Ether Saga Odyssey is a fantasy MMORPG from Beijing Perfect World, released in China in 2008 and brought to North America in 2009 by Arc Games, Perfect World's Western publisher. It is heavily based on Journey to the West, the Chinese classic of the Monkey King and the pilgrimage to the west, and it wraps that story in a bright, cute art style. The North American service closed on January 4, 2016, so for English-speaking players, fan-run private servers are now the way to play it.

Players come back to ESO for one thing above all: its pets. A private server is the only place to rebuild a pet collection, and the good ones keep the slow joy of raising a rare companion while trimming the grind and the shop that surrounded it.

Pets, Classes and the Journey West

Pets are the center of Ether Saga. Monsters across the world can be caught and trained to fight beside you, and pets can be leveled, trained, evolved and combined to produce something stronger. Every character starts with a pet, and much of the long-term game is the hunt for a better one and the patient work of raising it.

You choose from eight classes: the Dragoon, Rogue, Mystic, Ranger, Conjurer, Shaman, Maven and Hellion. Your class and your pet work as a pair, so the same class can play very differently depending on the companion beside it. Questing takes you through a world drawn from the novel, which gives ESO a flavor that few other MMOs of its era had.

What to Look For in an Ether Saga Odyssey Private Server

Pet rates and evolution odds

Catching, evolving and combining pets is where most of your time goes, so a server's odds shape the whole game. Check the catch rate for rare pets and the success rate for evolution and combining. Generous odds let you build a strong team quickly; odds close to the original keep a rare pet something worth showing off.

Which version and pet roster

ESO kept growing through its years of service, and one expansion added a deeper pet training system and new pets to capture. Check which version and level cap a server is built on, and whether the pet content you remember is part of it.

Class balance

With eight classes and pets doing a large share of the fighting, balance can drift on a small server. Look for a team that publishes its balance changes and listens to players, rather than one that quietly buffs whichever class the staff plays.

Translation and client language

ESO was translated from Chinese for its Western release. A private server built on a different regional client may have rough or partial translation, which matters in a game where pet and item descriptions carry so much information. Check that quests, items and pets are readable in your language before you start.

Shop policy and population

Pet items are easy to turn into a pay-to-win shop. Read what the store sells, especially evolution and combining materials. Then check the Discord and the hours players are online; in a small community, a few active guilds make all the difference.

Getting Started

Start with the class that appeals to you and put early effort into your starter pet. Learn how training and evolution work on that server before you spend rare materials, and ask veteran players which pets are worth hunting first. Vote for the server you play on; rankings here start again every month, so the list below shows where players are now.