Astellia (September 19, 2019)
Platform: PC | Setting: Fantasy | Developer: Studio 8| Payment Model: Buy2Play
What is Astellia? Astellia is one of the few MMORPGs released in 2019. It aimed to appeal to players with its classic fantasy setting and many old school elements:
- Classic tab targeting
- A linear story with a clear villain
- Typical “run and kill” quests
- 5 different classes with clear role distribution and classic Holy Trinity.
- An endgame featuring legendary dungeons, PvP arenas, daily quests, and grind for the perfect gear.
It can differentiate itself with the Astels, small companions that can be collected and trained. In battle, you can summon up to 3 of them at the same time, who can perform classic tasks like tanking, healing, or dealing damage.
How has the game developed? Astellia started in 2019 with relatively little attention. Many were skeptical about the game because they had already had bad experiences with Bless Online a year earlier.
After its release, it turned out that Astellia was not a disaster, but it also did not offer any real innovations to draw attention. Furthermore, the servers in Korea were closed in early 2020, which many interpreted as a warning sign.
However, over the past few months, the MMORPG has received several major updates, was released on Steam, and has built a player base that regularly uses Astellia. Over the last 30 days on Steam, approximately 330 players played Astellia, peaking at 475 concurrent players, which is comparable to TERA and AION on the platform.
Is it still worth starting the game? Currently, Astellia receives an update every 2 weeks and regularly gets new events. In May, a major update was released with new areas and dungeons. Recently, some daily quests have been revised and world bosses have been strengthened to raise the challenge.
However, the game’s population is not likely to be overly large. Additionally, with a new update, the bonuses for subscribers have been significantly increased. Another warning sign is the content roadmap, which has not been updated since the first quarter of 2020.
Bonus: WoW Classic
Platform: PC | Setting: Fantasy | Developer: Blizzard| Payment Model: Pay2Play
What is WoW Classic? The re-release of Vanilla WoW was launched on August 27, 2019, and was intended to attract players who believed that World of Warcraft was better in the past than it is today.
Therefore, the game was reverted to its original state before expansions like The Burning Crusade or Cataclysm were released. As a result, you have a choice of significantly fewer classes and playable races, with a maximum level of 60 ahead of you.
Why is WoW Classic listed as a bonus? The game is technically a complete re-release but is based on a game that already existed and still exists. Additionally, with a subscription, you have access to both Retail and Classic WoW.
Therefore, the MMORPG only counts as a bonus in this case, albeit a very successful one. After all, Classic caused a huge increase in subscriptions for WoW.
