Looking for the top free-to-play MMORPG games of 2014? Here is the list of the best MMOs of 2014. Great news! We have updated the list with more games and it is now organized by category so that you can easily find the best free to play, buy to play, and pay to play MMORPGs.
Here are our top picks of the best free to play MMORPGs based on popularity, community, gameplay and graphics.
Top MMORPG 2014 Index of Contents:
Section One Free to Play
Section Two Buy to Play (No Subscription Games)
Section Three Pay to Play (Subscription Games)
Free to Play Top MMORPG 2014 Games List
Sparta: War of Empires – a newly launched MMO real-time strategy game. The player takes on the role of a leader and diplomat who is working with King Leonidas of Sparta to raise an army to fight the Persian Empire led by Xerxes. New players will get a bonus of 200 gold.
Link: Sparta: War of Empires official signup page
Drakensang Online – here is a game that is perfect for people who are in a hurry or want to play on their laptop. Drakensang Online is playable right away on your browser with no client downloaded needed. It is a 3D fantasy MMORPG with the best next-gen graphics of any browser MMO today. Some of its top features are: fast-paced action combat, lots of quests, unique skills for each class, dungeons, PvP, and more. A must-try for those who are looking for a great browser MMORPG.
Link: Drakensang Online official website
Planet Calypso – this is a game that you either love or hate. It’s a free to play scifi MMORPG with social, economic, and political gameplay features. In the game’s setting, Planet Calypso is a new colony and the players’ goal is to rebuild the planet after the robot wars. The kicker is that the game has a real-cash economy. In most free to play MMOs, players can buy items through microtransactions. This is also true of Planet Calypso but with an added factor: players can also sell in-game items, sometimes for enormous amounts of money. The record for most expensive item sold is a $635,000 virtual resort.
Link: Planet Calypso official website
Forsaken World – now for something different! This is a game for those who enjoy a dark, gothic setting with supernatural characters such as vampires and werewolves as well as the usual human, elf and dwarf races. Forsaken World has beautiful graphics, excellent character customization, tons of quests, and is one of the top free to play MMORPGs in the world. This is a great choice for people who are looking for a vast game world and tons of free content.
Link: Forsaken World official website
Buy to Play Top MMORPG 2014 Games List
Buy to play MMORPGs are those that you have to buy the game to play it but there is no subscription needed. In other words, there is only a one-time payment then you can play the MMO as much as you want to with no additional membership fee required.
Guild Wars 2 – this was the top-selling MMORPG of 2013 and we expect it will continue to be on top in 2014. GW2 is an amazingly polished MMO that has a great number of fun features such as dynamic events, a massive world to explore, and a personal storyline for each player. Unlike other games that require grinding (staying in one place doing the same thing over and over again for exp), GW2 fosters exploration. Even though the price of GW2 is cheap, this game was clearly a labor of love by the developers because the sheer beauty of the graphics and amount of detail in the environments is simply staggering.
Where to buy: Guild Wars 2 on Amazon.com
The Secret World – enter a world of secret conspiracies and supernatural terror. TSW is a unique type of MMO that is set in the modern day world with recognizable locations like London and New York. Players take on the role of a member of a secret society such as the Templars who fight vampires, werewolves, zombies, golems, mummies and other monsters from urban legends and folktales. Highly recommended!
Where to buy: The Secret World on Amazon.com
Pay to Play Top MMORPG 2014 Games List
Pay to play means that you have to buy the game and then pay a monthly subscription fee to access it.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
One of the bestselling games of 2014, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is available on the PC, Playstation 3 and Playstation 4. This is our top choice for the best pay to play MMO of 2014.
FFXIV: ARR features gorgeous optimized graphics, 18 flexible classes, cross-platform gameplay with the PS4 and PS4, and, last but not the least, a wonderful musical score by Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu. It has all of the elements that Final Fantasy fans want such as limit breaks, materia, chocobos, airships, etc.
