Granted I haven't played much of this game but the few hours I've dove into this game has been fantastic. Think of this game as a better graphical version of Everquest with the openness of Outward.

So Mechanics.... Everything about this game is skill based everything but running. The better you get at a skill the faster things get. You can do literally anything you set your mind to but this isn't your traditional MMO (Like WoW)

You don't create a character and class and just waste away your life quest after quest. You work for what you want. You want a nice village, it's similar to real life, go get the stuff and build it naturally. You can mine, build, farm, craft (blacksmith, carpentry, tailoring), fight monsters, become a priest to one of the few gods in game, cast magic, etc. There are tons of things to do on this game.

Community.... The moment I joined and said hey I'm new here. I was greeted by Welcome! and some people linked the Wiki which I highly recommend looking at. I was sent a bunch of PMs about joining someone's village (think of it like a guild but it's a village) and this person named Moma has helped me figure things out.

The Landscape.... the landscape in this game is bloody huge. There are numerous places to live (just be careful you don't click the PVP one on accident).

Micro-transaction.... Yes this game does have a "store" and a Premium Account which you could throw your real life money at or you can use in game currency to purchase the account, which I believe at the time of writing is like 8 silver pieces which is like 10 copper pieces, it isn't a lot.

Basically, if you're wanting instant gratification then you need to pay $15 a month on WoW. If you want to actually work and feel the satisfaction of hard work paid off, this is the game for you.