The loot in the game comes in the form of resources.  A lot of broken items are dropped and you can get a recipe to reforge them from the blacksmith by trading the broken item and a small amount of money.  When they implement the Auction House system in the coming weeks/months the resource system will really take off and the game will gain a little bit of that fun while searching for items.  Even if they are only aesthetic the items are still fun to collect to customize the look of your character.  There are also sigils to be collected.  Let's not forget the promise of shard conquest too, that they stated would take place during major updates where they introduce new shards and the player guilds contest with the npc race on the shard for control of it.  That sounds like it will add a lot of depth to the game.  The game is still new; don't be so quick to write it off.  Within a year or so, I would think, assuming it lasts that long, the game will be one of the best out there.  It has some rough spots, as do all games at release, but the team that develops it is devoted whole-heartedly to improving the game and creating the most enjoyable player experience they can.

Originally posted by Alengwan

 

If it was F2P game with item mall - maybe, but for P2P market it lacks... something.

What it lacks is a strong community.  While I can agree that it does seem to be missing a little something, I think that whatever it may be is cancelled out by the fun of the game when you have a group.  I started it with a few friends and when we got together to quest or grind PEP it was a lot of fun.  Also the game has only just been released.  They have another significant update scheduled for the end of the month and have already touched on the topic of adding the arena system and mounts throughout the course of the year.  I think it will have a few rough months ahead of it when it does launch in NA but if they can get through that they can still make it work and build a strong player base.  When it launches in NA and the servers hopefully become populated to the point where you're not alone all the time the game will get a different rep all together.  I haven't played it in a few weeks because an mmo shouldn't be single player and I got bored of doing things alone.  The game, however, is fun even if you are alone, allbeit a little annoying at times.  For me, though, a major part of these games for me is the community.  People that enjoy playing by themselves would love this game on the EU servers.  Anyway, I haven't given up hope on this game just yet.  If it should fail though, there's always Darkfall(assuming it's not a scam lol) and Mortal Online to fall back on when they're released.

Having played for a month or so on the EU servers I can say that the game does, in fact, change drastically after level 7.99.  It doesn't really kick off until levels 10 and above when you go to Quarterstone and Ringfell.  The Green District is just plain awesome.  The game can still survive if Acclaim manages to get this beta off the ground within the next few days and get the game actually released within a few weeks.  From what I gather their entire purpose of beta testing is to stress test the servers, seeing as how the game is already released.  It's true that the servers are basically dead on the European side but that doesn't mean that the NA launch, which incidentally has far more countries under its jurisdiction, will fail.  There are still a lot of players eager to try this game out.  They have made mistakes so far, admittedly.  The IP Ban system is just unbelievable.  Without that they could be bringing in money already and Acclaim would have most players transfer over after they launched for a better connection and more people in their timezone.  What's done is done, though.  I really hope that this game does well after launch because, as you can probably guess from my name, I think the game is amazing.  It has a lot of features not seen elsewhere and is really taking away a lot of the features that have been done to death in other MMOs while simultaneously introducing a few new ones that are long overdue.  Also, just playing the game has this very surreal feeling and when you actually do have people in your party it's a lot more fun than any game I've played in a long time.  By the way, to those waiting to play this, I strongly suggest you read the content of the quests and backstories that are given in the game.  They make everything so much more interesting and really help to immerse you in the game.

Based off what I've seen of the game, I'll play it anyway.  As you can tell from my name, I'm not a DF fanboi, I'm a Spellborn fanboi.  I haven't been waiting for this game for years or following its development closely.  It does, however, remind me of a few games I've played except with a better approach.  I love the idea of no levels and no classes.  I love the idea of building your own cities/houses/ships/clan halls.  I love the idea of a gigantic world with no zones limiting where you go and the idea of succeeding or failing in combat based off your own skill, not random dice rolls.  Assuming those things, or even half of them, make it into the game, it will be worth playing for people like me.  This type of game really promotes a strong sense of community, which I haven't felt in a game since Tibia(as awful of a game as it is overall, it has the best community out there atm.).  You can tell because the game hasn't even been released yet and it already has such a massive following.  At this point the game seems worth the time of anyone who likes the idea of setting their own goals and living the life of a character in a fictional world.  No level means no level cap, means no standard goal for everyone to rush to.  It allows players to play at their own pace without fear of falling behind their friends in level.  Say what you want about the game, but unless it delivers less than 10% of its promises like Dark and Light did, it will succeed and it will always have a steady player base.  That and if it is so riddled with bugs that it is essentially unplayable.

While your comparisons are true you can't just toss DF into the same boat until we see what happens to it.  I'm not a DF fanboy, not even looking forward to the game.  I'm a spellborn fanboy(hense the account name :P) and I just finished playing the 2 day open beta they had for the european community.  Spellborn matches just about every comparison listed there and it by no means seems like it will disappoint.  It was made by a no-name developer (Spellborn International LTD.), a company made specifically for the development of the game.  It was originally planned to be released Q1 of 2007, started development in 2005.  It's only being released now, Q4 2008, Q1 2009 for the US.  It's been hyped to be very innovative and different from the rest of the market (which it is.  I have to say it is hands down the best game I've ever played).  The game has proven to me and the other testers that it is no hoax and it is ready for launch despite the countless delays and limited content leaked to the public due to the beta NDA.  While I'm not saying that DF will be the same way as TCoS there is a chance that it will not disappoint.  Also, I played DnL when they had their temporarily free to play period and I have to agree it was garbage.  I had a good computer at the time but it lagged horribly and looked even worse.  With the massive following DF has amassed I hope it doesn't disappoint.  For those of you that play it and find it's garbage theres always TCoS.  Give it a look.