Anarchy Online

I wish I could help you but I am in the same boat. 

I played AO from almost the start but SL killed the game for me.

Like you I have tried almost everything.  Currently I am playing EQ2 and LOTR.  I dont think anything will replace the "old" days in AO.

OMNI FOREVER

Lord Of The Rings Online.

I played AO from day one.  Had to leave about one month after Shadowlands came - the cyberpunk fantasy had completely ruined it all for me.  Then came back when Alien Invasion was released... that time stayed even less than two weeks.  After that it was EQ2, Planetside, BF2142, and all kinds of other stuff... Then came back again to AO on a free "re-trial" account - and, omg, the reality hit: the graphics are very outdated even on my custom-built dual core AMD, basically no players found in the old cities on Rubi-Ka, basically a sad picture.

So - here we go, LOTRO.  By the way, tried Rappelz (cash-shop grind fest that only lasted a month), Guild Wars in between (re-install lasted 2 hours of gameplay when I finally threw away the discs), and the awful, awful experience of Silkroad.

I'll miss the pre-Shadowlands AO.

Originally posted by LordLeMoyne

Then came back again to AO on a free "re-trial" account - and, omg, the reality hit: the graphics are very outdated even on my custom-built dual core AMD, basically no players found in the old cities on Rubi-Ka, basically a sad picture.

I never played AO for its graphics. I really didn't care for them when the game originally released. But the gameplay hook has held me there for years. I have to agree though, SL really does detract from the rest of the game. Definitely an expansion I could have done without. Unfortunately, it was the only way I could get above 200 :(

AI was nice in the beginning, but the fun wore off really fast, and it became as much of a grind as SL was. I'm having mixed feelings about LE, because it just seems too easy. Post 200's doing 160 alien missions for fast AXP and titles is definitely something they should change asap. Its most of the reason I haven't picked that expansion up yet.

I really like the sci-fi genre, so i'm hoping Tabula Rasa turns out to be everything i've read about it. If it is, i'll probably drop WoW out of the loop for it.

Began on Anarchy after most launchbugs were taken care of. Been trying Eve, RF, Planetside, WoW on the side.

Always came back to Anarchy, missed the tweaking and proffessions of anarchy, not that there is no buffs and implant in other mmo's, but Anarchy just satisfies me in terms of building a character, being for PvP or PvM.
Graphics aren't that good but not bad either, do wonder why they stopped improving graphics.
Still roleplaying going on, not that I do that a lot these days, wasn't banned but apperently offended a lot with my roleplaying (still wonder why ppl stop for 5 min and listen just to be offended, Rant over..)
Gonna try Fallen Earth when it comes, otherwise gonna stick to Anarchy :)

Heard of empty cities? Sure I can find one, but I usually go to Borealis, Rome or trade for friendly ppl to talk to

AO isn't over yet, it's a great game, unfortunatly there are no games to rival it on the market today, best to wait for AoC or WAR.