Honestly, i'm also looking for a good MMO, though I'm very tired of fantasy ones ( I go way back to UO as well), and I did EVE for a while, but the pace is just a bit slow (though I was in one major fleet battle between two waring corps, and that was pretty cool).
Right now, I'm looking to Star Trek Online as my last, great hope for MMO's But I'm also looking for something to hold me off until then. Are there any good space based MMO's out there besides EVE? Even low tech/graphics ones would be OK with me. I hate to say it, but I wish Earth and Beyond had survived, even if it was VERY flawed. At least it was a bit easier for a casual MMO'er to get into
As far as Space Based MMO's go, EvE is certainly top dog at the moment.The amount of players, lack of sharding, consistent economy, griefers and PvP'rs alike keep it going strong, though that doesn't stop people from calling the game dead every other week.
Other Space Based MMO's: Vendetta Online (http://www.vendetta-online.com/) that's joystick based, but lacking in content as it's being developed by 3 people. $10 a month, free trial, fun for a little bit, but I got bored with the lack of content.
There's another in development, Jumpgate Evolution (http://www.jumpgateevolution.com/). It's currently looking for Beta testers last I checked the website.
Hope this helps, there are so few out sadly.
EDIT: Vendetta online is currently running a free 30 days + the trial. The keys are here http://www.mmorpg.com/giveaways.cfm?offer=31&bhcp=1