Why is this our number once choice? Simple answer: it’s just all-around, good fun. From the moment you start playing you will be swept into an epic story and beautiful world where tons of adventures are just waiting around the corner.
Where to buy: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn on Amazon.com
Wildstar
It’s just a little bit hard to talk about Wildstar because of its cartoony graphics and humorous, slapstick feel. Some people simply refuse to even consider trying Wildstar because of that. But if the graphics style doesn’t turn you off right away, you will find a very fun game with a great sense of humor.
Another reason you might want to play Wildstar (apart from the fact that it is an awesome and fun game) is their C.R.E.D.D. system. Basically, people can pay for their monthly subscription in two ways: real life money or in-game money.
C.R.E.D.D. is an in-game item that can be bought from the Wildstar website for real life money. It can also be traded in the game’s commodities exchange. If you buy the game it comes with a 30-day subscription and, according to the developers, you can use those 30 days to earn enough in-game gold to buy C.R.E.D.D. which will extend your subscription another 30 days. You can do this over and over as much as you like.
Where to buy: Wildstar on Amazon.com
The Elder Scrolls Online
The Elder Scrolls Online has been called “The Next Big Thing” in MMORPG gaming. There has been massive media coverage about this game. If you want to check it out for yourself, it is out now for the PC and Mac. The Playstation 4 and Xbox One versions are due to be released on December 31, 2014.
TESO (or ESO as it is sometimes called), has received mixed reviews from players. Generally, those who really wanted to play an Elder Scrolls game but are not really into MMOs tend to be disappointed. However, if you like both MMOs and the Elder Scrolls then there is a very good chance that you will love this game. Players particularly like the freedom of choice in character creation and skills as well as the action combat system.
Where to buy: The Elder Scrolls Online on Amazon.com
Thank you for reading this post. You rock!
Below is a list of the upcoming MMO games of 2014. All of these games are currently under development so they are not playable yet. Most of the info here was taken from their official websites, press releases and interviews. The original sources are credited and linked to but since these MMORPGs are still being developed the details given here may change.
This post will be updated regularly as more information about each upcoming MMORPG becomes available.
Many release dates given here are just speculative so please don’t think of them as set in stone.
Editor’s comment: this post was originally written March 2, 2013. Since then, of course, new information has become available. Games that were thought to be free are now revealed to be pay to play while some have pushed back their release dates past 2014. This list is constantly being revised.
Top Free-to-Play MMO Games 2014 List (Upcoming)
Everquest Next
Release Date: 2014
Developer: Sony Online Entertainment
Website: http://www.everquestnext.com
Monetization: Free to play
Finally, some real news about Everquest Next. The best registration form is now open for applications at the official website. SOE calls this upcoming MMORPG a “next generation sandbox” game. It will feature destructible environments, user-generated content, and 10,000 years of lore. There will be no classes in Everquest Next but players can chose from over 40 professions that they can mix and match to achieve their perfect character.
EverQuest Next Landmark is an online sandbox game that is free. It has tools that allows players to build worlds with realistic physics, kind of like an MMO minecraft. It looks amazing and we are really excited about this game.
Titan
Release Date: possibly 2016 (exact release date unknown)
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Website: none
Monetization: Not subscription
Titan is the codename of one of Blizzard’s current projects. Not much is really known about this MMO and there is no official website yet. This leaked timeline shows a release date of 2014. Of course, Blizzard is already known for creating the best-selling World of Warcraft MMO so a lot of gamers are keeping an eye out for more rumors and news about Titan even though at the moment there is not much that is really known about it except for the fact that it will be separate and distinct from WoW and Diablo. According to Blizzard execs, it will not be subscription based.
This interview with a former Blizzard employee is very revealing though. He says that:
Just as any other blizzard game, it’s gonna be a lot of proven concepts refined to the best of the genre mixed with reliable ways to sell to the masses and added with some tiny bits of hardcore to appeal to even the darkest of souls…. also sims players.
