You like PvP? You want to claim you WON in a PvP MMO? Name another MMO out there in which, you, the individual, win?
If you made it to this paragraph then you accept that the levelling model, or grind, as some so affectionately call it, is going to be a steep up hill climb. You level in AL because the levels mean something. Most people can't hack the levelling curve and QUIT before they even hit 50 in a game of 99 levels.
Archlord is one massive experiment in "King of the Hill". You form a guild, recruit good people who will climb with you and then you stop for no one! Need to kill couple million mobs to get to the top? So be it. I've been MMOing since December 2005 when I heard the call from Asheron and descended into Dereth. I've been grinding ever since. I've yet to find an MMO where you don't do something repetetive to ascend some ladder of power. Everyone wants to cry about that fact, yet we vote with our incomes and the same model keeps being produced. Sometimes we just want to go into a "trance" and grind in peace, escaping from the stress of the real world. I don't see things changing. Humans are creatures of habit.
Ok, so you thrive in PvP based games where the politics are neck deep and you know that the levelling curve in AL is harsh, the grind tough. Why should you invest your precious time in AL? The bottom line is that you can win! Yes, one individual each month will ascend to the throne of the Archlord. You'll need to be a good leader, a strategist, a motivator and not a quitter.
If that is appealing to you, then the following critiques will not be as important to your decision making, because in the scheme of things, they are just aesthetics. Things that you will gloss over in time as you focus on the prize at hand.
Grahics are good but not cutting edge. The graphics model is designed to optimize large scale PvP encounters. This forces a cap on the number of "customized" character models. You'll thank the developers when you tell the server you move into range of 50 enemies and your PC is able to load them all up instead of choking on requests to load fancy graphics. Call a target and kill...who's looking at hairstyles or facial tatoos?
Get used to mouse based click n move. The WASD implementation is terrible.
Quests are not the rich deep storylines found in other games. They tell a tale, but when the quests only fill a small portion of your experience for each level come mid game, the story gets lost to you as you aren't immersed in it. Instead you find a good hunting spot and get your groove on.
Class balance is interesting during the first 45 levels or so as some classes mature at different rates to cope with PvE and PvP needs. Come 50+ though, PvP is a chess game. It's not a 1-1 game. Some classes are killers and others can't be killed. 1-1s usually come down to who has more "bullets in their gun". Theoretically some of those fights could go on for hours.
The castle siege and Archlord systems are currently not in game and are anticipated with Episode 2, expected by the end of Q1 2007.