The Online Game Scene

So while some people (who mostly don't seem to be playing it anyway) have taken issue with SWTOR, I'm still finding it an entertaining ride. My agent has gone from foiling internal Imperial terrorists to deep undercover work with Republic SIS and even has a minor Crichton-Harvey thing going on (bonus points if you get the reference). She's also helped the Empire secure holdings on a handful of worlds, but the class storyline is more intimate and more compelling. It's also nice that (partly due to stealth abilities) I can largely play it as a single-player game. The monthly fee is still a drawback, though.

WoW feels bleak at the moment. After a couple holiday-induced weeks of no raiding, I've slacked off myself and not capped VP the last week. Saturday we had 7 people show up, only one of which was really a raid healer (and it was a "new" one to our group at that). That... does not make for current-content raiding. It seems we've lost all our previous healers to SWTOR and/or more PVP-heavy pastures. Some of that was expected, but I guess I thought a couple of them might still be around for raid night. So it sounds like we're not even going to try to raid this coming weekend, though I'll probably show and see anyway. Is this a lull or the beginning of the end? I don't know. We've had stretches before when raiding just wasn't working and had things turn around. Only time will tell, I suppose.
We ran a newer dungeon instead and, while not terrible, it wasn't pretty either. Said healer displayed little situational awareness, getting hit by and/or dying to flashy, visible effects. I'm pretty sure they can do better, as the character shows confirmed raid kills - probably just lack of familiarity and an off night.

GW didn't really look much better on Sunday, with just myself and our guild leader showing up. No word on whether we'll get any company soon. With NPCs, we might be able to finish out the current set of Winds of Change missions, but two people doesn't make for a lot of motivation.

Furryfaire has more characters online than it has in a while. Some even appear active. It feels almost impossible to RP with any of my old characters - occasional scenes come to mind, but mostly they've been played into a corner where options are just too limited to be interesting. I've gotten some nudges to put forth a character out on the playable grid, though I'm reluctant. I don't want to make a character before new rules are "installed" - I find it annoying to have to change what a character can do, especially early on. Yet there's some indecision about the rules-to-be. Even I'm not sure the best way to go. I have some opinions, but even those often come down to "either do this, or do that, there's no point in the middle ground" rather than a decisive single approach.
Embrace XP/advancement, or limit it? Go for realism or toss it out the window? Make thorough rules or loose ones? Bah. I suppose I'm more accepting of freeform these days as the player base has aged, but I still have some deeply ingrained biases where I expect a solid framework for some things (and not others).