I too did the AoC thing, even became a fan-boi pre-launch and up through level 20. Past level 20 it fizzled though, levels 20-80 just weren't finished out well at all and the PvE instances are so incredibly lackluster. Most were bugged like crazy and the loot was 'meh'. Along with that one of the big controversial things was nudity in it, but from level 2-45 (when I stopped) the only gear that could be found was some variation of a burlap sack.

Anyhow, the end result is I'm simply not jumping on the 'next hot MMO' again. I've got severe anghst with WoW raiding, and BG's at least on my server make me want to /wrists, but it's something I know well and boxing breathed new life into it (for about a year now). I got started on Arena's way late (like 3 months ago) and they are absolutely THE most fun I've ever had in an MMO. I think it's because of the similarities to counter-strike which I loved. Even with a bad combo (mage + resto shammy) and rockin' 1250 rating it's still crazy fun for some reason.

I'd really like to see another rockin' MMO come out, change the rules, do something DIFFERENT... but they just seem to /fail. I can't imagine how hard it must be to break into that niche right now, particularly with WoW's success, but I'm not willing to donate the days and days of my life (the cost isn't relevant) to learn/level/gear and then find out that the end game blows or doesn't exist.