Fly for fun. google it.

That's the funniest thing I've read all day.

If you are truly desperate you could always try Runescape.

My favorite is FFXI, mostly because I went dragoon, so no need to party really now. Have you tried FFXI recently? Soloing is more worth while now with increased expierience gained from easy pray and decent challenge, and parties are easier to come by with the level-sync feature. Beyond that, what I like about it over the other MMORPGs I've played, being able to change jobs. What specifically did you not like about FFXI?

edit: Sorry browser did... I don't know what, other pages didn't show up. Didn't see that you weren't looking for fantasy games.

Hehe... ya... Infinity... I wish I could play that but since it is being coded ENTIRELY by one man, it probably won't be out til at least 2010. Looks like it will be one of the best if not the best space MMO of all time. Check out his dev journals though for a peak at the game... The visuals are spectacular. The game is to scale (as in planets are thousands of KMs in diameter), and you can actually fly around and land on planets (not some pre-scripted thing but actually manual landing). It takes procedural generation to the extreme, with nearly every solar system and everything in it will be procedural. This allows the game to litterally have millions of solar systems (which he plans on having) due to each solar system being the result of a single random number (and thus taking very little memory).

It is definately worth checking out... just don't get your hopes up for a release before 2010... (although a beta is hoped for in 2009) Infinity

Its not an MMO but if you want a game that can consume your world you could try Dwarf Fortress.

This is just too damn funny.  Wow, good reply.

I play EVE Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online  (DDO).  Not going to talk about EVE since there's plenty of info already made available.  DDO is a pretty good game that's extremely tactile and strategy based with incredible character dynamics.  I highly recomend trying a Free Trial of DDO if you're looking for an MMO; its more of a niche game then EVE. 

If anyone would like a FREE trial to DDO they could send an email to mindspat @yahoo.com and I'll generate some codes for you.  DDO is the only MMO, besides EVE, that's been able to keep my attention since it does not cater to button mashing cookie cutter playstyles like WoW wannabe's.  

 

I'm looking at a good MMORPG as well, I've tried Runescape (4 years ago, I was pretty immature at the time, and looking back I hate that community) and today I played Maple Story (there really wasn't a set objective, no PvP, and horrible UI)

I want something free, something that's fun to play with friends, and with a little bit of PvP (but nothing like somebody with the highest level can camp the starting location)

I hate ALL MMORPGs for the exact same reason. The only one I have not yet hated is Ultima Online (before they added the noobland and implemented lag).

 

Why do I hate all mmos?

1) Its a game.

2) Even though point 1 exists, the game requires you to work for fun. That is I can't turn the game on, have fun for 30 minutes, and leave. Maybe I have something important to do? Maybe I actually want to pay attention to my child or wife... Who knows crazy things can happen like me wanting to not spend all day playing.

3) I don't think point 2 settled in yet. You are playing a game, which is not fun, and you work to get to the "fun part". Name a FPS game where you dont turn it on, have fun, turn it off. GTA, do you grind monsters for 10 hours before you can grab a gun and blow people's heads off?

4) After about 10 days the realization of the slot machine principal takes all potential of fun out of the game.

 

I havent nor ever will tried warhammer online, supposed to be PvP oriented so I might consider playing it, but since I am boycotting EA I won't play that game.

All MMOs' goals are to keep you playing. In WoW its most visible, you can pvp, and it was very fun at the beginning when nobody had super uber gear, so skill was important. But eventually I could take on people with way better gear than I had, but it did not matter since at some point items overpowered skill and it became a game of numbers. Once its a game of numbers I start calculating time put in to power gained and factor in me wanting to have fun and I wind up just dispising it.

So long story short. Get strategy games (there skill IS the only thing that matters). Get FPS games. Get games like demigod. Get games like savage 2 (though I was horribly dissapointed at savage 2, but the overall idea is nice).

 

EVE is too slow paced for me. I played the demo and my "fun time" was a few minutes, while my travel time was hours. I literally set my ship to move to wherever and went to watch a movie. Came back and I just arrived at the station. WTF? Where the fuck is the fun in that.

 

This is a bunch of ramblings but the end result is:

When you play a game you want to have fun. That is the goal of games. A game that makes you work is not a good game. If I want a game that makes me work I will find an open source project and program for it, it is a heluv a lot more challenging than any game out there.

Sorry completely forgot to mention that MMOs are the ONLY place where you PAY to WORK!

There's a game that people seem to overlook called Phantasy Star Universe that I really like. There's no PVP, but the character design, the weapons and the battle system are intuitive enough that it feels new every time you play it. The people on the game are really nice people too. Think of it as the inverse of EVE.

@astonerbum

FPSs suck, I hate the GTA series. Great a whole world of doing the same thing over and over. Fuuuuun.

 

You mean like spamming one unit faster than your opponent? It just becomes a game of numbers at that point, too.

 

Having now played and subscribed, where the hell did you travel to that took 2 hrs (movie length guess) on a trial account? I rarely spend 5 minutes jumping with my corp fleet to go kill.

 

Also, money is not a factor. I have tons. I also have time. I don't need the simple satisfaction of a 5 minute FPS or a 30 minute RTS spam-fest. I'd rather spend 2 yrs working for something just to have it destroyed. And rebuild all over again. Also, if a MMO keeps my attention for a full year, let's say; I will save money over buying games I lose interest in. 1 year of EVE would = Fallout 3 + Sins + Spore. 3 games I bought this year and won't be playing anywhere near EVE time. Especially Fallout 3 and Sbore. Not to mention the expansion packs they put out. Yeah MMOs are the only ones who want your money.

 

As for your case of working for something and having fun; I think your name says it all.

 

Thanks for the input, you just made me realize why I wanted to get back into MMOs.

