Best Free WoW Clones
We all know that World of Warcraft is enormously popular. But should you pay for it? I say no. World of Warcraft launched back in November of 2004 when it was truly a unique experience. Nowdays, there are plenty of ‘free to play’ World of Warcraft alternatives, many of which are extremely high quality. It made sense to pay for WoW back when it launched because there was nothing else like it. That’s not true today. So stop paying that $14.99 subscription fee and check out the best free WoW Clones below:
Runes of Magic is the ‘premier’ free to play World of Warcraft ‘Clone’, or as I like to call it ‘Alternative’. The game both looks and feels very much like WoW. Everything from the game’s interface to core gameplay mechanics are practically copied from WoW. Now, this isn’t a bad thing. Being able to play a game almost exactly like World of Warcraft for free is awesome. Even though much of the gameplay is from WoW, the game does have its own unique features, most notably its innovative dual-class system.
Allods Online is a relatively new free to play 3D Fantasy MMORPG published by gPotato that’s looks and plays like Blizzard’s epic MMORPG. Putting Allods as #2 was a tough decision, as the game is in many ways superior to Runes of Magic, especially in terms of visuals. I would actually argue that Allods has much better graphics than World of Warcraft. The game has a fair variety of classes and races as well as countless in game quests. The only reason Allods wasn’t #1 on this list is because it’s still a bit new, meaning that there isn’t a lot of content available in the game at the moment. Runes of Magic on the other hand has already enjoyed numerous major content updates.
Gates of Andaron is one of the older ‘WoW clones’ out there. It was originally released before both Allods and Runes of Magic and has noticeably worse visuals than both games. There’s no doubt though that much of its gameplay and graphics were taken directly from WoW, even if its graphics are a tad worse than its competitors. Make no mistake though, Gates of Andaron has a large game world, plenty of quests and many more interesting features which make it well worth checking out.
#4 Neo Online
Neo Online is a relatively new World of Warcraft clone. It was released into open beta during the first week of March and boasts gorgeous graphics as well as a unique classless system. Players are free to develop their characters any way that they wish. The game also has a robust crafting system, varied PvP options and numerous other interesting features.
Earth Eternal is one of the more interesting free to play World of Warcraft ‘Clones’ because the game is completely inside of a browser. That’s right, It’s a browser game. A surprisingly detailed one. It has 22 playable races, numerous customization options and some top notch gameplay. Those looking for a ‘light’ MMORPG shouldn’t hesitate to give Earth Eternal a try.
Talisman Online is a 3D Fantasy MMORPG published by Mircale Castle. Compared to the other ‘WoW Clones’ on this list it has significantly worse graphics. It has numerous playable classes, lots of features and minimal system requirements. Some of the game’s spell / skill icons are copied directly from World of Warcraft.
By, Omer Altay
February 24, 2010
#
I agree with all but to anyone who reads this don’t waste your time on Runes of Magic…its not worth it if you really want to be good in this game u will have to spent a lot of money…Allods is better in so many ways as stated above
February 25, 2010
#1
Are you serious? RoM is the best F2P out there and you totally don’t need to pay in order to be good! No one really cares if you played a PvP server got pwned and went like “ouuo i’m getting pwned i need to buy cash shop items”. I played it and it didn’t need a thing from the cash shop.
BTW FYI They closed the cash shop.
February 25, 2010
#2
I’ve played RoM for 5 months but Allods is wat much better
really
July 8, 2010
#3
Allods is the worse now u got pay for everything they drug dealer now
February 25, 2010
#4
RoM closed the cash shop????
February 25, 2010
#5
yeah it did.. a while ago.
February 25, 2010
#6
You totally forgot WORLD OF LORDCRAFT
worldoflordcraft.com/ click and laugh
March 29, 2011
#7
I tried this a while ago. It was pretty funny, beware the trolls, like Woulfe.
February 25, 2010
#8
D&DOnline! (classic)
November 4, 2010
#9
Nah, it’s not close enough to WoW to qualify. Decent game though.
