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I do agree that a leveling requirement is quite dumb, there should be instead something that most MMO's have, which is that you can enter any part of the map (except special areas) but you cannot do any quests until you complete the previous place' quests and the monsters could probably kill you in a couple of hits.

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Having level requirements to do quests might be a good option IF quests give considerably more exp than killing monsters.
This would make players not want to grind exp, because questing would be the best option available to level up fast (And its not like questing isn't already grindy).

You haven't played EpicDuel then.

spoiler:

That being that no Healer class is released in ANY testing phase before Open Beta. Hopefully they'll add it before or with 2.0 or before the full Live comes. Whichever comes first.

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The players at the skull bridge are the most aggressive players I have ever seen in a AE game. Just a simple "Could you please help with Gathmor" is met with trollish behaviour and insults thrown.

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I'm all into the traditional quest requirements for story areas, but the Devs need to fix the level curve first. The amount of low-leveled players farming the Shadowskull bridge is astounding, and I myself was once part of the club because of how high the levels creeped from area to area.

The current level curve is lengthy, and I'm not talking about the ridiculous level 14-15 gap here. The glaring issue is how grindy it is made out to be. Not only are the story quests insufficient for leveling, the level gap between areas (particularly Livingstone-doomwood creep) is TOO HIGH. We're forced to grind no matter what.
The crafting times don't help the situation either. While the unnecessarily frustrating RNG aspect is mostly gone, having to wait for over half an hour for basic, necessary level equipment further adds to the tedium. Again, we either have to grind or struggle in the subsequent maps (or do nothing) in the meantime.

Like Vypie said, quests should be THE backbone of level progression. We should be able to cover the majority of the levels by the time we finish the story quests. Right now, they barely suffice.
However, the quests themselves are grindy and repetitive. For example, the notorious 'kill 30 eyeballs' quest in Greenguard and the 'kill 200 Boogerlings' quest in the sinkhole make me wonder fresh new ideas are even cared about. I do acknowledge the amount if effort put into this game, but quests like these feel lazy.

With all the emphasis in dungeons, they need an improvement. Firstly, the key system needs an overhaul because of how much it adds to the overall grind of the game with the waiting times. Moreover, they need more rewards. I feel the quest chains and monsters give too little exp in most
dungeons. The worst case of this is the Spectral Southern Wing dungeon. Being the only Epic Dungeon so far (as well as the longest), the reward it gives is nothing but unimpressive. The only notable loot from it are crafting resources for the Pumpkin Lord set, but not all of them are even guaranteed, often resulting in wasted dungeon runs. What's more, the monsters give barely more exp and gold than those in Shadowskull Bridge, despite having significantly higher stats and over 5 times the health. There's also situations where we're spawned right beside a monster or two, which makes the dungeon frustrating.
Given by the limited number of runs provided, dungeons could've been rewarding compliments to the story quests for player progression, but they are rather underwhelming.

However, I do have to thank the devs for making the dungeon monsters more manageable overall and removing the much-hated RNG that plagued Open Beta. I'm happy to see that RNG is mainly reserved for extra loot like the Dricken helm.

Arguably the worst part about this, is the combat system. It is shallow, it is repetitive. I wouldn't say it's the worst I've seen, but it certainly feels incomplete, even for BETA standards. Like I've stressed a quintillion times before, this is something they could've worked on way back in Alpha. But they didn't do much.
The combat to me is one of the main reasons why the game is grindy, as it, at its current state, adds up to the monotony of the game. If the combat had more substance to it, the game wouldn't feel as bad. There are many grindy MMOs out there, but at least a lot of them have fun, more fleshed-out gameplay. It's sad that at a phase like Open Beta, AQ3D's combat still remains a puddle. I am aware they're working on it right now and I've also heard plans to add skill trees, so I do hope to see improvements.

Yes, I am aware this is OPEN BETA. But that doesn't mean we can't give our feedback. If anything, feedback is a MUST in the beta stage. It helps ensure the development of the game is steering to the right direction.

Ultimately, AQ3D feels like a generic MMO, a grindy one at that. I feel that the devs are playing too safe with it. At the current financial state, I believe AE should innovate, especially since AQ3D may be their only hope for the future. In my opinion, taking risks is the safer option, as contradictory as it sounds.

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I would prefer having a lower number of classes, but each having much more depth and skill customization.

If they will favor quantity over quality/depth, its unlikely that it will bring more fun to the game.
The biggest problem of having an excessive amount of classes is: No matter what class you are playing, you are still only using one each time. Having one hundred classes does not add to the gameplay of individual classes.
Each single class continues being simple, shallow and boring. Remember, you are only playing ONE at a time.

If there is no tinkering of ANY kind, all classes become boring after a while, from being too repetitive. You can introduce new ones to spice it up, but it only delays the problem.
Adding solid, customizable, depthful classes lasts for a lifetime. You can always try new things in a way that it suits you.

The key is giving the player the ability to tweak their characters to match their favorite play-style :)

spoiler:


The story begins with a random guy(you) somehow meeting a moglin named Zorbak. Breaking the fourth wall, he exclaims that he hates tutorials(Me too).
And off we go. It's a alpha after all, so I shouldn't be impressed should I? Hopefully the story gets better from here.
*A few kills later*
We manage to meet a goblin named gaz, kill more stuff, and all while listening to pretty awesome music. I'm not having real fun yet, however.
If this game is like any other game, it is open-world, so there is not set story. It will probably grow as the game progresses.

spoiler:


This is basically a normal rpg, similar to WoW and other ones, except the art is more cartoonish.
You choose from three classes, Rogue, Warrior, and Mage(Me!), and go rekt as much face as you can.
Not much to say, but you can help each other out, and cross-platform.

spoiler:


Pros:
-Witty Storytelling
-Music is not bad
-Lots of people
-Cross-play
-Art is good








Cons:
-Clunky gameplay
-Grinder
-Music is fine but also heard it in other games
-Non-existent people in towns(In my area at least)
-Monsters that are supposed to be hard and scary are ez
-Crafting system

Overall Rating: 3.5/5 or 7/10