With New World being shut down in 2026 I've had to scrounge the current MMO space to fill that niche that New World had filled in my gaming rotation. The Western MMO market is severely malnourished as recent games have shut down or are still in early access, which is hardly a good game to dedicate time to when the servers eventually wipe.
So I've had to look to the past to find games that fulfill my wants from an MMO.
Early MMORPGs just had that certain level of care and depth that newer MMOs lack. There's something in that depth that has made them stand the test of time over and over and over again.
So the three games I will be playing are Lord of the Rings Online, Guild Wars 2, and EvE Online.
New World was my 'all-in-one' type of game with plenty of activities to do in the world, PVP matchmaking, and a marketplace/auction house that had player interaction to a degree. To find this trifecta in another game was exceedingly difficult unless I succumb to the grindhouse MMOs.
The Games, the reasons, and the goals
Lord of the Rings online is still kicking with a thriving community, and with Amazon game studios shutting down that means the new Lord of the Rings MMO won't be launched to kill this game. This is my story driven game with my characters goal to learn about the Nameless ones that lurk in the deep.
Pet/minion classes in MMOs are usually my forte and I can manage difficult mobs with a pet class.
This is Enquis the Lore-Master. As this is a new character and a chance for me to experience the game itsel It'll be awhile before I fight any Nameless ones but it'll be a journey worth having. Lord of the Rings Online has a difficulty modifier that makes the NPCs tougher to fight whilst giving me additional experience in return. I think that will keep the game interesting for me along with adding a bit of challenge and strategy to my playthrough.
Guild Wars 2 is my 'PVP Matchmaking' type game. New World has very action-oriented combat and that is difficult to come by in an MMO. Thankfully Guild Wars 2 has a hybrid model of Action Combat and Tab Targeting. Characters have to face their opponent and blows or projectiles have to make contact with the target to hit and deal damage/effects but can be blocked by terrain, other players, and also be affected by AoE spells on the ground(apparently). I don't have to be max level to compete and could hop into a PvP match almost immediately after the tutorial quests. Even while I was low leveled and under geared I still felt like I was doing my part when the teams clashed. It's very fun and I'm interested in progressing with my Engineer: Gunnar Jerik.
Not impressive stats but it's a start!
Explosions with status effects!
I've modeled how I would play after the Spitfire gunner class in Dungeon Fighter Online, another MMO I participated with long ago, and the fact that I am able to throw status effects left and right with grenades and pistol shots is exciting and brings me a meager level of joy during a clash.
Taken during the middle of combat.
The last game is EvE Online. The fabled 'spreadsheet simulator' has always been on my game list on and off for the last 10+ years. I could never figure out how I wanted to play it or if I even wanted to commit to such an old game. But the marketplace is active and much of the player base is fanatic to a degree that is tolerable but endearing. I've always enjoyed the exploration part of the game,
Scanning used to be a lot harder if I recall.
finding old data/relic sites in the low-sec space and hacking the nodes, gathering the loot, and jetting off to the next one.
Keep connecting the dots until you find a system core!
The marketplace aspect will give me drive to gather those items and make a run for a station with the highest seller price.
Not exactly retirement ISK but any positive is a goal!
Coming to terms and the future
Losing New World took the wind out of my 'MMO' sails but I still would like to play something that can give me a little bit of variety and enjoyment to my gameplay sessions. Waiting to co-op with others hasn't worked out well for me and I've decided to uninstall all these games that were planned to be played together. I can only play so much DoTA 2 and Counter-Strike before it begins to corrupt. Lol.
So, I'll be posting about these ventures moving forward. I'm still participating in my Gaming Photography whenever I see something that catches my eye, I am looking to start a domain website to begin sharing(cross posting?) my posts created here on Hive on a Web2 platform, and I am looking to start being more vocal with audio/podcasts. I've done it before on Hive but Aureal has vanished and there are currently no other avenues (that I can find) for podcasting on Hive.
So, that's my plan. It seems like the price of many cryptocurrencies/Blockchains are low but that is just an opportunity to push out quality creations to show that the Web3 space has a value beyond 'Wen Moon?' and I hope other creators begin to see that too.
Thank you for reading!