Of the free to play games I have tried:

Perfect world

Cabal

2moons

Runes of magic

Archlord

This one is my favorite. If you play with the graphics settings, this game is actually quite beautiful.

Here is a list of things I love about this game:

1) Items can be de-leveled. I have a lvl 49 sword that has be "de-leveled" to lvl 29 (for example). I did not make it myself I found it in the co-signement shop (rohan's version of the Auction house).

2) Random stats on items. Once in awhile a sword or amor piece will drop with really awesome stats. You can either sell it or combine it with another sword for a chance to make a rare sword with the stats of the combined items. You can than take two Rare swords and combine them! If you are successful you can then try your luck and lowering the level requirement of that sword. Same goes for Armor! I love this. You also can add stats by introducing "options" to the mix. Options are items that add specific stats to an armor or weapon piece.

3) Large, attractive open game world. The game world is quite large and very little zoning is required to travel from one zone to the other.

4) Nice sound track. The music is epic. Sound is 3 dimensional as well. You'll hear a horseman closing in on you from the direction he is comming (if you have multiple speakers).

5) GREAT COMBAT ANIMATIONS! Very fluid and visceral. Very satisfying both visually and acoustically. This one is important to me.

6) Wandering bosses (or elites) Black Terpins, Gnoll Kings, Salient Knights, Vairokens, Bergs, Enchanted Tonkens... and more. All drop rare armor, merchant souls, option items (for forging). With just a little effort you can create a character and equip him/her to solo these monsters and make a very healthy income.

7) Exchange market. YNK allows you to sell many items in game, including game currency AND CHARACTERS for thier item mall currency! So aside from the 5 dollar set up fee, you could play rohan and buy item mall gear and such without ever paying a cent! A TRUE FREE TO PLAY GAME.

8) PvP and the Vengence system. If you are killed by another player he is now on your hit list. If you want you can click on his name and get ported to his location (so long as he is not is safe area) and attempt revenge. You can even form a group and take group with you and gang up on him if you so desire.

9) Fishing: Fishing is a mini game in this game. You warp to a cute fishing hole where you have a very interesting twitch game. You use crappy armor you have gotten in drops as bait and the fish you get are like little gambling tokens. You click on the fish and a "wheel of fortune" starts rotating and you get a price based on where it lands. Nice distraction when you are looking for a break. There is a Card game I have not yet tried as well.

10) large variety of mobs. They do the same trick as all mmo's do (labeling same models with different names and levels) but the model variety is vary large. If you play this game, force yourself to visit the other start towns areas to get a flavor for the variety.

Things i hate about Rohan:

1) Like Guild wars: you can't jump.

2) There are terrible Idle noises that some classes make (particularly male elves and male giants). Male giants will yawn or stretch and sound like they are barfing. Male elves...well... hard to describe you have to experience that for yourself.

3) Translation errors/inaccuracies: While not as bad as some Korean games, Rohan has managed to make some silly translations and oversights in their journey to convert the game to English. You will see male Amazon mobs (Amazon is by definition a female warrior). You will see the giant class listed as "Two handed class" when in reality... aren't all classes "twho handed (I think they meant dual wielding). Also they don't seem to understand what a two handed sword is. In Rohan a 2 handed sword is simply a weak 1 handed sword that can be duel wielded. Not quite as strong as a regular sword and not quite as weak as a dagger. I have not seen a real 2handed weapon in the game. One other funny translation is the Giant buff for accuracy called "Find hole". Tell me the 13 year old kids aren't giggling at that one.

4) bugs. There are a few bugs that show up occasionally. On occasion I log in and get an intermitant black screen and I've forced to re-log. The wandering bosses (especially the Black Terpin) will sometimes "Warp" 300 yards away after you hit them (or worse disappear all together). Occasional disconnects("error code 5101" anyone?)

5) Slow loading client. I just feel it takes to long to load the game but it might be because of my OLD COMPUTER.

6) Helmets are not visible. Nope. They might look cool as an icon on your paper doll but you can't see player helmets. I wish they had this as an option like WoW does.

7) Character models have too many "emo" haircuts. Most of the men in this game could pass for females and at the very least transvestites.

8) I don't hate the quests in this game... but they are definitely uninspired. Nothing special. Decent rewards but most are your standard variety.

So that is my take on this game. I have played many many games both free and pay.

My advice would be to investigate the forging/refining systems and explore some before you pass judgement.

If you want help look me up on the Ahkma server

Samaritan (knight)

Samazon  (knight)

Praetorian (knight)

Hope to see you in game.

That's interesting, thanks for the info. I am downloading it tommorow. Btw how bad is the grind in the game? Do you have to use the shop to be competitive? And is there any group content like dungeons in the game?

I hear the grind can be pretty tough... but you can group with a player or guildie who has a "seal" which gives a group extra xp.      I am not leveling very fast because I've been killing "bosses" almost exclusively... and While I'm not actually "leveling" my characters are growing in strength and wealth as I am getting some very nice equipment.   I'm also stock piling stuff for the future of my characters.

As for money shop being necessary... It can help but is by no means necessary.   More importantly... if you open up an Exchange market account with YNK you can actually sell your in game items for "Rohan points" which are what you use to buy Item mall items.    I have two items in my inventory that will sell for the equivalent of about 300 RP's each... so thats $6.00.   Might not sound like a lot but it adds up.  I have yet to spend a single penny in game and I am extremely competitive @ my lvl.

I'm on Ahkma server 

Purchased a great Sheild yesterday.   A mid 40's enchanted shield of Zultan.  It had 38 physical defense a good amount of magic defense , 225 extra health points but most of all was de-leveled to lvl 30.   An aswer to my prayers.   How much?    100,000 crone.    An absolute steal.    The seller had a shop mixed with items that were over priced and some that were grossly underpriced.  I did not know what to make of it but I also purchased two enchanted pluion items and a pair of Edwin boots with 96 defense and deleveled 10 levels for only 2 million.   I could not believe my good fortune and only wished I had more money to buy all the great deals this guy was offering.   

I log in the next day and all of it was gone.  

My crones returned the items were gone.   Apparently the account selling the items had been compromised and I was basically buying stolen goods.

:(

I've downloaded this game but not yet got into it really. Thanks for the info, I might try playing it properly now.