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I'm a writer for the Ascension Gaming Network sites (www.ascensionweb.com) and attended e3 this year to primarily write up on the mmorpg's that are coming out. I believe this page had a link to some of the articles I wrote: http://wow.warcraftstrategy.com/index.php?shownews=671
Existing mmorpg's:
Everquest. It's the most known mmorpg and basically what a lot of others look at when doing development. I played EQ myself for around 3 years. As someone mentioned earlier, the pvp servers are a bit lacking and have only gotten worse each expansion. The game, as much as some people say they hate it, usually keeps players around for a long time. I quit myself a few months ago after 'beating' the high end game and haven't really heard much of their latest expansions. If you haven't tried it, it's probably one to try.
DAoC. As mentioned, it's all about pvp. I played it for around 6 months when it first came out, and actually had a lot of fun playing it. The reason I stopped was because my server had controlled all the relics (basically pvp trophies) and all keeps (castles you actually fight to capture) and there was no pve high end game in at that point. It took maybe 3? 4? months to reach level 50 from the start of the game, and honestly I didn't think it was a hard level grind at all. I'm not sure how that has changed or how the expansions have affected it since then. I've heard it's quite a bit of fun now and actually considered going back myself.
AC2. Most people that play AC2 are from AC1, and AC2 is actually a bit worse in the opinions of most, me included. I believe AC2 still offers a free month, and from what I've heard, that's enough time for most people to decide they don't like it.
SWG. Star Wars Galaxies had a very rough launch (read: too early) and that turned a lot of people away. It's newly announced expansion has brought interest to not only current players, but to those that have quit. I got a chance to demo it at E3 and it actually looked like a lot of fun.
City of Heroes. This game, while not getting as much notoriety as some of the others, has brought in quite a crowd. It uses a different style of gameplay in that you aren't after the best items all the time. It's one that's harder to describe, but if you like the idea of being a super hero with somewhat custom powers, you might like it. Also to note is the fact that City of Villians is going to be released next year, which will allow players to play the 'evil' side. It will also introduce full on pvp which should add a large element to the game.
mmorpg's to look for:
World of Warcraft. The most highly anticipated mmorpg right now. It's going to be primarily instanced pve (no fighting over mobs) with optional pvp areas which will be faction based, alliance vs. horde. Blizzard has chosen a new style of graphics which I personally really like. The worlds are completely hand drawn and rather than counting pixels, they make it look more fun. The game is currently in closed beta with a Q4 release this year.
Guild Wars. I got a chance to participate in the 4v4 pvp showdown going on at E3, as well as play the public E3 beta. The graphics are awesome and the gameplay is a bit like that of World of Warcraft. It's pvp based and instead of being a set of servers, the entire game will run in one world. The big advertising bit they added to that was, "if you want to be the best in the world, now you can, because there's only one world." The other big thing to mention with Guild Wars is the fact that it will be free to play. Guild Wars is also set for a release later this year.
Everquest 2. A common misconception about EQ2 is that it's just a sequal to EQ1, which it's not. It does use all of the same races with one new addition, and plays a lot like its predecessor, however there are noticable changes. Players that enjoyed EQ1 will probably like EQ2 quite a bit. They've removed several annoyances that plagued the first game and improved graphics quite a bit. The biggest drawback to EQ2 (which shouldn't be as much of a problem here) is that you need a pretty beefy computer to run it smoothly. EQ2 beta starts sometime soon and they're hoping for a release this year as well.
I know there's others I didn't talk about and stuff I could have easily expanded on, but that's a quick rundown of the 'mainstream' games right now. My personal choice after seeing/playing all of them? World of Warcraft.
Existing mmorpg's:
Everquest. It's the most known mmorpg and basically what a lot of others look at when doing development. I played EQ myself for around 3 years. As someone mentioned earlier, the pvp servers are a bit lacking and have only gotten worse each expansion. The game, as much as some people say they hate it, usually keeps players around for a long time. I quit myself a few months ago after 'beating' the high end game and haven't really heard much of their latest expansions. If you haven't tried it, it's probably one to try.
DAoC. As mentioned, it's all about pvp. I played it for around 6 months when it first came out, and actually had a lot of fun playing it. The reason I stopped was because my server had controlled all the relics (basically pvp trophies) and all keeps (castles you actually fight to capture) and there was no pve high end game in at that point. It took maybe 3? 4? months to reach level 50 from the start of the game, and honestly I didn't think it was a hard level grind at all. I'm not sure how that has changed or how the expansions have affected it since then. I've heard it's quite a bit of fun now and actually considered going back myself.
AC2. Most people that play AC2 are from AC1, and AC2 is actually a bit worse in the opinions of most, me included. I believe AC2 still offers a free month, and from what I've heard, that's enough time for most people to decide they don't like it.
SWG. Star Wars Galaxies had a very rough launch (read: too early) and that turned a lot of people away. It's newly announced expansion has brought interest to not only current players, but to those that have quit. I got a chance to demo it at E3 and it actually looked like a lot of fun.
City of Heroes. This game, while not getting as much notoriety as some of the others, has brought in quite a crowd. It uses a different style of gameplay in that you aren't after the best items all the time. It's one that's harder to describe, but if you like the idea of being a super hero with somewhat custom powers, you might like it. Also to note is the fact that City of Villians is going to be released next year, which will allow players to play the 'evil' side. It will also introduce full on pvp which should add a large element to the game.
mmorpg's to look for:
World of Warcraft. The most highly anticipated mmorpg right now. It's going to be primarily instanced pve (no fighting over mobs) with optional pvp areas which will be faction based, alliance vs. horde. Blizzard has chosen a new style of graphics which I personally really like. The worlds are completely hand drawn and rather than counting pixels, they make it look more fun. The game is currently in closed beta with a Q4 release this year.
Guild Wars. I got a chance to participate in the 4v4 pvp showdown going on at E3, as well as play the public E3 beta. The graphics are awesome and the gameplay is a bit like that of World of Warcraft. It's pvp based and instead of being a set of servers, the entire game will run in one world. The big advertising bit they added to that was, "if you want to be the best in the world, now you can, because there's only one world." The other big thing to mention with Guild Wars is the fact that it will be free to play. Guild Wars is also set for a release later this year.
Everquest 2. A common misconception about EQ2 is that it's just a sequal to EQ1, which it's not. It does use all of the same races with one new addition, and plays a lot like its predecessor, however there are noticable changes. Players that enjoyed EQ1 will probably like EQ2 quite a bit. They've removed several annoyances that plagued the first game and improved graphics quite a bit. The biggest drawback to EQ2 (which shouldn't be as much of a problem here) is that you need a pretty beefy computer to run it smoothly. EQ2 beta starts sometime soon and they're hoping for a release this year as well.
I know there's others I didn't talk about and stuff I could have easily expanded on, but that's a quick rundown of the 'mainstream' games right now. My personal choice after seeing/playing all of them? World of Warcraft.