Waterdeep is a mid-sized mud based on the forgotten realms and the final fantasy series of video games. There are a variety of classes to play and 2 tiers of levels. During the first tier you learn the basics or if you have mudded before learn a few new commands here and there. They have a nice wiki and website that helps explain everything pretty well.

Leveling up here is easy and once you get to second tier there is usually a veteran around to hand you a nice set of equipment to level through your second tier with. With the ability to customize your starting xp and buy skills/spells, you can choose how much you want to grind on your way up vs. having to quest later to get more practices.

Once you are done leveling and become a hero (lvl 101) there are about 8 or so hero 'runs' (areas requiring a group of 3-6 or more max level characters including a healer, tank and damage dealers), some small group activities and various crafting mprogs (mob code). There are also a couple places you can go to grind money or end game currency.

The property system is highly customizable with plots of land you can build and add flags to, shop mobs, equipment lockers to hold items.

I have no experience with the pvp here so I can't really give an opinion on that.

Pros 1)Easy to level up if you read the wiki 2)The hero runs are fun if you can get in a group (see Cons) 3)Updates still happen fairly regularly Cons 1)Some of the classes are effectively useless in the end game hero runs so if you choose one of them you won't really get to do those. The wiki and players can fill you in on those during first tier though.

2)Low playerbase. Most of the veterans just sit around idle and don't participate in end game activities. Those veterans who do participate in the runs will bring you along if you are needed to fill numbers but otherwise you probably won't get to go. You will either need to get lucky and be needed or bring along some friends. Most of the info needed to do the runs is on the wiki so they're fairly simple to set up if you read about them.

3) Very grindy in spots. Getting practices to max out your hit points and mana (for classes that use mana) can take years of running quests every 10 minutes for hours a day if you do it on your own. You can of course buy practices from veterans who have maxed out their stats but that just means more grinding of currencies that most newer players need to spend elsewhere.