The MMO marketplace, with its seemingly infinite number of options, can be a confusing and intimidating space for gamers. With the success of the free-to-play model and the arrival on western shores of exotic, previously inaccessible titles, the genre is more crowded now than ever, and without a guide, the sheer volume of games can be overwhelming to the uninitiated.

We’re here to help. We’ve assembled the absolute best MMOs currently available--anything from free-to-play, to subscription-based, to one-time fees. These are the best of the best, and you can’t go wrong with dipping into any of them. Be warned, though: That first little taste can often lead to a very serious habit.

At first glance, it would be easy to pigeonhole Wizard 101 as a game strictly for the kids. But though a lot of the content might be slanted towards a younger audience, dismissing it as nothing more than child's play would be a grave mistake. Wizard 101 lets players live out the classic fantasy scenario that the Harry Potter franchise proved was so wildly popular: guiding a young wizard through magic school while battling the forces of evil.

The addictive fun of Wizard 101 is most apparent in its combat, which is resolved through a turn-based card game where wizards summon monsters to do their bidding. The spells at your disposal are big and dramatic, becoming increasingly more involved as characters increase in level. While the duels can get a bit tiresome during marathon sessions, you'll be captivated the first few times you call in a new monster to battle for you.

The one-sentence pitch for Allods Online is immediately fascinating: a fantasy MMO where players can pilot giant custom astral ships across the universe, exploring floating islands and battling other player’s space-faring vessels. The ships, which can be crewed by multiple players simultaneously, feature different stations that govern their functions--like navigation or gunnery--which can be upgraded or modified in a variety of ways.

Though reaching the astral phase takes some time, the basic questing and dungeon delving are entertaining enough to keep players hooked, and the visuals are easy on the eyes. Allods also tosses in some large-scale, frenetic PvP combat and a robust guild system to add some long-term appeal to what’s already an engaging formula.

Dragon’s Nest feels like a direct, dramatic response to MMO players who were exhausted with tab-targeting, point-and-click combat. Billing itself as “the fastest online action RPG,” Dragon’s Nest fulfills the promise of high-octane combat with panache. The most impressive facet of the combo-based battles isn’t its speed and momentum--it's the depth and strategy required of players. When taking on particularly challenging encounters, dodging, juggling, and coordinating with your teammates is critical. Healing abilities are at a premium, as some of the bosses can be absolutely lethal.

While it’s not the prettiest game on the block, Dragon’s Nest does have a certain stylized, story-book appeal that suits the often manic fights--and the combat is definitely the star. It’s a refreshing burst of adrenaline in a genre that was sliding towards stodginess and stagnation.

The fact that Defiance is any good is practically miraculous. Developing an MMO shooter based on a SyFy original television series sounds like a recipe for disaster, but somehow Trion Worlds was able to deliver an excellent game with a lot of cool hooks. It helps that the world of Defiance is an interesting one, the result of a curious set of circumstances. Earth has been rendered almost unrecognizable by the accidental deployment of alien terraforming technology, and a long war with the aliens responsible has left both sides on the brink of collapse. Factions have splintered off and in many cases aliens and humans have banded together in the desperate struggle for survival.

Defiance succeeds because the shooter mechanics are crisp and solid, the character progression feels satisfying, and the wealth of weaponry offers an impressive amount of variety. It’s the first MMO we’ve played that makes shooting guns in PvE feel viable and fun.

As fond as we are of complaining about the tried-and-true tropes of fantasy MMOs, there’s something to be said for the addictive nature of a deep, polished, traditional RPG. Runes of Magic doesn't strain to reinvent the wheel--and for players looking for a WoW-like experience without being hampered by a monthly fee, RoM offers a great alternative.

It's jammed full of the content MMO fans have come to expect: tons of loot, character customization, and a broad variety of enemies, bosses, and settings. It distinguishes itself in its class system, which effectively lets players dual-class. Leveling a warrior only to realize that you’re taking a terrible beating? Add priest to your repertoire and you’ll be able to heal yourself without relying so much on consumables. RoM won’t blow you away with novel content or wild innovation, but it does traditional fantasy MMO very well and hearkening back to the elements that attracted us to this genre in the first place.

For those of us that were heartbroken when Fallout Online got officially shuttered last year, fear not: Fallen Earth is the post-apocalyptic MMO we were craving. Fallen Earth gives us the rare treat of multiple apocalypses. Set in a future ravaged by a global viral epidemic, catastrophic war, and a nuclear holocaust, Fallen Earth gives us a blasted wasteland in which to carve out our character’s destinies.

The gameplay features solid third-person shooting, a deep crafting system, and a gaggle of disparate, interesting factions for players to align with. For anyone looking to tide themselves over until the inevitable Fallout 4--or you're just looking to wander around an interesting post-apocalypse--Fallen Earth is a great way to experience the end of the world.

