Opinions on Ashen Empires

Well another game I neglected to mention in my previous post that I tried (briefly) was Ashen Empires (the game formerly known as Dransik). From the couple of days that I played it - the game is basically pretty similar to Ultima Online - same 2.5D isometric interface, similar trade-skilling systems, similar weapons skills. They have levels also in Ashen Empires though - which primarly controls how many HP you get. It was alright I guess - I've never really gotten into UO in the couple of times I've tried it - the skill-based grinding as opposed to exp grinding wasnt to my taste - and AE pretty much gave me the same sense. I didn't try the magic system but from what I could tell it had a similar reagent system - not sure on the exact mechanics of it though!

If you like UO - I would say its pretty well worth at least the free trial - the company behind Dransik were recently bought out by another - and the new company is providing a lot of resources into the game (They were getting ready to publish a pretty big update when I got off the game - just before the free beta ended!)