Character Creation: Creating characters in the game is a great improvement over the first. The kind of customization that the creator has choice from is greater than most mmos that I have seen. There are many hair styles, faces, and what not which you get to choose from. One of the best parts is that all races can be any of the classes. There are no restrictions what so ever in those terms. For each race there are set of questions that the game asks you. That resembles like most modern rpgs, but this to a lesser extent. When you are asked a question, how you answer affects how your character turns out throughout the game. There are three categories that define your character. Dignity, Charm, and Ferocity. Throughout the game when you talk to some npcs. There will be prompts that would add points into either of the three. I am not exactly sure what they do later on. My speculation is that it would turn out similar to dark and light side points in TOR. It acts as a tool to define your character from other ones.
Combat: Combat is loads of fun. I don't know how long I had this much combat wise in a mmo. There are ten slots in which you get to customize your skill bar with. Every class has their set of skills. Each weapon has their own set of skills. When you reach level 7 you get the option to be able to switch between two weapon sets during combat. As you use the weapon you unlock more skills. There are no casting bars. By that I mean you can't tell what another player of mob is casting. This requires the player to be paying to attention to the animations and predict what skill is being used. The skills when out of range don't red out and yell at you two far away. So you have to be watching your distance between enemies to ensure you are hitting them. There is no mana just cool downs. There is an endurance bar which allows you to evade. This makes combat much more interesting than most mmos. Which usually means standing still, not standing in pixels, npcs are moving around making combat much more mobile.
Graphics and the Environment: The graphics in my opinion were very well done. I have a top of the line computer so I was able to throw everything on max settings. With that being said the world is very beautiful. While walking around Divnitiy's Reach and Lion's Arch I was pretty amazed how well the buildings looked as well as the other players and npcs that were roaming around
Story: Now just like mmo there is a deep story going on. As soon as the racial intro begins after character creation. With all the answers from your questions take into account. The intro animation goes over what is going on the world in relation to your race and character. There are so far from what I saw character quests or maybe racial quests. I haven't yet figured out if there is any difference in those quests, between the classes or the questions you answered I don't know if those have any bearing. At the very least each race has its own thing going and some where they converge on the main issue at hand. From what I did experience the story was very interesting.
PvP: Pvp like the first game is very well done. At anytime after the intro quest you can enter PvP part of the game. When you do enter you are automatically set to 80 regardless given generic gear that every has, making the playing field level for all. You first enter a lobby that goes over the basics of PvP in the game. Afterwards there are numerous portals in which you can select from. There is World vs World and smaller objective based maps such has conquest. World vs. World is the competition between three severs at all times. There are three home maps one for each server and one current map that you right on. There are many keeps, supply bases, outposts, and a giant castle in the middle. To get into any of bases that have walls you must first destroy the door first. The door as large amounts of armor so it could take 10-20 mins to get through. The fastest way to get in is with the use of siege weapons. To get siege weapons you need supply. To get supply you need supply bases. Every 10 minutes there is a caravan that is sent from all the supply bases you control to your keeps. Make sure you protect them because anyone from another team can ambush it if you are not careful. There will be tournaments to partake in. Which I believe will be similar to Temple of Ages style. You enter in a team of members and go as far as you can till you loose or if you are lucking win it all. I'm there will be guild vs guild action as well.
Dungeons: From what I heard and saw, dungeons the player goes into will never be the same thing twice. The first time will be for story purposes. Anytime after that new bosses will show up, you can make it harder. This sounds very intriguing sadly I didn't get the chance to do one.
Guilds: Guilds are going to have customization off the bat. When you have members log in and spend time online the guild gains influence points. With these influence points the guild can unlock many perks. Such as experience boosts, unlocking merchants with what I believe are guild halls. There are tons of things to spend influence points on. Rewarding active guilds and having a great time with your mates is going to be a good time to be had.
Overall I think this game so far is very well done and I can't wait to play again the next beta weekend.
