I know this topic has likely been brought up before now but I just want to get something off my chest.  Why for the love of god are all new MMO's following a close likeness to WoW's art direction?  And not just WoW, I mean overall why are all new MMO's coming out so cartoon like?  Can not one developer other than Adventurine (The creators of Darkfall) make a game with a world that is darker not only in theme but in color?  Before you rant about Darkfall I am only bringing it up because of it's art style, the way AV made the world darker and a lot like the elder scrolls games is awesome to me.  I am sick and tired of bright colors and such in MMO's.  

One of the reasons both STO and the new Star Wars MMO's are iffy to me is the simple reasoning behind those IP's belong in a more serious mindset and deserve a darker outlook to them.  I know many of you will bring up system specs and all, but again.  Look at Darkfall, it works, even on pretty old systems.  So again, why do developers have to make everything to child like?

If I ever break into the MMO market I hope to co-found a game with the graphics of at least Oblivion, a game with a more serious tone in coloring and art direction.  But that's another story all together.

When Bethesda will finally unveil its MMORPG, we might see something like that.

I am waiting for a MMORPG with darker/gothic settings, my hopes are high for The Elder Scroll Online or Fallout Online, either will do.
I hope Bethesda does to MMORPG genre what it did for the RPGs

It's just that, as commercial products, bright and shiny games attract a wide audience over a lot of age groups, and therefore there's a lot more money to be made. I agree, though, we need some games with distinct graphics, and not only imitative ones, but which pursue a specific look (very much like what Blizzard did with Warcraft 3).

The Secret World looks as though it may be making great strides in the creative arena.

Check out mortal online? if you want dark fantasy, a good single player game coming out soon is dragonage.

I dont think youre so much complaining about lack of creativity, but about not liking the style of MMOs youve tried. Eve, fallen earth and requiem all have darker styles than the WOW "norm" even AoC. If you think color tone is the only way to convey a "dark" feel in graphic arts youre sorely mistaken. Are you looking for something like Burtons Nightmare before Christmas? Yea, thats what we need, an MMO for emos...