AION and Fallen Earth come on. How much were you paid to throw those in there. AOC and Warhammer both would of been in there on there relese days with your criteria. No game should of been considered unless they have been out for atleast a year.

Age of Conan is I think the best  one out there right now in terms of fantasy, the pvp is actually skill based.

and where is Eve Online, that has a much stronger communitry and fan based then Pirates of the Burning sea.

Originally posted by pmaura

AION and Fallen Earth come on. How much were you paid to throw those in there. AOC and Warhammer both would of been in there on there relese days with your criteria. No game should of been considered unless they have been out for atleast a year.

Age of Conan is I think the best  one out there right now in terms of fantasy, the pvp is actually skill based.

and where is Eve Online, that has a much stronger communitry and fan based then Pirates of the Burning sea.

The article said since world of Warcraft. EVE Online was released before WoW.

The article was a great read and you made a good call on LoTRO being #1. The only exception I saw on the list was Pirates of the Burning Seas which was, in my opinion, a horrible game. Its top 10 spot seemed undeserving. The rest of the list I can be on board with.

Originally posted by alus21

Okay, granted the whole RK class is supremely iffy on Tolkien lore and more than enough people have complained pre-MoM. BUT coming from a standpoint of a Tolkien literary fanatic, I can safely say that a lot of the stuff rings true to the source especially with the environment.

The RK is a lot more than iffy.  

I didn't say everything about it goes against the setting.  And while map wise and world wise it looks very close to the setting.  There is a lot like the RK that ridiculously doesn't ring true to the source.   Some of which makes no sense what-so-ever as it adds nothing to the game to go that way. 

If Turbine wanted a generic sword an sorcery world they should have made one.  Instead they decided to take on Lord of the Rings and Middle Earth, and have fallen flat, more and more in doing so.

I'm glad GW was high on the list.. LotRO is also a great  game, just not for me... so yeah I like the top two.

Sad things. Atlantica and Aion's ranks are quite low. But hey, I think they both are good games. I've played Atlantica before and it's gfx are great but yeah turn-based battle system is not my type. Never played Aion before. I know it's gonna be good but fanboys just needa shut up for awhile. C'mon if its rly good, it'll go up xD. Cheers.

i love how posts magically vanish  because the site doesn't like your opinion lol

Originally posted by Vinterkrig

i love how posts magically vanish  because the site doesn't like your opinion lol

tell me about it...i just cant find my post in other thread i posted yesterday.

A pretty decent list and interesting to see some MMO's that perhaps the typical adult AAA North American MMO player may not have heard of.

My only issue with the list might be that Aion is on it.  It's way too early to say.  There have been other MMORPG articles hailing Aion's future (I recall an article predicting the top MMO some years out from now, which Aion was high on the list).

I'm currently playing Aion and am enjoying it, but I fear that my enjoyment is really just the usual "oh, a new game" enjoyment.  Aion isn't bad, but is hardly groundbreaking in any aspect whatsoever.  It really just seems like your run-of-mill MMO that doesn't do anything wrong, but doesn't suprise you with anything either.  It's really incredibly linear, with just one series of regions/quests to progress along, and is largely a heavy grinding game.  Not really worthy of being put on this list.

As someone who tried, was disappointed, and left Age of Conan, I would guess that AoC will have much more staying power than Aion will, and that's from someone that doesn't even play AoC.

Gotta be kidding me? Where is Ragnarok, lineage I and Lineage 2????

I choose none as my top 10 and it doesn't mean I think that highly of WoW either but since the release of WoW everything else has been pretty disappointing.

If a game like Club Penguin is included why not include Zynga's vastly successful games (Mafia Wars, Farmville) that are running on social networks with millions of daily active users?
I probably also would have listed Runes of Magic and Free Realms, two of this year's best full-blown MMOs, but that's personal opinion obviously.

Still, a good read and I can agree with some of the games listed here, especially LotRO, GW, Aion and Wizard 101! :)

As for the GW business model, it has been tried for Fury which unfortunately turned out to be rubbish and got axed. Also the Tactica Online devs intended to employ this business model if I recall correctly. They just didn't get that far and the project died on the way...
 

Unless Club Penguin is a game where you club penguins, I'm gonna dismiss it flat out.

Thanks for list :) I played N#1 and N#2 so somwhere I agree with OP. About new games like Aion and Fallen Earth, IMHO time shows success or no.

You know, I'm usually pretty open minded about people's opinions when it comes to these sort of things.  But this "list" is absolutely, completely, and utterly retarded.

I generally agree with the list, but think Guild Wars should be top, because of all the innovations it brought to the genre. LOTRO definitely deserves to be on the list, but somewhere between numbers 4 and 7 - It's unoriginal, way too easy and has a bland interface. When I tried it, I quit even before te end of the free trial...

