Oh gosh. Back then I knew about WoW, but since it wasn't free, it was a no go to lil' old me. My cousins introduced me to a game that they were were absolutely loving and it was free to boot! That game was Silkroad Online.
I fell in LOVE with this game. I was utterly obsessed with it, every waking hour my kid brain was thinking about it. The locations, the skins and weapons, the music and general vibe/atmosphere, just pure bliss. Going from location to location after grinding quests, having my own wolf pet accompany me, the boss fights and the pvp. It even had completey different maps that were seperate as you could basically choose between starting out in what was basically China or Europe, and you could travel between them. It had a job system where you could be a trader, meaning you make bank ofc, a hunter that is paid by the trader to protect him on the road and a thief that seeks to steal from the trader and survive dealing with the hunter. If you were unlucky you could have two thieves show up in bumfuck nowhere in the woods and you and your hunter would be screwed.
Shit was cash. It had a huge botting problem but I didn't mind it. It was pretty big and popular. I wish it stayed that way for much longer, unfortunately as I grew the game faded into obscurity and eventually "died". I still look back on it fondly.
Throws me back immediately.