MMORPGs are still going strong decades after their inception, and the fact that so many are thriving in 2023 is proof of the genre’s longevity. A few MMOs were at the top of their game this year, with timeless classics and long-standing behemoths fighting for the top spot while a surprising contender joined the fray.
2023 was the best year for online adventures in longer than I can remember, and with MMOs being talked about so much right now, we’re more hopeful than ever for their future. Of all the MMOs that are live and kicking in 2023, the following six are our favorites of the year.
WoW: Dragonflight
Dragonflight was the shake-up World of Warcraft sorely needed. Expansion after expansion of poor storytelling, bloated systems, and padded-out gameplay drove away even WoW’s most devoted players, with the end of Shadowlands being WoW’s lowest point in decades. But then came Dragonflight, a colorful expansion with a low-key storyline, no contrived villains or overbaked systems, and Dragonriding, an exciting new feature that lets you soar through the skies on a customizable flying mount.
The expansion launched in November 2022 and maintains a sizeable playerbase today, with season three’s recent release bringing players back for the new Amirdrassil raid and refreshed rotation of eight Mythic+ dungeons. Modern WoW’s dungeons and raids are always great, so if you’ve enjoyed them before, you’ll no doubt enjoy them now. Dragonflight is also an excellent starting point for MMO newcomers, as WoW’s classes, leveling, and open-world content are in a better state than they’ve been in years.
WoW’s recent roadmap suggests the next expansion, The War Within, could be coming sooner than we think, so with so much going on right now, it’s a great time to start exploring Azeroth.
Albion Online
If you’re after something a bit more retro, consider Albion Online. It’s a sandbox MMORPG with a clever open-ended progression system reminiscent of timeless classics like Old School Runescape. There’s a heavy emphasis on gathering and crafting, with an auction house and player-run shops complementing its thriving player-driven economy. Albion offers PvE and PvP gameplay options, and certain areas have full-loot PvP, which isn’t for everyone, but it’s a blast if you like that sort of thing. In general, the riskier the zone, the more lucrative the reward, which I absolutely love.
Albion released in 2017 and has been regularly updated in the years since, and it’s in a fantastic state in 2023. It’s entirely free to play and launched on mobile in 2021, leading to a population boom that bolstered Albion’s success in the years since. There are tons of viable playstyles, and it’s surprisingly accessible for an MMO with so much depth. You can head out into the world to gather and craft, discover and explore PvE dungeons in the overworld, fight other players in open-world full-loot PvP, and even manage your own island with houses and farms.
This is an ideal game for anyone who prefers a laid-back, less mechanically intensive MMO with more emphasis on macromanagement and long-term progression than twitchy reactions and complex ability rotations. It’s perfect if you love Old School Runescape, either now or back in the day, but it’s also great for anyone interested in an open-world sandbox MMO where you carve your own path to success.
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
With an impressive continuous storyline spanning four expansions, Final Fantasy XIV is a behemoth of an MMO that surged in popularity following WoW’s recent decline in Shadowlands. Its latest expansion, Endwalker, launched in December 2021, but the next one, Dawntrail, is set to launch in Summer 2024. FFXIV is lauded for its story, and if you’re a big fan of story-driven games, it could be right up your street.
There are hundreds of hours of story content across all of FFXIV’s expansions. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re a Final Fantasy fan or someone who enjoys watching deep, complex storylines unfold while leveling an MMO character, FFXIV could be exactly what you’re looking for. Just bear in mind that unless you buy a boost from the store (which isn’t recommended), you have to progress through the whole story as a new player before you reach the endgame, so prepare to be in it for the long haul.
With all its story-driven quests, FFXIV is ideal for solo players and those looking for a less demanding MMO. There are plenty of dungeons, too, but you can play most group content using the dungeon finder. Combat is slower paced than WoW, with a 2.5 second-global cooldown compared to WoW’s 1.5-second GCD. It’s less intense on the whole, though the endgame does offer some challenge, with eight-person raids being the main focus. There’s also PvP, gathering and crafting, and a variety of other colorful and flavorful activities. Every “best MMOs” list would be incomplete without FFXIV, so if you’ve ever thought of checking it out, why not download it for the holidays this year.
