I'm very pleased with the direction the game is going. Sure, there are a few things here and there in the Alpha videos that I don't particularly care for, but I'll withhold all my extreme judgement until getting some hands on time with the Beta.

The whole world seems to run a lot smoother, combat seems to be paced better and, even though I'm not usually a fan of Global Cooldowns, I think it works very well. I'm also glad to see the quest system was revised from it's 1.0. incarnation. The overhaul of the world and the graphics engine is also very nice to behold.

The animations for skills and abilities are looking good, and though they don't all seem very fluid, I know it's been stated the final and blending animations have yet to be added. Like some, I'm not too pleased about the back-peddling, but I'm not going to rage about it until I actually get some play time in the beta build.

Again, I'm pleased in the direction ARR is heading. Please keep up the good work.

Remember, for every explosive, angry, entitled, overcritical poster who thinks "they speak for the majority", there are those of us who are actually happy with how things are going.

(P.S.: So help me god though...that Beta needs to be done properly, or there will be a LOT to be said on the forums.)