I'm looking for an MMO with a decent RP community (and preferably a trial of some sort).  

As for other prerequisites, I'm also looking for...

1. Many classes. (optional)

2. Unique classes- monk, necromancer, etc (classes that don't fit the standard mage/warrior/healer/rogue/whatever description- optional)

3. Many races (or one or two odd ones like orcs, goblins, etc- optional).

4.  A game where my actions can make a difference (optional- probably a sandbox styled game.)

-World of Warcraft best RP community ever IMHO.

-It's got orc races, night elves and soon to be goblins ( in an upcoming expansion).

-It has a lot of unique classes such as, Death Knight, Shaman, Paladin, Warlock.

-Making a difference in the world, more of a sandbox huh? Well..it doesn't really have that/

But you might also try Warhammer Online and/or Fallen Earth.

glord, what games have you played in the past so we know what not to recommend?

I will say, most games have decent RP communities, but in some of them, you have to look for them. WoW in my opinion is probably the worse choice to go to.

From what it sounds like, you are leaning more towards a fantasy themed game. With what you are looking for, if you dont mind the dated graphics would be going back to EQ. Vanguard is also another decent option as it has greatly improved since its horrible release.

EDIT. Fallen Earth I would recommend if you dont mind the Post Apoc setting, but seems you want fantasy. Warhammer I would never recommend.

I don't think there are REALLY any MMOs that have a great deal of RP. Even on the WoW RP servers, most of the tits there didn't roleplay at all. Even the roleplayers rarely did, instead just running instances over and over again.

EQ2 has a large RPing community on the Antonia Bayle server. I mean, not everyone you meet is an RPer, but there are tons of regular RP guilds(even stictly RPing guilds), RP events, etc. The community is great and I haven't seen a more RP friendly MMo. It has a free trial, and meets your first 3 criteria, although not #4. Hope this helps.

EQ2 or VG are decent choices for fantasy RP though your actions won't really influence a whole lot... As stated above, Fallen Earth is a good choice too if you can handle the post-apoc theme...

Also, to the guy who suggested WoW and WAR-uhhh yea, no.

Originally posted by glord

 I'm looking for an MMO with a decent RP community (and preferably a trial of some sort).  

As for other prerequisites, I'm also looking for...

1. Many classes. (optional)

2. Unique classes- monk, necromancer, etc (classes that don't fit the standard mage/warrior/healer/rogue/whatever description- optional)

3. Many races (or one or two odd ones like orcs, goblins, etc- optional).

4.  A game where my actions can make a difference (optional- probably a sandbox styled game.)

What about ryzom? It' skill based so you can concentrate on what you want, there are several races and it's pretty sandbox. It's sci-fi with a rather unique art style.

Originally posted by Dawnsinger

I don't think there are REALLY any MMOs that have a great deal of RP. Even on the WoW RP servers, most of the tits there didn't roleplay at all. Even the roleplayers rarely did, instead just running instances over and over again.

Wrong. Face of Mankind, Roma Victor, Underlight, The Realm Online, Clan Lord, etc all have strong roleplay communities.

Face of Mankind and Roma Victor are both sandbox and FoM is completely player-run. RV doesn't HAVE to be completely player run but in an effort to lessen real-world costs for each other, they've all come to make it completely player-run. Needless to say your actions have a lasting impact on the community. However, there are no classes and you can only be human in both. Only the faction you choose...and both feature twitch-based combat.

Underlight isn't quite sandbox, per say, but it's also completely player run in a dreamstate world. It features an auto-attack type system. It has 4 classes, each unique from the last and each completely different from what you're used to...or are they? ;) The downside is that you can only be human and that advancement in the game is completely reliant on other players.

The Realm Online is your typical adventure around 2D MMORPG with turn based combat. I just noted it for it's aged community with strong roleplay ethics.

Clan Lord isn't sandbox either, but it's community is a strong roleplay one with many helpful people. There are only 3 classes, but there are TONS of races. It's 2D but it takes a semi-different approach to things.

(Sorry fory the late reply. I'm on a school PC.)

I remember playing FoM years ago before I knew what RP was but as I remember the game was pretty roleplay oriented (or at least a few of the players mentioned it was an RP game but I thought they meant RPG game mechanics than).

Clan Lord looks kinda cool, as its one of the only MMOs I haven't tried (EQ2, and WoW I've tried as well. FE looks okay but I'm not sure if I wanna spend $50 on it quite yet). I've played so many MMOs. Its just that I never really played any for more than a month to three months at most and I just wanna find one and stick with it.

Edit: People still RP on The Realm?

Originally posted by glord

Edit: People still RP on The Realm?

Haha, I honestly have no idea. I'd imagine so since anyone still playing is bound to have a few years under their belt, but I'm not entirely sure. I just remember the community being a good RP one.

Another option would be Pernica. The dev is trying to get the community restarted. It's a pretty obscured little free MMORPG run by a guy that's the head of a medical research company. It's like a graphical MUD and a lot of the game is all about RP. The only thing is that right now there are about 10 on and off players and the dev needs more before he'll get the motivation to getting back to work on it.

There used to be GM run events. There still are occasionally, but as the actual GMs resigned a while back and the dev himself is absent a lot due to real life, there are always those in-between weekends. If nothing else, it's worth a look just because it's free and only 100 megs or so. 

Everquest 2's RP server (Antonia Bayle) has a great RP server.

Vanguard on Seradon

Lord of the Rings is full of it

Fallen Earth

The first 3 are older so you wont find much in the way of your actions having any sort of impact on the game.

Originally posted by Ozreth

Everquest 2's RP server (Antonia Bayle) has a great RP server.

Vanguard on Seradon

Lord of the Rings is full of it

Fallen Earth

The first 3 are older so you wont find much in the way of your actions having any sort of impact on the game.

^--- I'll second that list.

Also I'll add UO's Europa server and, if you like RP in space, there are a good number of RP corps in EVE Online. 

Daoc has where you can Roleplay in it..and the kind of classes your looking for and also a free trial period...

Originally posted by toria

Daoc has where you can Roleplay in it..and the kind of classes your looking for and also a free trial period...

Last time I checked DAoC, it was dead. I'm still trying to make a choice. I might pick Clan Lord but I'm still not sure.

Edit: Nevermind. Some people said roleplay isn't that common anymore there :(

sure it may be dead, but they did cluster the rv r servers to one big serv er now.. i still like it and wil play till its totally gone