Yes, the monthly updates are long gone, and there hasn’t been a new player race added probably 2004, but the game that’s still there is a reasonably structured, open economy sandbox for PvE fans. While it’s much less active than when it launched, Horizons/Istaria had a lot of the things I loved about the original Asheron’s Call series but in a more typical fantasy setting. If Microsoft hadn’t shoved their buggy chat feature into the game that kept players from chatting in a group driven game, AC2 really might have held people’s attention better. The bee chucking Hive Keepers, the bottle throwing or Jekyll/Hyde Alchemists, the fantasy-turret dropping Tacticians… and we still had monthly updates, interactive GM events, and obscure quests you’d want a lore keeper to help you crack. While the sequel moved from individual skills to more of a class based game, there was still a good amount of freedom and the classes were super unique.
The graphics for its time were amazing, especially the water, and the AI could group quite well (but PvE players in beta didn’t like mobs banding together to take over player territory). The quest lines that nearly took you to the level cap was essentially what Blizzard had done with World of Warcraft before WoW did it. While the sequel was hated by a large portion of the original playerbase, it brought new people into the genre. I know I’ll get flack for this, but I don’t care.
