I find it fun, and will probably be spending much more time in it when it releases, and if it turns into what I think it may, will probably be saying goodbye to EQ (and all SoE games) for good. The next 6 months will tell.
The character creator is awesome, and of the folks who didn't try to remake an existing comic book character during beta before the name filter stabilized; I have yet to see two heros that look exactly alike, even after they added all the pre-order people (about 30,000 folks in game).
On the server load tests, they found a server could still run semi-okay (it never crashed but you saw some major lag and rubber banding on occasion) with 5000 users on simultaneously.
Also, although the Archetype provide a framework, your character is defined by your power selection; and of course some power combos seem more uber than others, but generally you can find a optimum soloing combination for EVERY archetype in the game.
There's no 'visible' loot (ie things you find to add to your costume); and no 'looting of corpses. As you defeat MOBs they all have a chance to drop 'inspirations' (self buffs that you click on during combat to boost your abilities/heal yourself/rez yourself, etc.) or Enhancements that you can add to powers to personalize and improve aspects of each based on the enhancements you decide to 'slot' there. When an Enhancement/Inspiration drops, it immediately appears in your inventory (no message to others, etc.). The system is also designed so that if you're in a group, everyone in the group will get something before anyone else in the group receives a second inspiration/enhancement, etc.
Also, are you way higher then a friend in levels, but you still want to play with him one your team? No problems, side kick him and his stats and power effects are boosted to just one level below yours (he doesn't get more powers per se, but if he's level 6 and you're level 15, his HP an defense are boosted to lie he was Level 14; and all his powers work like they were Level 14). The drawbacks: He has to stay somewhat near you or he looses the boost; and you have to be at level 10 or higher to SK lower level players, and the play has to be at least 3 levels below you; also, when SKed you receive EXP like you would if you were at the 'boosted' level (meaning you can't use it to PL); but it does allow lower levels folks who may have just joined the game to join their higher level friends who may have been playing for months.
There's a lot of powers and enhancements to choose from, and people say the game starts to shift to something a bit different at 20+, then again at 30+. I've seen a small glimpse of this with my level 17 Scrapper when I've teamed with level 20 folks on occasion; but the last month as more 'Purgs' and friends started in game, I went back and created lower level characters to level with them.
Also, in this game (unlike EQ where for me personally, I only found the monk class fun and most others to be not fun for me - did a few to 20); I'm finding fun combos in ALL the CoH archetype. Been playing since January (and BTW we were limited because they only ran the server about 16 hours a week with the main long sessions being 8 hours on Saturdays) until they went to a 24 hour/5day schedule in March (Wed - Sat); and FINALLY went full 24/7 last week for the final two weeks of beta). In that time I have a:
Level 17 martial arts/super reflexes Technology Scrapper
Level 14 super strength/Invulnerability Science Tanker
Level 11 Gravity/Force Field Natural Controller
Level 4 Energy Manipulation Natural Blaster
The graphics engine is VERY nice, and the neat thing about this game is it does make you feel like a hero from level one.
Combat is also VERY chaotic (but interesting) at times. it keeps you one your toes and is often pretty intense. It's not a lot like EQ combat at all. 'Two Boxing' is not possible because of this (which imo is a good thing). There's also not an absolute 'need' for certain archetype to be able to do missions and patrol. A group of eight scrappers/blasters/etc. can defeat stuff and handle missions just fine. It helps to diversify on tough missions, but it isn't REQUIRED to succeed or advance.
You also don't loose anything when you're defeated (in terms of powers/abilities/levels); you just acquire 'debt'. If you have debt you also still advance, and can continue to level up; it's just that the exp you earn is split 50/50 between paying off debt/adding new exp to your character until the debt is paid off. The debt is 5% of the points needed to get to your next level per defeat, and caps at 50% your current exp needed for the next level. There is NO corpse retrieval. If you die, you can release to a Hospital and come out 100% (although in one of the first content patches the Devs claim this will change and that if you are doing a door mission against a villain group, instead of the hospital, you might find yourself a 'prisoner' and will have to fight your way free before you can go re-join the mission in progress). The disadvantage to hospitaling is that you may have to run a LONG way back to get to a mission and Hazard zones have no Hospitals and are nasty which means if your mission is there, you have to run back from the nearest city zone, and through the Hazard zone to get back to your mission. Characters have rez powers (and you can get awaken insps) to Rez yourself too. The advantage to rezzing where you are is no run back to get to your mission and NOT having to fight your way back to a spot if MOBs have re-spawned behind you, which can happen if you take a while to get back.
The flaws: Some of the lower level (Levels 1 - 14) missions start to feel repetitive at times, but around level 15 you start seeing new maps, etc. And even though you sometimes have 'tasks' in missions, this simply involves finding a 'glowing' item (or set of items dispersed all of the maps) that you click on to recover/disarm/get a clue from, etc. And for some the lack of visible loot bothers folks (ut not me honestly, I like the way the loot works in this game). Also, there is no rezz power that removes or mitigates exp debt (I LIKE that this is the case since it eliminates the cleric 'tell hell' syndrome of EQ); and the only advantage to being rezzed is not having to do a run back, or being able to 'take out' the Boss before he regains full HP and END (MOBs do not regen HP fast like in EQ). There's also no 'crafting' although they claim they are working on adding a limited crafting ability; as well as 'skills' like 'Detective Work', etc.
Overall, I think it's a great game. The content level is similar to that of EQ; and all the missions of defeat X/find Y types, but the Devs promise more mission types soon; lie rescue peeps from a natural disaster, etc; and the 'captured' pitfall of Hospitaling it during a door mission will be in with the first major content upgrade patch within the first month, or so they claim. We'll see, but I'm more than willing to give them time and see what the game develops into.
But bottom line: I think the game has a solid foundation, is fun, and has good potential. There are still some bugs and will be when it's released; but with that said, with the way beta has been, I think this game will have the smoothest launch day of any MMORPG yet. We'll see in a little over a week.
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