Okay, I got in on the tail end of open Beta. After my third day, I cancelled my WoW account and bought a pre-order "Founder's" package.
I love it. Its nowhere near as... well, hard to describe. Its much more casual. You dont feel rushed to level to get the next ub3r l33t p0w3rz and such. Its a very soloable game, at least as far as I've gotten (a couple of alts to 20). You can really jump on for an hour, if that's what you have, and feel like you accomplish something. TONS of quests (in fact, traditional "grinders" will level slower than questers like me). Beautiful graphics, nice sound, and its very true to the books (as much as any game can be I guess).
The community is tops (on my server at least). Much more mature than the l33t kiddeez from WoW. and the RP is top notch so far (but as with any other game, you're better off starting your own RP session, and others will gladly join in).
In short, I really, really like it. Crafting is the weakest part (specifically farming) but supposedly farmers will get some love in the June free content module.
Overall, I'd give it an 8.5.
If anyone would care to join me on the Landroval server, let me know.