So I've had the game for just over a day now and here are my impressions (while I'm bored and at work).
I can see this game has borrowed a lot of UI and gameplay from other MMO's, which is not a bad thing at all - while I feel it has refined a LOT of the cool features that continue to be refined by new and emerging MMO's, I kinda feel like it fell short of a lot of the things (mostly UI related) currently available in WoW - but I also feel like this will be easily remedied with more addons and patches, so I don't see it as a permanent problem.
Traveling at my current level is a bit annoying, although I just got charge with my White Lion, so toggling charge and flee gets me going places at a pretty good rate, hoping for a mount soon though. Kind of feel like flight masters are too far and few between (as I have only met 1 of them yet) - maybe 2 per map would make traveling less of a chore.
Crafting is a bit... well it's a mixed bag. I've only tried the Herbalism and Alchemy equivelants, but there aren't really too many more options than that. I really appreciate the unique interface, It feels really layered. Having fungus growing in the background as I quest is really cool, but the results feel shallow, and the organization of said results is bothersome. Having 30+ seeds and mushrooms and herbs on you at once is cumbersome, and I could probably alleviate this by being at a bank (I haven't discovered banks yet) but even then, the "background" method of herbalism makes it kind of hard to do that, as it encourages you to go run around and do other things while you're crafting. I just hope I 'get it' sometime soon, or that it gets a bit easier - right now I am skirting Teir 2, but my crafting isn't high enough to compensate, so I am trying to alleviate that - which is a bit frustrating to be honest.
My last real gripe is probably a fault of my own, but I haven't been to a 'major' city yet, I haven't found the banks, or the auction house and I kind of... need those things right about now - maybe I just need it spelt out to me, but I don't see any coming up, and I don't -think- I accidently skirted a major town, but for all I know I am wrong.
Now for the good (theres actually a lot of it in my opinion, I'm just not going to write too much about the awesome).
Diversity of classes - right out the gate it feels like theres a lot of choice and customization in what kind of class you want to play, I love that - nothing more to be said there.
PvP/RvR is solid from what I've seen so far, feels very rewarding (getting drops and exp from PvP is a crazy concept to me). And I don't feel obligated to run a RvR instance, I just want to sometimes - that's a new thing with me.
Public quests are the greatest idea since ever for a MMORPG, I seriously am absolutely enthralled with this feature - everything from the ease of finding a group (well, when it's not like 10am on a monday morning) to the ability to help 'solo' and still really contribute, and the chest roll at the end is great, a mix of contribution and luck can get you a sweet prize - I only ever won one once... but this is like an hour into me playing WAR, so I didn't loot it =/. Still, I feel like I'm going to be very focused on the public questing.
Currently I've just hit 11 with my White Lion, and am thinking of going down the guardian path, but I'm still not 100% sure - all paths seem to have strengths in PvP and PvE. Looking into a guild, as figuring things out on my own has been kinda hard, and I feel like I am only just now getting the hang of things - but in general, I feel like I might be playing this game for more than the trial month.