February 25, 2010
#10
lol, no they didn’t. There was a glitch with their cash shop so they took it down to fix it. It’s already up again.
February 26, 2010
#11
lol really from the pictures i cant tell the difference =-= but i would not play WoW if it was free
February 26, 2010
#12
yea Wow is not worth it it tears ur life apart i prefer Shayia very nice game friendly comunity
February 27, 2010
#13
Allods Online is a lot better then wow in my opinion and the graphics are just extremly good .Allods is better than any other MMO ever invented
February 28, 2010
#14
It’s emberrasing to see how Allods employees or fanboys post these silly comments everywhere. I have no problem with the game itself, it’s fun.. Its not better or worse than either wow or runes, having played all three games I can say they play very differently and all have forces and weaknesses but please stop posting these stupid attempts at promotion. And stop the cash shop greed. It all gives the game a bad rep.
February 28, 2010
#15
Wait. What? I’m not an Allods Employee. The fact is, Allods Online is an excellent free to play alternative to World of Warcraft. There aren’t that many free to play games similar to WoW and I believe the listings above are quite fair. If you disagree, I’d love to hear you out.
February 28, 2010
#16
i prefer no downloads so i found this deadfrontier its a browser game and in june is going 3D its a play for free game but if you want you can pay
March 5, 2010
#17
Did u actually call talisman online a wow clone?? WoW!!!
March 7, 2010
#18
Erm, NEO online is in NO WAY a WoW clone, I mean there are literally no classes or races, only thing that comes to mind as similar is the class trainer and the money system (copper,silver,gold)
March 7, 2010
#19
What I’ve actually been noticing less and less of good mmorpgs out there, either they have poor interfaces, not enough classes. out-dated graphics, too anime, or just are confusing in general. What’s goin on with new age mmorpg developers?
March 8, 2010
#20
im the creator of Talisman Online and in no way is it like wow but thx and whoever reads this plz play
October 22, 2011
#21
You are not the creator of Talisman Online. k thx.
March 11, 2010
#22
First and foremost let’s not forget this is a review site… And most of all it’s not a clone just don’t take it lyrically…What they mean is its just more alike comparing to WoW specially the gameplay… Though i have played RoM it was released here in PH last Jan. 8 at this year… But i feel so bad after playing the game, you’ll just easily get bored after a few months of gameplay… You really have to spend money that much and the game??? Lots of booters lurking around…
March 11, 2010
#23
Thanks WiCkeDMiND,
I think too many people are interrupting the title of the editorial as a literal WoW Clone. Obviously these game’s aren’t EXACTLY like WoW, but they are very similar in terms of gameplay and graphics.
May 15, 2012
#24
This blew my mind. The reason, the author obviously has no knowledge of role playing games. And I come to that conclusion because he revolves every single MMORPG around Warcraft, as if that’s what started it all and where other RPGs get their ideas. That’s incredibly ridiculous. If those of you crying about “Ooooooh that’s a WoW clone, oh they copied WoW” I bet NONE of you have ever played pen & paper or MUDs – where GUI MMORPG’s began to take form.
Take time to read this. – http:\\oi49.tinypic.com\34fzl38.jpg – Then after check out the 2 pictures below. I am not pointing fingers [read the thread] I just want to share this information with everyone.
http:\\oi45.tinypic.com\b9eu5z.jpg
http:\\oi49.tinypic.com\2qwzdhf.jpg
March 12, 2010
#25
4Story is the clonest of all wow clones in history of wow clones!
March 18, 2010
#26
earth eternal was one of the most annoying games out their i hated it (worse than Runescape and thats saying something)
March 19, 2010
#27
i just played Allods Online and i loved it,and i’m not an Allods employee or fanboy i just like the game.Isn’t it a good game ReMo?
April 29, 2010
#28
You forgot 4story… though it is soooooooo…. boring, but it is a really good looking WoW clone if you ask me… but it is boring…
August 17, 2010
#29
4story is the same exact thing asGates of Andaron. 4story is just a global version of Gates of Andaron (and receives updates before Gates of Andaron does).
