Yep, just passed my 30-month milestone, in fact. I'd characterize myself as a casual player, even though I have over 50 characters.
A couple things have changed since GenCon '06, notably the Invention system, which is kind of like gear but not really. The big benefit of Invention system stuff over crafting-type stuff in other games is that there is never any *particular* opponent you need to camp, raid, or otherwise wait for -- the drops are all random, with the caveat that some things only drop if you are doing a certain *kind* of thing (but it never has to be a certain *specific* thing). The Invention system also brought us the Consignment Houses, which work like... well... consignment houses, with double-blind bidding and selling.
Also, we're on the verge of experiencing Issue 11, the newest free content patch, which will include the new powersets Dual Blades and Willpower... and if you have chosen a weapon-wielding character (such as a Dual Blades character, but also including Broad Sword, War Mace, Assault Rifle, and more), you will, once Issue 11 goes live, get to pick the look of your weapon from several available models.
But overall the game is still the same wahoo, bust-the-enemy game you demo'ed, featuring the best character-model generator in the industry (your character's look is not tied to his or her "gear"... in fact, there is no "gear" per se).
The main advantage of getting the box over the download is that, if you ever have to reinstall the game, you have a very recent copy on optical media (have they gone to DVD now?) and consequently don't have to wait for over 1.5 GB of game data (might even be 2 GB now) to download. If you do get the box, be sure to *not* use the Trial code... use the code you bought, which should be on the Pocket D pass* that comes in the box, and UPGRADE your existing trial account if you can remember how to get to it: the characters you used should still be there.
* Pocket D is a night club for both heroes and villains -- seriously! -- but it is more often used as a travel hub by mid- and high-level characters. With the Good Versus Evil edition, you get a power that will teleport you to the Tiki Room within Pocket D from anywhere in the game, usable once every little while... a half hour or so I think.
I'd say COH/V is terrific for casual gamers. Log in, run a couple missions (even just one mission), log out. Travel options in the game are many and varied, and only the lowest-level characters need jog anywhere; a limited-use flight pack is available as early as level 5, a limited-use super-leap jet pack is available as early as level 10, and your character can fly, teleport, super-leap, or super-speed across the city as early as level 14 (make sure to have picked the prerequisite power in your chosen travel "pool" by 12th level to accomplish this). It is really tough to burn out the "fuel" in the temporary travel packs before level 14, even if you get them as soon as they are available.
Plus, the zones are well connected, so travel times from wherever you are to your instance tend to be nicely tolerable. Also, with Good Versus Evil you get a "jump pack" power which helps tremendously in clearing vertical obstacles at low levels, and even at high levels if you picked super speed as your travel power. (You can pick more than one if you want, but picking only one makes for a tighter build, something that appeals to the efficiency-minded.
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And there's more! Practically every character can solo right out of the gate (some are more challenging than others of course), or you can find a team (sometimes teams will even find you). You can sidekick to your more-experienced friends (or they can lower themselves to your level), so level differences don't even mean a whole lot.
The biggest advantage of COH/V over other MMOs (something that I'm repeating second-hand, as COH/V is my only MMO) is said to be that the usual "grind to max level, then start doing the interesting stuff" is turned completely on its head: in COH/V the stuff you're doing while leveling *is* the interesting stuff, with max-level characters actually having less to do than below-max-level characters (but still fun). Maximum level is 50th, with the developers still claiming they will never increase the level cap. But there's tons of repeatable content for max-level characters, and there's always rolling a new character and playing the game through again with wholly different powers.
Well, this got kind of long, but finally, the advice I would offer for best enjoying your hero and villain characters is to stop often and smell the roses, as it were... try not to view the next level or the next power as your goal, but instead view the experience (not the XP, the experience) itself as your goal: to have a whomping good time thrashing rooms full of enemies and shrugging off gunfire and radiation and poison and flame and all the rest. Read the stories your contacts give you, get to know Paragon City and the Rogue Isles a bit (they're easy to navigate once you get the hang of it, and even easier once you can fly at will).
Also, do play the tutorial level and *read everything.* It answers a lot of questions about the particulars.
Hope you have as much fun with it as I do.
