That's funny because I think that was around when I played. I only ever played with at least a duo though. I'd almost never play on my own. Not because I couldn't play well enough, but because I didn't want to have to deal with people alone.

I enjoyed my time (not all of it but some) and watching Arcane made me miss it. But I don't think I'd go back to league. Maybe tft and we'll see how the mmo does.

I identify with this almost exactly except for the fact I played league for a few years rather than a few times. I'd say you chose the better route.

There is a mobile game called "Kingdom Adventure" that had a lot of mechanic's I was looking for. It had town based RPG elements that let you send out adventurers to get resources and beat dungeons. Sounds like a great experience! However it's a translated game that hardly had ANY explanations in game, or online. I had to take notes from a 7 year old reddit post comment that gave more info than anywhere else.

I really liked most of the game. The pixel art had good resolution and was cute. The monster mechanics added more flair to the game. The fog mechanics on the map were cool and made you think about whether you wanted to take a new area or "refog" the area to farm experience. There also was no calendar mechanic so you weren't forced into a time cycle and could play at your pace. But after a while all the guessing about stats and mechanics felt like too much and when I got to the point where I could place a second town hall, I was too unsure of where to place it I just never did. My game is forever in limbo because I'm just tired of finding stuff out the hard way.

Amazing concept, but poor execution.

This! I've always had super friendly interactions with Genshin co-op, even when searching through the co-op tab rather than looking online (aside from one kid I had to kick because I was not going to buy them a welkin lol). The only time I've come across problematic behavior is through social media. It's also very popular so of course on twitter and reddit there is going to be a large loud volume of immature people, but that's most games. In game people are usually good.

You might be interested in "Magical Diary". I wasn't huge on the artstyle myself (it's alright but didn't strike me romantically(?) at all), but the rest of the game was awesome. The characters and story are good and the exams you go through feel creative and more interactive. You are at a magic school and have different solutions based on the classes you take.

Not sure if it would be a hit for you for sure, but worth taking a look at.

It's made me appreciate my library more.

These days I hardly buy new since games are so expensive. And I only buy DLC if the game itself has earned the money I'm going to spend. I keep that mentality with any games that have additional costs. I spent a ton of time playing Genshin Impact, so when I put money in the game it felt like it had already earned that much based on the enjoyment I got. I try to stick to that as much as I can.