Just treat it as a pure PvP game. The Battlegrounds are quite fun, and small-scale open-world with lootable points is also good (Imperial City). It is not as actiony and straightforward as FPS games, and not as one-dimensional or long as MOBAs. You can come up with all sorts of experiments by combining an impressive array of sets and skills, such that classes are not very limiting and are more like three skill lines among many other available skill lines. Members of the same class may be completely unlike one another. Since it may be slightly daunting to get some gear, it guards against people not planning ahead and trying everything, so strategic thinking is rewarded. I used to think it was a problem that people ran around as a blob, but once I got better, they do not present such a challenge except if you are very single-target oriented (e.g., stealthy and ganky).
There is some mild degree of pay to win, but mainly to skip a tedious slow start (i.e., getting crafted sets for PvP). Furthermore, if you join a guild, they are generally willing to give you some free crafted items for a smooth start. There are two humps because PvP starts from level 10: first, you need to get from level 3 to level 10; second, you need to get from "CP 10" to "CP 160", between which you will be badly beaten in PvP. The former is short; the latter you need to do only once, and it is perversely amusing because you get a huge handicap and you will be verbally abused.
The PvE is worthless and tedious, and questing is entirely pointless. However, both can be avoided - PvE partly, and questing entirely. The quests are just pure fedex with largely non-interactive dialogue; it's there to accommodate people who like seriously easy and simple games. Don't treat it is an RPG.
I noticed that the EU server is significantly buggier than NA.