New World: Rise of the Angry Earth
New World launched in 2021 to an incredibly shaky reception, with server and gameplay issues abound. In the first few days following its release, most people who bought the game ended up waiting in several-hour-long queues, as New World’s servers only held 1,000 players at once. And the ones who were able to log in quickly discovered New World didn’t have much content, aside from repetitive kill quests and tedious fetch quests that sent you gallivanting to the other side of the world and back.
Now, after just over two years of content updates, bug fixes, and an expansion, New World is shaping up relatively nicely. The game is much more stable, most of the issues that plagued its launch have been fixed, and there are dozens of new quests and fast travel points that make leveling up and exploring far less of a pain. New World’s first expansion, Rise of the Angry Earth, launched in October and improved things further by adding a new weapon type, a max-level version of a base game area, and mounts, which have been widely requested since New World’s launch.
Movement and combat in New World is admittedly quite clunky, but it’s also the only MMO on the market with somewhat realistic, grounded combat with similarities to the Souls games. There’s blocking, dodging, heavy and light attacks, and only a few abilities, with more emphasis on positioning and avoiding attacks than mastering your rotation. Once you get used to controlling your character, New World’s gameplay loop is surprisingly engaging, especially if you like gathering and crafting. Give it a try if you’re looking for a grounded, low-fantasy MMO with a gorgeous open world.
Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure
If vibrant high fantasy is more your thing, Guild Wars 2 could be the MMO for you. Its vast open world and distinctive aesthetic are great, but beneath the surface, Guild Wars 2 does things far differently to most other MMOs, and it’s worth checking out. It offers horizontal instead of vertical progression with a strong emphasis on open world gameplay; this means instead of repeatedly grinding content for vanishingly small numerical stat upgrades, you’ll explore vast zones with incredible verticality, discovering secrets and completing events to earn skill points, upgrade your mount, unlock new traversal methods and cosmetics, and much more.
Guild Wars 2 launched in 2012 and just saw its fourth expansion, Secrets of the Obscure, releasing in August this year. The expansion itself had a fairly middling reception, but the whole game is buy-to-play with no subscription fee and offers hundreds of hours of content. Each expansion adds a new storyline, a new specialization for all nine classes, and new traversal options, with End of Dragons adding boats and Secrets of the Obscure giving all players easy access to the Skyscale—a dynamic flying mount that was clearly the precursor to WoW’s Dragonriding.
On the whole, Guild Wars 2 is an impressively accessible adventure where your character, gear, and upgrades always remain relevant. If you’re burned out by progression treadmills and endless gear grinds and want an MMO substantially different to the others on this list, don’t sleep on Guild Wars 2.
WoW Classic: Season of Discovery
Season of Discovery breathed life into a 20-year old game. With just a few small changes, the latest season transformed WoW Classic from a stagnant relic of MMO history into a thriving hotspot bustling with players and packed with new things to discover.
SoD adds 12 runes for each of WoW’s nine base classes, mostly hidden in chests around the world or given as rewards for completing new (and pleasantly expansive) questlines. Finding them unlocks new abilities, some of which are totally transformative. The new season has Mage healers, Warlock and Rogue tanks, melee Hunters, and so many things WoW Classic players never thought possible.
Rediscovering Azeroth through the lens of SoD feels like playing the game for the first time nearly two decades ago. Even if you aren’t familiar with WoW Classic, Season of Discovery is a great time to start, as there are more people playing WoW now than there have been in years. An official WoW poll revealed Season of Discovery is almost as popular as Dragonflight, which is a clear testament to how enjoyable WoW Classic’s gameplay loop and systems are.
If you haven’t tried Season of Discovery yet, this holiday season is the perfect time. It’s an important snapshot of MMO history revitalized by a smattering of much-needed changes that make it fresh and relevant again, even in a year as stacked with games as 2023. WoW Classic Season of Discovery deserves its crown: It’s without doubt our favorite MMO of the year, and with season two coming early next year, the future looks bright.
Published: Dec 23, 2023 04:24 am