I've actually been enjoying going around the shire and reading the stories. The emerging danger outside the shire seems like you're reading a book and as you complete quests it seems to get you closer to where the danger is and you hear more about it... to the point where there is real anticipation to arrive in a city and participate in the problems they're having.

That said, I still wish there was more feedback in relation to combat. Especially with buffs. I play a minstrel and can never tell what buffs are on at any one time as the buffs only last 30 seconds max (at my level at least).

I also like the deed system (wish you didn't have to visit a minstrel to add them as I can never find), but wish there were also talents.

The upgrading of the spells automatically is nice, but I wish there was a notification marker, like the one's for deeds accomplished/discovered, saying that you learned a new level of "fireball". Your spell will now do x dmg... Next lvl "x dmg." Make gaining levels more rewarding. Right now, I barely seem to notice that I ding.

I also think they've made a very poor judgment call to not allow for any modifications other than ui. This is part of what makes WoW so alluring... I'm the one playing, let me play it how I want and not how you want me to.

Lastly, and this may be seen as either of a negative or a positive, it doesn't have that just one more quest/turn pull of other games. I can happily play for an hour and say well, I've done enough and log. WoW, I always wanted to stay on. This may have more of an impact in end game where raids last hours, and I may be wishing I could just have logged at an earlier point.

Overall, I'm at lvl 14, still inside the shire and enjoying the game.