I've been waiting for ages for something to recreate SWG ... which I LOVED. Crafting, house decorating, hunting, the character system, hunting for resources, creature hunter, bio engineer... depth galore.
Unfortunately I've read that the game will be full loot PvP ... which would kill it for me.
Ok, reading the website says that only hardcore servers will be full loot, good. On normal servers non-consensual PvP is only available in contested zones, not in protected ones ... which is apparently 2/3 of the total area. Ouch. I don't know whether being confined to 1/3 of the game will be fun.
I rather liked how SWG did PvP ... available everywhere, but only to players actually interested in PvP.
Well, the way I see it...this is only if you ever played Asheron's Call or know about it.
Hardcore=Darktide
Normal/Casual=The other AC servers
I can't say much about how PvP will be, because I don't know. Just the little I've read about it. I think the full loot thing is only on the hardcore servers, but again, I'm not sure. On the hardcore it will be free for all, but huge penalties for killing your own faction (supposedly) and casual its more faction vs faction. I may be wrong, but that is my impression on it. But don't take my word for it.
The game is, however, seems to be designed with PvP in mind. With the way factions take control of cities and what not. Maybe DAOC a bit? I honestly probably shouldn't say anything on the subject past this, as I don't know how its going to end up. But, the PvE stuff is amazing if you liked SWG. Can avoid PvP and just be a full time crafter. There is one thing I want to talk about (its a support role) as it is AMAZING...but I think that is a breach of NDA. So I'll just move on before I do. But SWG had something similar, but they did it a lot better.
With that said, I can safely say (don't see why not, it isn't game related) that the devs are awesome. The devs treat it as an actual alpha (think of that, in modern days an alpha for actual testing...not just to hype up the game (heh, a recent sandbox asian mmo did this)). And actually communicate a lot with the players. Its definitely nice to have that level of communication though with the devs...like the good ole days. Hopefully they keep up the motto through beta and release.
As for the community, hopefully it attracts a good community. On the hardcore server, it will definitely most likely be a lot worse because hardcore servers always do that in every game. The hardcore players are almost ALWAYS asshats. No matter the game. Just look at EVE, full of douchebags and even what would be considered in real life, psychotic people. Darkfall is full of douches too. UO private servers that are PvE are amazing communities, the PvP ones are crappy. I think it was CoD that had hardcore servers, or was it Battlefield? But those servers were worse than any other server. So if you want a (likely) good community, play the casual server. I'm pretty sure they'll end up being really friendly. They "usually" do anyway.