Like, an ideal game for people who like to explore would be:

• few loading screens
• smooth transitions between the zones
• many starting areas
• large game world
• few borders in the game (invisible walls, fences that are impossible to cross, mountains you can't climb, rivers you can't swim through etc)
• few ways to fast travel (meaning: the primary mode of movement should not be teleporting from one end of the world to the other, since that makes exploration rather pointless)
• a worldmap / zonemap you start with, that has as few information as possible about areas you haven't been in yet (since that makes no sense and also kills the fun of exploring, if you already know exactly where to find what and how long you can walk in which direction even though you never were there)
• many directions you can turn to (meaning: not a single linear path you must follow to advance in the game)

Anyone got any suggestions?
I didn't play that many MMORPs, but of of those I played...

• WoW got lots of starting zones, many ways you can turn to and a large world, so it was fun to explore but I played it to death and don't play it anymore
• AoC got tons of loading screens and lots of invisible borders everywhere, which really turned me off (not to mention the single starting zone)
• WAR got still a healthy 6 starting zones, but the paths you can follow are very very linear, and promises Mythic made for people who like to explore didn't turn out as good as they did sound
• Atlantica. Well, it got automove. Which is like the total opposite of exploring.
• EVE. Didn't play it for too long. The game is huge, but the space looks probably about the same no matter where you go, so I wouldn't know what there would actually be to explore
• Requiem Bloodymare seemed average to me. Though it turned me off that I could see from the very start where which zone was and how big it is. Also, two starting zones ain't that many either
• Fallen Earth kept sending me bluescreens, preventing me from checking out how much fun exploring there would be
• Tabula Rasa had huge zones which were fun to explore, but it's gone

So anyone got any advice or feels the same?

I've tried them all and the best thing to do is wait for Aion or try Darkfall if you haven't already.

Don't know of anything new but Legend of Zelda is always a great explorers game doesn't have many starting points but you will be baffled by the things you need to find in it and how if you don't find something changes the outcome. I still on occasion after some years have past go back to the old games without the walkthrough and try to see if i can remember it all. Also Final Fantasy . True love of exploring is what those games are about:)

Id give Vanguard a try it had a great world but its chopped up in grids and everytime you hit a line you game skips a beat, so that was really annoying and it is low population, this is especially bad cuz after 25 you need to group if you want to keep a steady pace, but the world is great and immersive.

Vanguard is really fun to explore imo. It's zoneless but depending on your computer you might notice it when you pass over into a different "chunk". It''s smooth for me but some have said it can be bad.  The trial was put together really well so worth trying out, allthough it's seperate from the game world so you won't get the real picture of how vast it is.

i loved exploring zones in WoW (on my way to 60) i also loved (and still do love) Lotro's zones, there is just so much to see in the areas.  As for outside of MMO's i would say Crysis had its moments (weaving in and out of the jungle) and Arma 2 has a kick ass map

You're looking for Vanguard based on what you are looking for.  Not saying you'll like the game, or if you can run the game smoothly since it's a beast in terms of sys requirement.  But give it a try, they have a trial.

Ehh I've played tons of games but the one game that really felt like endless and just really diverse was the classic WOW azeroth map...that was one of my favorite "world" to explore because each area was so diverse and different creatures to meet and just the environment made it really interesting and all that.  I think the Barrens/Ashenvale is one of the most bizarre transformation in the classic...a desert turned into a complete HUGE forest within meters of each of each other...that to me is pretty nifty and diverse *shrugs*

Not sure if you ever heard about Entropia universe? Its a bit different from other games seeing how it revolves around real money. 10 PeDs = 1$ where ped stands for Project entropia dollars (which is the money used in the game) The game do starts a bit slowly but when you get some skills and can hunt some bigger animals its really fun and its not impossible to earn some cash ;)

But anyway it got a HUGE world that would take hours to run through it all, with lots of different landscapes etc. And they just made a big update and applied cryengine 2 and changed all the mob/mineral spawns meaning you have to find your perfect place again!

Trailer can be seen here (not showing so much tho took the first one I found :P) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYwcKQ6CVcQ&feature=related

More info about the game can be found at www.entropia-universe.com/entropiauniverse/

Like the above posters stated vanguard would be a good choice, another game you might want to check out is fallen earth. The games planning to have 3x the world as darkfall and its a sandboxy game too.

What do you hope to find while exploring?

Fallen Earth is good to explore, although the graphics aren't pretty it's interesting what little tidbits you can find just travelling around at random.

There's an older even indy-er game called A Tale in the Desert... I really don't know if it's even still running though. In that game exploring is necessary to find the resources you need.

Can't think of much else, although admittingly I haven't played many of the more recent releases. One poster said Entropia, I'd have to agree because exploring and finding something awesome could mean money money. I had a hard time playing that game though, found it too stressful with every in-game credit meaning my real cash out of pocket, so every single shot or hit or scan or whatever that produced nothing meant money wasted lol.

Check out Wurm Online.  Not only is it a huge seamless world (the free-to-play / trial continent is smaller) with very limited transportation and no in-game map, you can actually interact with the environment and even shape the land.  It's more of a sandbox crafting game to be honest and it gets rather tedious but it's good for exploration as well.  Unfortunately, while the view distance is great, the graphics are pretty bad.  The UI and controls aren't very user-friendly either so expect a learning curve. 

Also, as Dinion mentioned, A Tale in the Desert might be something to look at.  It's actually quite similar to Wurm Online in that it is a very large world that focuses on crafting (in fact, ATITD doesn't even have combat).  I'd say that Wurm is better for exploration though. 

Check out Voyage Century online, you can create an explorer character and explore the world and even learn about history while doing so. the game play is pretty good and building new ships requires alot of hours gathering resources. Most everyone plays captains or pirates and forgets all about the exploration side of the game.

Yep, Vanguard is your best bet.   Lots of land to explore.   See something...travel to it.   

Vanguard: Saga of Heros, hands down, without a doubt! If it wasn't for that game I would have given up on MMO's long ago! The current crop of crap is just that ....... CRAP!

i would go for vanguard or swg. both are huge with very nice landscapes, and no invisible barriers.

For a nice safe experience i would have to go for Vanguard.

Entropia Universe is a bit more dangerous. Then Wurm Online.

And if you want real exploration (like i do) then you have to with Darkfall. But that game is almost to intense to explore in. Not a second to relax.

Darkfall hands down.  It is turning into a real gem to. 

Nothing compares to AC, but the graphics are very dated.