I'm sure a lot of you are very sick of this question. Like me, you've probably remained on the hunt for that perfect mmo experience for 10+ years. I'm not sure if there's anything else for me to find I haven't looked into, but I still really want to hear from the lemmy community on this. I'm not just looking for reccomendations for me, but also just wanting to know what you like. I'm expecting this to go about the same as the reddit threads asking the same thing, but I think the conversation is still worth having!
As for what I like, I was a classic runescape player before moving onto guid wars 2, but my all time favorite is dungeons and dragons online. I value character expression above almost everything else, and ddo is pretty good about giving you the same freedoms you would have in pen and paper did. Despite its shortcomings, this alone is why I keep going back to ddo over things like gw2 or elder scrolls online. With eso, and most others, I feel like my character is the same as everyone else's. Ddo makes my roll as a Rouge or cleric feel much more rewarding, and I still feel like I'm playing an individual custom character.
Honorable mentions would go to Black desert online for its amazing graphics and game play, and Albion online for being one of the most unique and interesting mmo experiences I've had in a while.
I don't think there is currently anything out that will be 100% what I like, but anything new to explore is welcome. Of course the goal here isn't really to find anything new, I just want to hear your thoughts on some of your favorites.
I'm bad with acronyms so I would appreciate it if you said the games real name at least once. Throw whatever you want at me even if it's way off topic. Upcoming or in development games are fine too!
I'm a huge fan of Project:Gorgon, I try not to recommend it too much but I have to mention it since you've said you used to play Runescape. The game's only slightly similiar but I've heard some Runescape players say it scratches the same itch. I'd classify it as a sort of mix between Runescape and a more usual MMORPG - you have a ton of skills that interact and build off of each other on one character, and you also have classes, builds and some group content.
Since you mentioned character expression - have you considered Path of exile? That game is well known for it's massive skill tree and build variety. Alternatively you could check out the Ascension private WoW server - it's based on being able to pick skills and passives from any class when you level up.
If you've enjoyed Albion, why not try EVE online too? Those two games are in a league of their own honestly, nothing else had got my hands shaking and heart pounding quite like sitting on my ass in the comfort of my home playing a spaceship game hahaha.
If you want something with nice graphics like Black Desert, that's going to be tough, generally newer MMOs on modern engines are few and far between. Maybe New World is your best bet.
While I'll of those are excellent options I'm actually most interested in project gorgon of all things.
Even online interests me for sure, but I'm very scared of it.