I also just purchased the game last night and I have the opposite feeling for the game. After hitting 60 on a PvP server in WoW and having others in the 30-50 range, there wasn't much else to do. The so-called "Honor" system was a joke. Without the option to transfer from a PvP to a PvE server I cancelled my account. I don't want to play on a different server from my main and levelling on PvP is impossible now.
Anyhow, enough about that game. This is my first impression of GW after playing for maybe 2 hours last night:
Graphics: A mix between Lineage 2 and AC2 (that means they are phenomenal and require very little processing power). This is probably one of the best graphical games I have seen since L2. Tons of detail, specular effects etc. The spell animations are very good as well as the character animations. The characters run like normal people although they do have that anime style look to them. Not the japanese anime style but that american ****ty anime style. Definitely an A+ for graphics.
Gameplay: I didn't get too far into any of the classes. Just like any other game with levels etc, it's pretty basic at first. Find a monster, auto attack it and it dies. You do get your first set of class spells very early and they are pretty potent. Movement is EQ style (either WASD or the mouse with L&R click to move) but you can also click move as in Diablo. If you target something (your targetting range is basically anything shown on your radar which has significant range) and you attack, it will move you in rage to attack. The only thing I didn't like about movement is the terrain can be a bit restrictive. You can't run up steeper slopes (other than small hills) and you can't fall off buildings and such. Can't say I disliked it, but the terrain thing irks me a bit. Just something to get used to. From talking to a few people in game it gets much more strategical as you pass the level 10 mark. With only being able to take 8 spells with you out of a repetoire of 150 or so, it's kind of like preparing your spellbook. Once you go back to town you can swap and re-arrange and stuff. I'd say A- here (just for the terrain limitations)
Levelling/Character Advancement: Once you move up past level 5 or so, I assume levelling gets harder. There's no shortage of quests to do up to that point anyhow. You have a certain number of skill points to place in you main attributes that affect the potency of your spells. There's no spells to *buy* at the lower levels, you just do quests for them. There's no "ranks" of spells. Only your points that you place in your abilities affect their potency. On top of that, you can "respec" those points at any time you like in your characters career as long as you have respec points available (you get them for like every 250 xps you gain). Pretty intuitive system but it will lead to "cookie cutter" templates for skill placement. You can still use any skill you have, it just won't be as potent as the ones you are specialized in. A here.
Installation: Flawless. Installed registered and playable within like 10 minutes. A+ here
PvP: Apparently there's different modes for PvP. CtF, group combat, group mission, King of the hill etc. You can make a PvP character right off the bat that is level 20 but they will only have the basic skills for that class. If you play the PvE side, you can do PvP with that character but you will have many more skills that you unlock as you play. This basically makes the PvErs happy because they do have an advantage over the FPS type guys.
That may be a bit off base (and long as hell) but that was my first impession of the game. Coming off multiple level 70 characters in EQ, and WoW, I really like the premise of this game so far.
Look for me as Jarodan Suko (a monk more than likely). I usually play every night for a few hours minimum.
