I have not played in at least six months and wonder what has changed over that time? I really liked the older game but thought that recently that Sony just started giving away so much for free -- not sure why? I don't understand spell assistants? Why not just give out more loot or random mobs? I am thinking about re-upping my sub, but wonder if anything really terrific has been added in the last several months?
The game has a lot to offer. Research Assistants are a way to dole out juicy crafting recipes at a measured pace. It's really not much different than doing a quest line to get a special recipe book, or doing the crafting group zones. I have a regular crafting assistant for every one of my crafters, and I have the droag assistants (both the regular and raid version) for my top three crafters, since they go by archetype (craftsman, artisan, scholar). The research assistants ALSO help motivate crafters to log in daily to do your crafting apprentice training. I personally craft up a bunch of the various things the apprentices ask you to make for them, and stick them in the house vault... that makes the daily updates a breeze, since you just fly through the discussion and get the update. The Free To Play model (FTP) is the way the whole online gaming industry seems to be moving. It allows you to get people in and hooked on the game. It's my personal opinion that "Free" players pay more than regular subscribers in the long run, because they just HAVE to unlock this piece of armor, or buy another character slot, or whatever. Best advice, pay the $15/month, you'll be happier. The ability to hire combat mercenaries has made a huge difference in making soloing enjoyable. Mercenaries allow you to hire one NPC of various classes to help you out when you're questing and don't have a group. My paladin hires a wizard to ensure that things die faster. My conjuror takes an inquisitor with her to keep her alive while she's blasting stuff. My healers hire a paladin to tank for them. Und so weiter. If you haven't got Destiny of Velious, there's a lot of content in that, and the Eastern Wastes have opened up more stuff to do. The upcoming expansion will give us tons more. I've been playing 8 years now, and I still am finding plenty of new and interesting things to do.
