I’m back for my annual month on FFXIV, but I honestly admit I’m growing a bit tired of the gameplay loop, the “omg you’re the main hero !!” story and the sometimes very weird community. I love the world setting though, so I usually stick around anyway.
I would love to give GW2 more chances, but I’m not totally vibing with the combat system; plus, I wish art direction went a little differently, the game is not exactly holding up well these days (but I admit that square-enix is quite a high standard in that regard: even FFXI still looks artistically coherent, two decades and a half later).
The entire galaxy is shared by everyone playing the game, in real time. You can encounter each other, fight, team up, or avoid each other, and your actions influence the state of the shared simulation. Definitely an MMO.
The most recent thing you probably missed was the thargoid war, culminating in a battle with the titan that parked itself over Earth and took over the Sol system. You might compare it to a fantasy MMO raid, but at a much larger scale.
Colonisation is coming soon.