Today when I try to connect it isn't able to and gives me a few messages ending with Pacth Failed...  is this typical?  I see nothing on the official site saying there is maintenance or servers are down...

As for the game itself, I had a lot of fun with it yesterday.  Had a few nice people willing to help with questions in game, and a few others just walk up and trade me some items without me asking for anything.  At first glance this appears to be the best free to play game i've tried.  I'm a bit worried though after reading this forum... it appears most people like it early on and are impressed only to have their hopes and dreams shattered later on.  I really need something to at least keep my interest until AoC.

As I keep playing Archlord (if I can get in) I may update this thread with my thoughts and opinions ongoing...

  Ok, saw on the forums that Monday's have maintenance.  I wouldn't have even done my original post if I wasn't waiting 10 minutes for each page to open on their site...  

It's a fine game.  I played when it was Pay to Play for a few months.  I go back to it off and on.  It has a big grind (but what doesn't).  It's rarely down, so it is dependable.

Nice graphics for spells also.