I have seen some suggest that everyone, no matter what, ends up in the Umbral when they die.
Is this true? Seems incredibly bleak for no god or devotion to said god can avoid everyone ending up as some slimy creepy mess in the Umbral.
I don't want to waste anyone's time so I'll frontload the post with exactly what I'd love to find, then add extra beneath it:
Setting: Ideally fantasy; a big and beautiful world full of magic and varied locations.
Population: Not really worried, as long as the game isn't winding town/terminally declining.
Money: Happy with sub/f2p/b2p. The less (exclusive, ie basically unobtainable without cash shop) paid cosmetics or systems the better. Wishful thinking, I know.
Other: Controller compatability (like in FFXIV) would be amazing but not at all essential! A strong roleplaying community/general friendliness to casual players is also very welcome.
Details:
The only MMOs I have ever really tried are WoW and FFXIV; the former I have only dabbled in, the latter I have played up to the end of Endwalkers.
I like Fantasy MMOs because I love creating a character and losing myself in a big and populated magical world-even though I play a lot of it solo, I like the social aspect still being available for once I'm comfortable with the game.
Friendliness to casual players is cherished simply because I so often played FFXIV to chill out back in the day, but unfortunately the FF setting just got a bit stale for me. I loved the setting of WoW, but it feels far too daunting to try and jump into it now-especially given how infamous its community is.
I've even considered trying Runescape now that it's reportedly had a lot of the paid stuff peeled back-really I'm just looking for a fantasy world to kick back and explore while I relax!
What I liked about FFXIV:
-Gamepad compatibility (as in, I didn't have to create some insane button map just to keep pace with KB+M)
-Noob/casual friendly (and a friendly community in general)
-Accessible and great set of mogs without needing to use a cash shop or anything
-Able to "solo" a lot of content, but able to engage with a very big and popular social side to the game if I want
-Good story+fleshed out setting
Some I'm considering, but worried about being "too late" to ever really do anything but play catchup:
-Guild Wars 2
-LOTRO (albeit worried about population)
-ESO
Some I'm waiting for to see what they're like:
-Archeage Chronicles
-Monsters and Memories
Fundamentally, if it's a beautiful fantasy world devoid of the worst MMO monetisation pitfalls-I'm probably in! I just want to find something I really like before I leap in>:)