Here's what I have found so far (apologies if they are repeated elsewhere; I'm just posting my notes in their entirety):

A) Bugs/Issues

1) Many of the pieces of the quest require you to talk to the same NPC multiple times with no prompting. You have to "just know" to talk to the NPC repeatedly to continue the quest. Example: When talking to V'Tieru after doing the talisman sequence, you have to talk with him 2-3 more times before you get the Rune of Teleportation. Either continue to use links in his dialogue to advance the steps, or put some indicator that he has more to say, like an ellipsis "..." or "<more>". This appears throughout the ARoP and is very annoying if you have flown all the way out to see Hethsa, but you still need to talk to V'Tieru one more time before you can get anything out of her, for example.

2) The Guardians seem to be spending a lot more time displaying the "pain" animation than anything else, so, in battle, they look like they are just standing there and swaying to and fro. Also, their overall animations are kinda jerky, not fluid, like there is no interpolation between keyframes. Their feet move a lot faster than they do, too (ie, they look like they are skating).[;)]

3) Vexators seem to have no textures or tints applied to them. They look like a collection of white/grayscale surfaces. Purple Vexators are white, like the Rift Vexators, and they look exactly alike. All other Rift mobs are colored per normal.

4) Seems like the various denizens of the Rift have little/no aggro range most of the time, and there are very few of them.

5) Not sure if it was intended or not, but the Sleeper looks like it may be missing textures. His back crest looks like a saw, as if it was meant to have a different texture on it with transparent parts. I know he's supposed to be a giant silver statue, but he looks a little coarse. Not really anything more than an aesthetic issue, but I noticed.

6) Rift Spirit Form buff goes away if rezed/rebirthed, is removable, and seems to have no effect.

7) Multiple people talking to the Guardian ghosts, clicking the "face me if you dare" link causes multiple sets of Guardian mobs to spawn, guaranteeing failure and mass death.

8) The selection box for the Sleeper is the ledge itself overlooking the Sleeper. Clicking on the Sleeper will not select him. You have to click on about the middle of the ledge, and the selection indicator appears behind you at that spot.

B) Balance issues:

1) The Rift mobs that you encounter on the path seem to vary in difficulty. Some, like the Kwellen and the Blights, are easy, while the Wraiths and Vexators are a challenge to solo. None of them are a challenge for a group of 3 or more. There also are very few of them, mostly at dead ends, always in single numbers. There is very little chance of multiple aggro as they are spread far apart.

2) The Guardians fall neatly into two categories: easy and death. Blood and Heart can be fought with 2-3 people, though still cannot be soloed. Bone and Mind are almost guaranteed party wipes with full 10-player, fully-buffed groups, assuming everyone has charged Rebirth as well.

3) Rewards.
a) The amount of coin on the Guardians is quite high, ~500sp each, divided amongst the group.
b) The path mobs drop weird tokens which are attuned, cannot be hoarded, and seem to have no purpose (yet). If they are somehow integral to the quest, it would be nice if preceding dialogue or lore would hint at it, otherwise, it will suck if we find out we need 100 of each and have to go back and compete for hunting so few mobs.
c) Abilities. I don't really feel it is valid to pick apart the abilities until we find out more about Ancient advancement, and also because two of them (Drain Strike 8 and Spiked Scales 8) were stated to be placeholders for now. However, by themselves, Rebirth and Dragon Fear are pretty dismal. High hoard cost and long recycle times should be mutually exclusive. This game is founded on the notion that the energy to power abilities is based on a "slow recharge flow" represented by recycle timers. Hoard is an additional source of that energy. Also, Primal is supposed to be the "mother of all realms" power-wise, and it is constantly shown that it is weaker than all the other realms. This disparity is parallel to the issue of the abilities, but needs to be considered just as stringently as the hoard vs recycle issue. At any rate, until more is known about future advancement and abilities for Ancients, I can't really make a valid critique of the ability rewards, except in the most general sense. I would urge my fellow Dragons not to jump to conclusions, either. At least we HAVE a rez ability now. That's something to be thankful for in the very least.

C) Suggestions:

1) Suggest that loss of Rift Spirit Form buff brings your body into the void with you, and you start taking Void environment damage, just like Ellean. That, or you recall, or rift back to where you left your body.
2) Would be nice to have a translucency shader applied to the PCs while in the Rift, making us look like spirits.
3) Increase the mobs on the paths.

Vexator Images:




Sleeper Image: