@Xan,
hmm... I'm not sure what you mean by not polished enough. I recall when I played before there were some things that frustrated me, in crafting for example. But, overall I found it quite polished and bug free... Nothing like Conan which was just a mess upon release.
But.. my experience with MMOs is somewhat limited, so I'm also no judge.
@Des,
I hear you, but the difference is that here you can own content, should you choose. Also, trials tend to be time-limited, which is not the case here. Finally, the entire main storyline is free and you can access every area of the game, including gathering resources everywhere. (you just can't complete quests without TPs beyond the 3 starting zones).
@Crenshinibon,
I don't know the whole story on points yet, but as I've experienced so far you grind for points by completing deeds. For example, you tend to obtain about 15 TPs when you complete all of the quests in an area. You also achieve deeds by slaughtering a given number of creatures/bandits or completing a certain type of combat move a certain number of times. During normal game play this often just happens automatically, but you can also focus on running about killing things for that precise purpose. It's called grinding because doing so can become incredibly tedious, no matter how beautiful the surroundings. (though, at least the deeds also give you something called "virtues" which significantly enhance your character build)
You can eventually acquire enough TPs by grinding though, and they facilitate this by giving access to all land zones and allowing you to create two characters (the max for full F2P) on every server. As you can see... it's doable to access all content for "free" but you need to have the stomach for a lot of repetition. That's why I bought the $50 point pack, between content sales and TPs accrued automatically by just playing I figure I'll be able to do quests in all zones.
Personally, I much prefer this model because when you don't pay a monthly subscription you don't feel obliged to spend time playing when you don't feel like it. I get bored with MMOs if I play too frequently because of the numerous Fedex types of missions. But a few hours here and there when you know the content you've acquired will always remain works well.
Now, there are perks to subscribing, such as instant travel or being able to post an unlimited quantity of things on the Auction House. But, there are ways around this. The only thing you absolutely need a subscription for is if you want to participate in PvP. Since I'm not into that sort of thing, I'm not fussed.
@Tricky,
you're welcome!
From what I've read, the European F2P should be running within the next month, so keep a watch.