Photo credit: MMOsite
PK Project
Release Date: 2014 (in Asia)
Developer: SmileGate
Website: none
Monetization: Free-to-play
PK Project is an upcoming multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game being developed by Smilegate, the Korean-based developer that made the popular first-person shooter Crossfire. PK Project will feature iconic Marvel Entertainment characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk as well as characters from myth and history. The release date has been confirmed as 2014 in an official press release by Marvel.com.
Lineage Eternal: Twilight Resistance
Release Date: TBA
Developer: NCSoft
Website: none
Monetization: unknown
Lineage Eternal: Twilight Resistance, also called Lineage III, is the much-anticipated third release in the popular Lineage MMORPG franchise. Details are sparse at the moment but a recent demo showed that it has an isometric (top-down) view like that of Diablo. Terrain and interactive objects in the environment will be a big part of the combat system. For example, if a fire spell is cast, the surrounding plants will catch fire. Three clases, Warrior, Mage and Elemental Archer have been announced but more are expected to be added before the game’s release. (Source)
The release date of 2014 is just a guess since there has been no official announcement about it yet. The reason why it may come out in 2014 is because NCSoft, the developer, has run into serious trouble because the source code for Lineage Eternal has allegedly been stolen. This is bound to cause a delay. Despite this problem, it’s still worth keeping an eye out for news about this upcoming MMO since its two predecessors, Lineage and Lineage II, have brought in over 1.6 billion in revenues for NCsoft.
World of Darkness
Release Date: TBA
Developer: CCP Games
Website: none
Monetization: unknown
Update: Bad news, guys. This game has been cancelled.
World of Darkness is an upcoming MMO game set in the dark fantasy world of Vampire: the Masquerade created by White Wolf Publishing. It is expected to be somewhat true to its origins by featuring social interaction, player politics and role-playing, with faction and territories being a big part of the game. It will explore the themes of “Mystery, Romance, Power and Danger” and it will not be particularly combat-intensive unless the player prefers to play it that way. (Source)
CCP Games is the developer of the sandbox MMORPG Eve Online.
According to what was revealed in the 2012 EVE Fanfest, players can play it in three different ways:
Coffeehouse style – players who like the social aspects of the game can play the coffeehouse which is very casual and RP player focused
Theme park – the part that has a lot of PvE, like traditional MMORPG gameplay
Sandbox – this is apparently the biggest and most important part of the game which has a lot of player conflict and politicking, cities will be controlled by “Princes”
Class4
Release Date: TBA
Developer: Undead Labs
Website: http://undeadlabs.com/2011/02/news/qa-class4-and-design/
Monetization: unknown
Class4 is Undead Lab’s upcoming zombie survival open-world online game for the Xbox 360. Another project, called Class3, will be released first. Class3 will be also be an online game (on Xbox Live) but on a small scale meant for two players while Class4 is much more massive, with thousands of players simultaneously playing on the same server. Class3 will start off the story with a major zombie outbreak then Class4 will show what happens as the the outbreak progresses into a full-fledged zombie apocalypse and the total breakdown of modern society.
The man behind Undead Labs is Jeff Strain, ArenaNet co-founder and former World of Warcraft lead programmer. Strain has stated that he likes the microtransaction business model so it is possible that it will launch as free-to-play or possibly buy-to-play. Subscription fees are reportedly impossible since the Xbox LIVE Gold service already requires a monthly fee.
Gloria Victis
Release Date: TBA, estimated 2014 on Kickstarter
Developer: Black Eye Games
Website: http://gloriavictisgame.com/
Monetization: Free-to-play with cash shop
An upcoming game by independent developer Black Eye Games, Gloria Victis is set in a dark and dangerous fantasy medieval world. Drawing inspiration from classic RPGs like Gothic, Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights, the game will have realistic melee, mounted and ranged weapons from medieval times. The developers have promised a mature, non-linear story that is “not afraid to tackle serious issues” as well as unrestricted character development with no classes. The actual release date has not yet been announced but their November 2012 Kickstarter page gives an estimate of 17 months before completion which means it might be due for release some time in 2014.
