I've been doing some more research on Roma Victor. I've read through the forums on the site, and the picture painted is of a very RP-friendly game where politics is the name of the game, and players can influence the direction of the game directly through their actions. It's also extremely bug-ridden, and the client is full of errors, as the "final release" game is looking more like a beta test that has been released before it was truly ready for financial reasons. The community is very enthusiastic about the game, though, and determined to make it work.
Sounds depressingly familiar. I'm not sure I could take getting involved in another game just to see it vanish into bankruptcy again. If a group of us decide to try it, I'll sign up with them. But the lack of a free trial makes this unlikely.
Looks like I'm waiting to give URU live a go... And drooling at the thought of Age of Conan. It will almost certainly be action-based non-RPers who flock to it, but... It's CONAN!