Looking for an MMORPG to play with a group of friends in 2026 - what would you recommend?
Hey everyone,
I'm looking for an MMORPG to really get into in 2026, but I'm honestly not very knowledgeable about the genre, so I'd really appreciate some advice from people who have been playing MMOs for years.
I've played a few MMORPGs and similar games in the past, mostly when I was younger: the original Dragon Nest, Albion Online during its first year, the first Path of Exile, Neverwinter, Dofus 2 almost 10 years ago, Dragon Ball Online, PokeMMO, and a few others.
The problem is that I never really stuck with any of them for very long. Back then I was younger, barely read guides or tried to properly understand the games, and I didn't have a large group of friends to play with.
Things are different now. We have a pretty big group of friends interested in playing together, and we're also old enough that paying for a subscription or spending some money on the game isn't really an issue.
What we're mainly looking for is:
- An MMORPG that is still very active in 2026.
- A healthy and reasonably large playerbase.
- Regular updates, events, expansions, or new content.
- Something that still has several years ahead of it rather than a game that feels like it's slowly dying.
- Good group content and things we can work toward together.
- A game where we can have fun without necessarily needing to become hardcore players immediately.
I don't know enough about MMOs to say whether things like having an amazing economy, crafting system, PvP scene, etc. should be major deciding factors. At the end of the day, we're mostly looking for something fun that we can spend hundreds or potentially thousands of hours playing together.
Right now, Dofus 3 is probably our main choice. Most of us played Dofus when we were younger and have a lot of nostalgia for it. We love the combat system and general style of the game.
My concern is that I don't really know how healthy Dofus is nowadays. Does Dofus 3 have a large active population? Is it growing or at least stable? Does it seem like a game that will remain active for many more years?
We're also interested in Path of Exile 2, although I know it's more of an ARPG than a traditional MMORPG.
We've also considered World of Warcraft, but we're a little hesitant because of the subscription, expansions, different versions of WoW, and generally not knowing where we should even start.
We're completely open to other recommendations as well.
If you were introducing a group of friends to MMORPGs in 2026, and you wanted a game that is active, populated, regularly updated, and worth committing to for the long term, what would you choose and why?
Dofus 3? WoW? FFXIV? Guild Wars 2? ESO? Albion? Something else entirely?
I'd really appreciate any recommendations, especially from people who currently play these games.
Thanks!