The best MMOs and MMORPGs on PC in 2021?

What is the best MMO RPG on PC in 2021? Is it one with spells to sling and demons to slay? Working your way through the stars as a miner or a corporate bigwig? Solving ancient conspiracies and fighting Lovecraftian horrors? Maybe it's all of them.

But, hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves. What's an MMO, anyway? Well, those oft-used letters represent the words Massively Multiplayer Online and refer to games where hundreds - if not thousands - of players come together in the same world. MMORPG games like World of Warcraft offer new lands to live in, exchanging your regular life for one of adventure, profit, and danger.

Here's our list of the top MMORPG games on PC, kicking off with a few of the top free PC MMOs. You're sure to find something that will swallow up entire days at a time - be that the most popular MMORPG in the world, a hidden gem with a dedicated community, or even an MMO based on a popular book series.

GUILD WARS 2

Where World of Warcraft is as traditional an MMO as they come, Guild Wars 2 is the weird, contrarian opposite. Its design can be seen as an attempt to fix and improve on every broken mechanic that online games persist in pursuing, and its success in these areas makes it one of the best MMORPGs you can play.

It has few regular quests: instead, players gang together to fight in rolling events - mini storylines that play out in stages depending on how gamers perform. These get players to work together organically, and also have an impact on the region they are in, perhaps reducing the threat of roving bands of monsters, at least temporarily. End game content is constantly evolving through the Living World episodic updates, the latest of which will pit heroes against the dragon Jormag and his nice brood. Should you not be ready to meet that challenge, you can play lower-level adventures without spending a dollar, as the core game is now entirely free.

NEVERWINTER

Neverwinter is a surprise. It is thematically Dungeons & Dragons, taking the places, classes, spells, and abilities from the tabletop game, and then cramming them inside one of the best MMORPGs. It should not work, but somehow it does. It helps that there is an earnest love for the source material, and each quest feels like one you could imagine yourself embarking upon while sitting around a table.

Lots of free expansions - which include new races and classes - have been introduced in the time since Neverwinter launched, taking players far from the safety of Neverwinter itself, to lands like Icewind Dale, where barbarians and unpleasant temperatures are the least of your worries. It is a mostly linear MMO, but if you start running low on new content, there is always the player-created stuff, which contains some real gems hidden away from the rubbish.

Word of warning, though: unless you approach the game casually, you will probably have to spend money. It is becoming increasingly difficult to play for free, though certainly not impossible.

STAR TREK ONLINE

Miss Star Trek on TV? Star Trek Online might just tide you over until Discovery reappears on television screens. Each quest in this MMO is like an episode of the show, and each mission series is an arc, complete with the occasional filler episode.

Take a trip to Risa, visit DS9 in Star Trek Online, land on planets and practice your diplomacy, or get into tense space battles with Cardassians, Romulans, Borg, and anyone else is causing mischief. Space fights are tactical while playing out in real-time, as it's key to position your ship to get the most out of your firing arcs. On any away missions that devolve into combat, the game turns into a squad-based third-person shooter, complete with ability cooldowns.

EVE-ONLINE

There is a good chance that you have already heard about one of the many tales of dark bastardry that have spun out of Eve's New Eden. It is a game of cold-hearted betrayal, mining, economics, more betrayal, more mining, and the occasional thousand-person spaceship battles.

With CCP's hands-off approach, the universe of New Eden is one of the most player-driven MMOs in existence. Wars span weeks, if not months, across multiple systems. Years of plotting and sabotage to bring huge corporations down from the inside. Reports of huge losses in ships and cargo, some reaching the thousands of dollars in real-world value. As you can imagine, it is not the easiest game in the world to learn, but that doesn't mean it is impossible. Our own Eve Online beginner's guide will show you how to set up in one of the best MMOs around.

RIFT

Rift led a wave of new MMOs at the start of this decade and has proved the most resilient of the bunch. Not only do its original strengths still hold up - the spontaneous events that see big groups of players band together against invasion, and the highly customizable class system - but Rift has transformed into one of the best MMORPGs over the last several years, too.

Rift is still being updated with seasonal events, adding delights such as an adorable mummified corgi companion for Halloween, or the Fae Yule during the holiday season. One of the more recent events has players earn Chaos Motes by finishing special daily quests and has Budgies make a triumphant comeback.

FINAL FANTASY XIV

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is a story of heartwarming redemption. When it was originally released it was not very good. In fact, it was terrible. This triggered Square Enix to take drastic action: ditch the old team, hire a new team and remake Final Fantasy XIV in its entirety.

