There's an insane number of license-based (that is, that are based on an existing fiction or franchise) MMOs in development right now: Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan, Star Trek Online, Pirates of the Carribbean Online, some MMO based on Stargate, Warhammer Online. Pretty much the only MMO in development that isn't based on a license is Vanguard. It's a very odd period in the MMO world.

The only 3 games in development that are really "almost out" are LOTRO, AoC, and Vanguard. They're all slated to come out in early to mid 2007. And all 3 are very different sorts of games.

LOTRO is a standard PvE-focused fantasy MMO, with strong ties/adherence to Lord of the Rings lore and backstory. It should be a good game, and I certainly commend Turbine for sticking to their guns on the lore adherence. I've been a Lord of the Rings fan for about 30 years (my mom read the stories to me when I was very young and I've been in love with them ever since), so it should prove to be "my game". Just wish they'd toss me a beta invite. :(

Age of Conan is a strange new type of MMO. It's PvE and PvP focused, and the combat system is a little more action oriented than most MMOs. I don't think it's quite as "twitch" as DDO but it's certainly more active than most MMOs. The game is based on the lore of the Conan novels from the 1930's, and Funcom is going for a "Mature" rating. This is a good thing as then they can have more violence, blood, and nudity and suggestive themes in the game. Should be fun.

Vanguard is a PvE-focused fantasy MMO not based on any existing lore -- they made it all up. The game is meant to be a LOT more challenging than current offerings. It's got a lot of the stuff that early EQ1 had: largeish death penalty, corpse recovery required to get your gear back, more-or-less forced grouping, and so on. Despite those negative the game looks pretty interesting and as a long-time EQ1 Necro, Vanguard's necro class looks VERY interesting to me. You can "build" your pets from body parts which seems pretty damn cool.

The rest of the games in development seem pretty far off; most of them don't even have real websites up yet. It should be an interesting few years for MMOs though!