May 15, 2010
#30
I play Gates of Andaron, I’m a lvl 61 mage with +17 gear and +20 staff… i started playing it because i taught it was free… but i spent moer than 100$ on my gear beacause of cash shop ans so did others, someone spent 10000$ on his gear, most of these games are not free to play, im thinking about playing wow soon, just need to max my mage so i can go play in it when im bored.
May 15, 2012
#31
Nah bro, check http://www.aardwolf.com – Been out since 1996 and I have NEVER payed a dime and Lasher [the creator] has never asked for a penny. It’s a very excellent, amazing game I HIGHLY recommend you try it out. You would love it.
And by the way, F2P’s are free to play. I’m sick of everyone saying ‘they aren’t really free to play’ uhm yes they are. But you CHOOSE to pay to play, I don’t. That makes it free for me and everyone else that sticks with in-game, earned gear.
May 24, 2010
#32
are there any f2p wow clones that hab=ve low system requirements?? i usib=ng an ancient comp.
August 17, 2010
#33
Talisman Online
May 24, 2010
#34
Regardless of the clones, and not spending money. Ya just don’t get the greatness that is Wow. Though, I refuse to pay to play for Wow at the moment. I’ve been playing Allods here and there, and it is really awesome. But recently League Of Legends has won me over. aha, really awesome cell shaded stuff
May 25, 2010
#35
I’m prefer wow than free to play..did we know what the different?
If u play in wow …people compete with each other to get better gear…Blizzard don’t sell any gear..if u want it then lead a team go raid n get some good gear….. If game provider sell powerful item then it create unbalance game play…also please consider how much the price, sometime i feel this is ridiculous to buy a gear, better pay $15 a month for server with good maintenance and people play it equally
June 4, 2010
#36
Having played WoW for over a year myself and having friends who are ADDICTED to it (not eating/sleeping/showering for weeks in preparation for a raid), I can obviously agree that it’s an amazing game. What wins it for me is it’s simplicity. It’s graphics are good, but not TOO good, so that it can run on your average run-of-the-mill laptop, like my own. Blizzard DESIGNED WoW with this in mind. When you pay for WoW you’re paying for dedicated staff work and regular system updates, as well as the game’s compatibility. That being said, I myself am not a WoW “addict”. I infact only played it to shut my friends up from yammering on about it to me all the time. Now that I’ve run out of WoW time and have no money to pay for more, being an unemployed student, I have to find an alternative. I downloaded and played Gates of Andaron (or 4 Story, as you may know it) last night. It’s decent, but lacks guidance with quests. Allods is simply an amazing game, but my computer heats up and nearly kills itself every time I play it. This high CPU usage also results in massive FPS drops and latency issues. RoM seems good later on in the game, but as soon as I saw the stupid tutorial I was thrown off. I find myself EVERY day, on MMOHut.com/creeping their First Look videos on Youtube, trying to find a decent WoW Clone to play. Also, to all you hardcore WoWheads out there. Don’t be hating on the companies that copy WoW’s innovations. Be proud that WoW is actually good enough to BE copied.
June 8, 2010
#37
Epsilon, you and I are in the exact same boat. The only other game that really captured me enough and was f2p was shadowbane (R.I.P) and it wasn’t really a clone.
May 15, 2012
#38
May I also mention Aardwolf MUD takes 15 seconds to download and requires no installation. Have fun.
May 15, 2012
#39
http://www.aardwolf.com – That’s all I can tell you bro. You will never pay a cent and will play for years to come, also socialize with a great community. You won’t find yourself on MMOhut any longer. Trust me.
June 28, 2010
#40
Unfortunately, Allods Online almost forces the player to use Cash Shop (RL money) with the new patch coming, you can’t die in fear of “losing” items read the whole topic about it here:
http://en.forum.gpotato.eu/?CD=ALLODS_EN_F012&TC=0000000000&MD=VT&US=Y&AS=Y&TNO=1070533&LREFF=http://en.forum.gpotato.eu/Index.aspx%3FCD%3DALLODS_EN_F012
June 29, 2010
#41
@Shobuz lol at the topic. Its funny how the GM isnt even replying anymore.
