Welp for me its actually 3 mmos that had this profound effect on me: Lineage 2, Tera, and Black Desert Online. Lineage 2 had all these private servers and for a young broke kid that was all I could ever ask for. I remember trying all different types with custom drop rates/exp rates/ custom shops and gear sets exclusive to that private server. I really enjoyed playing this one server called L2Extreme.

Then came TERA. The Exiles Realm of Arborea. I enjoyed the combat of this game so damn much, its to this day one of my most fond memories. I played a lancer, which was like a dude with a lance and a shield, and that shit was busted af, I learned about block cancels and combos, I became one scary dude to fight, and felt so accomplished in that game. I felt like i was Bruce Lee or something, of course there were plenty of dudes better than me.

Then came black desert where it just took ideas from all these other games and perfected them. I got to learn to love life skills along with learning how to combo on my berserker. Of course I didn’t go nearly as far in this game but It sure as hell gave me a huge dopamine rush enhancing a tet ogre ring, which was, at the time, a very expensive necklace in the game and the enhancing system is brutal and unforgiving, essentially blowing both the enhanced ogre ring and the second ogre ring used to enhance it. Meaning you lose a metric shitload of currency if you fail. Luckily all went well and I nearly shit my pants at the result.

Course now I’m too busy between working, hanging with friends, and fitness/physique goals to play something this focus and time consuming. But ooh man those games gave me some of my fondest memories.