Private Servers Are Keeping Lineage II's Community Alive

mmorpg.com:

Before the age of World of Warcraft’s absolute domination of the MMORPG market and the subsequent “WoW Killers” that attempted to compete Blizzard’s behemoth of a game, the MMORPG scene was ripe with a healthy selection of different titles. While this age of MMORPGs is on the cusp of returning, there are still some games of that era that have managed to hang on. 

One such game is Lineage II, an entry in NCSOFT’s highly successful Lineage series. However, the game itself isn’t thriving through NCSOFT’s official servers but through a dedicated classic scene that exists on private servers. There are two major factors that contribute to Lineage II’s small but dedicated player base: Community and nostalgia. For the sake of those interviewed for the piece, both their names and the Classic server they play on have been designated to their in-game username and, in the case of the Classic server, omitted.

While the Classic community is very much alive, though not as thriving as Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft Classic servers, the most populated pockets of players are not found on NCSOFT’s official Classic-era servers. Instead, their time is dedicated to independently hosted Classic servers that provide an experience closer to how Lineage II functioned in 2004 up to late 2009. 

While reception to the addition of the Kamael through the lifespan of these Classic servers remains contentious, as was their introduction to the retail version of the game back in the mid-00’s, these servers rarely ever progress past the Gracia Epilogue update. After that point, Lineage II experienced fundamental change, which impacted how classes played, and even included some restructuring as to how new players experienced the world, with the