Guild Wars popularized the concept of an MMO with no monthly fees, and continues that business model to this day.

Major content drops don’t seem to be as often as they used to, but The Old Republic is still worth returning to after all this time. For fans of the classic KOTOR series who may not be well-versed in MMORPGs, SWTOR has been tweaked to be single player friendly as well, and now that the game is free-to-play, anyone can jump in to try the class stories and the first couple of expansions. Storytelling is vital in RPGs and Bioware tells an excellent one in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Eve Online has found a way to stick around for almost two decades by being uncompromising in its vision, and that vision is staggering. A game of staggering depth and complexity, Eve Online has fostered a player base since 2003 with its meaningful consequences - you can permanently lose ships worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars - and its freedom for players to do just about anything, like assist in Covid-19 research and organize a stirring tribute for Stephen Hawking. EVE OnlineĮve Online has spawned so many great real-world stories that they could make a Top 10 List

It does have issues such as animation-locking duringĬombat and a less-than fulfilling endgame, but Tera’s combat is still fun to play if you boot it up right now, and that is a true feat for a free-to-play MMO released a decade ago. Its gameplay is highly skill dependent, and the BAMs (Big-Ass Monsters) that roam freely are always tempting

In a genre highly dependent on grinding to make the numbers go higher, Tera sets itself apartįrom the rest with an action combat system that still feels good to play today. City of Heroes laid the foundation for superhero MMORPGs but DCUO has such a breadth of existing lore and characters, it was a must recommend for this list. Now that DCUO is free-to-play and on multiple platforms, it’s now more accessible than ever and still has major content drops like the most recent World of Flashpoint. Would you rather have the power of flight, or super speed? Why not both? DCUO has been a home for DC and superhero fans and continues going strong 10 years later on 5 different platforms.

Top 10 best free mmorpg games