A "Casual" Player viewof HD Beta
Thought it might be worth setting down a "casual" players thoughts on HD Beta.
Landscape: As stunning as ever. A lot to see and explore. Well up to the high standards that Turbine's world builders have demonstrated so well in the past.
Skill/Trait Trees: Some people hate them with a vehemence that is terrible to behold. From my perspective, they made little difference. I settled on a build, and when I fight things, evenetually they die, so little change there for my play style. If you care deeply about the nuances of all your current multitude of skills, then you may, or may not, disapprove. If you just go out and bash things, that still works just fine.
Epic Battles; Didn't really appeael to me. I will do what I need to do in the Epic Quest line, but apart from that I doubt I will ever bother with them. (That said, I don't do Skirmishes/Instances/Raids, so my opionion is probably of little import on this topic.)
I have worked about half way through the Epic Quest Line, and so far have found it up to scratch.
I haven't yet delved too deeply into crafting.
Overall, I am pretty happy with things. At least as happy as with previous expansions. How well it goes down overall will depend on how the community divides.