MMORPG Tier List 2025: 76 Online Role-Playing Games in the Ranking

From S-Tier to Trash: For the MMORPG Theme Week 2025, our genre expert Karsten Scholz has compiled all currently relevant online role-playing games into a tier list.

How was the tier list created? Our genre expert Karsten Scholz takes all MMORPGs that meet certain criteria and ranks them in a tier list. For an online role-playing game to appear on this list, it must

• be currently available
• run on official servers (meaning no private servers)
• exist in a final release version (so no early access, no playable alpha and beta versions)

The ranking includes the following tier levels:

• S-Tier: The current best representatives of the genre. They are not perfect, but they do so much right that they rank among the largest (in terms of player numbers) and best-rated MMORPGs in 2025.
• A-Tier: Recommended MMORPGs that appeal to a specific niche or target audience for various reasons, yet are among the best currently available.
• B-Tier: Decent online role-playing games with several weaknesses, or those that have simply aged, but still provide fun for some players.
• C-Tier: MMORPGs for the very niche market, which still maintain a (small) fan base due to few strengths or nostalgic memories, yet have too many “buts” or are simply too outdated to receive a recommendation in 2025.
• D-Tier: Uff, don’t play. This is trash, with some outrageous payment models.

Our talk about the upcoming MMORPGs from Caggtus:

Tier List of MMORPGs 2025

The Current Best MMORPGs

Why do the games in the top two tier levels deserve the S and A ratings? Let’s briefly go through the MMORPGs!

The MMORPGs in S-Tier

• World of Warcraft: Despite fluctuating quality in expansions, WoW has been one of the most beginner-friendly, comfortable, and content-rich MMORPGs on the market for 20 years. With the various versions of WoW, there is something for almost everyone.
• Final Fantasy XIV: Thanks to the “A Realm Reborn” reboot and subsequent expansions and packed updates, FFXIV has developed over the years into one of the best theme park and story MMORPGs. Too bad that Dawntrail isn’t quite as well received by the community as previous expansions.
• Guild Wars 2: There is currently no better MMORPG for casual players, collectors, and explorers who do not want a subscription and the genre-typical gear grind.
• The Elder Scrolls Online: ESO has always struggled a bit in the MMO area. However, the game from Zenimax offers some of the most interesting characters and exciting stories of the genre, a wide range of content, the perhaps best console port of all MMORPGs, and the opportunity to dive into the popular Elder Scrolls universe with others.

Elder Scrolls Online is switching to a seasonal system this year – here is the first trailer for season 1:

The MMORPGs in A-Tier

• Albion Online: The currently best German MMORPG has been enjoying increasing player numbers for years, as it slowly breaks through its sandbox and PvP roots and can appeal to a larger audience through improved accessibility and optimized player guidance.
• Black Desert: The grind factor is strong in this MMORPG. At the same time, there is no other online role-playing game where your own attacks and combos feel so powerful and satisfying. The character creator is also S-Tier. However, due to its sandbox experience and Asian characteristics, Black Desert can only shine in a niche in the West.
• EVE Online: There are not many MMORPGs on the market that offer you a whole universe where you can unleash yourself with all the freedoms of a sandbox. EVE Online has always been somewhat unwieldy and quirky, but also special and unique. And if you want to participate in battles that go down in history, there is no better MMORPG.
• The Lord of the Rings Online: Although LOTRO is more than two years younger than WoW, it looks ten years older. Still, in 2025 there is hardly a more atmospheric online world than Middle-earth, with all its entertaining stories and quests. Plus: You can finally experience the MMORPG on 64-bit servers located in Europe. No? Yes! Oh!
• Lost Ark: The MMORPG from Smilegate and Amazon Games offers a unique genre experience through its perspective and shines with great combat feeling. Moreover, there is no other online RPG designed for Free2Play from the start that offers as many fun content for free. Due to its peculiarities in payment model and progression, it does not reach S-Tier.
• New World: Exciting setting, immersive game world, powerful combat system, meaningful improvements through the Aeternum reboot … New World has many arguments for an S-Tier ranking. And indeed, as a newcomer, you can have a lot of fun in the MMORPG from Amazon Games. However, content has been lacking for years to keep players engaged long-term.
• RuneScape / Old School RuneScape: In the two versions of RuneScape, genre fans currently find the best old school experience when it comes to MMORPGs. The high player numbers after all these years and strong user ratings speak for themselves. One factor is certainly that the community has a say in the introduction of new features.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: SWTOR has always excelled with its stories, characters, and class quests, and of course, with the great implementation of the popular Star Wars license. It’s a pity that it took way too long after the launch for developers to build upon these strengths.
• Throne and Liberty: The new MMORPG from NCsoft shines with its – for today’s standards – unusual focus on the “Massively” and offers mass battles that are not found anywhere else in this form. However, this focus can also create significant frustration in combination with some idiosyncrasies of Asian MMORPGs.

More about MMORPGs:

New Anime MMORPG dispenses with Pay2Win and endless grind, already shows large guilds and PvP in the beta

von Cedric Holmeier

WoW: Midnight has a recycled area and the players noticed it

von Cortyn

Now, of course, the big question is, what would your tier list for current MMORPGs look like? Which genre representatives do you think belong in the S-Tier? Did we perhaps overlook a game that should be on the list? Let us know in the comments! When it comes to the best online role-playing games of all time, check out the following article: The best MMORPGs of all time for PC and consoles: The MeinMMO community has voted