MMO's I've Been Playing

I have been playing more MMO than anything these days.  In stacking up some of my recent MMO experiences against one another, I'm trying to figure out why I, who hates the idea of grouping with people and generally doesn't like multiplayer gaming, really enjoy MMO's.  I think it's mostly to do with content.  There are hundreds of hours of entertainment to be had as long as the story is somewhat decent, the combat is satisfying and the 

So here's what I've been playing lately:

Neverwinter - been playing since the closed beta.  It's been fun, but somewhat different from standard fantasy mmo.  I just hit max level (60) last night on my main, a control wizard.  The story has been good, the combat is fluid and fast paced and the game moves very well.  I am playing with one of my salesguys and I will admit, I do like grouping with him, it's just grouping with strangers that ticks me off.  Now, this game is F2P.  One may say they do F2P very well, and others may say that it's a money pit.  I think for a normal player, the thruth lies somewhere in between.  For starters, in game currency - gold and such, is pretty much useless.  You can buy low level mounts with it, and healing potions, and some gear, but nothing great.  Then there's astral diamonds.  You get these by finishing some quests, buying them on the zen exchange, praying at  campfires.  By and large, these are what you spend when you go shopping for anything of substance.  Zen is Perfect World's points system, so $50 = 5000 (with 300 bonus zen).  One zen is worth about 350-420 astral diamonds on the exchange.  Zen is used to buy companions, mounts, bags, keys, extra bank space and other helpful items.  It's all a rich tapestry of separating you from your cash, and since they're not charging a subscription fee, there is a feeling that your're coming out ahead even though you can spend a lot of money chasing something that catches your eye.  

WOW - I've gotten back into this on a smaller scale.  The kids are about to go into summer vacation and maybe this is the year they can learn how to play games like humans.  With that, I decided I'd get back into it and went back to my Pandaren Monk that I started with the MoP expansion.  It's been so-so, but to be honest, after some of the newer MMO's, it feels very slow.  I have actually dozed off a couple times while playing it (not at 4 in the morning, but normal waking hours).  I don't know if the stories have always been goofy either.  Case in point - I just finished up a quest arc that was a WoW version of First Blood.  It was utterly stupid, foolish and worthless.  Couple that with quest names like "Murder Was the Case That They Gave Me" and it just seems like WoW thinks it's too cool for the room or something.   I've been playing off and on since the launch, but it either dumbed itself way the hell down, or I just never noticed how silly it was.  Put all that in a pot and then mix it up with a guild invite every 8 minutes and 40 friend requests in my mailbox and it becomes somewhat of a chore to play this game.  Let's not even get started on the players who jump in and loot the shit youre after.  A perfect example - a couple of murlocs are in front of an ore deposit.  You go to fight them off so you can loot the sweet, sweet copper.  As you're engaged in battle, some jackleg comes running up and steals your node.  Sure, I say things like "WTF JERK?" or send them tells bemoaning their in game manners, but that's usually met with a "I stolez your mom under u 2" or something equally idiotic.  They then are ignored and I continue on.  I don't know, it's a generally okay game, and you have to give it props for being in the right place at the right time, but it just seems to be dying on the vine.

SWTOR - I got into the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion and played a little, then lost interest again.  It's still a fine game, and I do like it, but I haven't bothered to get my main up to 55 yet.  It's okay and all, but Neverwinter is taking the bulk of my time.

I've also been dabbling with Secret World and Rift (about to go f2p) and trying to get back to Star Trek Online, but just not feeling very good about that game.  

I'm hoping my number comes up for the Elder Scrolls Online, but I'm not holding my breath.