Any good "free to play" MMORPGs for a skinflint?

I'm in the mood for a 3d MMORPG. I've not played one since the original Everquest years ago. The catch is that I'm looking for something free to play.

Can anyone recommend any decent ones? What about Silkroad Online? Are there any better choices out there?

Well, with regards to ones that really don't stink, there's always Guild Wars, which although you have to pay for the game itself, there's no monthly fee attached to it....it's good, great for playing in short bursts, and doesn't have that "suck your life away" addictiveness most other online RPGs are associated with.
(actually, I got a couple trial-account serial keys if you want one)

Check out fileplanet.com . They have a list of MMOs that are free. Last Chaos comes to mind but I haven't actually tried it.

I've never played MMORPG's before, but I had a few hours at Tales of Pirates, which I think is still technically beta. It seemed kinda fun, if a little repetitive, and the server I was on was laggy as hell, but apparently other servers are not. I can't really see the appeal of MMORPG's, but Tales of Pirates seemed a lot less annoying and unenjoyable than I expected, and I might have actually played a bit more if I could have switched servers without losing my character.

A few of them:
Rappelz Epic 3
Last Chaos
Supreme Destiny
PlaneShift

Tried all of them. I'd play WoW anytime over any of them. I don't know why, all those free MMORPGs use a click-to-move system and I hate it. Just let me use WASD will you!? None of them offer any way to change it.
Gameplay is never really spectacular, and let's face it, Blizzard got the crew for great artwork.
None of them seems to have any trade skills (smithing, enchanting, cooking, etc)

most free MMOs are based on "Ragnarok Online" due to it's simplicity and wild popularity before it went pay.

The only three free ones (two fo them very popular) that I know of:

Runescape (only played for briefly, 3 hours at the most, and seems very simplistic)
Anarchy online (only played briefly, but it is 3d, and better graphics than Runescape, want to get into this one more often)
Hero (just heard of this one, graphics that rival any pay MMO. want to play this one more)

Eternal Lands ( http://www.eternal-lands.com/ ) is another one that I know of. Wasn't much impressed when I played it, however. Free MMORPGs are generally free for a reason (they're crap).

If you prefer plus-fours to beards in your MMORPG, why not look at either:

http://www.gamescampus.com/shotonline/
http://www.albatross18.com/new/new_index.asp

For MMO's with golf!

Cheers,

Ryan

Afaik Ryzom is free, partly ( www.ryzom.com )

I know it's not free but Warcraft beats any free one I've played. I've played: conqueronline, eudemons, maple story, flyff, runescape (omg it sucks!)

It isnt 3D but still loads of fun =)

Maple Story

lol?
must be the worst website ever...not only they are locking out whole usergroups, but i dont want to know WHY they need that browser (with activated activex i fear...).



as for the topic: its not really a mmorpg, but an (at least for some hours) entertaining online rpg with great graphics and refreshing gameplay: http://www.dawnspire.com

Gunz the Duel ftw!

Free, fun, 3rd person MMORPG with awesome sword fighting/shooting. Plus, you can run up walls. :D

My nephew's got real into maplestory. I was gonna join, but man.. from what I remember the sign up process was a joke.

Requires you use ie to view the site. Not a great first step, but okay. I buckled and downloaded the entire client. Only to find out they don't allow sign-ups from certain email providers. So whatever... I don't like being forced into stupid artificial restrictions, like using only the brands they've chosen for you. They lost another potential user.

I think there was something else that ticked me off too, but I can't remember now.

Always a treat! ;)

Dabz

Thanks for the suggestions.

So far I've tried Silkroad Online, Rappelz, Guildwars: Factions, and R.O.S.E. Online.

Guild Wars: Factions is slick, but it doesn't provide the traditional MMORP experience that I'm looking for - it feels more like a single player game or something similar to Phantasy Star Online. I love the asian setting though.

Silkroad Online is fantasic too, but it can be a real pain to log on to a server (at least nine out of ten login attempts will fail due to "server traffic"). Great visuals, traditional MMORPG gameplay. Seems to have decent depth too. Again, I love the asian setting, and it's far more evocative, appealing and magical than the similar setting of Guild Wars: Factions. Seems a bit jerky and juddery in highly populated areas.

Rappelz. Ugh. Initial impressions are: shoddy, murky, clunky. Extremely unappealing visuals. The gameplay might be decent, but I couldn't bear playing it long enough to find out.

I think that I'll be sticking with R.O.S.E. Online for now. I'm a sucker for cute super-deformed Manga/anime art styles and this game is a great example of the style (in an updated N64 Zelda kind of way). I've only tried the game for twenty minutes, but it struck me as quite appealing. Might ultimately prove rather shallow. I gather that this game used to be pay-to-play, but it has recently switched to being free-to-play, which is nice.

ROSE is like a fully 3D ragnarok online. Almost exactly the same game with a new coat of paint... not to say that is a bad thing.

RO was really really popular and addictive. Sure, it is shallow and lacks a lot of things you expect from other MMOs like a real crafting system and so-forth. But it was always fun to kill some things for a few here and there.

ROSE is much the same. I beta tested that one for school, which was more annoying than helpful because their beta was a joke. Not the game, but it was like an open beta with no way to contact them and report problems, which at the time were many. It was more like a demo...

Anyway. From what I remember it is exactly like RO only 3D.

Just don't expect a very deep expirence, although there is a surprising level of depth in the combat, considering how shallow it appears to be. Still, it is essentially, kill mobs, collect things, sell things, buy cool stuff, kill more mobs....