Shadowbane

Following in the footsteps of Dragon Empires, or rather setting the footsteps as the case may be, Shadowbane aims, as many other MMORPGs, to reinvent the genre, however the developers of Shadowbane see at as more of a refocusing of the online foray.

Part of their "refocusing" is that Shadowbane will not be like many other MMORPGs where the goal of the game is to gain skills and level up as far as possible while co-operating with other players in defeating monsters. Rather, players can opt to go it alone, or form guilds and clans, play with or against the rules, really whatever pleases them. However, in a way to combat potential cheaters, Shadowbane plans to keep a list of players who have broken rules or otherwise been dishonorable in the game. Players are allowed to kill these cheaters on spot and in general exile the players who have cheated.

Shadowbane has been in an extremely long period of development -- it was first announced in 1999 -- and as such many believe that it will have a high level of polish, and this is becoming increasingly more evident as its November release date approaches. It is no surprise that Shadowbane ranks so highly on this list: RPGamers have been waiting for this game for almost 4 years since it was first announced.

The top three have finally arrived.
Click here to view 3rd place.