I'm in the beta. Bursting to discuss this game, but not going outside the NDA. but I'll talk about some things that people have experienced publically (PAX etc).
1) One thing that has been revealed, but may be missed, is that there are many 'puzzle' elements to the game. You hit the first meaningful one less than an hour in. You have to guess a password - there are clues in the room, but you know how these things are. You might get it straight away or you might spend hours figuring it out. You can't continue on the main quest line until you get it.
I didn't get it straight away. It suddenly woke me up in the middle of the night and I realized what it was. I haven't had that since the early Wizardry games, when there were no internet spoilers.
The point is this is a they're a one off deal. Once you know it it's less than trivial. So 1) if you do it in beta it's kind of ruined, 2) keep absolutely clear of spoiler sites when you play the game. (general chat is going to be a pita).
2) The other thing that has been revealed at PAX is a huge issue for me. The item system is extremely limited - it's the opposite of Anarchy Online. Only 7 item slots that have stats (apart from weapon) and these are all chakras - spiritual 'essences' that all look very similar (name of this is being changed to talismen) and are just equipped in a single, vertical rectangular block of 7 squares. There is a huge range of vanity clothing which Funcom are pinning massive weight on. This is verging on a game breaker for me - it's certainly a game changer.
The skill system is amazing. There are over 500 skills in the game split between 8 weapon types. Characters don't have any levels - as you earn XP you are given two types of points - one type levels up individual weapon types and defines what lv weapon you can use the other you spend on the (500) skills.
You then equip any 7 active skills and any 7 passive skills from any weapon type.
http://www.thesecretworld.com/news/...tin_bruusgaard_explains_character_development
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjk-MNq6Vwk&feature=youtu.be