I've been looking for an interesting MMO for the past hour or so and can't find anything. Most of the available MMOs are either yet another WoW clones or are interesting but have paid subscriptions like EVE Online. Here are some preferred features:
1. Must be either free to play, or buy to play. That means all gameplay features are available without having to spend any more money. Cosmetic or social stuff that doesn't affect gameplay doesn't matter much to me though.
2. Simple, but solid mechanics. No unnecessary fillers or "sticked-on" features that only complicate the game.
3. PvE oriented. Most of the game should be possible to play solo. Also I don't mind grinding if there are fun ways to do it, like randomly generated dungeons and such.
4. Fun combat. Keep the number of buttons used to a minimum. That means having to spam hotkeys is out of the game.
Here are some MMOs that I've already tried:
TERA - liked it at first for the combat and chained skills, but it got repetitive pretty quickly. In most scenarios I would only use one skill combo over and over again, maybe sometimes dodging. Also there was just too much stuff later on and I felt overwhelmed by all the features.
Warframe - repetitive, it all comes down to "go in and kill everything".
Path of Exile - I don't remember the details but I quit pretty early on. I guess I jus't don't like hack'n'slash type games.
War Thunder - Takes too much grinding to progress and I ended up having millions of in-game money while still being stuck at low tiers. Also most of the time is spent on matchmaking and flying/driving into the actual battle, which lasts only a few minutes in Realistic or Simulator. Arcade is just boring.
Fallen Earth - Combat felt slow, clunky and unamusing.
Vindictus - I realised that besides the physics engine, the game really has not much to offer, just another typical MMORPG.
WoW - at some point I forced myself to play the trial and didn't play for even an hour. It's like the game expects you to know all the lore and mechanics, and everyone except you is already a pro. Other than that, I really couldn't find what makes it appeal to so many people.
Global Agenda - after finishing what I guess was the prologue, you're either left with only PvP or pay us monies to play the rest of the game lololololol.
Allods Online - keyboard spamming.
World of Tanks - pay to win.
There are also some minor games not worth mentioning. MOBAs are absolutely unacceptable.