Top Free MMORPGs In 2014

When it comes to the top free MMORPGs, the competition becomes stronger and stronger every year. There are more companies than ever before devoted to bringing out high quality multiplayer role playing games to the market with stunning graphics, awesome game play and and wonderful quests and missions which makes it really difficult to find the very best ones to play.

During the last couple of years the online gaming world has started to see an interesting trend: more and more games are becoing free to play (F2P) instead of pay to play (P2P), which used to be the traditional type of playing.

This screenshot was taken by me in Entropia Universe

This is a good thing for us who love playing these MMORPGs as the strong competition makes it more difficult for game developers to keep players in their game for long, so they are make these games free - at least up to a point.

This list is by no means unbiased, afterall it is based on my personal experience while playing countless hours, so feel free to leave your own favorite in the Guestbook below.

Oh I'm having a blast playing the new popular game Firefall. Some might argue that it's not a true MMORPG, but more of a 1st person (or 3rd person, depending on your view) shooter, but I think the open world setting, the lack of actual quests and the really sandbox feel to it make it in my personal opinion a great MMO game.

I'm a relatively recent Firefall player, however I've played it since it was in beta. Now that it's officially released, it has become better than ever.

The game has a dynamic world with various dynamic events (ok here again some people might argue that it's not really dynamic). You start exploring the world and somewhere something always happen - be it an ARES mission where you team up with other players (or do the mission on your own if it's an easy one) to do the actual mission goal.

Or you might come across a Chosen incursion, a melding tornado (one of my favorites), a Chosen strike team, or so many other different events that make up the wonderful world that is Frefall.

I don't think that anyone who has tried it will disagree with me on this - Neverwinter (not Neverwinter Nights) is probably the best and most awaited free to play MMORPG for 2013 and 2014. I went into the open beta and I couldn't wait to try it out. Of course I downloaded it (it's really completely free) and gave it a whirl.

And got hooked!

I've been playing Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 ever since they were available, and NWN was really one of my most favorite RPG game. So when I've heard of the new Neverwinter, I thought this will be kind of the online version of it, strongy related to the original game. However much to my surprise, it had really little in common with the single version RPG game that I was used to. And yet, I really really love this game.

I haven't ventured much in the Neverwinter world, did several great quests, which at least initially is very easy to find them in the city scattered throughout, from various NPCs.

One thing that I truly want to immerse myself in - and I think this will be a very strong point this game will have in its favor is the foundry - which is basically the ability for regular players to create quests. Now this is big! There are already several such player created content quests made for the game and they can be found from various NPCS (like a waitress, or a guy sitting

Simply put the Foundry could very well be a next step/evolution in the MMO playing style. In Neverwinter you can create such quests with a set of tools that are available from the time a character reachers level 15 (which is not that difficult to reach anyway).

This Dungeons and Dragons style game is simply breathtaking in cinematics and I love the way everything is set up. Something silly that I initially didn't like, but now I love is that little trail of sparkles *see image below) that goes in front of a character when taking a quest. Initially I had a feeling this is for those who want it easy, but then I figured, why not have it easy at least when going from location A to B without having to consult the map all the time?

There are several character classes in the game, and I chose to be a half-elf, part human, part elf because I always loved elves and I still want to be at least partially human.

I won't go much more into details about the game, suffice to say - if you haven't tried it yet, you should, you will get addicted to it, it's not much around it with it being completely free, with the extra user content that gets added every day and with a great MMO playing style (love the fights!) that speaks to the online gamer in me.

Lord of the Rings Online (called LOTRO by the players) is in my opinion one of the best free to play games around. In fact it only became free to play in 2011 to attract more players to the game. So what does exactly mean for anyone who wants to give the game a try?

First of all the game is free to download. Simply head over the website to download LOTRO for free. Beware, the download is almost 10Gb, so unless you have a really great connection, be prepared to leave the download overnight, and have it ready to install and play the next day. You need to create an account before or after downloading the game, however that is also free.

Once you have downloaded the game, you can install it. It will apply a series of patches to bring it to the latest version and then you're ready to create your first character and then start playing for free.

Lord Of The Rings Online is probably one of the truly best free to play games out there. The reason is because unless you are anxious to go ahead, you can in fact earn pretty much all the points (they are called turbine points) that will allow you to pay in the game for new quests and expansion packs that you'd otherwise have to buy.

Beware though, you will have to grind quite a lot in order to get there, but if you are patient and truly don't want to spend real money in the game, it can be done.

Here are some of the most common options that you get as a free to play member in LOTRO.

1. You have 2 character slots per server - one way to experience all allowed characters it is to create 2 different one on each server.
2. You can create characters from 4 races: Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits and Men
3. You can create characters in 7 classes: Burglar, Captain, Champion, Guardian, Hunter, Lore-master or Minstrel (if you want to create Rune-keeper or Warden character, you have to buy them).
4. You can level your characters all the way to the level cap (currently level 75) - no restrictions there, although it does take a while to get there on the free route.
5. You have access to all regions of the game world except the Ettenmoors.
6. You get full access to the quests and deeds in 4 regions: Ered Luin, the Shire, Bree-land and the Lonelands.
7. You have no restrictions on tasks in all regions where they exist.
8. You have access to all of the quests that make up the epic quest line.
9. You have access to the Legendary Item system.
10. You have access to the first 7 ranks of Skirmish traits.
11. Your characters have three inventory bags - you have to pay to unlock more bags if you need more inventory space.
12. Your characters are limited to 2 Gold each and they can't mail gold to other characters or players.
13. Your characters are limited to 2 Virtue Traits, 2 Racial Traits, 2 Class Traits and 1 Legendary Trait at a time.

