TLDR
Disciplined large guilds will rule all servers. Get in those guilds or risk losing everything because some asshat just wants to see the world burn. I enjoyed some parts of the game, but overall the juice isn't worth the squeeze.
Guilds Rule the Servers
AOC requires guild membership to be any sort of a successful player. There are a handful of guilds already built for this game, and they rule the alpha servers. If you're not in a large guild, you won't see most of the critical content, such as caravans, node sieges, and more.
Endgame content and best-in-slot gear are locked in PvP areas. As such, this game requires PvP to get the most out of it. I've only been ganked twice by players, and dozens of times by bugs, bad design, and lag.
Punishing by Design
There is a serious death penalty after level 10 (loss of resources and experience), so those bugs become super frustrating, especially considering that this game is officially in alpha. I've played many games in various phases of the development life-cycle, but this developer is a pure sadist.
This game isn't just hardcore, it is stupid hardcore. Silly things that should be easy are locked behind overly complicated mechanics. Playing any sort of support role is impossibly slow, while the pure damage roles easily glide through levels. Should a cleric be able to do the same damage as a fighter? Of course not. However, rewarding only the fighter for event or kill tasks, while the cleric was healing so fast they were constantly out of mana and mana potions is a kick in the teeth.
The Grind Still Wins
The game lures prey with the promise of experience from gathering, processing, and crafting. Yes, you can get experience from those activities, but only grinding hostiles and events yields the best value for your time. Griefers can attack you at any time out of the aggro range of a working guard. So, group up, guild up, or lose your progress.
How Far From Release?
AOC is around the 20% mark for being production-ready. That means another two or so years before they're ready for a beta build, and probably another two or so years for a release candidate. It is one of the only Western developed MMOs still in development, so I have high hopes. However, they'll have to compete with games like Archeage Chronicles, so AOC has a long journey ahead.