Yesterday was my first real play time since before the merger, and I was amazed. Lag is not an issue, only spikes up near populated centers, and that was a major worry. But best of all, there were PEOPLE to play with! I play at odd hours, and the server was lively at 5am, EST USA.
I've been a level 152 mage for about 2 weeks now, due to not being able to find groups to run with during the times I generally play. Last night, logged in, ran around rezzing for a while, and then ported to Thesos, to dig up some fun, if possible. Ran into another Zorai (Wow, another Zorai!), and we ran about a bit, finding things to kill, and eventually ended up in the Grove of Confusion, dieing a lot, but having fun.
We stayed near the Kami port there, and people would trickle up, join in for a while, and meander on, as they got rid of dp or ran out of play time, or whatever. But we had a blast! Everyone was polite, friendly, and helpful. We had a lot of fun with the language thing, as we are two cultures seperated by a common language, and enjoyed ourselves fully.
Xipe, Vivy, Lewy, Minininja, and Kristel, thank you for making my first team in EE a fun one.
With this merger, I have high hopes. Things are looking good, working good, and population is up. I'm hoping we can talk alot of our American friends who have left the game out of boredom into coming back and trying again. I think that our EE "mates" will be all that they were expecting before, and then some. The game has a true living atmosphere again, and the comraderies are doing nothing but building and building. I away the future eagerly.