AU, you want the scoop? I give ya the scoop. The game is fine. Its an improvement on EQ, though it does have dissapointments. The main annoyance being the game is so extremely well balanced, that there is just no feeling of Archtype variance of player individuality. Skill and knowledge play very little role (AT LVL 23), you have your fundamental skills and you spam them. Rinse, repeat, level. Difference between a druid, shaman, and cleric is minimal, perhaps the oddest thing is the Cleric actually is the worst healer in this game, though its minimal. The difference between an Inquisitor and a Templar at lvl 46 is minimal, maybe 4 spells or so. This aspect of the game sucks ass, but Smed claims raid items, class specific items and quests, and future expansions will all be aimed solely at diversifying at the subclass level.
The other problem is that the encounter battles are just too fast. They are fun in a City of Heroes type of way, but they have about the same strategy, possibly less. If youre a healer, you spam heal, if you pause, someone dies. If youre a mage you spam nuke, if you nuke slow, someone dies. There is just little strategy. An an Inquisitor I have all these debuffs and nukes, which I love to use, but I never have the time to cast them in group battles. I find that dissapointing.
However, to any idiot anywhere, that says anything negative about the graphics, they lose credibility and instantly become some sort of SOE hater. The graphics in this game are mind-blowing. I only have a 9700 pro and a gig of ddr ram, but the water effects are the best I've *ever* seen, the reflections from the sun on your armor and shields are amazing, the game world is just breathtaking. Anyone who criticizes the graphics has an agenda, that much I can promise. The game is worth buying just to run around in alone.
The questing system is the best that has *Ever* been implemented in a game. EVER. Including WoW. Until you level up to the mid-20s and get to see the diversity and range of the quests and the various challenges and selectable rewards for completing them, I'd suggest people just shut the fuck up about them being repetitive and mundane. Yeah, you do have a lot of fed ex quests at level 8, why? so you learn the zones and get money rewards. Fucking newbies, complain about everything.
Lag. Usually not an issue at all. Typically only in the zones designed for 200+ players at one time. The Commonlands for example. Im going to assume this'll be fixed come launch. So, I wont complain about it. It can be insanely bad at times, usually its a non-issue.
Locked Encounters. They work. The AI is better and has more options when encounters are locked. I still get a kick out of it when 1/2 through the fight Ill pull aggro from my heals and an Orc yells out "get that cleric" and they come and rape me. The only negative is that you can't help others, but this destroys powerlevling, so Im ok with it. Well, I suppose immersion is negated in some aspects as well. Trains are no longer an issue, so as long as you focus just on what youre fighting and your camp spot, whatever group 2 is doing has no bearing. This is good and bad. The frustration of trains is gone but the feeling of edginess and danger is as well.
Spells. Spell effects are insane good. Best ever in a game to this point. Spells are fairly diverse in nature, its a shame that they are basically given to everyone in an archtype though. The battles are like the 4th of July if you dont turn your shit down. The game plays very much like CoH, you just cant run all over the place when engaged though.
Raids. These are fun. They start early. You have quests that must be done to enter raid only zones. Once you accomplish those quests, raid away. There are also raid bosses in the end of normal dungeons (ala EQ), most of these are 2 group raid encounters. Good xp for everyone and a shot at loot. Encounters get wild. Raid mobs often will have special abilities and such (again ala EQ).
Some mobs are on a public timer, like EQ, some are in instanced pocket zones at the very bottom of a dungeon open to any group at any time as long as the key is obtained or the quest passed to enter. Raiding is heads and tails better then EQ.
Summary:
The problems with class diversity are bad early on. Will they get better? they damn sure better or I wont last until level 46 when all subclasses obtain 2 lines of diversity. The game is fun though, frustrating and hard at times, but its fun. It is dumbed down but not to an extreme level. They did a good job overall. The battles need to be more tactical and strategic in nature, again im only lvl 23 but lvl 36s have assured me, the game remains the same between those two points. So, there is work to be done still. I will say this. If they *listen* to the higher level beta testers and put in more subclass diversity early on, and slow down the pace of battles (CoH pace doesnt fit so well in this game), then this will be the best MMO ever made, hands down. Right now, these two main issues keep it from being declared a juggernaut, but even as it currently stands, I dont think any MMO out or being released in the next year can realistically compete with it. Perhaps WoW because of a different fanbase. But, EQ2 exceeded the expectations and they were high to begin with.