The outcome is A Realm Reborn. And it is good. If you are a Final Fantasy fan, you will adore Eorzea. It hits everything the series is known for: epic stories of good and evil duking it out, varied, painfully gorgeous environments, over-the-top characters, flashy cutscenes, and chocobos galore. It is also clever: players have a great deal of flexibility within their class choice. As soon as you hit a paltry level 10, you gain the ability to switch to any of the game's eight combat classes at just the switch of the weapon. The upside is that players do not need to create alts to try out other roles.

The Shadowbringers expansion has added new races, jobs, and instances, alongside a level cap increase and a heavy helping of story. The upcoming patch titled 'Vows of Virtue, Deeds of Cruelty' will allow you to revisit previous quests with your high-level characters through New Game Plus. It will also introduce the first in a series of Neir: Automata-themed raids. Few MMOs have received as many quality updates and expansions as FFXIV.

TROVE

Trove is an action-focused MMO, most often compared to games similar to Minecraft and one of the best building games on PC. Firstly you'll need to build a base, a home from home, where you can fashion all sorts of creatures, weapons, and items. Once your home base is established, you'll be able to zip between worlds and loot dungeons, and go on quests online with your friends or guild pals. Trove's dedicated community is always updating and bringing the best mods to Trove, so there's always something to do whether you're improving your base or looting with your online buddies.

SKYFORGE

Skyforge stands out as one of the best MMOs thanks to the combination of its unique class system, excellent early game, and beautiful world. Incentivizing experimentation and personal exploration, you are able to select between any class you have unlocked, allowing you to dramatically switch playstyle at a moment's notice without having to go through another hundred hours of re-leveling. And it all takes place in one of the most fetching game worlds we've encountered, an elegant mix of high fantasy and ludicrous sci-fi.

The early game is varied and interesting, with many options as to how to do your tasks, and plenty of rewards that let you pick and choose how you want to play. It switches regularly between solo-instanced areas that tell a linear story, wide-open zones that encourage casual teaming up in a lived-in world, and group content that is more difficult but offers better loot. While it is gated by your Prestige number, you are unlikely to run out of things to do and have to go grind it out.

BLADE & SOUL

Blade & Soul is a Korean fantasy martial-arts MMORPG. And, if that is not enough to pique your interest, frankly, we don't know what will. Perhaps the game's intricately designed world - inspired by the visual style of artist Hyung Tae Kim - four unique races, and ten compelling classes will sway you.

Whether you choose to play as the mighty Gon, versatile Jin, master of the natural world, Yun, or the mystical Lyn, doing battle using the fast, high-octane combat system is always a joy. Rapid counters and combo chains are essential, whether you team up with friends to tackle a wide range of dungeons or you want to do your virtual scrapping in PvP. Don't forget to check out our Blade & Soul tips before embarking on your new wushu quest.

BLADE & SOUL

ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE

Despite a rocky beginning, The Elder Scrolls Online remains a strong entry for one of the best MMORPGs on PC. The Elder Scrolls games are among the best RPGs around and now you can sink even more of your time into the series' rich and vibrant universe by playing online with friends or total strangers.

Set 1,000 years before Skyrim and 800 years before Morrowind and Oblivion. The Elder Scrolls Online begins in Coldharbour's Wailing Prison were, staying true to Elder Scrolls tradition, the player is a prisoner. After escaping you are free to explore the continent of Tamriel, battling monsters, discovering dungeons, and crafting weapons with fellow adventurers or on your own. With a handful of expansions bringing old and new regions into the game like Murkmire and Summerset, not to mention plenty of planned future DLC releases, the Elder Scrolls Online universe is forever expanding making for an MMO that always feels fresh.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT

Over a decade old and still the most popular MMORPG game in the world, World of Warcraft is a bit special. During its long reign, WoW has changed a lot. New classes, races, a graphics overhaul, whole new continents… players can even travel back in time. It is huge, bewilderingly so, and you can speed through it so quickly now that it becomes easy to miss some of the surprisingly excellent story-laden quests that have sprouted up.

At times it seems traditional, which is unsurprising considering it is the MMO that defined the modern style of the genre, but Blizzard is still mixing things up. Take Garrisons, for instance: your base of operations in Draenor, where you command your loyal forces of either the Horde or the Alliance. They're teeming with stuff to do, click and loot, and even NPC followers who you can send off on their own adventures.

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The best MMOs and MMORPGs on PC in 2021?