum pushing the corpse forward based off the success, history, social connections, and habits of players, keeping a false market alive. The truth is simple, until WoW, GW2 and FFXIV gets shut down and dead, there is no room for new mmo's. MMO's more than any game depend on huge adoption, because they are social in nature, and while people can still log into their WoW game filled with nostalgia, and where everyone else is, there simply no chance for a new game to compete, there wont be enough players to kick start it. Its a dead market. You might have 4-8 million players, but you cannot capture them, because people do not have time to play 2 mmos at once. Also design for mmos, what made them great, is dead. Its all about accessibility, convenience, ease of use, console compatibility, cross play, 'shards' etc, those things make the genre bad. If you can play an mmo solo, its not an mmo. and mmo needs the creation of social networks, needs the creation of guilds, groups, needs player reputation to matter. Players need to be forced to band up and group or fail, because, its a social game first and foremost. And that just isn't something modern design wants, and thus, its impossible to make a good mmo with current design ideas. Scale is what matters in mmos. A simple, great example is WoW, what killed WoW: Flying mounts: world pvp died, as did travel time, and need for safety in numbers. Teleport to dungeon queue system, same reason as flying mounts. It made the world tiny, it killed the areas, it killed conflict, it stopped being an mmo. Its funny because this was the main complaint with D&DO and why it failed to take players away from WoW: It was all instanced. No open world. By giving flying mounts and teleports to dungeons and make professions useless due to bad item scaling and not forcing consumables to be needed in dungeons/raids, you killed the world, and thus effectively made it an instanced game. Instanced games suck. Using real life as an example, in the past life was hard, surivving alone was impossible, because of this people made communities. An average person had 20-30 friends minimum, plus 100 more known people they kept good relations with, they maintained a good reputation by behaving well, by being useful, by being 'good'. With modern convenience, most of us dont need anyone else to live, we can order food, we can stay home all day for all entertainment and purpose, work from home as well. We are isolated, life is easy, comfortable, and thus we dont need anyone else. Now the average person has 2-3 close friends, and thats going down. So to sum it up: 1 - zombie mmo's prevent players from leaving them for new ones, making success very hard for a new mmo to succeed the critical 1-2 first years. 2 - modern design focusing on ease of use, accessibility, solo play, low time investment, makes mmos bad, and not worth playing. there is no challenge, and there is no real need for a community. Until those 2 are resolved, mmorpg is a dead genre.

What do you think of WuWa stix?

You’re right! This is why I don’t play MMOs anymore

Yeah, its insane dude. The fact that I'm still playing WoW after all these years is insane. The fact that companies can't even get out a simple WoW or trinity style dungeon-game that isn't P2W or broken is insane. The fact that everything in development minus maybe that Riot-game is just gonna be P2W garbo is insane. The fact that someone haven't at least attempted like a WoW clone with a sub fee ala FFXIV in the last 12 years is insane. It's just exhausting and heart breaking to follow this genre at this point. This should be the genre everyone's talking about considering how online centric everything is these days, yet it's now some old niche that only people who grew up with them cares about apparently. It's effin bizarre and sad

Most mmo devs have become soo greedy that they only make mmos with the idea of how best to suck money out of the players and not the best game they can make. It's very depressing.

Yep. Don't know how long I have been subscribed for, but it's been a few years now, I did so in hopes of fiding another MMO that could replace Ragnarok in my heart after I stopped playing it. It's almost 10 years since I last played Ragnarok, but I have yet to touch another MMO.

*I tried Throne and liberty I stopped after 30 minutes. I'm glad I realized it's time to retire from MMOs, I got better things to do than commit to another korean floptastic game, gachas and mobas are more fulfilling now, mobas are quick the grind is quick and the endgame is quick. Good for the attention span these days*

Sounds like making crossplay mmos with mobile is bad

You got my support man, mmos are a total led down. Thank you for covering them for so long and doing such a great job at it anyway Imma go to Wawa it’s releasing in 2 minutes

The problem is that a LOT of things have changed in terms of financing, certain design and management philosophies but also consumer behavior. All the MMOs that have been around for over a decade at this point, started in a very different environment than what is present today and testament to them they somewhat evolved with those changes (most of them are also backed by massive conglomerates that can afford themselves a lot more freedoms and through that longevity they have enough player retention and brand recognition to allow for less aggressive monetization). In that aspect, yeah, the era of the grand MMOs is probably coming to an end and will be replaced by more instanced multiplayer and single player games as those are less financially risky and reflect modern tendencies better which makes them more sustainable and easier to monetize. Maybe if AI is advanced enough to be an effective cost cutting tool (unlikely at this point in time because of how the math works and what that does, they need much better systems which comes with its own set of problems in terms of displacing workers etc.), financing becomes cheap again, inflation does not factor as much into consumer budgets and people seek out those online interactions more, competition somehow mellows out and the gaming market becomes less saturated, then maybe it will return to big flashy MMOs but for now that seems quite unlikely.

