Hello all! After a hiatus from the gaming world, I'm looking to make a comeback. First, some history on myself and gaming..

* I started my online gaming adventures with (gasp!) RuneScape. On the recommendation of a friend, we started playing together. I'll say with much embarrassment that to this day no other game kept me entertained for as long as RuneScape did. If it had a few features I found lacking, it'd probably be my favorite game of all time. However, no game is perfect..

* EverQuest/EverQuest II: Never could get into it, and I can't tell you why. Just wasn't my thing, I guess.

* Knight Online: Played this on and off for awhile, was entertaining but also short-lived.

* World of Warcraft: At release, I hated it. Gave it to the same friend who got me into RuneScape. About a year later at Christmas we were hanging out and I watched him play his Paladin. I got interested and started playing. Next to RuneScape, WoW is the longest MMO I played. I ended up capping out right at Burning Crusade's release and played all the way through to Sunwell where I quit. Went back a couple times out of boredom, but left again. Started up again with the release of Wrath of the Lich King, made it almost to 80 and quit again!

Short history, eh? I've just never found the proper balance of features I want in a game. I've been reading reviews as I'm finally getting another gaming machine, just don't know what I'm going to use it for yet. So far Vanguard looks good... Never tried it though, I plan on downloading a lot of trials once I get my desktop built this week.

What I'm looking for:

Content
As far as content, I want a lot of things to do. Lots! If I finish everything then I get bored, which leads to a lot of frustration and money wasting. Someone mentioned Vanguard has 12,000 quests --- that's a good thing to me. Linear content is meh for me. If I'm forced to follow a path all the way to the end, it's kind of boring. If I have absolutely no direction at all, it's kind of frustrating.

Grouping
Minimal. I'm fairly casual these days and I'd prefer to find a game that I could play on my own for the most part. Forced grouping to advance is a deal-killer, I won't even bother trying it. However, I don't mind grouping sometimes. If it's optional (such as dungeons in World of Warcraft), then it's good for me.

Customization
I absolutely love customization in games. Character, items, everything. It's not a requirement but it's a huge plus.

Crafting
Since I'm casual and solo for the most part, crafting plays a HUGE part in my playstyle. This is why RuneScape was such a hit with me, it had a huge assortment of crafting abilities and you were never limited to two (major bummer for me in regards to WoW). However, having crafts doesn't mean anything if they're just there to waste time. The crafted items have to have uses and meaning. Can I craft a set of armor and weapons that will rival dungeon drops? It'd be nice. A good assortment of gathering / production crafts would be great.

"The Grind"
Doesn't really bother me, grinding is part of the MMO scene. You're always grinding something whether it's items, experience, or skills. Excessive grinding is a turn-off though. That was something I disliked about RuneScape. They had a huge assortment of skills but some of them were just brutal (mining, for example). Skills that are too easy are also a bummer, with a level cap character and epic mounts in World of Warcraft it's possible to level any profession to max in one day. That's just sad for me. So, I guess I'm looking for the happy medium on this one.

Graphics
Since I'm investing in a top-of-the-line rig, I'd like to make use of it. Detailed graphics are a plus.

Subscription
Doesn't matter. Subscriptions are fine, F2P is fine, item mall is fine....

PvP
Preferrably non-existant. I've never enjoyed PvP, not that I'm not good at it... It's just not my scene. However, most games have PvP in some form or another, so I'll have to accept that. No world PvP would be a plus, I hate being interrupted by some 12 year old with too much time on their hands. If PvP is limited to certain areas that aren't required for advancement, I have no problem with it. As long as I'm not forced to participate and can fully enjoy the ENTIRE game without it I'll be fine.

So, based on that information... Does anyone have recommendations for trials I should try?

Give Guild wars a try, if you r the solo non-pvp type, lots of stuff to do and minimal grouping. Try the free trial and see if you are interested.

I think LotrO sounds like what you are looking for. Great graphics, good crafting, solo friendly and PvP is limited to just 1 zone where you never have to go.

10 days free US trial here.

If you didn't dislike having no direction Saga of Ryzom would've been one of the potential games for you. Sure, it has quests on the trial/starter island and everything (looks decent, not that much of a focus on PvP, AWESOME crafting system with crazy customizability potential and freeform crafting, huge freaking world to explore, etc), but once you get to the mainland it basically becomes the ultimate sandbox game because there's basically no hand holding at all.

In case you're interested, there's a free trial with unlimited play period, but you're locked on the starter island.

Out of curiousity, i played Ryzom for a couple of hours ~4 yrs ago and gfx were kinda ...strange. Did they enhance gfx by chance?