July 7, 2010
#42
Neo Online is more like a Mabinogi clone, not a WoW clone…
Well, I think WoW is better, cuz its simple but fun, and also to get epic equips, you don’t have to pay $10 for each piece of equipment…
If you want free to play, but also don’t want to pay real money just to get awesome equips, play maplestory… The only things in the cash shop that actually help you in game are double exp coupons.
August 14, 2010
#43
What, no Planeshift? It’s by far the best FREE mmorpg out there.
August 27, 2010
#44
who cares if its a “FREE” wow clone might not be as good as the real thing but meh.. let the peoples decide what they want to play..
(everyone has different opnions no mmorpg is the best)
September 7, 2010
#45
umm relax….
September 7, 2010
#46
as i say something one month late lmao ….anyways ive always preferred if you ganna pay for a game go with ncsoft games you usually only pay once and wont have to give out handys to pay for your gaming fix…other wise the list above pretty acurate i would put a new post with 4story on it if ya know what i means!!
September 28, 2010
#47
I personally like DDO. The graphics are good (you can switch). I also tried LOTRO but I say its the worst game i have ever played
September 29, 2010
#48
I’ve played both Allods and RoM, and in my opinion Allods is far superior to RoM in nearly every way. RoM punishes players who don’t use cash shop items. I mean seriously, $20 for a permanent mount, and there is no way to get a a permanent mount in RoM ingame. Meaning you will walk EVERYWHERE. And then theres 20 minute vanilla mounts, which cost a ridiculous amount of in game money. I was ticked off.
October 10, 2010
#49
Meh.. I’m pretty late on this too…
I have tried many game searching for one like WoW, the closest I found was RoM, but after playing for a few months, being in a top ranked guild on my server (Reni) and finally getting to end game material that I could run… They release the Mementos gears.. Which after spending like $40 purely on the stone to stat my gear (puris) They release a whole bunch of new stats, making everything I just statted completely worthless.. A few of my friends statted their gear with new stuff and ran the new instances, but then got bored and mad they wasted $100+ in a month on statting.. Then they went back to WoW since its cheaper… Honestly, if you want to pay out the ass for a game then choose RoM, but know, its dev team is terrible.. I quit 4+ months ago, and I went back on just to see it out again, and its gotten quite a few content updates… But ALL THE BUGS that were there when I left WERE STILL THERE.
And Allods… After I quit RoM and before my friends went to WoW, we tried this… Got to level 10ish… (Thats actually a lot of work lol) The game was too boring.. Had some amazing ideals and concepts… Didn’t deliver that well IMO.. Plus when we started almost no one was playing.. I mean.. We were the only people on.. Might of been a bad time, or just a bad day.. But the game was DEAD.. And soooo much running around… the City is HUGE.. Needless to say.. We quit.. My friends went to WoW, and I went back to my good ole’ Runescape account
Best fallback MMO ever lol..
October 18, 2010
#50
4story is the best WoW clone in my opinion. Amazing Community for what community they got. You can also become a GM by being level 100 and a GM can give you his GM power. you get paid in the games special cash for there cash shop, item mall, premium shop or what every you call it.
December 4, 2010
#51
sum1 update this list
and btw isn’t GoA is 4story nao ?
December 5, 2010
#52
They’re the same exact game. 4story has a bigger playerbase though
January 27, 2011
#53
eq2 free version
January 29, 2011
#54
I tried playing allods but it wouldn’t download :p
February 22, 2011
#55
Im really late here but I have been playing wow for 2 years in june I got bored about 6 months back took a break and found allods while it is fun and a freindly game it has set backs and the city is 2 big to actually acomplish ur goals I am right now waiting to get some free money to play wow agin but for now im stuck with allods and RoM which is a very unfree f2p game I know wow seems exspensive but RoM isnt F2p cuz of its cash shop and it is required to use or ull walk evrywere and ur gear will never be uptodate
March 15, 2011
#56
Gates of Andaron is a EPIC FAIL !
