Come play Alganon.
Alganon is a 3D MMORPG released at the tail-end of 2009, with a relaunch recently be fully free-to-play. You may be thinking "oh another MMORPG, meh". Don't, Alganon is unique in a multitude of ways. I'll attempt to list some here.
- Focus on creating a deep game that will cater to a variety of interests.
This is done through their 'family' system, which allows you at character creation to make select the type of character you want to make such as explorer, competitor, etc. These allow you to group up easier with people of similar interests and such.
- Deep world with a large amount of lore.
Alganon has a history, and a fully fleshed out world that has a reason for there being two factions. This appears both and outside of the game with a fully functional database on the games information found on a subsite for the game called The Library.
- Tools to make playing the game easier.
There is a subsite that is tied directly into the game that offers community features, item and quest databases. These are all combined in a web portal called M yAlganon.
These are just some of the unique features that come with Alganon, they aren't all the features. If you want a deep run down of more of the features for the game they have an indepth page here.
Now you may ask, why do I like playing Alganon? It is very, very easy - I enjoy it immensely. It may play and look quite similar to some big players in there (World of WarCraft, Dungeon Runners) but it only on the surface. Once you spend any time with the game you see that these are there only to comfort you and allow you to get into the game that much easier.
I have found the community, while small to be extremely close-knit and helpful. It is one of the best I have seen online, extremely helpful. This is combined with a fast support system from the development house and regular updates that are far reaching and quite extensive for a small development house. There is extensive plans coming for the game, and no worry about going under.
So, you want to see some screenshots and maybe a couple videos then, humm? Well, here you go! These are from me. [url=http://codybaxter.com/images/alganon/screenshot_001.jpg]2* . You can find more on their [url=http://www.alganon.com/media/index/screenshots]website.
So? You want to play, a bit interested are you? Good! You can access their main website or create an account [url=https://www.myalganon.com/account/create]here.
Currently there are two of us from GOG ingame that I know of: Myself as Darlim and lbartley as Superman *snicker*
We have taken the liberty of creating a guild: Good Old Games.
We play on the Asharr side on Adrios.
So, c'mon, join us! You have absolutely nothing to lose and an amazing game to join.
If you absolutely must have something third party, look at this review.]
I'll be waiting!
* This screenshot shows that the support is existent, they've completely redid the entire UI since this. See the other screenshot to see. :)

Downloading, blast you.

"Alganon is a 3D MMORPG..."
Stopped reading there. I hate MMOs

What side is the GOG guild on and is there any restrictions to free play?

It is entirely free, there really is no reason not to try it.
As I said in the post, we're within the Asharr faction, on the Adrios server. As for freeplay restrictions they are found here. They aren't really too restrictive, and can be easily removed.

No real restrictions, not for a long time anyway. Mostly end-game stuff.
Post is outdated, but describes what's "missing" without paying for anything: http://www.alganon.com/index/news-detail/id/345
I've dismissed the game several times in the past as well, I can't remember quite what Maggie said that made me decide to give it a chance, but when I did, it was fantastic.
I rank this as pretty much the best MMO I've played. It's not perfect, but it's damn good, and apparent;y more positive changes are afoot. I hate games that charge a subscription, I always feel rushed, and just end up burning out on them. Alganon hasn't get given me that feeling. I've been playing pretty much every free moment I have. :)
I took some screenshots today with the overhauled UI I didn't realize it was that terrible before. :) ), I'll just link to the gallery here.
Note the mining, I'm a low-level blacksmith currently, but I can help out with some armour/weapons as needed.
The game is certainly my new addiction, and I'm hoping we get some more people on to play with us.

How are the crafting and gathering systems?
The level and ability cap seems low. Do it take a lot of time to reach them?
Deity bonus?
Instances for groups only?
Can you solo most quests?
What's the price? Or is everything free and not only the monthly cost (Are they making money only on micro transactions?)?
Etc.
The site isn't really informative. Is there a wiki? I find more questions than answers by reading the site. :P

Holy crap this is like DAoC meets WoW with a little EQ tossed in. Downloading now....... you bastard :)

Lets see if I can answer these.
The crafting and gathering systems work off each other, aka you can harvest stuff and them use herbalism to make it more refined for alchemy. Its quite varied and deep, the best stuff comes from crafting as far as I know, except for a rare few exceptions.
Yeah, there is only 50 levels, if you're hardcore I guess you can do it in a month, but any normal person it'll take you a few months I guess to grab that level.
I can't comment on the deity bonuses, I don't know anything about them.
I believe the endgame instances are focused on groups, but if you're careful you can solo them. I know the lower level instances work fine solo. And yes, even group quests you can solo, it just takes strategy - the game is actually amazingly well balanced as far as I've seen.
You can see the item shop, which doesn't have a whole lot in it here, mostly the upgrades and stuff. All the items can be obtained in game through drops as far as I know.
My Alganon has a fair amount of information, so does Wikipedia.
Hopefully this helps. :)
Hehe, hope to see you ingame.

