The shine faded pretty quickly. Personally, I think Age of Conan is trying really hard to be WoW. I don't know if it's my lack of experience with MMOs, or if WoW has just tainted me so badly. The interface feels cluttered and the "world" feels very enclosed and linear. I know there are people out there, but i've only seen a few at a time.
The combat systems sounds better on paper than in practice. Personally, I'm a clicker, and while I'm sure you can set up the interface to be more click friendly, it's mostly hotkeys. You kinda have to get a feel for the combo system as timing plays a part as to whether the combo is executed or not. The mobs tend to go down in 3 or 4 hits, but of course, that depends on gear i guess.
Graphically, it's just ok. I haven't seen anything really jaw dropping yet. The fights are violent, but I don't see a whole lot of blood. I think i've seen 4 or 5 blood splatters on the camera, but there's nothing to indicate why it happens. Maybe it's just random, but i find it more distracting than beneficial.
It is difficult to get a true impression of a game like this from the early stages, so I will stick with it for a while. But as it stands now, I think i'd rather lvl another alt in WoW than on AoC.