Ghost in the Shell MMO Game
Release Date: 2014
Developer: Neople (subsidiary of Nexon)
Website: none yet
Monetization: possibly free-to-play
Nexon has partnered up with Kodansa to develop a brand new Ghost in the Shell: STAND ALONE COMPLEX MMO shooter. The expected release date is early 2014. The official announcement in the Nexon website says that it will be a futuristic MMO first-person shooter featuring cyborg battles. There is also something called “cooperative battle mode, a new concept that integrates artificial intelligence with the player.” No other details are known.
LEGO Minifigures Online
Release Date: testing 3rd quarter 2013, release first half 2014
Developer: Funcom
Website: http://www.playminifigures.com/en
Monetization: free-to-play
The upcoming LEGO Minifigures MMO by Funcom is scheduled for closed beta testing in the 3rd quarter of this year and they are going for a 2014 release date. The MMO will be a family-friendly that is available for play on the PC, Mac, iOS, Android and Windows mobile platforms. The LEGO Minifigures MMORPG is envisioned as a fun, collection-driven game for kids with lots of LEGO humor, flashy combat, PvP brawls, and team PvP. It will contain a lot of different game environments from outer space to a world based on Greek mythology.
Sources: Funcom financial report and the official press release announcement.
Edengrad
Release Date: 2014 (unconfirmed)
Developer: independent
Website: http://edengrad.net/blog/en/about/
Monetization: free-to-play
Edengrad is an upcoming independently developed crafting/survival MMORPG. It is currently being developed in Poland. In this MMO, players will spawn in a random location in the post-apocalyptic world. Since the newbie player will have no items, his or her first task will be to gather and build a shelter so he or she can survive the first night in Edengrad since monsters or predators tend to hunt after dark. Players will have to gather resources, cut down trees, grow crops, and craft items to sate their hunger, thirst and energy needs. Every item in the world from campfires to massive cities, will have to be crafted by players.
Registration for alpha testers: http://edengrad.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=343
Top Buy to Play MMORPGs 2014 – Non Subscription Games (Upcoming)
Destiny
Release Date: 2014
Developer: Bungie
Website: www.destinythegame.com
Monetization: Buy to play
By the creators of Halo, the upcoming shared world shooter game Destiny is due for release in 2014 on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. No PC version has been announced. No subscription will be needed though the game is not free. Players will have to purchase the game itself and play it online, presumably because there is no offline single-player mode.
For more information we suggest that you read this rather long but informative post on Kotaku.
The Crew
Release Date: Q1 2014
Developer: Ivory Tower & Ubisoft Reflections
Website: http://thecrew-game.ubi.com/portal/en-US/home/index.aspx
Monetization: buy to play
An open world racing game set in a persistent world, The Crew is an upcoming racing MMO that will be launched next year for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. It is set in the modern-day United States and offers players the freedom to either free roam (drive around with no goals in mind) or accept race, outrun and takedown missions. Players will be able to free-ride and work on missions solo or join a “crew” which is a group of 2-4 players.
The developers have not revealed the exact number of cars that will be available in the game but they have stated that it will “offer the widest variety of car types ever seen in a driving game.” (source) The Crew will also have extensive car customization options so that players can make their own car uniquely different from all of the others on the road.
Top Pay to Play MMORPGs 2014 – Subscription Games (Upcoming)
Star Citizen
Release Date: 2014
Developer: Roberts Space Industries
Website: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/about-the-game
Monetization: Subscription
Not your usual MMO game, Star Citizen by Roberts Space Industries (RSI) is a sandbox space game with open world architecture set in space that is being developed by Chris Roberts, the same guy who made the popular, genre-defining game Wing Commander. Strictly speaking it is not just an MMO (although it is set in a persistent world) because there is also a single-player, offline game mode. Private servers and mods will also be allowed.
This sandbox MMO will feature over 100 different galaxies in which they can trade, mine, fight and complete missions. Politics and the economy will be player-run in this space-sim MMO.
