One of my first online MMOs I played!

Ok so don't count World of Warcraft based off of the title because I probably played that first LOL! But!! that came from my dad who played it, this is the first MMO I played exclusively out of my own accord. Adventure Quest Worlds (AQW) is a browser based Flash MMO that has been running since 2008, and still to this day the devs update the game! It's your basic fantasy MMO with knights, mages, orcs, goblins you name it. I just recently got back into it and I decided that it deserves a spot in this category due to how influential it was to me as a kid. This was my first game where I got to experience the true MMO grind, because this game is much more grind-y than games like WoW (which is still pretty grind-y. You control your character just by point and click which I think makes the game more accessible and easy to understand. This game has tons of cool looking art for the weapons and armor so theres is lots to collect, I attribute it to how Warframe has the "fashion frame" community where people just try to look at aesthetic and pretty as possible. Lots of different classes too which is great for playstyle diversity! Although one thing that it does have that I don't like it micro transactions! At least unlike WoW this game can be played for free (I still do) and grind for special items or currency. IDK about y'all, but I'd rather just pay a one-time payment to play a game instead of paying once a month for however long I play it. AQW has the same issue as WoW in that some quests give you extremely vague requirements and do not mark them, so I have to end up using some wiki online. Me personally, I don't mind having to use wikis or online guides to figure things out, but I can see how it would be annoying and cumbersome. This game definitely suffers from the "early stage MMO" issues but I still love it, likely nostalgia. I was lucky enough to be able to log into my old account that I had as a child, seeing my old friends list of usernames that propbably haven't logged in for a decade. Eerie stuff, growing up in the age of the internet just early enough to see parts of it die behind you. I know this has happened a few times before me, but I still consider it early in the history of the internet. Humans have existed for hundreds of thousands of years, and the internet had been a thing for like 50-60 years, so I got to see the glory days so to speak. I find it interesting all these online communities and spaces, so this was just me sharing about one of mine that I was on. The game is still active and free so it's worth giving it a shot! PLUS - to anybody seeing this - they are working on a new non-flash port of the game with improved animation and performance that is to be released in the future! It's small companies like this that give me hope for the future of online communities and virtual spaces. If anybody has played this game before, or ends up enjoying it after reading this, send me and email! (Or leave a comment, when I can get a guest book working o n this site lol!)