NetEase has never advertised *Where Winds Meet* as an MMO, but it certainly features a lot of MMO elements. The marketing primarily highlights its wuxia-inspired action combat, freeform open world, and optional 4-player co-op. However, beyond the co-op, there is actually a much more expansive MMO-like “Online Mode” embedded within the game.
After examining features across the global betas and the existing Chinese client of *Where Winds Meet* (released in December 2024), it appears that the game segments its MMO staples into separate modes. In this way, *Where Winds Meet* both is and isn’t an MMO.
### Lone Wanderer Mode: The 150-Hour Campaign
At its core, *Where Winds Meet* offers a 150-hour campaign that takes place in the Lone Wanderer Mode. This encompasses all open-world activities, side-quests, the main storyline, and various collectathon elements scattered throughout the game.
Campaign bosses and side-quests can also be tackled in a co-op session with up to three friends. However, this mode is primarily centered around the single-player host. Most bosses grant game progress exclusively to the host, while co-op participants receive an exclusive in-game currency as a reward for their efforts.
### Co-op Mode vs. MMO Online Mode
When asking whether *Where Winds Meet* is an MMO, it is important to clarify a major point many players misunderstand due to the game’s subtle marketing: the co-op mode is not the same as the Online Mode.
The co-op mode functions similarly to co-op gameplay in games like *Elden Ring* or other Soulsborne titles. You are invited as a “muscle for hire” into the host’s world, and experience several gameplay limitations while there.
In contrast, the Online Mode is a completely separate experience. You can think of the solo/co-op mode as a private server belonging to you, whereas the Online Mode operates as a persistent server in an MMO environment where dozens of players may interact in the same world simultaneously.
The exact number of players supported concurrently in a single session or shard in the global release remains unknown. This setup is somewhat comparable to the MMO components in *Once Human*, another game by NetEase. However, *Once Human* is more of an MMO than *Where Winds Meet*, despite *Where Winds Meet* having potentially more social aspects within its Online Mode.
### MMO Mode Activities
In *Where Winds Meet*, playing campaign quests or much of the side content in the Online Mode is not possible. Instead, this “MMO mode” (although not officially labeled as such) contains traditional MMO activities organized into separate game modes:
– **PvP Arena** — Includes 1v1, 2v2, 5v5 battles, and large-scale 30v30 Guild vs. Guild (GvG) fights (based on the Chinese client).
– **PvPvE Battle-Royale Extraction Mode** — Start with zero gear and fight to be the last player or team standing.
– **10-Player PvE Raids** — Classic MMO raids adopting a soft tank-healer-DPS class structure.
– **5-Player Boss Parties** — A scaled-down, non-endgame version of raids with dedicated tanks, healers, and boss aggro mechanics.
– **Combat Trials** — Multi-enemy PvE challenges with their own seasonal leaderboards.
– **PvP Bounties** — Take contracts to hunt down and eliminate other players.
The Bounties system is a particularly important social MMO feature. Depending on a player’s actions—such as killing others or committing crimes—you can take on the role of a bounty hunter by accepting contracts to kill targets. Much like invasions in Soulsborne games, contracts can also be fulfilled by invading a bounty target’s solo world.
### Interaction Between Online and Solo Modes
Online and solo modes sometimes interact in intriguing ways. One example is the disease system: players can contract diseases that progress through several stages. To cure these, a player may enlist the help of another with expertise in life skills such as healing. The healer actually visits the afflicted player’s solo world and plays a mini-game to purge the disease.
These social elements make *Where Winds Meet* a middle ground between a live-service action RPG and a traditional MMORPG.
### Why Isn’t *Where Winds Meet* Called an MMO?
Despite its many MMO-like features, there’s one significant aspect where *Where Winds Meet* falls short as a full MMO: open-world sandboxing.
In the Online Mode, almost everything besides resource-gathering in the wilds is removed from the open world. Instead, PvE and PvP content exclusive to this mode is accessed through menu interactions and separate instances.
This design choice limits the potential for the Online Mode to offer a downscaled MMO open-world experience akin to that found in *Once Human*.
### Conclusion
*Where Winds Meet* offers a unique hybrid experience. Its substantial single-player campaign, coupled with isolated co-op play, exists alongside a separate Online Mode packed with MMO-inspired features. While the Online Mode lacks the full open-world sandbox nature of a typical MMO, it still provides engaging social and multiplayer content.
Stay tuned for more news and detailed guides about *Where Winds Meet* here on Sportskeeda.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/esports/where-winds-meet-mmo-mode