Good MMORPG/MMOG? (Yeah another one)?

Question

Alright, I'm going to be getting Warhammer Online as soon as I can (it's released on the 18th), but I currently don't have enough money to buy it (spending it all on Spore :p) until then I want a nice relaxing MMO to play.

-A little background on the games I've played.-

I started out with Runescape, it was my first MMO and I'm still playing it on and off (name is uncleyshex if you want to add me), but quite frankly it gets real boring real fast. I went away from it to play Mabinogi for a while, which was good but it was severely lacking in content. (I mean 3 cities?) That was a few weeks after the English launch though. I left that to play WoW, but that gets even more boring beings that the tradeskills suck and I can't do combat forever. (Yes I actually stopped playing and lived)

Anyway, enough of this rambling, the game needs to be...

1. Free (Gonna play Warhammer after all)

2. Have tradeskills (Combat only games suck, a lot)

3. Fantasy (Not really into sci-fi games unless they are really good)

4. A community that doesn't completely suck. (Like Runescape's)

Graphics don't really matter, but keep it from this century... Cartoony/Anime style are preferred over realistic.

Sorry if that was kind of long... :p

Answer 1

Tibia.

Answer 2

First of all, Mabinogi has gone through the update process at a blazing speed.  A good friend of mine was a Mabinogi fanatic on the Japanese server, and also on the English server.  She complained that they were updating it far too fast, instead of letting it soak in for players and permitting the bulk of them to be prepared for what came next.

Sadly, I have not found inspiration to play again.  I could keep up with her on Trickster, since that game was remarkably easy, quick to level in, and had a wonderful card mini-game.  Pity the rest of the game isn't exactly that great.

What you ask of a game is a lot like what I ask of a game.  The trouble is, very few MMOs can combine these options.  I'll go through a few that I've played in the past.

Ragnarok Online.  Free, whether on private servers or the official free server.  No trade skills, unless you count blacksmithing, alchemy, and cooking.  These are, at best, supportive skills which require extensive hunting for materials.  It's thoroughly fantasy, anime style, fairly well known, etc.  The communities are generally pretty good, but extremely clique-based and can involve drama.  On the upside, combat goes from very simple (Click to kill at early levels), to fairly detailed (MVP monster kills with 10-25 man teams) at a level that really defies the Korean MMO mold.

Tales of Pirates/Pirate King Online.  Free, item shop included, you can buy most item shop items with in-game gold.  A few item gathering skills, but the primary trade is sailing and selling at various ports, or salvaging wreckage.  The idea behind it is great, but the time required to sail can be a bit annoying unless you like multitasking, such as reading a book, playing a DS game, or talking to buddies on IM while sailing.  If you enjoy Uncharted Waters 1&2 on SNES/Genesis, you'd love this part of the game.  It's fantasy.  Community is...  on the NA server (Tales of Pirates), it's not too bad.  Not exactly wonderful, but on par with most MMOs.  Runescape and Maple Story are truly dismal beyond belief there, ToP is well ahead of that curve.  The SE Asia server (Pirate King Online) is generally decent with players who are more high school/university age.  However, there's some real cultural blocks, and if you want to level fast, you need a group.  Unless you can maintain intense grind for an hour at a time bare minimum, you won't get too far.  On the upside, it is a great way to learn Chinese pidgin and swearing.

Honestly, you're in a tough spot right now.  There are really only four MMOs I've seen with a great trade skill system.  Star Wars Galaxies was shredded into a dismal shell of its former self, Runescape is mind-numbing and is killing itself by becoming a one-player game with a communist style controlled marketplace and chat avatars, and Ultima Online is even older than your request, something I think you may have had in mind.

The last one?  Mabinogi.  Maybe I can't get into it, but I say give it another shot.  If there's not enough new content for you, no big loss.  If not that, you could either give up on tradeskills and do Ragnarok Online, or you could check out Tales of Pirates, although I have to admit that it really gets old after a month or two.

Long, but may as well give you all the details I can, no?

Answer 3

Rubies of Eventide - 100% free as well, used to be pay-to-play its very in-depth and everything, personally not my thing but there's bound to be alot who like it.

http://www.eventide.net/

Planeshift -  Its still a work in progress but you can still play it and its decent apparently, not to mention 100% free. Pretty graphics too.

http://www.planeshift.it/

Shaiya - This one is apparently really good, I haven't played it but alot seem to like it...its free with that item buying system or something.

http://shaiya.aeriagames.com/

Hope that helps.