So, here’s what I found out about TSW from playing it since the Sidequest review on it: Combat works, it’s decent to good, and there’s the skill wheel that lets you make your own build, provided you’re taking skills or weaponsets with good synergy, you’re set for most of the game. The action MMO fits best in these sorts of situations, where you’re almost as focused on where you are as what you’re doing.

The game still relies on the holy trinity, and tanking and healing still get the short end of the stick, as in all games. If you’re not using two out of the four tanking weapons, shotgun included, as I’ve seen many tanks in early to later game use it for barricade, having a max synergy with the hammer. Another alternative subweapon that I’ve heard tanks carrying are the healing weapon: claws, but this takes a lot of gear balance between decent healing gear, tanking gear, and DPS to keep your threat up. Then you hit endgame, and your shotgun defenses are useless, and claw healtanks become even less manageable. Funcom did a bit to address the issue of sword/chaos focus being the only viable endgame tank, and easymode for leveling, but the minor upgrades, from what I’d seen, still didn’t make other builds anywhere as good.
As for healing, many suggest you start with blood magic and claws, as the blood barriers give your slow heals time to work. Then endgame hits, and all of a sudden, the only acceptable weapons are claws, and pistols because new mechanics change everything.
Then, if you choose DPS, don’t expect to endgame without a cabal to run with you. It doesn’t matter how well geared or specced you are, expect flashbacks to Final Fantasy 11 for grouping.

So, when I started out, I joined this site’s cabal, and it was probably the best cabal I’d been in, with the three or four others that logged on regularly, and as expected, people moved on, and were rarely on, so I tried to look for another cabal. Took about half a day to find one in English that was actually recruiting, and it was pretty good, lively, and a great community. The next week, everyone had vanished completely. So I go looking for a third guild later, and after an extremely lengthy interview process, for a casual casual, I’m accepted, and confused. After a few days of running small missions with people, I get into a group for endgame, but end up waiting for two hours on our healer that said they’d be five minutes. After the group finally starts, I tell them that I need to hit a bank up to get more Pax for repairs. Apparently, this was so Faux Pas, that I’d become a pariah to the cabal, and went from being able to hold conversations, to not even getting a greeting.

The game’s definitely not without flaws, but the combination of no monthly, no trial pressure, the interesting setting, and the semi-free form character build.

((In reply to a deleted comment.))

Your re-post was not needed at all.