For the first time in 28 years, this ancient MMO is adding a new class

Tibia, one of the oldest and longest running MMORPGs around, is getting its first new class since launch way back in 1997.

For the uninitiated, Tibia is an MMO from German developer and publisher CipSoft released in 1997, years before genre titans Everquest and RuneScape were more than twinkles in their publishers' eyes. It even beats out Ultima Online, if only by a few months. Point is, it's not quite the oldest MMO ever made, but it's one of the oldest and certainly longest running ever.

To really contextualize just how old Tibia is, it wasn't until 2022 that the game added sound... yes, sound. Now, it's getting arguably an even more significant update that adds the game's first new class ever. That's right, for 28 years there have been four classes; the Knight, Paladin, Druid, and Sorcerer; but that's about to change with the addition of the Monk class later this year.

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We don't have any footage or even clips of the Monk in action, but CipSoft says in a press release that gameplay is focused on melee combat and "mystical powers."

The Tibia project manager known only as Niadus says the idea of adding a new class after so long was long deemed "too complex and too risky," but ultimately CipSoft decided "it felt actually possible as well as a natural step for the game."

"All in all, we see the addition of a new vocation as an opportunity to rekindle the sense of discovery that was always part of Tibia. A chance to learn the intricacies of a new vocation, experiment with new strategies, and adapt to new team compositions."

There's no release date for the Monk just yet, but the first playtest will be on February 25 and the full release is slated for the second quarter of 2025.

In the meantime, here are the best MMOs you can play today.