I believe the list is spot on since I've played or heard about most of the games here. I also would like to thank Dana for a well written article. Having read almost half of the posts here, it seems that a lot of the opinions are based on AAA MMO players or "hard core" players, nothing wrong with that since I don't even bother with games like Maple Story or Club Penguin.

But the article at least explores games that out of the normal games we play - EQ2, FFIX, AoC, WAR, Vanguard, etc. which I view as hardcore gamer's market who is expecting to at least have half of WoW's subscriber base.

WAR almost made it but flunked because they started with too many servers and they didn't consolidate it when the players started to trim down. It was almost better now but I unsubscribed because I'm waiting for new content but I'd go at it again when the expansion comes out. It was a fun game but I got tired of it rather quickly since Tier 1 and Tier 4 only differs on equipment and bigger playing field but its the same PvP, RvR, and scenario play with little reason to go over the actual plot content. Heck I don;t even know what the hell I'm fighting for.

But LOTRO#1 is spot on, I just recently subbed and I love the game. From storyline content, crafting, MMO world economics, weapons, grinding (and giving you a reason to other than making money), there's a lot of thing to do and and the community is good. Whoever said that its a dead zone I think the reason being you might have logged into the new player server. I've gone to Brandywine server and it is jam packed with players on almost every realm.

The list is an interesting read and quite frankly there is no reason to be rude to the writer since it is an opinion and evrybody is entitled to it right?  

Seeing as this is an all encompassing list all I really have to say about it is...

Vanguard?

WTF? There is no way VG saga of total disaster is right. There are like 10 people playing it. Yes, I did play it recently. It's empty. It had a rotten launch and it never recovered. AoC or something else has be higher then that turd of a game. It launched 3 years ago and when they do occasionally do a patch, it's mostly bug fixes.

It's a total waste of a players time and money.

I agree with LOTRO at number 1 however...

As much poor PR Age of Conan and Warhammer had, they aren't THAT bad, and surely belong here over Vanguard...

I agree with the list, however I would also argue that this list be revised in about a year, as new MMOs that come out may knock a few down. Especially with games like GW2, TOR, STO, etc coming

As far as they go I agree with all the choices with few exception.  Those being Club Penguin and Maple Story, however that said I understand the reasoning for putting them on the list.

Guild Wars and LotRO focused heavily on good story telling, although people may disagree with their mechanics (I know I wasn't fond of LotRO's) they are both really well put together games, with excellent storyline, lots of play.  Both are stable games as well, with few flaws and a thriving players community.  That isn't to say they don't have their flaws, all games do (even WoW); but the positives of these games really out way the negatives.  Heck Vanguard had a really rough start, but has recovered quite nicely in more recent months.

Like I said I would like to see this list redone every year now, to see how things grow and change.

Originally posted by Tymelle

I generally agree with the list, but think Guild Wars should be top, because of all the innovations it brought to the genre. LOTRO definitely deserves to be on the list, but somewhere between numbers 4 and 7 - It's unoriginal, way too easy and has a bland interface. When I tried it, I quit even before te end of the free trial...

Innovation alone does not make a good name. By that standard, this list would be completely different. And LotRO is innovative in many ways that you seem to be ignoring. Gambit/Rune system? Leveled items? Fellowship maneuvers? A  game system based on morale and retreat, rather that health and death?

Sure, it's not really groundbreaking in any ways, but it is a well-polished effort at taking the genre in a slightly different direction. Not to mention the story focus of the game is second to none.

Difficulty is a matter of opinion; like many other games, you can make the game as difficult as you wish.

I would highly recommend you play the game to at least 50. The game is fun, but it does take a bit to fully appreciate.

Originally posted by Tymelle

I generally agree with the list, but think Guild Wars should be top, because of all the innovations it brought to the genre. LOTRO definitely deserves to be on the list, but somewhere between numbers 4 and 7 - It's unoriginal, way too easy and has a bland interface. When I tried it, I quit even before te end of the free trial...

Indeed, Guild Wars should be top.  However MMO's better than WoW is a very long list anyway.

Aion is excellent (Please don't flame this comment, I can't be bothered with Aion-haters)

Runes of Magic is F2P and out-performs WoW on every level

When I read this list..

I felt something in my mouth that was disgusting.

I have now become a troll.

Some of the games listed in this post..

NO WAY!

i say this..

To the writer of this post..

Have you played any of these games?

jesus christ. i'm utterly offended by this list. /wrists

i guess this is just an opinion after all. but yeck!

maybe all of you should kill yourself now? YOUR list is no more right than the OPs....damn too much nerds raging here....