As of August 2026, Guild Wars 2 may reign at the top for me in terms of "best MMORPG on Steam". I've put thousands upon thousands of hours into MMORPG's, all the way back to to the old school games like DAOC, WoW, EQ2, Rift, etc. These days it really feels like you either have to grind your face off (or spend all your money) in the Eastern style MMORPG's like Lost Ark, BDO, etc., or play an older MMORPG that was built back when companies created games to have fun!
The progression system and incredible depth of content are what makes GW2 the "best" IMO right now. There is just an insane amount of content to play with in GW2. It spans the original game, 4 mini-expansions (Living Worlds), and 6 full expansions. Every expansion unlocks more ways to play the game, more game systems like mounts, housing, etc. I've only played through about 1/3 of the available content on this time around. I have four lvl 80 characters, and a group of other characters that I created but just haven't played enough. While I have several lvl 80 boosters available on my account, I prefer to level up the characters by just playing the game. Even the open world PvP system (World vs World) is still super active, which is a rarity in comparison to other older MMO's.
One of the best things about this game is the account-level progression system. As characters hit lvl 80 in PvE levels, they can contribute to the "Mastery Point" levels for your account. There are separate MP pools for each expansion and the base game, and every one of those improves some aspect of your account. It could be unlocking content, improving travel powers or mount abilities, or making your character more effective for things like PvP, WvW, or PvE dungeons / raiding. A variety of things like Mounts, Minis, weapon / armor skins, etc. are all unlocked for your entire account, so every improvement you unlock is available for every character on your account.
Elder Scrolls Online is probably the most similar game these days to GW2. ESO is also a great game, but whenever I played it I admit that I felt like it was a MMORPG that you played solo 95% of the time. You may occasionally see other players in the world, but they can largely be ignored. Many parts of the game feel like ghost towns because if there are players around, you just don't see them much outside of towns. That is not the case at all in GW2. I constantly find myself grouping up with other players for events and other game content. Between special calendar events and the world events that run 24/7, there is always something to do with other players. You don't even have to join a guild, though I do recommend doing so. I've seen groups of players get together for special events like Triple Trouble, where they are coordinating three separate raid groups to take down massive bosses in the world. Players actually spend time helping each other out in GW2, which is something that I didn't see nearly as often in ESO.
If I had to recommend any MMORPG these days, it would be GW2 first. Especially if you are tired of the East-Asian styled grind-fest MMORPG's, this one would be right up your alley. Plus it's free to play through the base game, so why not give it a shot?
