I’m a fan of those games that feature elements of strategy games (politics, war, player-driven economy, construction, territory conquest…) while retaining most of the other aspects of the traditional MMORPG (immersion, 1st/3rd-person view, character advancement, quests).
The most popular ones I can think of are EVE Online (not so RPG, I agree), Darkfall Online, Dark Age of Camelot and Shadowbane. Since then there were some attempts to develop games similar to this (Elder Scroll Online, Black Desert, Planetside, Guild Wars) but imo they all lack either the RP elements (PS2), the strategy (BDO) or the massiveness (ESO/GW).
A few upcoming MMO seem on the right path to deliver interesting products: Dual Universe, Camelot Unchained, Crowfall and Ashes of Creation. I’m not sure however that the player base of any of those games will grow big enough to allow the kind of gameplay I’m fond of.
Any hope for the fans of this sub-genre?