One destruction coming right up.

well, i havent been playing 2 yrs. you have to wait

kyogre12 might have destroyed the world by then.  I've gotta get one in while I can!

Well, a bit late to the party but I want to toss in a plug for City of Heroes.  It definitely ain't Everquest/WoW in spandex.

• The big thing in CoH is creativity.  The costume creation has a ton of options.  And they aren't stingy about them, either.  Each character can get up to five costumes.
• You only get a few powers spoon fed to you right at the start of the game.  For the most part, you pick powers as you go along.  The best ones will be in the power sets you pick at the start of the game but, if you don't like the power in your power set, you can snag one from the common power pools.  So your fire blaster might have some healing powers while that other guy has stealth powers.
• As you gain levels you earn "slots" which can be added to all your powers.  You then put enhancements in these slots to enhance some aspect of the power: increase the damage, the range, the recharge time, the accuracy, the endurance cost... whatever.  So your fire blast might shoot farther than another guy's but his might hit harder while my fire blast will hit more often.
• One of the best things (IMHO) about the game is the sidekick ability.  Are you playing a level 30 but your friend wants to work on his level 15?  No problem.  Sidekick him and play together.  He'll be boosted up to level 29 while he's close to you.  This feature is incredibly handy!  It's actually pretty rare to have a team without at least one sidekick.
• The game is solo friendly - a lot more solo friendly than when it originally came out, actually.  You can still make characters that are very group oriented that can't solo but, with the most recent update, there's even an answer for that....
• Each character now has two builds.  Each build has the same power set choices (so your Stone/Fire tank will always have Stone defensive powers and Fire offensive powers) but is otherwise independent.  That allows you to make one build for your tank that is team orient while the other build is designed for solo play.  Or you could have one PvE build and one PvP build.
• No trinity.  You do NOT need a healer.  First of all, there are other defesnive sets that mitigate damge quite well by either reducing it or making enemies miss.  Second, many characters have healing powers.  That's not to say that healing is pointless but it certainly isn't the only option.  Tanking is also not absolutely required.  As for damage... almost everyone can do decent damage.
• Very little endgame.  When you get to level 50 you can keep playing the character to improve their enhancements (there are some pretty expensive ones) and to see the content but, for the most part, you're done.  Start a new character.  Alt-itis isn't a curse in CoH/CoV, it's how you are supposed to play.
• Lots of different enemies - and by different I don't just mean different models with different special effects.  The earliest enemies are all pretty much thugs with pistols but they get diverse fast.  You need to learn different tactics for each.
• Smart, dynamic battles.  If you're going to just stand there spamming your three best powers, plan on dying a lot.  You will need to move around a lot and think about which powers work when.
• Knocback is a big thing in this game.  It was kinda funny to watch the Funcom guys talk about it when they were hyping Conan - that ain't knockback folks.  We're talking slam-you-50-yards-down-the-hall knockback.  We're also talking really-tick-off-the-melee-folks knockback if you go blasting their target clear off into the next spawn.  Like I said, SMART combat.  Nothing a GalCiv2 player couldn't handle with one lobe tied behind his back, but enough to keep you on your toes.
• Big expansions that cost NOTHING.  City of Villains is the only expansion that cost extra and now there isn't even that.  If you buy CoV or CoH, you get both.

It's big minus for me is the repetitive environments of missions.  Warehouse, cave, warehouse, warehouse, high tech, cave, cave with machines, warehouse.... Lucky the enemies are pretty different because the decore sure isn't.

I hope that EVE game sticks around.  I very much want to play it after I retire.

Still waiting for a good mmorpg that's free. Guess I'll have to wait forever...

Probably the closest you can get right now is Guild Wars Not completely free, but no subscription once you get it.

or you could always revert to Runescape.   lmao  

I would second taking a serious look at Dungeons & Dragons Online. It has the best "true player interactive based combat system I have found/seen anywhere.

Here is the Trial link: http://trial.ddo.com/

I don't think there are any good MMOs,

What you listed is basicly the best of what you can get. (right now anyways)

I don't know if its a good thing or a bad thing but, MMOs just leave you feeling like you never finish the game in full. Its good since you can keep players entertained, its bad since it constantly makes players feel like they will gain something for all the work.

Gonna hate on WOW for a little bit,

Blizzard hasn't added anything new to WOW since Naxx was first introduced.

Since then it's all been old concpets recycled, they only made raiding "easier". Hardly easier, you just now require thousands of gold now.

Need gold? Thats gotten easier now to since they added hundreds of repeatable, daily quests that you peform for hours every day.

Can't find enough people for raids? Make the required raid groups smaller and smaller so thats easier to.

I played WOW for close to two years and spent months at lvl 70 (max lvl at the time for B/C). I killed Illidan and then gave up.

From my experiance, MMOs become stagnant after a while and at $12 a month for 2 years comes to about $288. Spent roughly 6 months working the game like a second job 8 hrs a day farming and grinding over and over.

Enough hating on Blizzard, MMOs = not as great as they sound.

I like Requim: Bloodymare, its has neat features, questdriven, you chars look relitvly cool quickly, you can dismember enemies when u kill when and theres lots of the blood. nice effects. F2P or u can pay for an account and lvl faster

Another very good one is Cabal Online Very well made almost every 10 lvls u get a cool new feature to mess with(until 100), effect are REALLY good. Lvl capp is like 500 I think.Its free to!! but still very fun and good.

In my opinion Eve Online is good stuff though yes its hard to get into and it takes awhile for it to feel like the rewards for doing good things to happen. But hey not many little kids in the game so thats a plus for me. I almost have 14+ mil SP.  They are adding walking in stations, Tech 3 ships, unstable wormholes, story tree for pve in summer and more good stuff.

 

Yah sounds, like he just don't like the genre.