The NPD Group's recent annual poll of MMO fans' favorite online titles seems to indicate a pretty substantial power shift in the MMORPG space -- one that heavily favors Turbine's Dungeons & Dragons Online. The D20-friendly game, which went free-to-play last September, managed to wrestle the number three spot in the survey out of Guild Wars' hands. The percentage of participants who claim to be active DDO players doubled from four to eight since last year's survey.

The survey also inquired what MMOs former World of Warcraft players have switched over to in the past year. Though fellow free-to-play title Runescape fell from 20 percent to 13 percent in this category, DDO jumped from five percent to 11 percent year-over-year. That just goes to show: People don't just like free stuff, they like free stuff that didn't used to be quite so free. Also, they like dragons. And occasionally dungeons.Dungeons & Dragons Online rises in popularity among former WoW players