don't do it

MS is incredibly F2P unfriendly (forget it if you're not on Reboot), is a huge time-sink (dailies, weeklies, exponential progression crawl), and very unclear on what to do to progress once you hit the upper levels (200+) unless you get guidance from a guild/online. FOMO is also very, very real with expiration timers on almost everything you could possibly imagine. RNG is king in this game, from boss loot to cosmetics to enchanting gear -- you can thank Nexon for introducing the gachapon! :)

I still love the game though. Grew up on it and am insufferable about it to my friends. One of the best OSTs of all time, in my opinion, and the environments are incredibly beautiful. Stories are hooking as well, with plenty of world/epic quests to get through from 20(!) years of development. I just cannot recommend anyone play it lmao

TL;DR
RNG, FOMO, P2W, no-lifing, unclear progression
fantastic OST and art
plenty of stories to read through if you're into that (but they can contradict due to 20 years of development)

A massive disrespect to player's time and experience.

There has consistently been multiple unscheduled maintenance. When things inevitably break and get
rollback, some issues aren't even addressed until the event is over.

Progression is terrible. Mid game you hit a wall where progression is locked behind time gates and rng.
You end up grinding the same bosses over and over for a minuscule chance of a boss drop.

Worse still, negative progression is a real feature. Upgrading equipment is rng, can downgrade, or worse, gets destroyed,
punishing you for your time and effort.

There is a requirement to level up to 41 alternate characters just to make your main stronger.

The game throws multiple overlapping systems at you with zero explanations. New players are left to drown
in convoluted systems with no guidance or onboarding.