There's plenty of nice ones out there.
Played the Warhammer beta. Pretty decent, but I had the feeling I played the game before (most other mmos).
EQ2, I know I *should* really like it, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why it was ho-hum. And then I read a comment about it say, "EQ2 puts so much effort into not doing anything wrong that it often fails to do anything right." It's a well-put-together game, but it's just... meh. (to me.) It has pretty much everything a fantasy mmo could want, but it just wasn't that exciting or fun (to me).
Doesn't help that the world itself looks bland. I mean, say what you want about WoW with its low-end graphics and all that, but the world is generally at least interesting to look at.
Lord of the Rings sort of feels like a polished WoW in Middle-Earth with sharper graphics. Questing is encouraged more than grinding, and that's always a plus in my book. Very polished game, lots of LOTR lore in it.
Vanguard. XP death penalty aside, (lame. I don't want to be "hardcore" in a game), it feels like a cross between the "fun" world of WoW with a bit more seriousness of EQ2. The classes are interesting, and the world is Huge, (check the screenshot thread for a few recent pics). It's hard to explain these things sometimes... it just has that certain "it" to it that I like more than some other games' "its".
Check this guy's Vanguard videos. Here's the dungeon one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x4au-ih5G4
City of Heroes. Looks boring, but then people start slinging powers around, and the game changes. I would have played it for a week just to run around using the Travel Powers. The quests used to be almost literally "all the same," but I read recently there a some really good player-created quests, so maybe they'll help keep interest.
Dungeons and Dragons Online goes free-to-play in September. Combat feels more like a fast-paced third-person shooter game than a typical mmo. If someone is shooting arrows at your buddy, you can stand in front of him to block them. Want a "non-WoW-clone" game that's geared for PVE and grouping? There you go. And DDO has the best dungeons in the business. It'll be free next month, so whether you like it or not, the price is right. Love DDO. Very underrated, imo.
Here's a good vid of how "alive" DDO feels compared to most mmos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EteW9RwD90U
Eve Online. Seems like an mmo you play while you're busy doing other things at the computer.
Arciks mentioned two of the three best, currently-free ones that usually make that list. With the third being Rune of Magic. Wizards 101 seems to be high on people's fun lists, too, and is something different.
A great thing about these is you could play the trials of all of these, and your gaming would be taken care of for months.
I was hoping to try it out myself.