Metin2 is an MMORPG from 2005 developed by WebZen/Ymir and published by Gameforge. Many of you probably played it back then, including MeinMMO author Anny Bader. But was the game really good?
What kind of game is this? Metin2 is a F2Play MMORPG from Korea. At the start of the game, you choose your character from 5 classes and join one of three kingdoms that are in conflict with each other.
The aim of the game is to level up your character and improve your equipment. This can only be accomplished through an everlasting grind.
You kill monsters and farm the so-called Metin stones, which the kingdoms are “oppressed” by according to the story (I never quite understood exactly how that happens). In any case, you can hit these colorful, smoky things and receive loot. Gradually, more and more monsters come out until the stone is broken and drops some items.
There are also quests in Metin2. At first, they make you run between NPCs on the first two maps, but later they turn into endless grinding when it comes to finding and defeating 50 rare monsters. The story is very boring and is overlooked by most players.
Is Metin2 still around? Yes. There are even a few real players among the numerous bots. However, the MMORPG will leave Steam in August and can only be played through its own client after that. It still receives updates to this day.
In the video from MMOHuts, you can see the gameplay of Metin2:
Leveling and Grinding took ages, Shop Items made it bearable
Many of us played and loved it, but Metin2 really isn’t a good MMORPG. Back then, I would come home from school and sit at my laptop for hours to grind in Metin2.
You could make progress even without spending money, but Metin2 still places a strong focus on Pay2Win aspects:
- Leveling takes forever from level 30, and those who don’t own an EXP ring have to grind much longer. We leveled first on Map1, then Map2, the starter maps with the easier monsters. Later, we went to the middle of the Orc Valley, where the black orcs provided a lot of experience points. From level 40, you could enter the Demon Tower to level up a bit. If that didn’t help anymore, you could go to the Spider Dungeon.
- If you wanted to gather significantly more experience points, you had to continue to the Spider Dungeon 2. For that, you needed a special access ticket, which was only available in the real money shop. Fortunately, the tickets are tradeable now, but we used to have to spend Dragon Coins (DR) for them.
- The Cave of Exile, where the monsters provided more EXP, only came much later. Nevertheless, some players managed to reach level 99, the maximum level. In Spider Dungeon 2, which is suitable up to around level 80, the grind was an incredible torment – no matter how many EXP rings you had.
- There wasn’t an auto-fight mode back then. Now there is, but only if you pump in money.
- If you wanted decent loot while farming, especially from the Metin stones, you needed the Thief’s Glove. An item that also comes from the DR shop. This significantly increased the loot dropped from the stones.
- To have the best equipment, your gear needed certain bonuses. There were items in the item shop to add random bonuses and others to randomly change bonuses.
Unfortunately, the developers leaned too far into Pay2Win and monetized every aspect of the game. Even with the mentioned items, it took a long time to make progress, but without them, the grind was unbearable.
Especially Pay2Win-oriented is also the new MMORPG Diablo Immortal.
EVERYTHING can fail and frustrate you
Metin2 also relies heavily on luck aspects, which is why it had a high addiction potential. Will my skill book or my item for the biologist work? Will my equipment get the bonuses I want? Will my horse quest succeed, or did I ride through the desert for nothing?
Everything in this game could fail. Really everything. Particularly frustrating was the enhancement of equipment. Up to +4, the upgrades were secure, after that, the chance sank with each level, up to a maximum of +9. With the higher levels, the blacksmith required increasingly expensive materials, for which you first had to farm certain monsters.
Among the required materials were various pearls, which were only available through fishing or on the market. So, it was a matter of eternally fishing, hoping to get a shell, and then hoping that a pearl comes out of the shell. Often, the shell contained either nothing or a piece of stone. Alternatively, the pearls could be bought for Yang, the in-game currency, on the market.
If the enhancement failed, the item was destroyed, and you had to go farm for a new one. The blacksmith was probably the most hated NPC in Metin2.
However, the moment something worked made us even happier. Perhaps that’s why many were so invested in Metin2. Everything annoys you, but eventually, the blacksmith enhances your weapon to +9, and your skill rises to the level of Grandmaster 1.
In the video, you can see 5 old MMORPGs that are still being played:
Body Warriors were way too OP
The original 4 classes of Metin2 were Warrior, Sura, Shaman, and Ninja. There wasn’t a classic Holy Trinity of Healer, DD, and Tank, although Shamans were considered the closest thing to support since the other classes could benefit from their buffs.
At level 4, you had to go to the skill master and choose one of two specializations:
- Body or Mental Warrior
- Magic or Weapon Sura
- Heal or Dragon Shaman
- Melee or Ranged Ninja
The differences between the classes were massive, and if you wanted to be good in PvE as well as PvP, you had to choose a Warrior.
- The Mental Warrior was incredibly tanky and therefore almost never died.
- The Body Warrior dealt the most damage and was simply much better than the other classes.
- Dragon Shamans were only suitable for buffing, which is why almost every player opened a second client to level their Shaman in a separate window. My first character was a Dragon Shaman, and I was very sad when I had to realize that the class was simply unplayable because it dealt no damage.
- Weapon Sura were good all-rounders in PvE as they dealt a lot of damage and simultaneously had good defense. However, they were completely useless in PvP.
- In PvP, Magic Sura, Ranged Ninja, and Heal Shaman were quite good, and when properly skilled, they had a chance against the Warriors.
Unfortunately, there was no way around the Warrior if you really wanted to excel in Metin2. It was a pity because I thought my Dragon Shaman was really cool.
The community was (mostly) nice to me
What you can say about Metin2 is that it has a helpful community. People still talked to each other, unlike today’s MMORPGs where everything runs through a dungeon finder that automatically assigns you to a group.
I was a member of various guilds where players supported each other and chatted nicely in Teamspeak every evening. Discord didn’t exist back then.
Also, the so-called DT runs, meaning ascents in the Demon Tower, brought us together. Together with a group, you fought through many monsters to ultimately improve an item with a special blacksmith who required no upgrade materials.
Of course, there were also nasty players who tried to steal my Metin stone. Or players from opposing kingdoms who simply killed me. But most people in Metin2 were really friendly.
Is it still worth it today? Those who want to take a nostalgic look at Metin2 should definitely do so. But I wouldn’t play it seriously today. I loved it and spent about 2000 hours playing back then, but I have to admit that it’s a rather bad MMORPG.
Some things have been improved by the developers, but the focus is still heavily on Pay2Win aspects. Warriors are still OP, and the Lycan certainly doesn’t help as a 5th class, especially since it’s almost worse than the other classes.
Furthermore, numerous accounts are still being hacked to this day. So, those who farmed particularly good equipment always had to expect to be hacked and cleared out. Gameforge has not improved this problem to this day.
For example, they try to ban cheaters, but last year they made a mistake in doing so.
Do you feel the nostalgia? What do you think of Metin2 in general? Did you play it back then, or are you maybe even playing it today? Do you believe that Gameforge can still save the MMORPG and make it playable again one day? Feel free to write us in the comments here on MeinMMO!
Are you looking for an MMORPG but don’t want to start any of the big classics? There are also good MMORPGs that hardly anyone knows: 5 strong MMORPGs on Steam that you should know about
