For your question about how long it will take to level, they really havnt said much so i dont want to say any false info, but for your question for how big the world is, i pulled this out of the Official FAQ for Vanguard :)

We feel world size should be determined by how much compelling content we can create in the development time we have. Content should drive world size and not really much else. If a world can support 3,000 or 6,000 or 20,000 people simultaneously and the community works, people can find each other, and there's stuff to do for all levels, then it's all good.

It's crazy big. Big enough that, to be honest with you, I'm concerned (though only a little) about how many people will be needed on any given shard to have the critical mass a shard needs. So while you may be worried about it being too small, we're working hard to make sure it's not too big, has the mechanics necessary to keep friends and groups together, that travel is meaningful, that there are enough points of interest, that vehicles, caravans, outposts, etc. work such that the negatives of a huge, seamless world are mitigated and the positives shine through.

Hrm. Took me easily 45 minutes running from Three Rivers to the Vulmane village, taking the easy route, and running from mobs as opposed to fighting them all. That's about, I dunno, half of Thestra in width.

The world is BIG, believe me.

Good answer on the world size.

 I am not as incline to look up information, but I can tell you that leveling will not be fast. Of course you will have that hand full of power gamers that will get up there faster then the rest, but don't count on it takeing 10 days of play time.

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Originally posted by lordtwisted

Good answer on the world size.

 I am not as incline to look up information, but I can tell you that leveling will not be fast. Of course you will have that hand full of power gamers that will get up there faster then the rest, but don't count on it takeing 10 days of play time.

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Originally posted by Jaklyn

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Originally posted by lordtwisted

Good answer on the world size.

 I am not as incline to look up information, but I can tell you that leveling will not be fast. Of course you will have that hand full of power gamers that will get up there faster then the rest, but don't count on it takeing 10 days of play time.

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I agree, from what i have read it seems like its going to take work to get to the top but with reward and status :)

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oooo..here lies the problem. Will it be busy "work" or will it be fun AND rewarding? Will leveling be coincidental to playing / fun or will it be a torturous grind designed to make you endure the game?  

Will it be NPC's deploying players to kill 10 rats / collect pie ingrediants like good little drones or actual quest with story/purpose/thought/impact of choice put into it? Will it be compelling???

I'm pretty sure I can guess the answer, whats your opinion?

1. The World is insanely big... if no mobs attacked you it would take you well over 8 hours of straight play to ride accross just one cont (on average), and that's taking the easy way. Multiply that by 3 Conts, and from what I hear, an up to 4 hour boat ride between the Conts (not to mention the sealife & Islands) and you have an insanely large game.
2. From what I've read & been told, it should take about 6 months of hardcore play to Level Cap.

Quest will be what you make of them.

There will be some quest of help clear the front yard of rats!

        Goal: kill 10 rats and return to NPC.

Then there is stuff like the Find the missing diplomat that will take you months of running around to finish, but along the way you will most likely recieve mini rewards, and at the end, something big!

 I will do any quest once, I love questing. It's doing it over and over again that bugs me.

  The quest that says:

 Help clear the front yard of rats. Kill 10 giant rats.

 You turn it in, and he says, Nice job, but I need you to kill 10 spiders, so on so on.

I think the quest in Vanguard will be story line, not just task.

Fun is certainly a relative thing, but the devs have stated that fun will certainly be a determining factor for a lot of decisions they make.  Heres just a few quotes from the FAQ if folks want to take a look at it.

"Basically, we want to remove as much tedium as possible, as well as barriers to entry. "

"To be clear, Sigil very much believes in the concept of rare items, long quests, and a challenging game. We just believe players should be 'doing' dungeons/adventure areas... moving about, having fun, PLAYING the game. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes will employ an advanced encounter system that should address the camping issue and make dungeon crawling a lot more fun. "

"And for clarity and to manage expectations, no matter how hard we try, there will still be places where you can sit there and grind. And, as some have stated who don't mind or even like this, that's probably a good thing. Variety and options and different types of encounters = good. What's important to me is that you don't have to grind, not that we necessarily eradicate any possibility of it from the face of Telon"

"Some downtime is good... resting between fights, memming up, healing, strategizing for the next battle, using the restroom, grabbing a Dr. Pepper... But too much downtime means you're not really playing the game, and that's bad. "

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Originally posted by lordtwisted

I think the quest in Vanguard will be story line, not just task.

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There will supposedly be thousands upon release.  And while it is entirely possible that the majority will be "go here kill x of that" quests one can only hope this is not the case.

I would wager we'll all have a very solid feel for this answer at some point durring beta 5.