We were delighted when we discovered that Uncharted Waters, one of our favorite games of the 16-bit era, was getting an MMO sequel, especially when it turned out to be a high-quality, entertaining high-seas romp. Uncharted Waters Online does an excellent job of capturing the best parts of pirate games and naval sims, all inside an unobtrusive online architecture.

The combat, both on land and at sea, is engaging, but the real appeal of UWO is its depth. It eschews the traditional monotonous grind of most standard fantasy MMOs, in favor of multifaceted systems for trading, banking, exploration, and adventuring. UWO is a game that could easily absorb weeks of your time without even beginning to expose its many layers of hidden complexity.

The Secret World is a game defined in large part by its setting, which reads like every conspiracy theory crackpot’s dream come true (or their worst nightmare realized). Secret societies, mythological creatures, and evil cults define a world shrouded by mystery and bursting with supernatural horrors. Propping up the setting and story is some killer sound design, which successfully ratchets up tension and gives the game’s events a certain dramatic sweep.

In fact, one of TSW's strongest features is its dedication to storytelling. Instead of the standard MMO trope of letting players queue up a practically unlimited number of quests--which leads to lots of mindless fetching and slaying without any sense of overarching purpose--The Secret World focuses on a tight handful of quests at a time, all with clearly defined objectives. This narrow focus helps emphasize narrative and points a spotlight at the game’s writing and atmosphere, which is of a fairly uniform high quality.

As a space sim MMO, Star Command has naturally drawn a lot of comparisons to the giant in the niche: EVE Online. Those comparisons aren’t necessarily just, however--while Star Conflict does share some very fundamental DNA with EVE, it stands apart by being much more focused on high-tempo, responsive combat. Star Conflict is less spreadsheets and corporate intrigue, and more fast-paced blood baths and massive explosions.

That said, Star Conflict does boast a robust character progression system and tons of tantalizing loot by way of implants and ship upgrades. It’s also a beautiful game, rendering the vastness of space and some fantastic-looking spacecraft in gorgeous detail. When gazing at the lush visuals, you’re likely to forget that it’s entirely free-to-play.

RaiderZ is a bit of a tough sell in the west, where Monster Hunter and its brood of sequels and spin-offs have yet to really hit it big. But for players that have discovered the joy of battling massive boss monsters with coordinated teams of allies, RaiderZ is all sorts of fun. Whether in instanced dungeons or out in the open world, giant baddies provide intense challenge and rich rewards.

Like the Monster Hunter franchise from which it draws inspiration, the enemy creatures can be wounded or crippled by hacking off pieces of their bodies. This rewards accuracy during battle with special items or buffs, encouraging intricate strategy in the lengthy encounters. The depth of the combat and the gargantuan creatures is the key to why RaiderZ is so surprisingly engaging. It's a F2P take on a genre that’s wildly popular in some parts of the world for very good reason.

Age of Wushu immediately stands out by virtue of its unique premise: a deep simulation of Chinese martial arts through the lens of classic action films. Age of Wushu is less Bruce Lee and more Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, focusing on spectacular superhuman feats traditionally only possible through the magic of wire-fu.

What isn’t immediately apparent from this top line description, however, is the depth and intricacy of some of Age of Wushu’s systems. While combat (especially against other players) is obviously a central focus, crafting disciplines like calligraphy offer a nice distraction by way of simple mini-games. Even the activity of your character while you’re offline can have important effects, like improving your skills, or can lead to being kidnapped and ransomed by other players. Age of Wushu is a beautiful rendering of an age and a setting we so rarely get to see in games, one that’s easy to fall into and want to thoroughly explore.

Elsworld Online manages to distinguish itself in a crowded marketplace on the strength of its snappy, side-scrolling combat and pretty cel-shaded graphics. Top to bottom it’s a beautiful game, trading on hand-drawn cutscenes and character designs that fall somewhere between cartoony and chibi to evoke the manga series on which it’s based.

Instead of the traditional handful of generic classes, Elsworld lets players choose named characters as their avatars and then evolve those characters to suit their play style. While standard fantasy tropes are represented in the class system (fighter, mage, ranger), Elsworld also includes more exotic choices, like Eve the Queen of Nasod, who can summon robot minions to battle at her side. The combination of kinetic combat and vivid graphics make Elsworld a highly engaging experience with a ton of personality.

One of the coolest features of the venerated Dark Age of Camelot was its realm vs. realm combat, pitting whole factions of players against each other in high stakes combat that spanned the game world. Mythic wisely brought that system with them into Warhammer Online, creating three pairings of adversaries from the races of the tabletop miniatures game and letting players scrap endlessly in battles ranging from minor skirmishes to massive capital city invasions.

