Re: Non-stand-and-slash MMORPGS?
Anarchy Online is old as hell and I havent played in two years so who knows how its still doing but ....
it did have very fun non hack and slash pvp, it did have a very big universe to explore with lots of interesting thing to do, the twinking on super high level items meta game was an interesting and unique meta game. It would however take you a decade to get up to par unless you made a low level tower twink, the way the game works is theres like 280 levels total I think? the first 1-200 are easy and would take a few weeks. the 201-220 would take you probably atleast six months, it takes more exp to go from 219 to 220 than it does to go from 1-219. sadly the 201-220 levels also make you more powerful exponentially as well and someone sub 210 does not stand a chance against a 220 of equal skill. than theres alien levels which I think go to 50 or something. they are seperate entirely and independant and nice but not necessary beyond the first dozen or so that you can get in a few days.
AO is a huge grind to get to the top, but once you are there its fun and has good pvp and a huge world with a unique class and skill sysem.
D&D has no pvp at all, its possible to attack other players inside the dueling pits in taverns but it was a complete after though, the game is not even remotely balanced for pvp and no one does it ever except for a joke or to grief new players that dont know any better.
havent played LOTR
Warhammer is pretty fun, theres only like 3 servers left so it probably going to die sooner or later, but while its still going if you get one an active server its very fun, the pve levels take a couple weeks to grind out at best, the pvp is massive rvr based, 200 vs 200 castle sieges and what not. It was terrible at release but pretty enjoyable now a days. the problem is there are pvp levels and pve levels. at max pve level you are still going to get two shotted by people for a month or two until you get your pvp level up to around 60.
theres all sorts of 'sort of free' korean MMOs that have questionable pvp, mabinogi is a mmo supposably based on celtic mythology, its got interesting pve in that its based largely on not ever being hit and countering your enemies attacks. the pvp is set by paladins vs dark knights and elves vs giants (humans can pick either side). unfortunately the pvp is EXTREMELY ping dependant, way way more so than UO will ever be. Because the combat system depends largely on comboing opponents to prevent them from attacking you, most pvp comes down to who has the lowest ping to get the first hit in. another game by the same publisher (nexon) dungeon fighter online is a 2d side scrolling beat em up like old arcade games, its a nice twist and fun to play with a game pad. if you like fighting games and mmos its worth checking out. its pretty viable to play DFO for free, the only advantage paying for things has is character respecs, and vanity costumes.
theres always WoW, but Im sure youve heard enough about WoW..
uh what else... City of Heroes / Champions Online has interesting and different PvM, but the pvp isnt that active, tho its not that bad.
Global Agenda is kinda cool, its basicly Unreal Tournament the MMO. pretty sure someone just stole that RPG Mod from UT2k3 and made it an MMO, but its fun non the less. its free to play to like level 15, if you buy the game its free to play forever but you have to subscribe to get some of the other features, games like 10 or 20 bucks on steam