No so you must scurry along right now. WAR is a game. It's meant to be fun, it's not meant to weigh you down with harsh death penalties that don't help you get right back in the fight. So for the hardcore more FFA-type players, this IS NOT your game. This is about two sides duking it out, true enough, but in way more ways than WoW.

First: WAR encourages open-field PvP combat. WoW? It's pointless and half the time you just get twenty Horde that gank and spawn camp you.

Second: WAR has the instanced side of it, comparable to WoW's BGs, but THIRTY. Compared to FOUR. Just a little more variety there so we all won't be grinding two or three eh?

Third: PvE contributes to RvR. This obviously isn't tied into direct PvP but the PvP is part of the RvR system so the PvE is too.

Fourth: Open world Keep sieging and guild possession of keeps. WoTLK will make a pathetic attempt to copy other games by adding this in the expansion.

All I can think of for now I'm tired hehe.

1) I don't see how it's true "world PvP" if zones are divided into PvP and non-PvP zones. But it's a little step up from WoW.. (sorry for using WoW as a benchmark btw)

2) Thirty is impressive, however I don't really see the need for 30 PvP instances. So yes, WAR would have alot more variety when it comes to instanced PvP. However it does not have an Arena system. Although the level of skill required in WoW to PvP is borderlining zero it's still nice to have a competative PvP system.

3) That's nice, but I personally couldn't care less what benefits some PvEing chaos players get when I'm PvPing with my shaman. It helps to unite the factions but that's it pretty much...

4) That's the key thing, Guild PvP with actual keeps. That's one of the things that make WAR look like a promising PvP title. But other than that I'm less than amazed.

- As for death penalties they add excitement to PvP, if you've got nothing to loose it makes it much less thrilling. If you had ever played EVE you'd know that. But ye, in instanced PvP it'd be pretty pointless with PvP penalties.

- Oh and thanks for the kind answer!

Just came back home after having tried out the AoC Open Beta. To be quite frank with you, I wasn't very impressed.

For starters the GFX weren't as lovely as promised although it ran somewhat okay (on a high performance dx9 system). The textures are looking rather raw and crude, animations are quite choppy and there was quite a bit of visual glitches. For what it's worth I think there's more candy for the eye in games like WoW. I might add that I preferred the female animations since they were much smoother and flowing than their male counterparts', less time texturizing boobs and more work on the world visuals please.

Fortunately though there's more than GFX to a good MMO, the lore and world itself seemed refreshing and the little storyline that unfolds itself in the beginning is actually fairly decent.

It's too early to draw any conclusions about the classes but some did seem a little more akward to play than others, especially the Necromancer. I quickly became fond of the Assassin and Tempest of Set, I expect that I'll be playing one of thoose two come release. ToS is probably the most intriguing caster at low levels that I've ever come across.

Loading times are a pain, we were having maybe 10 seconds but it's still annoying, especially when just moving in and out of buildings. It also seems a bit 'unbecoming' of a supposed "next gen" mmo, the game doesn't feel that impressive but the need for another game than 'the one who shalt not be mentioned' will probably create the required demand for it to succeed. However, only hard work from the Dev team can keep that interest burning. Should they neglect the community early on I predict that the game will die, fast.

The combat system was well, underwhelming. I don't see why they have made so much fuzz about it since it's basically the same thing as autoattack, just alot more tirering on your fingers (thoose who played  Bards in EQ1 will feel right at home though). Death and spell animations could use a bit more love, not to mention the awful jumping ones.

Conclusion,

Slightly underwhelming, it doesn't leave the impression that a 'next gen' mmo should. However it's some fresh air and there is definitively the potential for a great game. Assuming that we can expect the same class depth as you'd find in WoW, decent PvE instances and good Guild vs Guild PvP that's supported by a great community... .. I think we may have a real winner.

Alot of 'ifs'.. but I'm willing to gamble on it.

- Oh and for anyone saying "Oh it's beta blabalbla it'll get better!" really shouldn't be running their mouths, the game has gone gold. There won't be any major changes to performance at release, hopefully within a near future though. This was not an impressive display from the AoC team, I've seen much better betas where lag has been the only big issue.