I played AO but not in its prime, only much later after it had slid into relative obscurity. Didn't know shit about what an MMO even was and just chose it cause I liked the sci-fi vibe.

I was so dumb and had no freaking clue what I was doing, and it took me around 2,200 hours to get my first an only max-level character (Nano Doc) leveled up and about halfway decently kitted out at 220. When it was finally done, I took one last long look around, logged out, and never went back. To this day that was still the most epic grind I've done in any game. I'm glad I did it. Once. But never again. Not like that.

It's still for better or worse the MMO that I measure all others by. And despite its faults, still my favorite I think. I've wound up over the years putting as much time or more into various other games. But AO still is special, and nothing else I've played has been quite like it.