The equipement is horrible,the EXP rate is awful , the whole game is awful !
March 18, 2011
#57
what ??? don’t Runes of Magic have a cash shop?!?!?
April 1, 2011
#58
this list is ok, tho i would put allods as number 1 and RoM as number 2…. I love Allods and RoM but i stoped playing RoM long time ago because i starting to dislike mmorpgs that dont have faction vs faction pvp…. the open world pvp is fine in pvp servers but i dont find any sense on only doing that and not having a enemy faction to give competition and rivalry more sense in a game that has pvp….. so as a wow alternative i only enjoy Allods right now
May 12, 2011
#59
ok i am REALLY LATE but 4story is an ok “wow clone” i never really owned it but ive played it on allot of my freinds and families accounts ( by the way FOR THE HORDE) and 4story is really similar in most sences the thing i hate the most is there is only 3 RACES and (on my computer) its really slow but thats just mine and if its starts dont hate on runescape its not the best but it is one of the biggest and its probly one of the only true class costom game and sorry i am a fail typer
May 12, 2011
#60
sorry i ment i dont play wow alot i have 4story on my computer name the same on 4story if y’all want to play im a archer werebeast
June 2, 2011
#61
The best MMORPG I’ve ever played was Legend of Ares. RIP.
June 14, 2011
#62
Haha Owned World of Lordcraft got asswiped by blizzard it no longer exists.
June 26, 2011
#63
I stopped playing both wow and Allods, even though they were both fun games because of an annoying glitch with Windows Vista. I still haven’t found a great replacement, I am not too crazy about ROM so these days I only play LOTRO and DDO
July 13, 2011
#64
RoM is great but i never spend real money on item shop and ya i understand they need money and wat not but people i met spends hundres of money in that game
July 23, 2011
#65
Although these games are similar to WoW in gameplay, It’s still not enough. The reason why people pay the $14.99 sub fee is to be submersed in the lore behind WoW.
WoW is not just a game….its a world
P.S. I stopped paying the sub fee >.>
August 7, 2011
#66
— Патрик Верона провел в этом кабинете больше времени, чем я.
— За что?
— Сейчас возьму его личное дело. О, минуточку, тут написано: “Тебя это не касается. смотри тут OGLI.ORG
August 10, 2011
#67
Керла, конечно, жизнь не щадила. Два
, да хонорами правил, да с имперцами и остерами разбирался — не мед хлебал. Только жизнь никого не щадила, а тварями не все стали. нарыл тут Domashnee.Org
November 8, 2011
#68
i have tried all these games… and by far if your are a true world of warcraft junkie you will be severely disappointed in all these clones, mostly because the pvp, and if you are a strict pvper then you will know what i mean, the pvp is much slower paced and you have alot less stuns, ccs, freezes etc, its pretty lame…. the pve leaves a little to be desired also, these games are not as expansive as world of warcraft and i doubt they will ever be… but do not get me wrong i did have fun playing these games and if your not a hardcore gamer then i would probably suggest you playing these other then spending money on wow.. if you are a in depth wow fan these games will just leave you severely disappointed
November 9, 2011
#69
WoW-clone is an understood although unfair label. Just because the interface is very similar doesn’t mean it’s a WoW-copy-kat… That’s like saying all First Person Shooters are clones. Dumb argument! I think it’s cool that developers build on the popular format to introduce new ideas that are not present in different games. And who can fault any of these creators for wanting to jump on WoW’s popularity train? I think the hating is totally unnecessary and stupid. WoW is a GREAT game, but sometimes I like to check out something with a bit of different scenery. Allods is, by far (so far) the best WoW-like game I’ve played. They have made vast improvements since its first release. It’s fun to play and you can do a lot without needing the Item Shop. The quests are fun, the story good, the dungeons challenging and interesting, the emotes plentiful, the animations excellent, and the graphics fair. It looks similar to WoW, but not as polished. Some people think it looks better, but I disagree. I would say very similar but still inferior and even WoW is not the best, but for its styling, Allods is a close match. The main drawback for Allods is that many of the emotes in game are in Russian rather than English. Perhaps that will change as it becomes more popular in the USA. Bottom line though, I agree that Allods should be number #1. Runes of Magic is easily second.
