you can give fallout76 a try. it's not an mmorpg (only 24 players per instance) but it has both sandbox and mmo elements on it. you can build and craft stuff (like in Ark/Palworld/etc.) and there's open world events (like in gw2/ff/rift) and a storyline/msq that you can do in any order or skip altogether once you finished the tutorial instance
#---
stone sable
nice thing about it is, unlike sandboxes like palworld/ark where when join a new server, you start over. in fo76, you take your camp and all your progression/items with you wherever you go (whether you join a public world/instance or private adventure)
and it's PVE-focused by default. you actually have to turn off "pacifist mode" in the game settings when you're in-world to turn on pvp, otherwise you cant be damaged by others nor can you kill others if it's turned on
sinful ibex
Fractured Online PvE focused sandbox
stoic light
You may have fun with BDO
Massive world to explore and a bunch of shit to go after
The only downside is godawn awlful enhancement system
But if stay out of PvP and keep it casual, it shouldnt be much of an issue to you
sinful ibex
Never played it before but is there open world PvP? @stoic light
stoic light
There is but like, who does it?
The punishment is too harsh
sinful ibex
Ah
prisma monolith
dont forget osrs!
stoic light
Uhhhh some characters are asian, but there is literally zero anime in it
FFXIV is more anime than it by a long mile
stoic light
"I'm looking for something a bit like New World in the sense I like the gathering, exploring the world, achieving something in the game. "
You either dont know what you want, or arent looking for anything honestly, because you just tried almost everything
atomic jetty
Sandbox MMOs are a rarity, I think they're all either old (which you've said you dislike) or PvP focused.
Since you said you're OK with non MMO recommendations, how do you feel about Open world survival crafting games? Feels like there's a banger coming out in that genre every month or so. I would check out Enshrouded particularly since it kinda looks similiar to New world to me in some aspects, aside from that there's a lot of great games like Valheim, Aska or Palworld, all of which you can also join a server in to get some sort of mmo-esque social experience. I'm particularly in love with Abiotic Factor currently, super unique game.
I've never played Core keeper but I looked at the store page and it reminded me of a game I played called Necesse, it's essentially top-down Terraria, maybe worth checking out.
atomic jetty
Really can't recommend it enough, unique SCP-inspired setting and an unusual gameplay loop similar to Subnautica or System shock 2. You can easily get over 20hrs of playtime from the content that's available now
civic rampart
