Project Gorgon is an MMO free to play (and no cash shop or any idea that there will be; it's in alpha) right now that takes a bunch of cues from Everquest as well as Asheron's Call and UO.
In a nutshell:
- No shitty tutorial
- No themeparks or npcs with questionmarks over their head.
- Group content from the start that's not instanced.
- Diablo-like random loot system where an upgrade is meaningful and not just a 1% stat increase.
- A sort of FFXI multiclass system: pick any two combat skill bars at a time.
- That stuff that makes it a world: vendors resell player loot, jumping in water puts out fires, drop items on the ground and they actually stay there.
- Crafting is actually useful.
- Dungeon Puzzles - because I guess some people like puzzles.
- Some other stuff that's just weird: progammable golem pets with if-then conditionals, using a shovel to bury corpses, calligraphy, cow form with cow armor and abilities.
The only thing missing is a painful death to non-bosses (bosses give curses that suck when you die to them. You must kill them to lift the curse).
Closest thing to old world EQ I've found.
Download here:
http://projectgorgon.com/game/play-now