Greetings,

I'm an old fart who is looking to get back into MMORPGs after an absence. I played Everquest for about 5 years, and after that AO for several more. My preference was for EQ based solely on the fantasy setting in a world of Gnomes, elves etc. My play style: I tend to level slowly just based on love of soloing and enjoying all the aspects of a game environment rather than constant grinding. I enjoy being a member of laid back guilds who occasionally do fun raids as I have no stomach for an end-game raiding guild. I have always disdained PVP. I'm generally a PvE guy.

I've narrowed my thinking down to three possibilities (though if you think there's another that best fits me, feel free to chime in) with good and bad associated with each.

WoW - Right setting, however it seems to me that this has become all about end-game raiding. Is there still a happy, low level community, and is it still the case that it's populated mostly by uber wanna-be kids?

Warhammer - Setting and game play seem to suit me to a T, however it seems that PvP cannot be escaped. That said, from reading up on it, it seems that PvP is a more fun type adventure thing here rather than the gank/smack talk of traditional PvP. Disliking that traditional PvP, would this suit me still?

FFXI - Gameplay seems to be perfect, but that sword and sorcery feel seems to be the lowest of my three choices. Does gameplay make up for the wrong type of setting?

Let me know what you think would be best for me based on my bio and thoughts. It need not be one of these three, but I am keen on P2P as I've found that most freebies don't do much for me. Thanks in advance.

    AO and EQ have been my most played since 2000 also...I've played all 3 that you are looking at and here was my experience with them....

1. Coming from EQ to vanilla wow made it seem very easy.....In EQ you couldn't kill anything your level (in the old days anyway), whereas in wow you could handle something 4 levels higher solo easy....IT was still a fun game but I had to play it alot more casually to enjoy it....Its free to level 20 so nothing to lsoe to try.

2. Warhammer - I was mainly a PVE guy but wanted to try this......THe public quests were fun at first but by level 15 or so no one did them anymore...The PVE was awful....PVP was alot of fun until level 20...From then on the CC was just insane and really ruined alot of it....ITs free up to level 10 now so you can certainly try it.

3. FFXI - Like the OP I thought this game was going to be a perfect match for a classic EQer.....THe group based play and tight community were supposed to be the strengths of this game...Then I played it.....THe graphics were way too pixelated for my tastes....The game felt extremely blocky....I asked several questions in general chat and was either called a noob or got no response at all....The community was a huge letdown after so many years of a solid one in EQ.....OF the 3, this one I would not recommend.

If you've never played WoW I would highly recommend it. 

Yes, there's lots of kids in the chat channels but you can turn them off and just focus on your own enjoyment if the game. 

There's a metric ton of solo content, quests and of course a great fantasy setting. 

People try and bash WoW (usually jaded vets), but if you're an old school gamer like I am (I closed beta tested the original EQ) you owe it to yourself to at least try the free starter edition where you can play to level 20 and at least get your first mount before making any decisions. 

Just try and keep an open mind is all I can advise.