Didn't play much for a couple months after CoH/V, was pretty down actually. Funny how a game that you play occasionally for thrills & giggles can affect you that way, but then, it was 7 years of thrills & giggles for me.

First tried Champions, not bad, but I didn't really warm to the comics-in-motion overall look. Okay power system, found the grouping was a little less easy than CoH.
Then I tried The Secret World, quite interesting, engaging, amazingly (and I mean *amazingly*) well produced in many areas. Again, the grouping was less fast & friendly than in CoH, and I missed that. Bit of a grim atmosphere overall (after all, it IS the Zombie Apocalypse, Final Days, and Hell Rising sorta all rolled into one), and because it was sub-only at the time, and I had just been burned on that, I moved on.
Went to World of Tanks, and it was SO much of a change from CoH I could really get into it. Spent over 6 months pounding tanks into scrap metal, got a few friends and family into it. Was and is a very good game, but since it's pure battle 6 months was all it could hold me.
Dipped a toe into MechWarrior Online - a game I was prepared in advance to love - because I have enjoyed the heck out of every incarnation of Battletech to date. Even though it is quite well done, it IS still mostly pure battle, and I had just done 6 months of that in WoT. Hammered metal into scrap for 2 months, parked my giant engines of doom, and went looking.
Tried a couple FTP downloads, even some older ones, Vindictus was likely the most interesting of those, played 2 weeks, moved on. Considered the new version of EverQuest because it was 'EverCrack Online' that got me started on this kick in the *first* place...
Then I stumbled across an ad that I hadn't even been looking for, saying The Secret World had gone Buy-To-Play (pay for the game then play free forever with options to buy upgrades - sort of like Guild Wars model). And hey, I had already bought that one! So I gave it another whirl...
Well, it's been over a month, and I've happily thrown a little more money at TSW, got a few things I wanted, played through about 1/3 of the 'story' content (which isn't ALL the content btw) and been more impressed than I have been by any game in years.
It is one of the most lovingly produced, true-to-story, and well balanced games (with a few exceptions) that I have ever seen. It is also the ONLY game I have played in 20 years of online gaming that I literally rarely go two days without seeing a thread like this one:
http://forums.thesecretworld.com/showthread.php?t=73089Here is a video to give a 'feel' for the game:
http://vimeo.com/48081693That isn't a patched-together media splash video btw, that is all actual in-game content, some cutscene but mostly player PoV, and at a lower quality than the game itself. (The song is from outside game of course)
Is it finished and polished and all it's meant to be? Not yet. Keep in mind where City of Heroes was 1 year after release, and what it came to be after 5-6-7 years of loving development, and you can see TSW has serious potential. The grouping is a lot better now that more people are in and know what they want to/can do together. Roleplaying is evident and growing. Character creation/decoration options still well behind CoH but enough variety there to keep it interesting.
There is a chat channel for CoH refugees (use /chat join CoH-Refugees), not terribly active at the moment because of course the flow of CoH'ers has slowed over time. I hope some CoH people might give it another (or a first) look.
Won't say TSW has replaced CoH in my heart, or that I am not following developments in a 'respawn' for CoH and looking for ways to help that happen. And I sure as hell want MY heroes back!
But in the meantime, I'm pretty sure I've found a place to stretch my arms, crack my knuckles, and wonder "Now how shall I save the world TODAY?"
Regards,
Doctor Hugh