Downloading... how much I'll play is a different matter though.

Thanks for the answers Magnus.
I guess it's totally free if you don't want to buy extras. I've been burned on "free" games before, that's why I kept asking. :)
Dual class? It say Dual Roles on the wikipedia page. What do that mean?
Do Rangers get a persistent pet that follow them or do they summon pets? How is pet control? Do they even get pets? It only mentions this on wikipedia as far as I can see.
I meant the level and ability cap for free players.
How much is the micro payments? Generally speaking, don't need a list of what everything cost. :)
If rangers have a persistent pet and a "beastmaster" ranger (A ranger that can build your pet to be a effective tank.) and a Frost Magus (A mage that slow and/or freeze enemies.) is viable classes for soloing most of the game I'm very interested. Yeah I've been playing WoW. :)
If you wonder about all my questions I'm planning to start playing LOTRO when it go free to play and Alganon might be a better choice.

From the screenshots it looks like a mixture of WoW and Morrowind. What are the system requirements? My PC could run WoW smoothly on lowest graphics settings.

I'll see if I can answer these too.
I'm not sure about the dual roles/class, as far as I know you are only singular and can specialize. But all the classes are getting revamped here, about one a month.
I haven't played a ranger, I can't say. I *think* they get a pet of some sort, however they are adding a dedicated pet class here soon.
The free ability/level cap was what I was referring to in my post, sorry if I didn't clarify.
To unlock everything, its about 20$ They're are variety of things so you can mix and match what you want. This is for account features. For mounts and such, which are all possible to get ingame, it varies.
As far as I know, all classes are viable for soloing.
I like Alganon more than WoW, and LotRO and I've played a fair amount of both. ;) Though my all time favourite MMO is Vanguard, but no one plays that.
ALGANON System Requirements:
Operating System............Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7
CPU................................2.4GHz
RAM...............................2GB
Hard Drive.......................4GB
Video..............................nVidia 6xxx, ATI x800 minimum with latest drivers
DirectX...........................DirectX 9.0c
Internet..........................DSL, Cable, or other broadband connection
I've got it to run on an intel 4500m card, it ran at about 5-15fps on lowest settings.

It might work. I'll try it out. The game looks cool.

I was looking into this game last time someone mentioned it here, but I haven't yet checked it out. You certainly seem enthusiastic.
I have some questions for you. Don't mind me if I sound a bit brusque - I'm just very cynical about MMOs, for which I'm sure you can't blame me. :p
Fundamentally, though, what really makes it different from World of Warcraft? I don't mind similarities, as long as the game still has its own identity. I don't want want to feel like I'm playing WoW again (I really, really don't).
I took a look at the overview article and the review that you linked, but it's all pretty vague - except for a few minor points like the family system (which doesn't make much difference to me since I've learned to hate and avoid pickup groups, no matter what game I'm in), they could be describing almost any contemporary MMO, really.
I don't mean to be pugnacious, but I'll believe that when I see it. :)
MMO communities are despicable, and F2P communities tend to be even worse. I've only ever encountered one exception, and sadly, it's not an exception anymore.
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What would you say the real focus of the game is? I know you said it tries to cater to a variety of playstyles, but my personal focus would be almost entirely on solo and small-group (guild) PVE, maybe with crafting on the side depending on how much attention it demands. I dislike PVP, and avoid games where it is not optional.
Also, I'm not a roleplayer, but lore and texture is moderately important to me - it's one of the reasons I prefer EQ2 over other MMOs. I'm not expecting Alganon to rival EQ2 in the extent of in-game and out-of-game lore available, but I'll settle for "makes a serious effort." If it's any indication, I felt that Vanguard (from what I played - 30ish levels) didn't really care about or pay attention to its own lore, and I think that WoW's lore is outright ridiculous - when the game can even be bothered to take itself seriously at all.
Given those two points, would this game be a good choice for me?
Some other questions:
Is there any kind of "appearance armor" or anything of that nature, like what EQ2 has? I LOVE that feature, and no MMO feels complete to me without it.
Is there level mentoring, a la EQ2 / City of Heroes?
Any idea what tanking is like? I like playing tanks, but a lot of MMOs get it wrong. In Vanguard, especially, I hated tanking.
Since you're plugging it so earnestly, I'll probably give the game a go sometime this week, though I have a lot of single-player games stacked up to play, too. Maybe tonight, depending on how long it takes to download.