It is no surprise Final Fantasy 14 is one of the most popular MMORPGs of today rivaling the likes of World of Warcraft, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and even Runescape. But despite its incredible popularity, this wasn't always the case. When Final Fantasy 14 originally launched, it was plagued with bugs, and its gameplay design decisions made it difficult for longtime fans of Final Fantasy 11 to hop on board. After its rocky start, it was relaunched as A Realm Reborn, making massive changes to just about everything from its original iteration.
Final Fantasy 14's digital version has recently sold out completely, making it stand to reason that its immense popularity isn't just hype. Now, many newcomers who wanted to give the popular MMORPG a try are out of luck until more CD Keys are added to its shop. While this is great news for the developer, it comes as a huge disappointment for fans who wanted to spend their valuable time in Hydaelyn, the game's world. Until more CD Keys are available for players to purchase, they can satiate their fantasy-themed MMORPG craving with perhaps one of these possible contenders in the meantime.
Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2 is an incredibly engaging fantasy MMORPG that does away with conventional MMO tropes such as relegating players into a Healer, Tank, or DPS role. Guild Wars 2 has a no grind policy and a non-disruptive gameplay experience where players can progress without having to slow down. The world of Guild Wars 2 features many open quests that players can join together to progress until completion, rewarding everyone who takes part. Some parts of the game's world will change due to player impact, making the world feel quite immersive. The level is capped at 80 and will not increase even with new expansions.
Players are awarded for traveling the world of Guild Wars 2 by challenging themselves. The combat is fluid with players able to move and attack without hindrance, making it feel more action-oriented than a simple tab-targeting system. Players can equip different weapons and off hand, which dictate what skills are available to the player. There is also a dynamic level scaling system that lets players do content well below their level without it feeling unchallenging or unrewarding, while the PVP will scale players to level 80 so that anyone can jump right in and enjoy its content.
Neverwinter
Neverwinter is an action-focused MMORPG based in the Dungeons and Dragons universe that tries to emulate the TTRPG experience. Neverwinter is a free-to-play MMO and as such, has elements that will target the player to make purchases, but until its end game, this is absolutely unnecessary. Players can enjoy all of the content free, including any addition expansions the game adds in the future. This combined with the fast-paced action makes Neverwinter an enjoyable experience from the beginning right up until the start of the end-game where some grinding choices will depend on the player's taste.
With Neverwinter being related to Dungeons and Dragons, there are flavorful mechanics sprinkled throughout the world as players progress. If one is playing as a rogue, they can pick locks and disarm chests, though if they are playing a class that cannot do this, they can hire a companion that might have that ability. There are other things to discover depending on the player's class, such as Dungeoneering, Arcana, Nature, and Religion which house rewards that the appropriate class or companion can work through. Players who are looking for something quick and easy to drop into without paying a dime can look no further than Neverwinter as it is completely free to play.
The Elder Scrolls: Online
The Elder Scrolls: Online takes what fans love about The Elder Scrolls series and turns it into a full-blown MMORPG. Much like Neverwinter, Elder Scrolls Online features action-oriented combat while sticking quite close to the source material in terms of the visual style. Players can enjoy the game from a first-person or third-person perspective, adding to the immersive quality the game employs.
Much like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, when player's level up they can put points into their Stamina, Magicka, or Health. The player will have access to different class skill trees, as well as skill trees for various other things such as equipped weapons, armor, world skills, racial skills, crafting skills, and much more. All of this encompasses a unique system in that the more the player simply uses a skill line, the more they can specialize in that. This can range from healing staves to vampirism with skills morphing as they progress, culminating in ultimate skills that the player can eventually unlock.
Other Fantasy MMORPG Mentions
Tera Online is a 3D fantasy-themed MMORPG that is free-to-play and has been available around the time Guild Wars 2 came out in 2012. The gameplay is dynamic and fluid, featuring a fast-paced combat system allowing players to manually strike, dodge, block, and more. The world in Tera Online is fully fleshed out with unique monsters and characters to interact with. There are over 13 classes and 9 races to choose from with open-world PVP for those interested.
Tree of Savior is considered to be the true successor to Ragnarok Online, with original music composed by soundTeMP, the original composers for Ragnarok Online. Tree of Savior is a 3D top-down Fantasy-themed MMORPG that tasks players with slaying endless amounts of enemies as they progress through over 80 subclasses. Players can mix and match skills from varying classes making their character truly unique for open-world PVP or PVE dungeons.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now on PC, PS3, PS4, and PS5.