Original (positive): This has been the most involved I have ever been with an MMO with the greatest amount of respect from the developers for the community. There just truly is no competitor.

Edit (now negative):
The raiding is fine, and most of the high-end raids are very well designed and immensely enjoyable. The roleplay scene is on an entirely different level than every other game I've ever encountered online. And there's starting to be some cool gear, too (not much of a fan of final fantasy-style gear, apparently; but some of the newer raid gear has been more wow-esque, and is sick).

However, the game lacks an immense amount of QOL that even the oldest MMOs have, the developers constantly lie about or massively oversell upcoming features ("graphics overhaul", Viera/Hrothgar not being able to wear most headgear, and dozens of features throughout 7.x that have now been cancelled, etc), they experience significant server issues at least every week now, and more and more the fact that all the money this game makes goes straight to other divisions within the company shows in each new piece of content they release (particularly the latest raid tier, the latest ultimate, the latest field operation, and the latest entire expansion of story).

I can only recommend this game if you are going to mod the crap out of it and roleplay.
I don't feel it's generally worthwhile other than that anymore, and it is consistently getting worse.

The developers are only trying to do the bare minimum to keep milking their playerbase; it is nearing the cusp of life support, before it is eventually sunset in favor of a new mmo from square.

Edit (now more negative):
They are C&Ding plugins now, it seems. At least one, that was about a third of the reason I (and clearly many many others) still even played the game, with how dry this expansion has felt.

I no longer recommend this game at all.

Original (positive): This has been the most involved I have ever been with an MMO with the greatest amount of respect from the developers for the community. There just truly is no competitor. Edit (now negative): The raiding is fine, and most of the high-end raids are very well designed and immensely enjoyable. The roleplay scene is on an entirely different level than every other game I've ever encountered online. And there's starting to be some cool gear, too (not much of a fan of final fantasy-style gear, apparently; but some of the newer raid gear has been more wow-esque, and is sick). However, the game lacks an immense amount of QOL that even the oldest MMOs have, the developers constantly lie about or massively oversell upcoming features ("graphics overhaul", Viera/Hrothgar not being able to wear most headgear, and dozens of features throughout 7.x that have now been cancelled, etc), they experience significant server issues at least every week now, and more and more the fact that all the money this game makes goes straight to other divisions within the company shows in each new piece of content they release (particularly the latest raid tier, the latest ultimate, the latest field operation, and the latest entire expansion of story). I can only recommend this game if you are going to mod the crap out of it and roleplay. I don't feel it's generally worthwhile other than that anymore, and it is consistently getting worse. The developers are only trying to do the bare minimum to keep milking their playerbase; it is nearing the cusp of life support, before it is eventually sunset in favor of a new mmo from square. Edit (now more negative): They are C&Ding plugins now, it seems. At least one, that was about a third of the reason I (and clearly many many others) still even played the game, with how dry this expansion has felt. I no longer recommend this game at all.