I'm the type of gamer that does not give a shit about how long or difficult is to level up as I will just grind it out to the max level before I start getting the best available gear. I'm a raider through and through. I started the beta since the beginning of the beta and here is what I have done and seen. I picked a champion to start with and a friend I duo'd with picked a cleric.
The first starting area is the tutorial zone (it is instanced to control the amount of noobs stealing mobs). Many of the quests can relate to World of Warcraft as you kill this many of these mobs and collect this then return. The quest givers have a "!" above their name. The map shows where the quest can be accomplished. Once you finish the quest the turn in guy will have a check mark above their name. After you finish the quest, the quest guy will usually give another quest to move to the next area that provides harder quests.
Once you are about level 6-7 then you will move out of the newbie zone and into the real world. The quests are very similar to WoW. It is usually killing a # of mobs, collecting items that drop off of mobs, or collecting items from the ground, and then going and kill the named. Once you complete quests you receive experience, platinum, and gear.
Grey gear - no stats, Green - stats, Blue - rarer and better stats, purple - epic and fantastic stats. When a uncommon-epic item drops all group members select need, greed, or pass and it automatically rolls. There is bind on pickup, bind on equip gear items.
I forget what level, but probably around level 8-10 I was able to choose my second character class. My first was a champion(dps) and my second was a warlord(tank). Each level receives 1 talent point that you put in your talent trees. Each class you receive you can put in 1 point into either class' talent tree.
I recieved my third class after completing a level 18 quest (void knight). These are great to create a unique character. If you go to your class trainer (warrior trainer) you can buy another soul. This means that you can have a tank spec with a warlord talent tree and another spec such as DPS where i put all my talents in the champion talent tree. You have an ability to cast a spell which switches between the soul of your choosing. (if you are a DPS class, such as a ranger/bard spec you can switch between a ranger and a bard whenever you like; depending on how you place your talents you can be a bard with a pet even)
The cleric and I duo'd to level 20 (max beta level) in about 13hours; everything is soloable but will take a little longer because you have to drink to get HP or mana. The main city contains class trainers, trade skills trainers, vendors, bankers, auctioneers and a porter to port to different places that was not available to the beta.
Once we were 20 we went to the first instance. The instance has some unique encounters. The first named hits really hard and casts an aoe. The 2nd named has an event where you kill 3 named 1 at a time, then you kill all 3 at the same time. The last named has a deadly aoe that is avoidable only if you run to the protecting ghost when it spawns right before the aoe.
Rifts spawn anywhere at any time. The rift spawns mobs in 5 waves, with 2 names. If the rift is kept open the attackers will spawn and run through the roads and take over towns if not stopped.
TLDR
-Quest/ leveling system very similar to WoW
-Easy to level
-Unique class/talent system
-Receive gear/plat from quests as you level
-Uncommon,Rare,Epic gear - Bind on pickup / Bind on equip
-VERY good graphics
-Hardly any bugs - very polished
-Unique encounters in the instance
-Auctioneer/mounts/trade skills/instances
-PVP battlegrounds (could not experience is in beta)
-Gear well itemized so far
-Rifts form anywhere and spawn mobs in 5 waves
-Attackers spawn if a rift is not closed (will attack/take over towns)
I will not give up on this game yet because of the similarities to WoW. I enjoyed WoW when it first came out until the first expansion destroyed all the time I spent farming raid instances for gear. I need to find out how the end-game is and how the PVP is. I do not give a shit how quick it takes to level as I would just grind it out anyway.
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