by Lynda Mc Donald

Created on: July 22, 2009   Last Updated: July 23, 2009

Most people instantly think of 'World Of Warcraft' when they think of MMORPG (that's massive multilayer online role playing game for anyone who doesn't know). It seems that a huge amount of the world's population immensely enjoy playing MMORPGs, but not everyone has enough money to pay the monthly fee that is required for 'WoW', so is there free alternatives? You'll be surprised to find that there are many free alternative games that are of both the same graphic and game-play quality.

In my experience the best developer of free MMORPGs is 'Aeria Games'. They have developed both Shaiya and Last Chaos, my favorite free alternatives to WoW. Both of these games involve the same in game 'grinding' as WoW; you have to fight in-game monsters to level up and attain gold to buy higher level equipment, you can mine and farm in order to gain the supplies needed to make your own equipment and you can eventually get a mount for your character.

In Last Chaos, leveling up your character is a much more grueling process than in Shaiya, this is essentially how the company makes its money; they sell in-game items that can increase the time it takes to level significantly, which a lot of players resort to in order to enjoy the game. In Shaiya, in my opinion, it is a lot easier to level up your character, and the equipment levels vary, as opposed to Last Chaos where you need new equipment each time you level. Mounts are much easier to obtain in Last Chaos, all you need to do is defeat a monster for an item drop containing a flute or an egg to start raising your mount. Shaiya requires you to buy a very expensive mount, which can only be afforded by a lot of in-game play; it too offers in-game items to increase leveling time, but this seems almost unnecessary.

If you really want some of the items that are on offer in the Aeria store in the game then, in Last Chaos at least, you may be lucky enough to find you don't have to pay for them. If you get a heaven stone, or any other valuable item in an item drop, take a trip to the town center, where everyone is selling items they no longer need, if you can sell something for enough gold you can very easily find someone selling products bought from the Aeria store for leveling. Unfortunately, this kind of market is not as common in Shaiya.

So whether if you're looking for a free alternative to WoW, just weigh up the pros and cons of Shaiya and Last Chaos, and see which game fits you as a player.

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