For me at least.

Okay, I still have more than a month's worth of time paid up with Mythic, so I'll likely login to WAR now and then to chat with some peeps, take some last moment screenshots and check out any changes before I go.

Love:

I love the Scenarios. I love the PvP-balanced classes. I love the (Games Workshop inspired) art design. I love the interface. I love my Squig. I love calling Dwarves "Stunties" and Goblins "Gobbos".

And Love Lost:

I find the RvR just dullsville and the PvE even moreso. Public Quests were an illusion that crumbled. Grinding Influence is worse than any grind I've ever played. The questing is oddly too convenient. There's no quality small team content. I could list more disappointments, I could fill a few pages with them.

Primarily I feel the game suffers from misdirection. It's like they pretended to have a world, but much of it is like a cardboard movie set. Push it a little and it falls over. And where it does stand up, where Mythic put their serious effort in, doesn't quite work either. There are too many underlying fatal flaws.

So much potential, parts of the game are really good. It just doesn't hit the magical formula for me. I could go on about how Mythic could improve-- I'm almost compelled to do so, as insight from a critical 'almost-fan'.

Where is it going?

Mythic stubborning hammers away at their big feature (RvR Keep / City capturing), neglecting the rest. A portion of the fanbase is applauding them for doing so, much to my disbelief. I'm not sure Mythic realizes just how niche they've made their game.

I can see WAR improving, but I cannot see it growing.

It's not as disappointing as Age of Conan. Both have great elements that work, both have many that don't, but overall WAR is more playable as an MMO, while AoC plays like a single-player game. For me though, the frustrations are a bit the same. I feel they've built in a shallow pit and they're not willing to re-dig to make it deeper.

For anyone thinking of giving WAR a try, I'll give this advice:

If you like PvP and don't give two hoots about the rest of the game, then WAR can be okay. Parts of it are great, particularly the Scenarios. I could accept WAR as a PvP-only game if there was a greater variety of PvP activities that worked well, but it's mostly the Scenarios that bring the fun factor home.

For me, I don't see much point when I can play Team Fortress 2 (which is currently on sale at Steam for 10 bucks) without a monthly fee.