Alright so i've had a play on my mates account all Sunday and here are my thoughts, bear in mind that the only MMO I play is WoW.
Positives:
- The PvP is good albeit a bit simple. I think what will really shine in this game is the WvWvW when you're a high level.
- The UI and menus are really slick and well thought out. This might be the only game that you might not have to get custom UI's/skins.
- Dynamic PvE events (I don't like PvE) are good and varied. Doesn't feel like the usual grindfest that is WoW e.g 'go here and collect 10 XXX and bring them back'.
Negatives:
- I hate that everyone has healing skills. Fight can literally go on for ages as people fight/heal/fight/heal etc.. Started to bore me as it started out fun then turned into work.
- The world seems really boring and dull. While the graphics are nice, there's a lot of plain open areas filled with nothing. It's literally just the ground and a texture painted on. Would like to see it a bit more populated with shrubs/rocks/scenery etc..
- It takes forever to get back into the action when you get put down, I was literally running to get to the fight for around 2-3 minutes till I got there. Doesn't sound like a lot but trust me it is. Would be nice if they put checkpoint that both teams could control and re-spawn on and if not. give everyone mounts.
- Seems like everyone will play ranged classes. I made a Charr warrior (always been a Warrior on WoW) and while you have moves to slow them down there isn't any that freeze/rend them in place. Basically it was pointless playing as a melee DPS because i'd always go up against people who just spam casts/spells.
- The PvP is just a bit 'meh' in terms of enemies. On WoW you've got a massive back story and a reason to fight and hate Horde/Alliance. On here you're all on the same side until a PvP event starts, then you're greeted with generic enemy names such as 'Green Invader'/'Blue Invader' etc.. It just seems that you're PvPing for the sake of it.
So basically a quick sum up from around 3-4 or so hours played. Yeah it's early days and yeah they'll improve it but it feels like a £10 game to be honest and not something i'll be switching from WoW to.