I tried Ryzom, I think. It's the one where you spent most off your time digging in the grass?
The first area is free I think, then you have to pay to move out of tutorial land. The sad part is that every forum I've read, they complain that once you pay, the rest of the world is much EMPTIER and the grinding is even worse, and any semblance to quests that was in the tutorials is gone. So it's a big scam.
I've played MU online, it's free and there are some free server software. I wouldn't call it good tho, it's a bit like a Diablo clone, but the classes are so stupidly defined that each of the 3 classes only ever needs to raise one of the 3 stats. (EVERY bit of equipment that person uses is limited by his defining stat.)
I believe Anarchy Online is free for a year, they may have changed it however to free-forever (unless you want the expansions). It is kinda dated, I do like how the quests are randomly generated and there is a TON of little caves and bases that can only be accessed during a quest, and enemies in those don't respawn. Leveling up is also plenty fast (you're nearly guaranteed to go up one level by doing a quest). The whole economy/crafting system is however frakked up IMO. The way you pay for dying also is not so bad: you can lose some experience, anything you gained since your last "save" OR your last level up (autosave), so it's a good incentive to not get killed. However chances are you'll level up mid-mission anyway, and that you saved beforehand so you'll only lose a few minutes of advancement.
There are those korean free-to-play jrpg-likes, one I was playing was NosTale. It was kinda cute and I liked the blend of 3d maps with 2d sprites, remind me of Grandia. Don't know if it's your cup of tea, specially because it's completely crammed full of kiddies that don't speak english, maybe with a good group it would be bearable.