Refreshing is a good description....
I played from launch until real life intervened 5 years later and had no time anymore. I kept my subscription until sunset, though, and occasionally checked in with my old toons.
After it was gone, I would keep track of the various efforts to resurrect CoH, and logged into the recreated empty Atlas a couple times, but it was too sad to see the empty city which had once been so vibrant. I did, however, have countless precious memories....dinging 50 with my first toon about a month after release, a stone tanker (I realized later that stone was pretty gimped at the time), doing the Terra Volta trial the first night it was live with my SG (how cool it was to be able to finally respec a character!), and just joking around with friends after a team wipe, and on and on. I made some friendships with cool people from around the world.
I eventually picked up Guild Wars 2 and played regularly for about 5 years, up until about 3 weeks ago. The funny thing us, I never, ever teamed with anyone, and except for world events, I played completely solo. The idea of teaming never appealed to me after those wonderful CoH times...how could they recreate the joy of being in a warehouse somewhere in Bricks, surrounded by Freaks, shoulder to shoulder with flashily dressed heroes, superpowers flashing, sparking, smoking, flaming and crackling all around! The occasional faceplant, the shared joy at having survived a hairy encounter, the constant banter and wisecracking as we helped each other tame Paragon City.
Then, 3 weeks ago I did one of my random check-ins on the sad history of City of Heroes....and you know the rest....
I'm home...