Something Different, in a Good Way
Eventually though, if you can hang in there, something interesting happens. You become comfortable with the UI. The control scheme becomes second nature as you cycle between attack styles as the situation calls for it. You realize the drag and drop loot mechanic adds immensely to the tactical nature and feel of the game. You start enjoying the challenge that PvE mobs represent, and take real joy in killing them instead of just plowing through them like they don't exist. You start using cover to take advantage of the FPS nature of the game... ducking behind trees and rocks while popping out to land a well aimed arrow or spell. The game grows on you, and in a serious way.
Did I mention how stealth works in the game? There aren't any namtags that chill out over the top of you or your enemies head that paint a giant bullseye on you. The only way to actually identify someone is to hover your crosshair over them... which basically means you have to be able to see them in the first place. This, combined with the firstperson view modes, and static over the top 3rd person view of melee combat (you can't rotate the camera) allows for players to hide and sneak up on people exceptionally well. The trick? You makes lots of noise when you do anything. And everyone can hear those noises from a -long- ways off. So you have to use your "Crouch" key to sneak up on someone. It will minimalize the noise your making while putting you into a slowwalk mode where you are crouched down. Other things also affect your stealthiness... including keeping out of line of sight, shadows, the type of armor your wearing (metal clinks and glints off the sun), foilage and cover, the time of day (day and night cycles), and weather (fog, rain, etc). Oh... did I mention this all applies to PvE too? Run around in some heavy armor making a ton of noise near a mob spawn and you're likely to have every monster within 100 meters pissed at you.
That noise plays such an integral part of the game is very immersive. You are constantly on the alert listening for the sounds of trouble. Whether it be the sound of another mob running at you from your backside, or an enemy player mounted on a wartiger galloping over a ridge of the nearby hill. If you listen, you can avoid all sorts of troubling situations... and thats outstanding Unfortunately, the actual sound palette isn't particularly good.. oh well
Full loot PvP. What can you say? It can be heartbreaking at first, especially when you are getting all your noob armor from quests and you finally have a decent set and then someone comes along and murders you and takes it all away. Chin up, its really not that bad. Fact is, within a few days of playing you'll have an absolute ton of armor sitting in your bank just waiting for you when you die. Same goes for weapons, arrows, etc. If your careful, you rarely are in a situation where you will lose anything that isn't very easily replaced. That's not to say that it isn't heartbreaking at times, especially when you are loaded down with something valuable. But the great thing is... it works both ways. Sometimes your the one killing someone that has something really nice on them. It makes your heart pump in PvP, as you never know what the next enemy might have on their corpse . It also makes you really value what you have, and you'll find yourself becoming quite the packrat in banking stuff... only bringing out your "good" stuff for special occasions.
The game world... It's amazing! What the games character model and animations lack, the environments make up for. You can tell its been crafted by hand with a lot of love, and honestly I can't think of another world that is more varied, immersive, or just plain beautiful. Only two MMO worlds have ever given me a real joy in just exploring.... Lord of the Rings Online, and Darkfall. And I prefer Darkfall, which is saying alot. On top of this beautiful handcrafted world... its also incredibly massive (reportedly the biggest MMO world in existance). And it seamless. Never will you hit a loading screen, not even when your crawling around in a sprawling cavern far beneath the ground. It truly is amazing.
And what is a seamless world without player built cities and housing? Players can own(and decorate) there own house that exists in the actual gameworld (not instanced). Some, but not all, of these housing plots are located in villages(basically a group of player houses), which clans can fight over for the right of taxation(the money you pay for your house goes into the controling clans vault). This makes for great PvP hotspots that are actually worthwhile to obtain. On top of this, clans can build their own full fledged cities. The plots these cities are build upon are also siegable, so clans must fight and defend to obtain and keep their city. To really get a feel for it you need to look up a video on youtube, its pretty hard to describe the chaos and epic feel of these battles with dozens or hundreds of characters at a time. I will say its unmatched by any other MMO.
The game truly is amazing. It's not for everyone though. It's a harsh world with harsh consequences. Their is also an inherent skill grind needed to become "competitive" in PvP.. which will take a powergamer a month or two... and a casual player sometimes (much)longer.. depending on how focused you stay with your training. However, if you have the stomach for losing your stuff, getting ganked by (far)more powerful players... and don't mind earning your big kid card... it is hands down the best PvP MMO on the market.
A lot of the bad rap this game gets comes from a rough launch... and it was rough. Enough that I stopped playing about a week after launch, and only recently just picked the game up again. But thats in the past, and is absolutely no reason to keep you away from this game in the present..
Oh did I mention sea battles? I can't even describe the awesomeness, you just need to watch a youtube video. No other game has anything like it.