Alright, before I start to write some reviews, I'll give some basic information on MMOs and what I expect from them.
MMORPGs are Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. You create a character and interact in a virtual world with not only the game's characters, but other people's characters. You can even meet people from the other side of the world in an MMO! The number and variety of MMOs is practically limitless; there's one for everyone. Different genres of MMOs have different features, expectations, and gameplay. Since I tend to play the adventure fantasy genre, that's what I'll be focusing on. Adventure fantasies are like your Dungeons & Dragons of MMOs: you create a character, pick a class for it (or start as a novice and later pick a class, in some cases), take various quests, kill monsters, and get good equipment. It's the staple of MMOs. Of course, the quality and uniqueness vary from game to game, but that's beside the point. When you boil down any adventure fantasy, that's what it'll come down to.
Now, here's what I look for in these games and what I'll use to review them:
Beginning/Tutorial (out of 3): What is the beginning of the game like when you make a character? Is there a tutorial for movement, combat, and such? Are there any opening cinematics that introduce your character's race or class?
Graphics (out of 5): I'm not talking about style of graphics here. I've played games ranging from Aion and Perfect World International to Legend of Edda and Holy Beast Online, where the graphic style ranges from super detailed and really realistic to cartoonish, cute, and anime-styled. What I'm talking about is the quality of graphics in a game; do your character's hands look like blocks or do they seem to really have fingers and definition? Can you clearly see features of the face or are they too pixellated to really see?
Class/Skill/Character Development system (out of 5): What are the classes like? Are their tiers to them, so that you have to get to point D through A, B, and C? Or is your class always at A and never branches out? How are the skills learned? Are there a variety for your class? Do you have to get skill books or use skill points? Is it expensive? Can you increase your character's attributes (strength, dexterity, stamina, etc. etc.) yourself every level or is it done automatically for you? How many attribute points do you get, if any?
Character Customization (out of 5): Is your class gender-locked? How much can you customize your character? Usually, you can choose hair style, color, skin color, and face (as a single option, not choosing eyes, nose, mouth separately)? Can you create your own colors or are there only certain ones you can choose? What about body build? Other features, like voice? Believe it or not, that is one of the main factors that will determine if I play a game or not. I make my MMO characters after my personal original characters and like them to at least resemble my characters. If they don't, well, it's thoroughly disappointing.
Story/Quests/Content (out of 5): How thorough is the game's story? How does your class or race affect your character's story? Does the game have lore or historical background that changes the game or quests? Are the races' cultures, architecture, and styles different or are they just the same? How unique are your character's quests? Are they class-based, meaning that certain classes have certain quests? Or are they all the same, regardless of which class or character you choose? Are there repetitive quests? How in-depth are they? Do some quests have their own storylines?
Other:
Is there a crafting system? How in-depth is it? Is it hard to obtain materials?
Is there PvP (player versus player)? Is it rewarding? How pvp-focused is the game? Is there an option not to pvp?
Is there a pet/mount system? Is it easy to obtain either?
What are the dungeons like? Is it necessary to do dungeons or are they optional?
What else makes the game unique? Are there achievements or titles?
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