Any good, free MMO's?

I have a few I've tried out. Not really looking for the "pay to win" model most of them revert to, or the 5 year old, MMO's filled with the hard-core old timers. I was an old-school MUD player and was hoping to find a little gem out there that came close. I've beta tested Star Wars: The Old Republic a couple times so far and it's too linear, not "sand-boxy" enough for my tastes.
Here are a few I've tried recently.

Haven and Hearth:



Once you get past the graphics (Zelda: A Link to the Past style), this game is 100% hardcore! So many ways to die... and it's permanent. Thorn get stuck in your foot and ends up killing you? Tough, make a new descendent and hope your old character's corpse is still lying around. Totally free to play - no money-buying system.

World of Tanks:

Not exactly a traditional MMO, and there is a payment system, but you can choose to ignore it and not be any worse off. Still fun for the instant gratification types.

Uncharted Waters Online

Yep, the old SNES title in an MMO! Used to be an amazing free MMO, until they got greedy. Now they've adopted the "pay to win" model and it's gone downhill. I'd also hate to stereotype, but the dreaded "Asians" have invaded it; meaning it's become a gold-selling, spamming, grind-fest. The majority of players you now see in-game are more than likely sitting "afk", don't speak English and are trying to sell you gold from a Web site.


Of those 3, I'd like to give Haven and Hearth a good, long try. Only problem is, since it's the extreme form of a hard-core MMO, I'm actually a bit nervous to go it alone! Any brave souls out there?

 

Yeah, but still not quite the sandbox style I'm hoping for. Things like crafting, building, skill-leveling, etc. Too many of the MMOs out there are just your basic hack & slash, advance to the next level style of games.