I enjoyed CO before it was F2P. It scratched that CoH itch for a while. But it never felt as deep, or quite the same. Prettier, no doubt - but the stories and major npcs felt hollow and just kinda meh.
And of course, once it went F2P - it just turned into an advertisement nightmare - buy this, buy that, enhance this, get more space, give us MONEY MONEY MONEY. They pretty much lost me at that point.
The one thing I really wish CoH had that CO has - is a way to preview/test powers before locking them in - that was a great idea.