The combination of sprawling PvP combat on a huge scale and group quests that encourage players to work together, all braced by the standard wealth of quests, gear, and other MMO staples, make Warhammer Online one of the best fantasy MMOs in an increasingly crowded market.

Star Trek Online continues to be one of the most intriguing MMOs around not only because of the strength of its license but also because of the unique and varied gameplay on offer. One part third-person shooter, one part naval simulator in space, STO is a game that will reel you in with it’s spaceships and aliens but keep you hooked with consistently fun gameplay.

Fans of the television series and films will find a wealth of familiar elements that manage to be as fun to encounter and explore as they sound. Battling borg cubes, walking the promenade on Deep Space Nine, or beaming down as part of an away team to exotic planets are all great examples of fan service done right in STO.

Often cited as the pinnacle of action MMOs, Tera continues to provide some of the most responsive and dramatic combat anywhere. Underpinning the excellent, skill-based combat is a diverse batch of races and classes, all with different play styles and abilities. One of the strongest aspects of Tera’s character creation system is the way that all of the classes are universally compatible with all of the races, leading to a remarkable breadth of interesting combinations.

A big part of the appeal of Tera’s trademark combat is how gorgeous it looks, backgrounded by beautiful art and with detailed, attractive models and animations. Tera is a lovely game that, most importantly, looks fantastic in motion, especially when groups of players are pitted against some of the giant monsters lurking in its beautifully rendered environments.

Like Allods Online, Aion has a pretty easy one-line pitch: Players can fly. The flight in Aion, however, isn’t just a gimmick or a traversal mechanic; instead, it’s a core feature that plays a critical role in PvP combat. In the game’s fantastic PvP arena, the Abyss, flight adds a dynamic layer of strategy that elevates the combat above many of its competitors. The way the flight is throttled and the way it opens up another dimension of space during a fights make it a meaningful addition to otherwise pretty engaging combat.

For a game that came out in 2009, Aion continues to be visually striking, especially in the environment and enemy designs. And with a ton of post-launch content already available and another big update due in June, the game continues to evolve and expand even four years after release.

Fans of the tabletop version of Dungeons & Dragons have long fantasized about a video game representation of their favorite role-playing game that conveyed its rich fiction and storytelling opportunities while amping up the formula with real-time action. While a number of games have succeeded at re-creating one dimension of that formula, DDO was one of the first to manage to faithfully represent the tabletop game's systems while also giving gamers the action they craved.

While the switch to free-to-play was challenging for DDO, a steady stream of updates and tweaks has kept the dungeon raiding fresh and the world vibrant and alive. By purchasing adventure packs, players can now explore the depths of the Underdark, the frontier city of Stormreach, or any of a number of other new settings--an excellent way to expand the game without having to rely on larger, full-priced expansion packs.

While DC Universe Online wasn’t the first superhero-themed MMO to hit virtual shelves, it has a number of advantages over its predecessors. For one, it has access to DC Comics’ massive stable of highly recognizable, iconic characters. Players eager to play alongside legendary heroes like Superman and Batman won’t be disappointed, but DCUO wisely allows users to create unique heroes with custom abilities.

Also distinguishing it from games like City of Heroes or Champions Online, DCUO eschewed tab-targeting for action combat, a play style that ends up feeling a lot more true to the source material. Add in an interesting story about an alien invasion and some cool gear and leveling options and DCUO is a winning formula, especially now that it’s free to play on both PC and PS3.

One of the most beloved settings in the Dungeons and Dragons catalogue, the Forgotten Realms rest on a foundation of decades of highly embroidered fiction and best-selling novels. Recent events centered on the venerable city of Neverwinter have reshaped the world of Faerun, and Cryptic Studios capitalizes on this exciting transitional period in one of this year’s best new free-to-play MMOs.

Neverwinter captures some of the unique flavor of the Forgotten Realms while focusing on fast-paced combat and mechanics borrowed from the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards and priests, long relegated to the back of adventuring parties, now sport the ability to output some impressive damage on top of their buffing and healing abilities. At the same time, bruiser warriors gain the benefit of powerful spell-like abilities, further blurring the lines between classes. Neverwinter does an excellent job of propelling players forward and keeping the action fresh, while ensuring that background systems like invoking and crafting aren’t given short shrift.

The preeminent space MMO and source of some of the best anecdotes in gaming, EVE Online succeeds by focusing on a handful of elements and doing them exceptionally well. On top of their meticulous simulations and systems, CCP also does a tremendous job of listening to its dedicated community and responding appropriately, to the point that subscribers are often integral to the decision making process.

