Thank you for sharing.
In short, game is good, perfect no. details:
Have played this game enough and feel i can make now a review at its current state (node wars). In short:
Pros
-Character customization in character creation, best i ve seen so far.
-Interesting classes.
-Great combat, one of the best in mmos.
-Great looking world, even with average pc, that feels "real".
-Tons of things to do besides combat ie crafting, fishing, horse breeding, sailing, farming, exploring etc
-Fun group PvP in Node/Castle Wars.
-Animations in/out of combat look realistic.
Cons
-Community on average is bad, there are of course good people, have to try harder than other mmos to find them.
-RNG ie items have a random factor on how they improve. See below
-Grind, lots and lots of it at higher levels and in order to get better items, As i said in pros combat is great and enjoyable but even that has its limits. All mmos have grind of course, this one has some extra.
-In game learning curve. Game has a ton of concepts and does a bad job explaining them or smoothly implementing them. Google will be your best friend. Felt completely overwhelmed in the beginning, still do many times.
-While you can customize your character enormously, you dont have many choices in outfits, most are in, see next
-Cash shop. Not really pay to win (have seen much worse in b2p/f2p games) but still has a lot of items that make life much much easier and help lots in grinding. Pets are cash shop only and must have, not that expensive tho. Outfits on the other hand are only a handful/average looking in game and lots/expensive/great looking in cash shop. So much for customization, most ppl look almost alike in game.
Mixed impressions
-Gender locked classes, personally i dont care.
-Open world pvp (after lvl 45) . Happens, especially when guilds are at war. If you re afraid of random ganking, it is very rare unless you want to grind in highly contested areas. Even so its not that common. After all you might win, lvls arent that different, or your guild might declare war vs those who won you and help you. Even if killed in pvp -if others attack first- you loose no exp or armor damage, just your pride is hurt!
Verdict (again)
As i said in the beginning, game is mostly good and improving. Lots and lots of expansions so far at no extra cost. Highly recommended to try it, but be warned that it is not for everyone's taste. Some will really love it tho. Thank you for sharing