Well, having done the beta today for some hours..
First off, it's a good game. Some people will like it more then WoW, but I guess most will stick to WoW if they can't afford 2 monthly fees.
Gameplay wise it's great. Maybe a bit harder to get into if it's your first MMO. Once you're level 5 orso you got most of the mechanics down. WoW players will most likely adapt fast.
GFX are ok.. AoC has better gfx.. Aion looks a bit better then WoW, Imho, tho not so much. Framerates are much better tho. When you look into the distance it looks great, mountains and stuff are very well done. Player and npc models look superb, tho, even with all customizing options the players still look samish (al humans, making a 1 meter tall one is just a scaled down version..) Up close the ground looks almost the same as in WoW (In newer zones WoW has the better textures IMHO. Shadows look better in WoW imho and WoW seems to have more clutter on the ground like rocks and grass. Off course the style is totally different from WoW.
One thing that "worries" me, only 2 starter zones. 1 for each faction and they felt rather the same. Not sure I would want to level another char after having done it 2 or 3 times (like AoC...)
Servers got laggy when more players poured in, and it's felt more annoying then lag in WoW.. You get set back a few meters as if the server is unaware you moved and tells your client "no the player was there not here".
Is it a good game ? Sure. Will it destroy WoW ? Doubt it. If you ever played say Guildwars you pretty much know how things in this game are. If you hated GW I doubt you're going to like Aion. I will play it when it goes live for a while but I doubt it will replace WoW for me in the long run.
All my personal opinion, feel free to disagree, keep the flames to yourself tho.
