[Meca Ranking] Look, let's be honest: the mood at NCSoft is nothing short of grim this week. Lineage, the studio's top-ranked title, has plummeted four spots to land at 17th. Aion and Blade & Soul also suffered minor dips. While Lineage M climbed one spot, this was largely driven by a surge in negative attention following allegations of siege manipulation over the weekend, hardly a cause for celebration.

Digging into the metrics for Lineage, the drop in PC bang usage is particularly stinging. The downward curve, which began its slide between August and September, steepened significantly last week. Players are increasingly frustrated by the perceived lack of meaningful content. Take the 'Queen Ant's Lair'—once a reliable hub where players from various servers converged to test their mettle—it has simply become less engaging.

Naturally, NCSoft decided to 'revamp' it. After a brief test server stint starting the 19th, the changes hit the live servers on the 24th. The most glaring issue? The frequency has been slashed. Previously available five times a week (Monday through Friday), it is now restricted to just Mondays and Thursdays—a 40% reduction in uptime. It feels less like a content expansion and more like a thinning of the herd.

While content shrinks, the studio is busy pushing new growth mechanics, such as the ability to extract and equip 'Potential' from Magic Dolls using 'Potential Stones' introduced on the 17th. It's a progression grind, not gameplay, and many players are exhausted by the relentless rollout of paid packages tied to these updates. NCSoft hosts a 27th-anniversary livestream on the 24th at 8 PM; whether they can actually deliver something fun is the million-dollar question.

Com2uS' new MMORPG, The Starlight, which officially launched on the 18th, jumped 22 spots to land at 25th this week. It is a textbook example of a successful launch momentum. They are now knocking on the door of the Top 20, narrowing the gap with V4—the current leader in multi-platform MMORPGs—to just four places.

The Starlight leans heavily into a multiverse narrative, built upon four novels penned by Game Tales CEO Jung Sung-hwan. While the core structure remains familiar territory for the genre, they are betting on story and world-building to stand out. However, with the market saturated by late-year releases, the competition is fierce. Architect: Land of Exile, arriving in October, has already entered the charts at 48th. The Starlight will need to play its long-term cards sooner rather than later once the launch honeymoon ends.

In the upper echelons, Roblox surged 15 spots to 11th. This jump coincides with the integration of PC bang usage data into our rankings, which has clearly bolstered its standing. Landing just outside the Top 10 is an impressive feat. It will be fascinating to see how the UGC giant continues to perform in our rankings.

Down in the lower ranks, Silent Hill f has debuted at 45th ahead of its September 25th release. Following the critical success of the Silent Hill 2 remake, expectations are sky-high. With a shift toward more action-oriented gameplay and a solid 86 on Metacritic, it has emerged as a major title to watch for the end of September.