I spent a few hours yesterday and another few today getting a valkyrie to level 12. I hated the beginning quests (kill beetles, then weasels, then foxes, then wolves, then imps) all of which are pointlessly easy. Then I got to the level 11-13 guys who actually attack, aggro and can do some damage. I'm not onboard with the complexity of everything, but then one person's "confusing" is another person's "rich" or "deep", so maybe I'll get there. I have to say the combat is very nice. Of course it only takes 2 days to learn forward+leftmouse is one type of attack and backward+rightmouse is another, and leftmouse+rightmouse is yet another, and the (FAMILIAR) 1 thru 0 for other attacks, potions and heals. It's really not that tough to get used to, which is maybe why those lower-level baddies don't fight back very much. I'm liking how movement is integrated into the attacks. Melee can do something similar to kiting by doing the strafe+mouse attacks while pivoting. I'm getting a lot of mileage out of that one at levels 10-12.
I sold 4 different crystals to get enough silver for a horse (skipped the donkey entirely), and not sure that was actually a wise choice. I don't know what the crystals do or where to slot them, so I sold them. Probably a noob mistake, but I don't care at this point. I'm sure I'm going to be griping about having to run back to the horse, or "where did I leave the horse now???" But of course it's on the map, so senility won't screw me up too much there. Complaining about things you yourself do, as if they were somebody else's fault, must be an old guy thing. So, yeah, I must be an old fart now at 52. Turn that racket down! Get off my lawn! Pull your pants up!
After only 2 days, I think I like it. I like that there are more crafting-type things to do than just sheer combat. I haven't DONE any of that yet, but on days where I'm not in a face-punching mood, I'm sure I'll appreciate having something else to do. And since I work from home I can always park my character at a fishing hole or something like that while not actually paying too much attention. The only thing I will probably never like is the whole middle-earth setting. But that's cosmetics and semantics. I'm sure I'll get over it.
For my first 2 days I'd give it 9 out of 10, mostly because of the extremely helpful in-game help, guides and videos, and the interesting (console game-type) combat with it's position-sensitive effectiveness, move+attack aesthetics and combos.