I hate to say it, but it's pretty much impossible to talk about MMOs without mentioning World of Warcraft, so let's get that out of the way as quickly and painlessly as possible. According to Blizzard's estimation, they have six million players across the world; it's crossed a threshold where you can't simply make your own MMO without taking a look at this game. Now, I don't necessarily hold up WoW as the gold standard -- as I've always said, it was an evolution, not a revolution. And since WoW is not a perfect game, it has its batches of refugees who eventually look for something different, and this is where Chronicles of Spellborn may come in.

Spellborn differs in many ways that I think are positive. Meanwhile, I don't get the impression that the team is obsessed with simply not being World of Warcraft. They just seem to want to make a good MMO that does a few things differently from what we've become accustomed to. For example, Spellborn is not gear-based. You can create a very wide array of appearances right off the bat, like in City of Heroes, and your look doesn't need to have any bearing on the class type you've selected. You can look like an NFL linebacker but be a healer; or you can be a pint-sized, skinny warrior able to dish out pain equivalent to someone many times your size. It's up to you. And presumably you'll be able to adjust your look if you change your mind about certain details.