Hey everyone, hoping you can help me. I love video games but had to sell everything a long time ago and now I'm ready to get back into things. I'm totally new to the MMORPG world... I read over the intro threads and articles and am trying to get familiar with it all. Here's where you come in.

I'm looking for a game to dive into.. I have an open mind when it comes to investment (time & money), graphics, grind, etc.. What I'm really focused on is finding a game that allows character customization and skill building, with achievements, missions, or some kind of journey on which I will embark. Puzzles and games are fun so it'd be awesome if that's in there. A developed social aspect would be nice but it's not at the top of the list. Bonus points if the game isn't heavy on combat.. it's fun but it can get old after awhile... Open-endedness is also great. But again these aren't really strict prefs, just trying to give you a feel for what I like, in my language.

ANY suggestions or tips are appreciated.

Forgive me if I didn't use enough technical terms.. be gentle, I'm a virgin.

I think Lord of the Rings Online is definitely the cherry-popper of MMOs and is a lot of fun. It has mini-games, great lore and quests, and PVP isn't a big part at all (they have a PVP where you can roll a high level MOB that you control against high level players but it's hardly on the scale of WAR or Darkfall).

I played the game for about a year and I still list it as one of my favorite MMOs of all time. The only reason why I am not subbed right now is because I ended up burning myself out on it. I'll probably return when I get hungry for it again but right now I am having fun in WAR.

Try FreeRealms? It's from SOE, and it's loaded with minigames/puzzles/quests and combat. Might be what you're looking for. Give it a try.

www.freerealms.com

p.s. it's free :P but you can play for extras.