~ more MMOs will be added soon so please bookmark this page if you liked it
That’s it for the top free MMORPG 2014 list. If you have any information or opinion about these MMOs that you want to share then please leave a comment below. Feel free to let us know about any other upcoming titles that we missed if they are due to be released in 2014.
I constantly spent my half an hour to read this blog’s articles everyday along with a cup of coffee.
is it worth?????
All ways
Still plenty of good mmorpg’s launching this year to look forward to
Titan got scrapped and is being started over. you are looking at a 2016 release at the earliest.
Thanks for the info.
The Elder Scrolls Online, it’s not F2P game
Well, I did say “unknown” since they had not yet announced whether it would be pay or free to play but I suppose I will have to change it now.
elder scrolls online is p2p
elderscrolls online is under the heading
:Top Pay to Play MMORPGs 2014 – Subscription Games
Yes, that is because I fixed the original error though it was not really an error since at the time I wrote it there was much less info around.
Its going to be 15$ a month, defintely not free
You left out Wildstar. Going to be PLAY to pay. Also, it is being made by some of the vanilla wow devs. Looking at a spring release.
I have added Wildstar, thanks for the rec.
I’m now not sure where you are getting your info, but good topic.
I need to spend some time studying MMORPGs more or figuring out more.
Thank you for excellent info I was looking for this information.
You’re welcome, glad you liked it.
This information will come in handy for a lot of people that are looking for new MMORPGs to play. Also I agree that all of this information is legible to change no matter what; because we all know that some times the release date change and that a F2P game could turn into a P2P game and that it can go the other way around too or something like that at any moment.
Thanks for the post Lacey!
P.S: Hopefully one day we can play MMORPGs in a NerveGear set, (with out it trapping us in and or somehow controlling us or doing anything bad like that) or something similar, ’cause that would be cool.
A Fellow Gamer,
Thank you.
World of Darkness
(based on the LEGENDARY Vampire the Masquerade:Bloodlines) is the one I am so looking forward to.
Vampire the Masquerade:Bloodlines is the most creative and fun video game I have EVER played because of immersion factor, random happenings and the LORE!!
If you research the World of Darkness and play this game, you will see why its considered one of the Greatest.
I heard PHantasy Star Online 2 will be free to play and should be coming out next year in NA and EU
its 2014 and they haven’t came out dang it!
Black desert is also upcoming in 2014 and looks very cool from the trailers that I’ve seen.
you should add it to the list
Hy 😉 Whats about Silkroad 2 ? Just added it plz with new Infos and Release Dates
Yes, I will try to add all of the new games but the post is getting cluttered now. I am thinking of making a new post just for upcoming games.
you heard of archeage? its gonna be a sandbox open world mmorpg where players building the world they want, its really cool, i hope its gonna be out soon
black desert is one of the only game with a character custimize from here to the moon and back, you can change literilly everything just like the upcoming ”The sims 4” but more
we dont know yet, from what i heard it gonna be released in 2015 if not 2016, and in 1/2 year there can change much
Neverwinter has kinda already been out since last Summer
also it’s an amazing game.
I’m waiting for “World of Darkness”, that universe is completely amazing, anybody that likes vampires, werewolves, mages, wraiths, mummies and other supernatural beings (there are also hunters, some with gifts and others simple humans who decided to hunt), has this place on this game, there are books and lore for all of them, it’s dark and mature content, if you learn about this, which was created in 1991, you will notice that Hollywood has borrowed ideas from WoD these last decades.
Am I the only one here who is more hyped about ghost in a shell than all the others?
Sorry Edward, looks like its not too popular.
Is there a way to download window games on mac?
do a search on Parallels, that’s your way to play PC games on a MAC
http://www.parallels.com/
I thought Wine is what people use? I don’t know since I don’t game on a Mac but this is what I heard. http://appdb.winehq.org/
Star Citizen is going to be a sub model of $10 a month
Since ff11 i was hooked, then i moved to wow and loved it till end of lich king. then went gw2 loved the pvp but since then i just can not get stuck in or enjoy all these new games 🙁 i bloody hope one grabs me soon as if it does not i guess i have finally grown up!! Noooooo
Very nice list. Have you ever heard of Black Desert? That game looks really interesting and I think it’s worth looking into. There is also supposed to be a Civilization Online, and Monster Hunter MMO coming out so I guess we’ll have to wait and see on those.
