Could have been a fantastic game, but instead they focused on PVP End Game instead of Raiding, which is a shame due to all the established lore and the deep pool of villains/locations that could have really been used to flesh out a special end game raiding scene.
Respectfully disagree.
They "started" with a focus on the PvP End Game (nevermind that keeps and sieges were apparently a late implementation), but then they released neutered and weak content, implemented wacky balance changes, and the first major expansion was full of PvE content. Shit, even at launch the PvP End Game was "beat this PvE encounter to shut down their city for hours so you can PvE, and do well enough at this PvE and you can lock it down longer and do more PvE". The best gear for PvP for a long time (Tyrant, whatever the hell the Lost Vale set was, and even shit like 4pc Redeye for tanks) were PvE drops
If the focus HAD been on the PvP -- better balancing, Fortresses not being a mess, incorporating the other capital cities into the realm war -- it may have not tanked as hard. By the time they got back to PvP, and did some really good things with the city instance redesign and some interesting-if-flawed things as they did with Skaven, it was too late. The lack of haste in addressing problems at launch started the downward spiral and the PvE shift probably cemented it as inevitable.
I still loved it, though, even if some of the people PvPing were incredibly terrible. I remember my friend and I running a BG/DoK combo (me with 4pc Redeye and an armor debuff 1h proc, and him with the on-crit HD and the 4pc that gave AA haste) at level 33 chewing through people who were level 40 in Tyrant/Warlord or w/e.
. I do remember horrible pet pathing though.