February 4, 2012
#70
I absolutely agree with Dave, ROM isn’t bad at all and the double class system is nice, but in my opinion ALLODS is best, the main reason i couldn’t stay in ROM was because of the PVP without factions, it just doesn’t make sense to me. but i guess if you are not in to PVP like me, then it’s fine
and not only by going to instances
i’ve been playing ALLODS since Agust 2011 and i enjoy it, graphics are good, better than average (I play in a laptop i bought in earlier 2010 and still runs smoothly with mid set graphics) and it has best animations i’ve ever seen in a free MMORPG, the spells looks great, which i really like since i always play with mages
also having your own astral ship it’s awesome and astral battleships are so much fun!
i’ve been told that the game was item shop dependant a long 2010 but they fix it with a patch during 2011, sure it was before i started to play cause i never was affected for that matter
the only thing i don’t like about ALLODS is that you REALLY NEED a guild if you want to gear up, so far the best high level gear you can get drops only from instances in the astral, so basically if you don’t have a guild and you are close to the end game, you’ll be looking for a group of guildless and disorganized people to go to the dungeons and astral to get a good piece of equipment, hopefully this may change since a new major patch is comming in a few days and from what i heard there will be a new kind of currency obtainable as a reward from a new PVP skirmishes option, so that means we’ll be able to buy equipment by just participating in pvp
crossing my fingers for this to be true u.u
well this is my own experience, i’m sure i’ll keep playing ALLODS until ARCHEAGE come out in America
(sorry about my english, im from mexico)
February 23, 2012
#71
Heyy guys i am looking for a good browser based game hopefully like WoW or crystal saga if you’s haven’t played crystal saga give it ago its time consuming but its an alright game i have had enough and looking for a new game with good graphic’s can you please reply to my hotmail if you can give me idea
Thank you
Your sincerly
Griggsy
hotmail@: lachlan1947@hotmail.com
March 3, 2012
#72
go on youtube, type in 4story uk war ardir and tell me 4story is not the best pvp game out there, watch some 1v1′s as well.
March 18, 2012
#73
i love justin bieber
March 26, 2012
#74
Why you don’t put on the list Warhammer Online? It’s like WoW, and it’s free. I think than that’s a good game.
May 7, 2012
#75
WOW CLONES ARE MORE EXPENSIVE THEN THE ORIGINAL WOW…LOL….. I RATHER PAY 154 PER MONTH AND GET EVRYTHING, THEN PAY 155 FOR A SINGLE SET OF GEAR FROM CASH SHOP
May 11, 2012
#76
Ok I just want to get this straight with everyone. WoW is actually a 4Story clone. Please don’t say 4Story is a WoW clone because it came out before WoW. The truth here is that Blizzard pretty much stole the whole idea of the game from 4Story and made it into their own game. But how did they get so popular? Blizzard was not only already a very successful company to begin with, but they also expanded on and did more with WoW than was done with 4Story.
May 13, 2012
#77
i disagree with this, i think wow-clones are absolutely unplayable as they have no original lore. plus why would anyone want to play generic copy of a great game when they can actually play the real thing on a private server or public test realm for free?
blizzard has been very kind with these copiers and its going to be very very funny when these people get sued and cant pay with anything but their cash shop.
May 13, 2012
#78
and RYAN, SERIOUSLY? i cannot even begin to comprehend how fake that statement was, the idea for WarCraft (the entire storyline and backbone of the game) was created in the early 90s, and they started making WoW in 2001.