i've played many MMOs over the years and this is probably my favorite. it can be a bit confusing at times and the graphics are dated, but none of these were things that deterred me. i enjoy low poly games and the interesting mechanics and entertaining gameplay far make up for the few moments of confusion. there are also plenty of very friendly people in the community ready to help. also feels very f2p friendly, i've had no issue enjoying the game without spending a penny.

So Steam hours aren't accurate, I've been playing off and on since 2008-9ish around Generation 9 (G9), Of which at the time of this review Mabinogi is currently at G27 with G28 on it's way shortly. I have to say the game is still fun all these years later. With that being said, the economy much like all aging MMOs is inflated, however it's still easy to acquire late game items. Below here I'll throw in a summary of what you can expect:

The skills system in this game is really encompassing, from various life skills (Cooking which is my favorite, fishing, tailoring, smithing, etc) to various form of combat skills (General melee, dual guns, spears, magic, etc). I can guarantee you that you won't run out of content within a week or two of playing, however the grind does exist much like other MMOs. The grind however is greatly alleviated with various events like Master Plan which adds bonus skill XP gain and regular XP gain making it ten times easier to level.

The "P2W" element is in the form of gachas that release with every update where the "best" gear will be a random roll to see if you'll get it or not; I've primarily found this to be fashion unless you're uber late game. They do have some neat fashion items in them as well if that's your kit and kaboodle. However, the game is entirely F2P, you can get great armor through life skills and from other players. Back to the events, they usually allow you to "rent" gear for free that lasts the entirety of the event.

The community is very welcoming, however a lot of the community keeps to themselves and can be found AFK around the maps. This can be offsetting to a lot of people understandably, but most of the game is genuinely soloable.

The new player experience has been made ten times easier with Blaanid (a quest line that boosts you to cumulative level 20k) and a following quest set that gets you to R1 in a lot of your combat skills as well as gets you your first Arcana and grand masteries. The quest system as a whole is relatively easy to get into as well as there's now auto-pathfinding. With some minor effort on the end of the player, you can get pretty well geared and skilled within maybe a week or two of playing; Focus on your combat skills before life to be honest, as it makes ranking your life skills ten times easier.

Cheers all!