Here's my thoughts on last month's MMO gaming.  The September line up threw a ton of good stuff at us:

Champions Online:  Enjoying the game and still leveling.  But a bit dismayed.
I've been pleasantly surprised by Champions Online.  I enjoy it very much and I wish I had the money for the lifetime subscription (and knew then what I know now) when they were offering it, because I think the game is good now and will only get better.  I'm about midway through the leveling experience and think Cryptic has made a very good game to this point.  What remains to be seen is the "end game", which could make or break me sticking with the title for very long.  I've read plenty of negative thoughts from others about the game, but all that matters at the end of the day is whether or not I'm having fun.

Despite its new launch growing pains, (and to be honest they've all been relatively minor to me) the game is enjoyable even after I've leveled several characters to nemesis creation range.  Sadly, my super team is full of bloggers that illustrate the point of this article (about September being a crazy MMO month) perfectly.   They've fragmented off to other games like Fallen Earth and Aion and its been a pretty lonesome existence while leveling.  I am a bit dismayed that I'm reading plenty of articles about people not liking the game as well.  I still like it, and its natural to wish that others could appreciate it the way I do, but I can't be blind to honest and legitimate criticisms being levied against CO and Cryptic.  And lets be honest, I don't really know how long I will continue to like it since I'm only level 26 now.

I still think CO still has plenty to offer me though.  I haven't maxed out my crafting.  Hitting the mid 20's has opened up some new PVP maps and game styles, and I'm about to create a nemesis for a few of my toons.  From there, the final 15 level journey to 40 awaits, and I'll probably get to enjoy the upcoming Blood Moon update in the process.  I recently made a video about costumes and builds in CO, and I'll likely be creating a video or two to follow up on my beta impressions soon™.

Fallen Earth: No interest, primarily due to post apocalyptic setting, but others are loving it.
I played the game in closed beta, and the game's style and setting were just not to my taste.  I didn't like the combat, and the art style and animations were not to my liking.  I know it was closed beta and that stuff has improved since then, I think I just don't care for the post apocalyptic setting at the end of the day.  I didn't really care that much for Fallout, so I guess that's not too much of a shocker.

I hear some really good things about the game from people that are playing it though, so if you seem interested in that style of game and its setting you should probably try it.  I think that the game might have more appeal with the DDO free to play model, but the FE made their choice to go with the standard 50/15 model.  I might have actually downloaded and tried the game again, but I'm not shelling out the retail box price for it.  I am subscribed to Champions Online, World of Warcraft (though probably not for much longer) and DDO. Fallen Earth just doesn't make the cut for  me, despite the fact that I hear that it plays very much like pre-nge SWG.  I am really rooting for the Fallen Earth guys to be successful though, I really feel like we need to see more indie developers in the MMO space operating successfully.

Aion: Waiting it out, but growing more curious by the day.
I was firmly in the "not another Korean designed MMO" camp, but I have started to drift a little closer to the curious side lately.  Right now I still feel that it is probably too "grindy" and not different enough from WoW to warrant the investment.  On the other hand, my ears have perked up with the understanding that PVP is the end game in Aion.  I would normally have just jumped right in with the rest of the head start folks, but with my budget and existing time commitment to CO, WoW and DDO it just didn't make sense.  I really should have played the beta when I had a chance, but was consumed with Champions Online then.

I read a metric crap-ton of blogs regularly,   I scrape twitter conversation streams on gaming topics like #swtor, #aion, #fallenearth, #championsonline and more, and I generally keep my finger on the pulse of the MMO community.  That said, I've not yet read much negative about Aion from people that are playing it right now.  They all seem to be very happy with their play time in that game, and that's a good sign.  But like any game, what remains to be seen is what's happening after max level is achieved.  Sure the queue's are terrible from the rush of people trying to get in at launch, but the dust will eventually settle from that and regular reports will stream in.

Dungeons and Dragons Online: Intrigued, and dropping in every now and then.
Turbine removed any barrier I had to trying their game.  I am all in favor of removing the hefty retail box fee and subscription cost to MMO's, and I hope their re-launch serves as a model for future development teams and publishers launching games soon.  However, I do not want to feel like I'm constantly being sold something.  This is what eventually turned me away from Runes of Magic, and it may just be the unfortunate consequence of the free to play model.  I haven't spent enough time in DDO to really know that yet, as I've only been through the first dungeon with my Dwarf Ranger and have not been back.  The beauty of the F2P model is that I won't cancel my subscription, I'll simply drop back in later and play more when it is convenient.  I do like the puzzly and trappy style of dungeon experience DDO offers, and if I manage to find a group that plays the game and has room for a newbie, I may play more. I've been told that it really focuses on small group play, which is also attractive to me.

So there are my thoughts on the September that was, in my typical wall of text style.  I look forward to November, specifically to Left 4 Dead 2, Global Agenda's next closed beta phases, and whatever other MMO craziness awaits.