After hearing about Icon for some time now, I finally took the plunge! I installed the Tequila downloader, and away I went!
You can see some of the results in my updated avatar. This is a recreation of my first, and primary character, which due to the availability of newer costume pieces, turned out better than the original! So far, I have re-created 4 of my mains, and had an absolute blast doing so. Also, figuring out the nuances of what is possible once inside the game has been fun too. I plan to save .costume files for each of my old characters, in preparation for the day when CoH makes its long awaited return. I will save me a lot of time, and increase the chance that I will get their names in the system before someone else does.
Of course, the downside is the loneliness of the cities. You can fly from end to end on the largest map, and meet the occasional NPC (who wont talk to you), but that is pretty much it. I feel like I am the lone survivor of an apocalypse, who is going stir crazy from the silence!
It was wonderful hearing the queued music for the areas I was exploring, especially the Atlas Park theme. I missed that more than I can say, but in the end, it is all a huge reminder of how much I want the actual game back. Of course, I will continue to play with Icon because it is the closest I can get for now, but it only increases my anxiousness over the negotiations with NCSoft to resurrect the game we all love.
It cannot happen soon enough!