Since I receive dozens of “what do you think about this” requests every day, I thought I would try to answer as many of them as I can think of in one post. If I think of any more then I will edit them in.

Scale: Fantastic, Great, Good, Mediocre, Bad, Lousy, Total Crap.
Totally subjective. Totally my take based on how I play the game.

Skill-based system
I expected: Fantastic
They delivered: Mediocre
Reason: The system is susceptible to macroing and sets aside the value of earning skills with the value of accruing them. Example: Instead of hitting mobs with spells to earn skillups, you just spam them into the sky. The skill system could have been taken an alternate root with skill trees, skill progression and unlocks, choices between skills via branches or pools, etc.

Combat
I expected: Good
They delivered: Great
Reason: I expected Oblivion with a lot of issues translating such a real-time system to the mmorpg gameplay. Aventurine surprised by actually pulling it off with just a few quirks that can be worked out.

Crafting
I expected: Fantastic
They delivered: Mediocre/Bad
Reason: It’s not what they advertised it to be. I’m not even knocking them for simplicity or tedium. I’m knocking them here for allowing stupid stuff to make it into launch such as only having to make the very first item from 1-100. Seriously, why craft anything but Goblin Axes from 1-100 when they take the least materials and you can skill up on them just as easily as something that takes 100x the mats? The system earns points with me for really requiring players to work at something, rewarding them with a player-driven economy, and having much of the game in general center around crafting.  [Additional points added today for making the gathering system more in-line with what it should be in today’s patch with resource nodes being global.]

Melee Abilities and Weapons
I expected: Great
They delivered: Lousy
Reason: Whether you’re using a dagger or a polearm, the abilities are all the same. You get a Seize (draw in), Knock back, Whirlwind, and power attack. Zero thought went into this. Additionally, combat with certain weapons doesn’t make sense or it’s not polished. Polearms do the most damage, have the most range, and the widest arc while the only drawback is they use the most stamina. Arguably using anything else is inferior. There are subtle differences, but weapons should really stand out as having their unique benefits and drawbacks. It’s too simple. Ranged Combat falls into this for much of the same reasons.

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