Ok here we go.
I installed horizons and looked around in it as a fresh hatching since the last time I played was during first month retail and that dragon was only level 20ish crafting / 20ish adventure and I wanted to experience the whole thing anew.
My comments below are entirely based on the Dragon aspect of horizons, as I recall Sydius made a biped so he can explain/answer any questions from that house.
Interface
Every mmo should have an interface like this game. Every single item can be moved around, rearranged, resized, placed whereever you want. Hot key bars can go vertical and horizontal, you can creat custome hotkeys, as many chat windows as you want choosing what you want where. All your knowledge, skills, character sheet, inventory can be minimized and the smaller icon placed where ever you want.
Sound
No one can argue here, this games soundtrack is second to none. You will not find better so don't argue with me here.
Graphics
Ok, since the game came out there have always been complaints about graphical lag and finally the developers decided to do something about it. What did they do you ask? They made a lower graphics setting, made that the standard setting, and made the original graphics the high end setting heh. Whatever you do dont play a biped on low settings or you will have anarchy online and everquest 1 flashbacks.
On high settings though, very nice!
Gameplay and Observations
Okey dokey, old dragon deleted, character creation screen selected. Sydius is right about the web browser based login screen sucking. It does suck. About a year ago they released their own actual log in client but it worked so badly that they simply went back to the browser version.
You can do all sorts things to customize your characters. I went to dragon and therein is nice. Head design, eyes, body scales, height, weight, fitness appearance, colors of scales, chest patterns, patterns ontop of the scales(think pin striping on your car). You can really make your characters your own, and the color combination possiblities are really quite impressive for the dragon.
I named my dragon stips for two reasons, 1 ive used the name in just about every mmo after leaving ultima online 6 odd years ago and 2 stips means little in latin and my dragon is as tiny as i could make him. The virtual puppy.
First impression is that the starting area for dragons has completely changed. Dragons have their own considerably moreso fleshed out tutorial area of the game now that sends them on various kill quests, item finding quests, crafting quests, etc, etc. Much much nicer than the old starting area where they shared the tutorial zone with bipeds.
Eventually I wandered out of the tutorial zone and went to the starter islands. There are four of them but new trismus is the most player populated, its consigner is the most filled out of the starter isle's, and the island itself is the easiest to figure out.
The islands trees have changed, much bigger now. Layout of the village is abit different and woo hoo the crafting table is out at the resources again! Thank god, no more hauling all the way back to town just to craft spell shards!
Along with the new tutorial area, dragons have recieved a whole new starter isle experience. After you complete the quest that the tutorial isle sent you on to speak with the guy by the shrine(bind to that shrine! saves travel time!), ignore all the rest of the townsfolk and head down to the two dragon caves. These two dragons took turns sending me on kill quests, sending me to talk to the other dragon, doing crafting quests, then back again.
Questing is quite nice and detailed, tells you exactly where to go, what to do, etc. You dont have huge exclamation points or yellow arrows pointing at npc's with quests. Near as I can tell they have a little blue bubble over their head with a question mark when they actually have something for you to do. I just talk to everyone. Even the bipeds up in town.
Crafting is a wonderful experience, its one of the most versatile option packed crafting systems ever. Period. I don't think there is a crafting system that actually tops this one. You can create things, reprocess things, add abilities to things, add abilities to spells, add sockets to your armor and claws, etc, etc. The list of possibilities goes on and on.
Dragon crafting isn't as verbose as the bipeds. Dragons can craft scales, spells, and components that bipeds use to make more advanced items. And as a dragon no matter what you will be a crafter as well as an adventurer! Don't disagree with me on this, you have no choice if you want to become an adult and eventually an ancient.
Leveling as a dragon comes in two forms. Exp gained for killing things/questing to kill things and Exp gained for crafting things/questing to craft things. Every 10 adventure levels you gain a new slot to put armor in. IE lvl1 chest slot, lvl10 left wing slot, lvl20 right wing slot, etc. By the time you reach level 100 you will have a head slot, chest, belly, tail, wings, front paws, and hind paws. Also you can wear an emblem and equip a claw to enhance your attacking abilities. The last equipment slot would be your pouch which as you level up you can get better pouches for carring more and more loot. Every 20 crafting levels gives you the next tech level for all your crafting abilities. Inbetween the 20 levels each level will make you more proficient at crafting using less resources to actually make your trade. Every adventure level gives you new attack abilities or improved versions of your existing attack abilities.
Dragons have a hoard. Your hoard is consumed when you use certain abilities, and as I recall your hoard also affects your stats in some way. It slowly slowly decays(dragons in game say gnomes are thieves and widdle away their treasure) and you can toss just about any piece of equipment, trinket, and/or valuable into your hoard to increase its size. As I understand it, your lair has a hoard room and its size of gold inside is determined by your hoard size. Can't confirm this though as I havent seen a lair yet.
Dragons dont visually show their equipment ingame but what they do show is their size. As a hatchling a dragon is already larger than every other race. As an adult they are twice the height of a human and about 12-15 humans long standing toe to eo. As an Ancient they are upwards of 4 times the height of a human and about 25 or so humans long toe to toe. At adult age dragons can fly.
Dragon Lairs are in and fully customizable.
As I observe more things ingame I'll let you all know more in posts here. Ask your questions and I'll answer them
Oh yea, the player population of Order is quite friendly. And from talking to newly made friends, the population is growing.