Hey there,
didn't play the beta or anything, but saw some videos and it looked like a fun game. A bunch of questions came up, of which I found some rough answers not. Would be nice if someone could give me more information. :)

• how instanced is the game? Do you hit a loading screen every 30 seconds and when you leave a predefined path you immediately bump into an invisible wall?
• what's the crafting like? Is it very easy or does it require tons of components? Is it worth it or just some funny stuff? Are there lots of recipes or do you get through that quickly?
• how long does it take to max level in the average? Is it one of those games where you are maxed out after a short time, or one of those where you play half a year or longer to get your char to the highest level?
• are there factions of any sort, or is it just "a bunch of superheroes"?
• can it be fun for people who are normally that much into comics? I especially know very little about those american superhero stuff. Only thing I did was collect Clever&Smart when I was a kid. :) Like, in LOTRO when I played the trial someone said "woah, next way they implement the tree under which Gandalf once slept!" and everyone was like "woah so cool!". I like LOTRO but I just couldn't see the exciting thing (exaggerated in this example)
• people talk so much about the character creator that it reminded me of Spore. Which was basically just a character creator with a (in my opinion) disappointing and shallow game tagged on. Is the character creator of CO the only single highlight or just one of many?
• if I spend so much time creating my character, I assume it will keep it's look for a long time. Ain't that boring then? To have your char look about the same on lvl 1 as on max lvl?
• somewhere I read something about micro-transactions and CO. Is it true? That you pay once for the game, then monthly, and then have to pay even more for some stuff?
• on most screenshots and videos I saw only city landscapes or caves. Does this game also have beautiful open-air areas?
• is this more of a solo game (meaning mostly an RPG game with a chat tagged on) or does it actually require teamwork every now and then
• are there lots of dungeons like in the generic mmorpgs, with end-bosses and whatnot?

Thanks for any help

1. you are divided into instances of zones.  Basically the limit (so i have seen) is 100 in the post tutorial/crisis zones.  You can freely move between the instances (to meet up with friends) and it's vital to the game as it only has 1 server.  As for the tutorial/crisis zones...they are limited to about 25 because they are smaller areas, this occurs in the first 6ish levels of the game.  Aside from that the zones are quite large and open with almost no restrictions (due to travel powers).  Dungeons are of course instanced)

2. crafting:  gather components scattered around the zones and break down gear into components.  Once this is done you can craft things like consumables (health stuff), gear (stats depend on the crafting spec), power replacers (best bit of crafting...can change the look and animation of your power and/or change the stats e.g an ice attack now does toxic damage too).  Crafting is limited to 3 choices (Science, arms and Mysticism) and each one has 3 specs.  Aside from that its pretty much a stock standard MMO crafting system

3. no idea but in about 10 hours of playtime i am level 12 (that includes making the character at the start and slowly picking powers...both very lengthy processes).  I highly doubt it is a long grind but i doubt its short too

4. bunch of superheroes...there is no need for factions (though factions do exist ingame, i have yet to come across an area where i have to pick 1)

5. it can be a blast for those into comics...the custom creation system along with custom powers means you can make very unique characters (and well known ones).  You have to remember the game is based off a pen and paper game so the customisation basically allows you to make any sort of hero from comic books.

6. character creator (like in CoH) is one of the best features...it all depends on your opinion of the game as to whether it is the only good feature.  Imho it is not the sole good feature of the game.

7. you dont ever change your appearance with gear (thankfully) and you can visit the tailor at any time to change your costume and body shape (for a small fee) and even create new costumes that you can change to at the push of a button.

8. microtransactions are there but currently they are only for (lame) pets that do nothing but follow you around.  personally i doubt there will be anything more powerful than temp XP boosts and potion style items (which you get from crafting anyway).  Oh and i know for sure there will be costume unlocks on the store.

9. all zones are open (aside from Crisis and tutorial).  And again, with the travel powers they pretty much had to make them open

10. tbh its bloody difficult to do some missions solo.  I have grouped almost all the time (as it is good fun) and even then its still difficult.  If you want a challenge Canada is the place to be

11. not really in the traditional sense.  The end of the crisis missions have boss dungeons in them (and are good fun) and there are loads of quests that have bosses.  There are lairs (never been in one) that basically operate as an instance in the zone that you can attempt with friends (no quests for em, gotta go on your own free will).  If your thinking about endgame, i would expect raids on big name villains and their lairs and possibly events (alien invasion for example)

aside from that i would highly recomend the game.  Its great fun.  As for grouping, if anyone asks for help then i always team up with them (even if i don't have the quest) as the game is much more enjoyable that way.

Thanks for the informations.

Just one last thing:
If the game is having only one server, and that one is obviously not located in europe, will I have a bad latency if I play it in Europe? I have a rather good connection normally (like a ping of 10 to 20 if I play TF2 on a german server or 20 to 30 if I play on one in UK), but MMORPGs have according to my experience a higher latency anyway than FPS games, and if you add the distance to a north american server to that, I wonder how large the impact is on the gameplay, especially on PvP.

I play from Europe and ping at 200-250ms. It's smooth.

Mind, for most MMOs you can play with 500ms and never even notice it. It's more important to have a stable latency rather than a fast one. The network-lag compansation mechanics will keep things smooth as long as it's stable.