Surprisingly enough, I'm still playing this game and still enjoying it.
Like all games, it has its negatives. Free-to-play encouraged a lot of gold-bot spam. 95% of that is now dealt with. Also was a lot of hacking early on..this also has been 95% eliminated from what I'm seeing.
Some of the positives:
Ship-to-ship combat is pretty fun. Everything from Rowboats and clippers to Galleons and Merchant trade ships in the game. Galleons have 8 cannons and require a group to work together firing on enemy ships and to board them. Pretty fun watching their ship sink and taking their tradepacks for gold, resources or whatever.
Crafting is LARGELY rng dependant. I'd say that is a mix of good and bad. Bad because it is incredibly frustrating and nearly impossible to pull off BIS crafted gear...good because if/when you do you have something really unique! (Not quite SWG unique, but as close as I've seen)
PVP is pretty fun..when you consider the skillsets there is live 50-100 classes possible. Some just don't work, but some can make for interesting Pvping. Also, when there isn't too much in-faction fighting...the game has a bit of an RvR feel ala DAoC. Can definitely use terrain and tactics to take out your enemy. Also once every 2 or 3 weeks there are castle seiges..once you successfully take over or defend a castle your guild owns that and can refortify it. Benefits include taxing the land around it for guild income, Tokens that can be used for gear that can only be attained by them, plus bragging rights (i'm sure I'm missing other things)
Then there is farming...yeah, planting crops and using the stuff you grow for crafting type farming. Some absolutely love it (the underwater farming is somewhat fun...growing coral and the like)...not totally by cup of tea though.
Anyways, just figured I'd let everyone know what I'm up to and that I'm still enjoying this game. Your mileage may vary, but for me it's still fun and more of a long-haul kind of game instead of insta gratification.
By the way, please forgive my spelling errors and grammar issues. I just had a full right-hemisphere stroke about a month and a half ago and am still recovering. Besides being exhausted all of the time, having trouble typing (left hand doesnt' work quite right with the right), and some impairment in my analytical thinking, I'm not doing that bad. I can still walk, talk, enjoy time with my family, etc.
I know this forum doesn't see much action anymore, but if anyone happens upon it and sees this post I really hope you all are doing well and are enjoying each day.

Sincerely,
Jason