LotRO - And you can't even question innovation on it now with every game copying legendary items, quests with voiceovers and whatnot left and right :)

Vanguard is close second, but it still lacks the polish LotRO has - but the game itself is not the trainwreck it was anymore.

Originally posted by Eloas

I loved Dark Age of Camelot and glad to see it made the list, but sadly as other have said it isn't widely enough known anymore to have a chance. I have to say if it was still up and running at its best it would have my vote, but with its slow agonizing downfall, my vote must go to Lord of the Rings Online. If nothing else for its expansiveness and helpful dev team, who seems to want to keep a general approval of the game.

You will still have my gaming heart forever Dark Age. /cry Oh God I feel retarded.

Well, there is hope..

Origins will be coming out, sometime. Allthough this is very vague, I'm pretty sure it will.

Lots of Euro and US players plan on starting there again so server activity will be np, AND we will have OF back!

I even heard a small rise on the server population because so many people dislike WAR.

PS: rturja, when have you played DAoC and for how long?

 Is it me or was world of warcraft not on the list?

Originally posted by laleb

 Is it me or was world of warcraft not on the list?

It is, ctrl+f is your friend.

Played DaoC at Euro beta back when and then couple of months at 2006 or so. I liked some aspects of it a lot, but I'm a self confessed PvE'r - I did like DaoC and WAR a bit more than your regular PvP, but just found out both times that bashing real people behind their characters does not give me any sort of jollies.

From the two - at least at the moment DaoC is far better game IMHO.

Originally posted by openedge1 

I voted simple. WoW is the only MMO here, with everyone else trying to copy them...except for the Asian Grinders.

I guarantee at least 98% of everyone who votes here has played it, and what other game can make that claim?

I hate to use the well-worn McDonald's cliche but 98% of us have eaten at McDonalds and 97% of us wouldn't pick McD's as the best restaurant with the best food:)

And to say that every game on the list is a copy of WoW shows your age! WoW came out in 04 and there were MMO's in the 90's. WoW COPIED so much from the earlier MMO's and repackaged it with neon colors and sexied-up characters. They also made the leveling curve 10% as hard as the previous MMO's and hit the Pixelated Lottery Jackpot.

I would gladly give WoW an award for the  "MMO that Mainstreamed Gaming" or the "MMO with the best Game Engine" because they deserve accolades for bringing Gaming to regular people using regular old PC's. They expanded our gaming world in so many ways and brought attention and future funding to our industry and that's wonderful!!

LoTRO gets my vote for Best Overall Game in 2008.

I might be the only lonely vote for Warhammer Online here! Either way, here are my reasons.

Only MMO in 2008 (that I have chosen to play, so games like PotBS I never got to try out) that I have paid a subscription for (beyond the free first month).

Company quick to respond to community issues and bring patches (its been what, 3 months and they have released several patches with most of them including extra content and fixes).

Its build around a universe I like (just too bad it is not WH40k!!!  ).

RvR/PvP based game, which I have been looking for, with some controls (Darkfall is not for me).

This game also has a huge room for improvement which means the game will only get better as it ages (if the content and patches keep coming).

So there are my reasons I am voting for Warhammer Online. If I had to pick a 2nd, unfortunately it would have been WoW for a lot of the same reasons above. I do have my eye on future 2009 MMOs but currently I can see Warhammer Online keeping my interest for a while.

Vanguard , has it's problems but it is the best one out there.

For those of you suffering from grave ethical dilemmas and personal angst about voting for just one game when you haven't tried *ALL* of these games, I think you are being a bit silly.

In a vote of this kind, you are actually voting "based on my knowledge and experience". The poll should not need to add those words, but they are certainly implicit, so chill out.

Just vote for the one that you think is the best overall of the ones you've tried.

Sheesh. That said... I am voting for LotRO. :)

The best game overall is WoW.  We all like a polished game with lots of features and content. Well, WoW has that, a large population to ensure you can always get a group, plus it has the little things that make WoW what it is...special.

<lifts mug of ale>

Here's to hoping Darkfall will be the best overall game next year. <Cheers>

Best overall ?

LOTRO

EQ2

hmm gonna go with WoW for all around game play and the graphics update sealed the deal for me

I picked LOTRO, mainly because I hated the game when it launched, but after playing it with the next Moria expansion, I don't think I have ever seen an mmo have such a turn around on me as this one. It has improved in sooooo many ways that it deserves my vote.

I'm hoping that next year, I can say the same for WAR, as I really do think that game can grow and become a ton of fun.

While I love WoW, it hasn't really broken it's mold, just given us more of the same, which is fine, but compared to LOTRO and how they develop content through the year, every mmo company should take a page out of Turbines playbook.

Guild Wars gets my vote.  It doesn't have all the complexity issues other games have.  Yeah we don't have the hype of a WOW or other games but Arenanet does things alot better than most companies to make gaming more fun. There is no major grind in Guild Wars at all, there is no forced raiding to obtain the best gear, Guild Wars requires some skill. Guild Wars still has the best pvp today. Guild Wars launch was probably one of the best launches for a game. No long downtime for maintenance, infact when there are issues in Guild Wars all we do is log out, get the update and log back in and start playing again. The combat system is more fluent than most games. The character models look better than most games. No monthly fee, so that means I don't feel obligated to play a ton of hours a month to justify that 15 a month payment. I can put the game down anytime I want and come back anytime. Map travel is probably one of the best things because I don't have to waste 15-20 min riding on a mount just to get to the next town. Guild Wars does has it's shortcoming but you aren't going to find a more solid game from top to bottom. 

I picked LOTRO. Only because it's the only game I went back to that improved content, but didn't have to improve bugs and gameplay stuff. No four missing classes due at release date, no faulty DX-10 to patch in later, not a lot of broken promises. They just lacked content.

But looking at the 2008 list, I really can honestly say....

COME ON 2009! SAVE ME!

I voted for lotro

That's the game that surprised me this year

A bought it and I had lot's of fun, I'm not active at this moment

but I'm planning to resub in a week or 2 ^^

Voted Guild Wars, been playing since it came out and still an awesome game

I voted for EvE-O. That game is like wine, simply gets better with time. Not a game for everyone but its, IMO, the best game period.

Honorable mention to Atlantica.

Can I have two votes? I can't decide between StarQuest and EVE.

StarQuest because of their totally awesome Devs and addicting gameplay.

but...

EVE because the game is more mature and has totally awesome graphics.

Sigh, will the decisions never end?

I voted for The Sims Online as it is simply amazing.

It is so good a game that I will play it FOR-EVAH!

Flipped a Coin again.

I had to chose between Wurm and Eve.
Eve because i'm enjoying it since '06, Wurm because..well, i don't love Wurm itself, i love the idea of it.

The coin decided that i had to give Wurm some credit, so i did.

I am not much for posting reviews, but I pick starquest. I have played in last 10 years close to 30 Mmorpgs. while starquest is not easy learn in begining and gives som bad first impressions. the game content and sandbox feeling is the greatest. its the only game ive played long then 3 months straight. I have now been playing over 12 months !!!!

Planetside is where it's at. Nothing else on that list really compares. All I saw was a bunch of RPG grind stuff.

Aye voted on StarQuest Online as well.

Have sticked with the game for 3 years now, there is no escaping