Havn't posted in this thread yet, so here goes.
I'm a 23 year old gamer that started playing RPGs back in the days of Dragon Warrior 1-3 for the NES. I really got into the Final Fantasy titles numbers 4(2 in america), 5, 6(3 in america), and 7. I am also somewhat into certain FPS games such as Half Life 2, which started with an intrest in Wolfenstein 3d and Doom. I also enjoyed a few strategy games througout the years such as Warcraft 2, Starcraft, and Command and Conquer. I've also played quite a slew of RPGs for the SNES, PS1, PS2, and Xbox.
I got into the MMOG genre back in '95 paying hourly on AOL playing Gemstone 3. Then, when Simutronics started advertising DR on the login page for GS3, i gave it a whirl and was instantly hooked. I think it was the unique system of learning skills as you used them that got me, along with it being my first experience of being in a huge online world with other people.
I tried eq1 in '99 when it first came out but dropped it like a bad habit in only a couple weeks to go back to DR.
Around 2003 a few of my friends started playing Final Fantasy Online, so i quit DR and started playing that. After a few months i became quite unhappy with the game and really started looking forward to EQ2, which I bought and played until a few months after the first expansion pack.
A little while before I quit EQ2 i started following Vanguard. Then, after discovering the new hero's journey project from mmorpg.com my interest in Vanguard started to wane(for reasons i ca... err, won't go into) and my interest in HJ started to grow, and grow...
And here I am now, anticipating HJ more than any game I have ever anticipated.
I reopened my DR account shortly after i quit eq2. Partially because I didn't have any other game to play, and partially because I read it would help my chances getting into the HJ beta. In DR i'm a Human Moon Mage named Shadowin Darmius
. I'm also currently in the beta test for Hero Online, a game i'm finding to be quite decent considering it will have no monthly fee.
So thats pretty much me and why i'm here on these forums. I'd also like to say best of luck to Simutronics with HJ. I realize the future of their company rides on this game, and as a paying customer for almost a decade i have a genuine interest in their well being as a company. And of course, i'm counting on them to finally come out with an MMO that i can stick with as long as I did Dragonrealms.
So here's to Hero's Journey and the future of Simutronics!