Described dismissively as “spreadsheets in space” by detractors, the criticism points to one of EVE’s greatest strengths: it’s thriving, realistic, player-driven economy. EVE’s corporations and alliances take their business very seriously, to the point that in-game intrigue has on occasion spilt over into the real world. For depth, nuance, complicated diplomacy, and sprawling space battles, nothing compares to EVE Online.

As the granddaddy of fantasy settings, Middle-earth has a storied pedigree and a massive, rabid fan base that must be very intimidating for developers. It’s quite an accomplishment then when a game like Lord of the Rings Online manages to encapsulate that setting in a way that appeals to the most hardcore diehards while also being slick and accessible enough to lure in newcomers.

LOTRO has been continually expanded on and updated throughout its existence, including a transition to a free-to-play model. On top of genre standards like crafting and questing, players are able to purchase and decorate homes in one of four districts, all of which provide easy access to banking, healers, bards, and other amenities. LOTRO also includes unique modes like “Player vs. Monster Player,” which allows gamers to step into the shoes of an orc, warg, or other servant of Sauron. LOTROs diversity of gameplay and high level of polish show its roots as a premium MMO, and it continues to pile on fun new content.

Coming from the veteran storytellers at Bioware, it’s no surprise that the focus in SW:TOR is on narrative. Fully voiced cut-scenes, fleshed out characters, and plots-within-plots have led some critics to laud the stories in The Old Republic as better than anything in the prequel trilogy of films (and, as a bonus, there’s nary a Jar Jar to be found).

The Old Republic lets players engage in their favorite Star Wars power fantasies as noble Jedi or treacherous Sith, unrepentant smugglers or ruthless bounty hunters. There are few things as satisfying as building a badass lightsaber or a lethal blaster and then cutting a swath through the alien races of the Star Wars universe. A steady stream of updates adding new stories, pets, weapons, and other top-notch content have made The Old Republic one of the most attractive games to delve back into, even if, like us, you’d taken a break since launch.

Rift is another great example of some of the most familiar elements of MMORPGs done exceptionally well. Trion takes standards like character building and streamlines them, innovating just enough to make Rift distinct from similar games while adhering to an "if it ain’t broke” approach to design. In the case of leveling skills, for instance, players choose up to three “souls” that function like skill trees, and can then decide if they want to spread points around multiple trees or focus all of their character growth into one.

The game’s eponymous events, the opening of Rifts, provide world events that scale based on the number of players in a region. The appearance of these inter-dimensional portals does a good job of fostering an “us vs. them” mentality in players and helps contribute to a feeling of community absent in most MMOs. The dramatic consequences of these invasions, like the deaths of NPCs and even quest-givers, can ripple across the game world and have substantial impact, imparting a sense of player agency over the virtual world they’re inhabiting.

Unlike so many entries in the MMO genre, Guild Wars 2 doesn’t try to best World of Warcraft at its own game, instead striking out in interesting new directions with divergent ideas about how online games should play. It freshens tired MMO conventions in novel ways, and eliminates the subscription model in lieu of a one-time purchase that grants lifetime access to the game.

Guild Wars 2 also benefits from dynamic events that give weight to players’ actions: a town you’ve ridden of its ogre persecutors might later find those same ogres regrouping in nearby caves or constructing siege equipment to retake it. Actions in Guild Wars 2 have consequences that are reflected in meaningful ways in the game world, which gives developers the opportunity to reflect events as they might in a single-player game--an almost unheard of luxury in MMOs. The result is a game world that feels reactive and alive, and makes leveling and questing feel more like an adventure and less like a grind.

Though many have tried, none have yet succeeded in toppling the king. World of Warcraft continues to succeed in large part because Blizzard is never content to rest on their (cash padded) laurels. New features are constantly being introduced to the world’s largest MMO, and with the practically unlimited funding that millions upon millions of subscribers provide, it’s difficult for even the scrappiest competitor to keep pace.

Farming (of the agricultural rather than loot variety, though the latter is certainly present as well), match three puzzle games, pet battles, a Plants vs. Zombies minigame, and an unbelievable wealth of other content in iterative patches and full blown expansions continues to ensure WoW’s place at the top of the heap. Every time subscription numbers start to slip, a new expansion, fully laden with new delights, shuffles onto stage and sucks all of the addicts back into WoW’s orbit. Until something both revolutionary and remarkably polished steps in to siphon off some of those diehards, the end of WoW’s reign is nowhere in sight.

New MMOs burst onto the scene so often it’s difficult to keep track of the best ones out there. But fear not, GamesRadar is here for you, and we’ll keep our eyes peeled for any new contenders. Have any personal favorites we missed? Let us know in the comments!

In the meantime, take a look at 25 new MMORPGs on the horizon for 2013 and beyond, or this in-depth insight into How to build a better boss fight.