There are some awesome new expansion packs that Turbine (the company who bought the game and is currently developing it) put out for us, and here is one of my favorites. While it is possible to play the game full 'free to play' forever, it will truly take you month of boring grinding just to get enough points to buy some extra perks. Instead for the price of one or two restaurant means skipped you get to play some of these gorgeous expansion packs!

Note: the game is still free, this is just an additional territory unlocked for you to explore!

Currently my favorite online game, but...

I love this game, however I know some people don't (or won't). It is because it's a real cash economy system and many people shy away from playing a game where to really enjoy it to its fullest you need to deposit regularly real money (euros or dollars). Also with playing LOTRO you get more perks when playing it free than with Entropia.

However, let me tell you why it's my absolutely favorite right now.

First its graphics is simply amazing. The game is built using the CryEngine 2 graphics engine which makes it truly awesome. I've played numerous online games until now and Entropia is simply at another level entirely.

I am an adult player (my real age is 40+) and as such Entropia really suits me best: because of the real cash economy system, this game has a more mature player base. While you do see now and then a few 16 years old, you can also find people of he age of 70+. I'm not kidding. So the maturity level is higher and you won't find that many annoying kids who simply want to spoil the game for you by spamming, trying to scam you, begging and basically behaving like kids.

The game is huge. And I mean huge! It consists of several planets (with more to be added soon) and each is really big with lots of tasks to do, areas to explore and mobs (monsters and critters) to kill. Just as in other games you can mine, you can craft and you can have a specific profession of your choosing as well.

Note: when you get the game, it will also be around 10 Gb (I think it's in fact 13 Gb) to download. Most online RPG games will have to be downloaded first before you actually play.

Granted, in LOTRO you can do more things for free than in Entropia, even though you have to grind your way to accumulate enough points. However here are some of the fun (or not so fun, depending on your point of view) things to do in Entropia without depositing any money.

1. Sweating low level mob - When you join the game, you get a free sweat extractor tool which helps you gather sweat from low level animals. You basically get glasses with sweat which you can then sell to other players. You then use this money (called PED - 1$ equal 10 PED) to buy guns and amo for hunting.
2. Enjoy the social aspect of the game You can simply enter the game completely free, make friends and chat with them. If you have friends who have vehicles, you can even get rides with them. This aspect of the game reminds me of Second Life in fact.
3. Do TP runs - TPs are teleporters, which help you get fast from one place to another. In order to activate a teleporter, you have to be actually there. So TP running is a favorite activity of many people - you simply run across the various areas and try to gather as many TPs as possible. I've gathered 4 TPs in a day without actually using my gun and ammunition at all. You can run by foot, swim in the river or sea, or get a ride from others in the game.
4. Collect fruit and dung - This is something I enjoy a lot. You simply start walking around and soon you'll spot fruit and dung popping up on your screen. You pick them up and once you have enough in your inventory, you can try to sell them at the auction house to other players.

My number 3 game to play online is Runes of Magic. You can play it free as long as you download the ~3Gb of installation files. However compared to the previous two games this download is much smaller.

The story evolves around Taborea, a dangerous and yet wonderful world that is full of wonders and mysteries. Great graphics, great game place and lots of stuff to do as a free player without having to invest even a cent. In fact I think Runes of Magic has more free options than even LOTRO.

Go to Runes of Magic website, register a new free account and download the game.

When it comes to what makes this game an awesome f2p mmorpg, I'd say everything. While playing it, I realized that I could do pretty much anything that paying players were also doing, except it took me longer due to grinding. Obviously there is a trade-off between time spent doing menial boring repetitive tasks and money spent in order to save time and enjoy the game faster. But really there are no serious limitations to play this game entirely free.

Here is another popular MMORPG that you should try if you haven't already done so. The game is based on the classic D&D RPG (which I played many years ago - yes I'm that old!). However this new game is, of course, modern, with a vast world to explore and some ultra high graphics. The same company, Turbine, that makes LOTRO also makes DDO, so you can expect some great game play with lots of features, all for free.

Just as with LOTRO, you get many free quests to do, and of course, you can buy new ones with cash shop points if you want to bring your game to a new level. And of course you can earn those points by grinding a bit so you don't really have to pay any real cash if you choose to go all the way free to play.

Personally I find LOTRO to be better, and DDO a bit repetitive. However this is still a great game, and if you're looking for something new to try out this year, give Dungeons and Dragons Online a shot.

I was not sure I would like Vindictus, but when I downloaded the game, I was rather pleasantly surprised. It has some of the best graphics I've seen in an online game. It's full of action and you can play it free all along. The game is developed by devCAT and published by Nexo. In Korea it is known under the name Mabinogi: Heroes.

There is, of course, a virtual shop in the game which allows you to buy in-game items that enhance your character or make the game more fun. But this is not required. There are lots of players who never paid a dime to play.

One caveat for this game: You can only play it right now if you are in the US, Canada, Korea and Europe. So if you're based in Australia or New Zealand, for example, you won't be able to play. But if you're one of the lucky ones, give it a try, it's really worth it.