I still play it every now and then to get away from FFXI. It's OK but like ffxi - very party intensive. Unlike FFXI though, you can still continue to play the game by having NPC's in your party if you cant get a party otherwise. Usually the NPC's are about 2-3 levels below yours. Nice thing is, if you continually use the exact same NPC's, they will level UP along with you and next time you select them, they will be higher level. If you do not use them for awhile, they will still elvel, just at a slower rate.
I have been playing A LOT of this:
http://www.piratekingonline.com/
I like Pirate King. GM's are always around and actually do stuff in the game. They even talk to you AND nice thing is, when someone asks a stupid question like "Where is monters ... located?" The yell at them and say "will you please goto the pirate king website were we have ALL the monter locations listed and what they drop you idiot" When people start spamming the World chat (only availbe lvl 5 and higher) they actually silence them and tell everyone else "Plase don't spam or else you WILL be silenced tempooraily or permenantly" (btw - I have seen people banned permanently.
I like it cause I can be a pirate. They have your standard classes WAR, RNG, Mage, etc... but then they also have other jobs like "Explorer" which have abilities for use when your on a ship out at sea. It actually a really nice game. Bad thing is - some areas are quite a long walk and you can be kille dmany times on the way. But all in all - its a really nice game