CCP announced the PvE in World of Darkness will work in a different way and it won’t be like traditional MMOs, the world will be dangerous and you won’t be able to kill every being you could find out there and you will need to find other ways to achieve something.
That’s true to the lore, also, Vampires are not the most powerful beings in World of Darkness, even Vampire Elders are a serious threat for Neonates and Fledglings. Obviously, in the MMO, after being embraced by another playable character, you’ll start as a Fledgling.
In Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (PC game) you have the options to play in different ways, if you’re not strong enough, you can use disciplines and skills to play in a stealth mode. In the tabletop game of WoD, you can obviously do more things and find other ways to do something. Based on all these things, I think the PvE will be true to that gameplay.
FYI – World of Darkness has been officially cancelled (or halted). There’s no telling if it will ever see light again.
Source: http://bit.ly/1hO0VIW
So upsetting for me.
The Elder Scrolls Online is the best mmorpg 2014 ! Very impressive !
So i’ve really started questioning why i come to these website when every game i check on is 35 years from release ? Just Brutal.
How come Blade and Soul isn’t in this list? or Archeage? Or Black Desert! Or Bless!
Those 4 you mentioned could quite possibly be top mmorpgs in the future, but none of them are yet released officially
$15 a month just to play a stupid game? Really? After spending money on a new CPU and GPU and Ram and PSU and all other hardware needed, They actually expect you to pay $15 a month for a friggin game? Yeah I don’t think so! Vote with your dollars people, Don’t let them eventually sucker us into having to pay monthly for all games.
Star Citizen is not pay to play but rather buy to play, it is currently $30 to get both SC and Squadron 42 (without alpha or beta access).
Warhammer age of reconing is best mmo ever make
Where is Planetside 2?
I have been playing Runescape for over 9 years. I started playing for free but , its just not the same without a membership!
A lot of these look like they have potential. Sparta: War of Empires looks particularly interesting and just like the kind of game my husband would be into. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the recommendations!
Thanks for this write up..will pass it on to a friend that is addicted to these games!
Star Citizen is NOT a Pay to Play game, there will be no required subscription, just a base purchase price. Currently the game is in early-alpha and $35 will get you access, after release will most likely cost around $60. No monthly fee to play!
my son loves forsaken world, i dont understand any of these games but they must be fun!
First time coming on this site. I love MMORPGs
This is my first time visiting your blog and I knew gaming was popular to some people but I don’t think I grasped just how many people are interested.
I like your reviews, you are talented.
This is a great reference for games! I love that you provide links to free game play demos too! I love playing games, especially rpgs.
NCSOFT – Devs IDITS ! Must Die !
Everything is fine.. Is archlord a good game ?
But this is the all time fav mmorpgs games seems.. found on net.
Sorry guys but i think the most popular and played game is World Of Warcraft 🙂
I migliori mmorpg in italiano del 2014
Star Citizen is in development (pre-alpha). Certain modules have been released and are playable, but it will be 2016 before the game is out.
think u missed perfectworld international
they could keep every game on this list, if someone would just pick up and bring back Pandora saga weapons of balance to na market best and most fun pvp ever…
Could you do an article about mmo rankings based on player base? I know its all rough estimates, but gives a good review of which ones are worth the money.
For those who dont know… ff14 reminds me of ff12 with upgraded graphics. There is so much to do in this game. FF14 > TSW > ESO > Archeage > WOW
Where to buy the top free-to-play games of the year? Wildstar is on Amazon. The Elder Scrolls is a game. The Elder Scrolls Online has been called the next big thing. The LEGO Minifigures MMORPG is expected to be released in a couple of years, but the actual release date has not yet been announced.