So after leaving WoW, I'm now looking for a new MMO.

These are my only requirements:

Relatively new, good combat system, good instanced PvP (arenas, battlegrounds...), a good amount of character customization, a subscription fee, but no item mall, and one that isn't just a WoW clone.

Any ideas?

 You could try warhammer but it will just feel like a crusty version of wow.

 Lord of the Rings Online

dont play warhammer whatever you do lawl, its a horrible game

personally, i think you should try out Aion when it comes out. has great visuals and doesnt seem like much of a WoW clone

I was thinking Aion, yeah.

I also thought LOTRO, but I tried it, and there's little to no character customization.

I'd recommend Aion, but it doesn't have instanced PvP (aside from one instance).

Erg... that was one I was looking at too.

Lots of people are saying that Warhammer Online isn't any good. I liked it a lot more than WoW. Actually I'd put it up there as one of the better ones. People can whine about this and that, but at the games core, it's still pretty fun.

There isn't much you will find from newer mmo games. They are all pretty much WoW clones. That's what's been happening to our industry. More money, less quality.

You might have good luck with Aion, but something tells me in the end it will be just like WoW with nothing really that different at all.

Maybe I should just not play an MMO till Star Wars.

I really enjoyed Lord of the Rings Online for months until endgame, which is pretty grindy, and it suffers for not having a decent pvp system like WoW does.  But it does have probably the best PVE of any mmorpg I've played.

Also, there's more character customization in LOTRO than in WoW, so it's weird that would turn you off.

It feels like there aren't any "full" games that are out, that has the end-game of WoW...

Originally posted by Voomek

It feels like there aren't any "full" games that are out, that has the end-game of WoW...

There never has been. WoW is the quintessential jack of all trades; master of none.

For every gameplay element, there is an MMO that does it considerably better than WoW does, but where WoW shines is its variety. It's "pretty decent" at everything where another game will have "really good" PvP but "absolutely crap" PvE.

People don't play WoW because they think it's the best game on the market; they pay WoW because it offers the best variety of enjoyable gameplay experiences for a single subscription fee.

Originally posted by Voomek

Maybe I should just not play an MMO till Star Wars.

Just out of curiosity, why is Star Wars so highly anticipated beyond being Star Wars?  It doesn't look so good graphically and nothing wows me about the little bit of gameplay I've seen.

I'm not bashing, just curious to ask the question while I can.

I think the graphics look stellar... at least from coming from WoW. Also, the customization is supposed to be amazing, and the game actually has a story line, that's a big part of the gameplay... which in MMO's, is practically unheard of.

Originally posted by Fortenc

Originally posted by Voomek

Maybe I should just not play an MMO till Star Wars.

 Just out of curiosity, why is Star Wars so highly anticipated beyond being Star Wars?  It doesn't look so good graphically and nothing wows me about the little bit of gameplay I've seen.

 I'm not bashing, just curious to ask the question while I can.

Dude, it's Bioware; they're cooler than Jebus.

And it's a Star Wars themed MMO set in the old republic with a levelling system that (appears to be, not much concrete info yet) a complete departure from the conventional XP or questgrinding. I'll assume you've played KOTOR 1/2, so the best way to explain what TOR is offering would be to say this:

Picture KOTOR. A long and interesting story-based RPG which you can affect in significant ways leading you down a dark or light path as you gain in levels and unlock more powerful abilities. That's KOTOR.

Now picture that same game but in a massively multiplayer persistant world with hundreds/thousands of other people running around; you can carry on progressing "your" story alone, or you can group up and help other players with theirs (and vice versa).

Now imagine that every playable class (there are 8) have a completely unique story-based progressive questline that provides "hundreds of hours" of gameplay per class. Oh, and all NPC dialogue is fully voiced (including your characters NPC interactions).

Ah, and let's not forget that there is the end-game; raiding, PvP, Crafting, etc. All the typical trimmings of an MMO for those people who like to progress a single character as much as possible. There is also hints at housing and space flight/combat.

TOR is basically an MMO version of 8 new KOTORs with an end-game. Hard not to get excited by that if you're a fan of Biowares earlier work with the Star Wars IP.

Originally posted by Fortenc

Originally posted by Voomek

Maybe I should just not play an MMO till Star Wars.

 

Just out of curiosity, why is Star Wars so highly anticipated beyond being Star Wars?  It doesn't look so good graphically and nothing wows me about the little bit of gameplay I've seen.

 

I'm not bashing, just curious to ask the question while I can.

Games like Lego Star Wars and the KOTOR's have move the genres forward.  Is a different theme!... one people will accept. Themes like Morrowind are avoided in favor of more popular themes like Oblivium.  
And theres a bunchload of lore available. 

But mostly some level of fanboyism.