I think rappelz's free. Never heard of silk road. And Lineage 2 is a pure grindfest. I played it and I botted. Took me months with 24-7 botting to hit maximum level (at that time, it was 75). Yes, I said months and 24-7 botting. The majority high levels out there are botted. There are very, very, very few legit max level players out there, as it would drain more time than a 5-day hardcore WoW raider, a full-time job, full-time student and a full-time parent combined. The max lvl is 80 right now, which I doubt any has gone there yet without botting. The next patch is going to up it to 85.
Don't play L2 unless you have friends or multiple accounts for a buffer/healer. L2 is probably the most multi-player dependent MMORPG out there. It becomes very difficult to grind after 61ish. Whereas in WoW you can hit 70 without grouping and get decent PvP by soloing.