It takes no risks and offers a fresh theme, but doesn't change much compared to other MMO's. Also, it's of lower quality
This game will always be compared to WoW as will any other MMORPG. So don't try and say it shouldn't be compared to it, because for one, WAR took a lot from WoW as WoW took a lot from other games. They are all very alike.
Anyway, WAR offers some interesting ideas. Such as community quests where there is an area that has an event and everyone can join in. Whoever contributes the most is able to get a roll... it probably won't be you though, unless your a higher level than everyone else. It's still fun to do these as some of them get pretty crazy with lots of people around... I'm not sure how it is on other servers but the one I was on had tons of people at each one of these. So I had some fun with it.
Questing is kind of a bore, much like WoW is as well. It all ties in and you are taken to different areas or sent to others, so it has a nice transition to get you in the right direction. But it feels empty, zombie like, nothing really happens at all. You go to an area and you'll kill a bunch of mobs standing around... just like WoW. Something I did like were more community events in each area, where you can stick around to complete and get rewards much like repuatation in WoW. It was nice to see that even in the lower level areas. It still doesn't feel worthwhile at that point because you'll be ditching it in a few levels which are very quick to gain.
The PvP is okay... it's not nearly as well thought out as a WoW battleground. I played something a lot like Halo's territory game where you hold nodes until you win. Kind of like Arathi Basin as well. You can't go Rambo though, because you'll get slaughtered. The class imbalances are ridiculous at this time so it's pretty much a team game or die. There is no 1v1 like WoW. Which just proves that the controls in WoW are far superior. Also, from a distance, when you see people fighting each other the animation becomes terrible, and it looks like a south park cartoon. Paper dolls... it really detracts from the immersion.
A good thing about the PvP (a.k.a scenarios) is you can accept the quest from anywhere and go about questing, and be returned to wherever you were. Unlike WoW where you'll be put in the city you were queued.
The controls in this game at the levels I was at is pretty much a stand and click, it isn't at all like WoW where you can stun, kite, or root. I may have to gain some more levels to be fair, so I can't really comment, I don't have that many skills and I can't say whether you can kite, stun, or root at this point... however PvP doesn't show much promise either at the lower levels. I will need to get to a level high enough to review the control scheme fairly.
Which is a real chore considering the lifelessness of chat and the willingness to group. It's a multiplayer game, yet everyone is running around soloing. I don't have any friends who play because they are all still enjoying WoW for some reason... can't say I blame them, since nothing offer the quality of WoW yet they all seem to charge the same monthly cost.
WAR suffers from dated graphics, and the usual gameplay. The ability to do community quests aren't going to be enough to sway people at this point, and RvR was something already done in DAoC. Only time will tell how well this works at the higher levels, but I'm pretty sure the lower levels will leave community quests barren and not many will be able to complete these. Everyone is rushing to the highest level, and that's pretty much it. I don't see this game taking a huge chunk of WoW players, I see it borrowing them for awhile.
Why pay for something with less quality when you can play WoW, a very refined game with an amazing control scheme unique to each character (mostly)? WAR is worth a try, but you probably won't be playing it past the 30 day trial.