My recent review of Planeshift is below, and lists many of the reasons I have left the game. I'm sure I'll get flamed for this, but hopefully some of it will be used constructively, and maybe lead to future improvements. Also note that this was written for an online game review site, so the target audience is for someone who has not played Planeshift before.
Pros:
Free, cross-platform
Cons:
Not improving, lame controls, combat, magic, models
Full user opinion
The idea of Planeshift is a good one, and it has potential... unfortunately the game lacks in so many areas that have not been addressed for well over a year.
Controls: 1 out of 10.
The controls are very clunky. Mouse control is unstable, so most people use use arrow keys to move around, ala Tomb Raider from too many years ago.
Models: 2 out of 10
There are over a dozen races... but only a few models, so the females in 7 races all use the same model! Imagine, the elf-type, lizard-type, human-type and others all use the same model as the demon type race!
Skins: 1 out of 10
There are no custom skins. Look around town... all dwarves look the same. All humans look the same. All human males even are stuck with the same beard. Rock-people look the same. The only difference is hair color. You could put on armor, which shows up on some races, but then you look exactly like all others wearing armor.
World: 3 out of 10
There is only one world, and it is tiny compared to other MMORPG games, but since there are usually only 70 to 250 players online at a time, it is big enough to not be crowded.
There are three main areas in the world: the main city of Hydlaa, the town of Ojaveda, and a big area called Bronze Door for some stupid reason that has couple of lakes, a mine inside a mountain, and a keep by a waterfall. However, almost no thought has gone into placement of monsters. Most areas in the hills and valleys are barren of life. In the huge section of Bronze Door, there is a total of only TWO monsters, two identical rogues standing next to each other. So one third of the world is practically devoid of monsters. However go into the main city into a building called the Arena, and you will find hundreds of monsters packed practically shoulder to shoulder. Where is the motivation to explore?
Monsters: 2 out of 10
There are only a few different monster models. Two monsters can be the same exact race, size and skin, but one will be as easy to kill as a rat, while the other will be almost impossible to kill. Monster animations are very primitive, and their AI is nonexistent. They just walk toward you slowly.
Animations: 1 out of 10
Animations are one of the worst things in this game. In fact, there are almost no animations. Even in combat, most characters just change stance, and don't even make a swinging motion with their weapons.
Sounds: 1 out of 10
There are almost no sounds in Planeshift other than some repetitive music. Monsters make no sounds. Weapons make no sounds. Combat is silent. No footsteps. Only a few magic spells make a "charging-up" sound as they are cast.
Weapons: 1 out of 10
There are only a handful of weapon classes. They are not balanced, so nearly everyone uses short swords or daggers. Only "noobies" ever use claymores, broadswords or most other blades. ALL shortswords look identical. ALL daggers look identical. There are dozens of different types of weapons that can be looted, like "Darkweave Dagger" or "Short Sword of Enlightenment." A few of these might boost a stat by 4 or 5 or 10 points... but no thought at all was put into these. First, the few that do boost only boost a tiny percentage (like a person with 200 strength might get boosted to 205... deal). Second, most cannot be equipped by weaker characters... the ones who would benefit most from a +5 to strength. Thirdly, all of these "special" weapons do far less damage than a "crafted" weapons. The result: everybody runs around with the same weapons: either crafted short swords, or crafted daggers. All the "special" weapons are useless.
Magic: 2 out of 10
Magic exists in Planeshift, but there are only 16 or so spells that can be learned. Of these, only 3 or 4 are even somewhat useful, and they are terribly underpowered and slow. Nobody uses magic in "real" combat. Also, magic often does not improve as you go up in level. Example: Spend months and ungodly amounts of money on training to use the healing spell to level 80... but you will only heal about 10% better than someone who is only level 1.
Potions: 1 out of 10
There are a few potions that can temporarily boost your stats, but these only boost one stat, and only 5 to 8 points at most, and they do not stack. So someone with a 200 strength can only boost to 205 at most, and the boost only lasts 2 or 3 minutes. Utterly useless.
Magic items: 1 out of 10
There are almost no magic items in Planeshift. There is a ring that can give you a "familiar," a small puppy-like animal, but it is useless and buggy. It will not fight, cannot be attacked, is not animated. The only thing it can do is follow you, and even that is buggy and only works half the time. Also it can only be summoned for about 5 minutes per day (real world 24 hours).
Quests: 2 out of 10
Quests are done by "talking" to NPCs. A handful of quests are slightly challenging or interesting, but the majority of them are just acts of frustration trying to guess the right phrases and spelling to get an NPC to answer you. 95% of NPC responses are "I don't understand you" or "Try speaking English." Sometimes saying something like "Please tell me about the holy scroll" will not work, but "about scroll" will work. I've even seen quests where you must misspell a word to get it to work!
Interaction: 2 out of 10
You cannot interact with the world. There are no doors that open or close. No carts or mounts or magic carpets. There are numerous flaws in the world where your toe can lodge, and you'll be stuck. There is an "unstick" command, but that often will not get you unstuck, nor will relogging. Sometimes your only option is to kill yourself.
Gamemasters: 2 out of 10
Gamemasters are, for the most part, the "police" of Planeshift. They rarely participate in any RPs, and on the rare occasions that they do, it is usually very boring, and people usually just participate with it to get a reward at the end (sometimes nothing, sometimes a few experience points, or once in a while a rare item).
I get the impression that most Gamemasters are young, as most lack any skills at conflict resolution, or stopping serious harassment. They are often quite rude and unhelpful. Example: A friend was trying to get to a major in-game event (a wedding). They traveled across the whole map, only to get their toe stuck between two small rocks (a bug) when she was almost there. She tried "unsticking" and relogging, but couldn't get out. When a GM was politely asked "Can you please move me from between these rocks?" The GM replied, "We don't do that anymore. You will have to kill yourself." She finally had to do this, and ended up missing the wedding.
Server: 2 out of 10
The game server is quite unstable at times. Often when the game server is up, the "npc server" will be down for hours or even days at a time. When this happens, all monsters become like statues.
Planeshift is a "pre-alpha playable demo," and this is a fitting description. Problems like I mentioned would be expected in a game in this stage, however almost all of these problems are in exactly the same stage as they were 18 months ago when I started playing. Back then it was pre-alpha, today it is a pre-alpha, and my guess is that next year it will still be a pre-alpha.
-Roahn