I will keep what I know to myself but let me tell you something I can say: When you see the QA teams behind certain MMO-type games.... you understand why it is doing poorly. the passion is not there.

It is dead yes and I've moved onto playing games of other genres. Not that I don't want to play an MMO but none of them is really trying to deliver a good game so I'm done.

I'm putting my hope into corepunk. They have a MASSIVE improvement for the next Alpha test in a week or so. And the game is on track for early access this summer, possibly. They've kept a LOT close to the chest. And also took a good deal of the critiques I gave them during the last Alpha test (the one you and the wife were also in). I hope to see you two in the next test, again. They're going to be inviting 10,000 of the roughly 500,000 applicants to test the game. As it's going to be the final alpha test. Before they roll out a beta for stress testing. And then doing early access as they finish up tuning the game.

MMOs back then are different... it felt like magical world. It's like we're just stuck in the past finding a new home but cant find it... because we are not the target audience anymore :(

I've been jumping between FFXIV and WoW for years. Once a year I level up a seasonal character in BDO and that's it. Every now and then i try to jump into a new mmo and get disappointed really fast. Oh boy i love mmorpgs, but there are just no good alternatives.

Over monetization of the gaming industry is what's coming back to bite these companies in the ass. I feel it's that simple. They no longer want to release quality projects that are consumer friendly. So most of us jump into the f2p portion get our rocks off and keep it moving. Gacha games will hit the same wall i think. But waifu lovers are also easily amused and distracted so I could be wrong there lol.

As someone who's been playing f2p mmorpgs for a good chunk of my life, I've seen good, bad and failing mmorpgs, some who had promise going out of service to be lost forever. Nowadays you have the common known mmos but anything new just doesn't have that same soul, joy or sense of adventure anymore now. Maybe I just feel old or have my rose-tinted nostalgia glasses but I find myself looking back at old and retro mmos more than modern ones and if there's some potentially fun mmos there's chances they are only in japan or only in korea where you gotta look up guides to even play em and pray you find any english community for the lesser known ones. Nowadays I keep looking at some older mmorpgs like Fantasy earth zero (officially dead), Dragon Quest X (only in jp) and now Master of Epic the resonance age universe(also only in jp). So far master of epic feels like an unexplored frontier from the english player's perspective since I have yet to find anyone I know who played it before. Even with it's share of obvious problems that you'd find in old f2p mmorpgs, I had a fun time trying to play it, it even had it's own little animation series on youtube. If you want to go back in the past and look at old mmorpgs there's playlists of first look mmo videos from 13+ years ago.

I'm still addicted to Runescape, lol, and I've been playing since 2007. You never forget your first Mmorpg. And no other MMO has ever been able to scratch the same itch RS gives me, the multi-tasking and afkability. I'm basically maining RS while I play single-player games on the side, including Gachas. Old School Runescape is also the only game I know where updates are polled and have to pass a 70% voting threshold to get implemented.

The only MMOs I've felt worth playing in years were WoW and XIV. Recently I had a bit of a wake-up call. XIV is fantastic and I'll always love it. It literally changed my life, and caused my best friend to find his now-fiancé. It has a special place in my heart, and it always will. But, post-Endwalker, as good as it was? I've not even resubbed to do any of the post-MSQ content, and the new expansion is less than a month away, and I have ZERO desire to actually go back to it atm due to the fact that Elden Ring's DLC is sharing launch space with it. I'm sure I will, at some point, but this is going to be the first time I pass up the chance to be at an expansion launch for XIV... ever. A concept that was unfathomable until now. I would literally take an entire week off and disappear from all social circles every time XIV dropped a new xpac just to experience it all uninterrupted. Now, even XIV is taking a back seat to far more interesting single player and coop experiences. I've been an MMO gamer almost all my life. I think I was 15 when I first got into WoW, and before that, as far back as when I was 13 I was playing on private servers for Ragnarok Online. It sucks, but I 100% get where you're coming from. I wouldn't call the genre dead, as long as the titans remain active, the genre is still alive. But, it doesn't seem like there's going to be anything new to look forward to in it for at least 6+ years at this point. I will say though you ARE overlooking one game, which is Lost Ark. Yeah, its also technically a decade old Korea-wise, but its only a few years old over here and still retains a huge playerbase. One game does not a healthy genre make, but credit where credit is due.