It looks like WoW, it plays (almost) like WoW, yet it has some subtle changes that will make the MMO genre evolve.
Mythic/EA made everything to make that acronym stick. Why? Because it's the main selling point to the game. And it works.
I'll compare it to WoW. Sorry if it makes you sad, it's the market benchmark.
WoW is a great game. I played it for almost 5 years and it gave me a lot of fun. But the endgame is simply not for me. Raiding can be a blast the first and second time you go somewhere, but having to farm places, scheduke times you cannot go out cause you have to farm instances... it's not simply boring, it's ridiculous.
Now forgive me if you are a hardcore PvEr that loves raids and heroic quests (I'll not add dailies because I seriously doubt ANYONE can defend daily stupidity); I should have said it first - WAR is not a PvE game like WoW.
It's not a PvP only game like some claim it to be tough. If they where right it would be WoW all over again too. You farm BGs, grab gear and use it... in BGs.
The elegance in WAR is that the game blends PvP and PvE in a seamless way. There's no difference in PvP and PvE gear, taunts are great in PvP, player kills give XP and loot... it feels much more natural. Even endgme PvE and PvP are linked since both happen in the enemy capital.
The PvE side of the game is weel written and scripted. Being overly simplistic for your time's sake, it's almost like WoW if not by de adition of Public Quests.
I know, you heard about them before, but lemme add this - the mechanic WORKS. I can see almost every MMO from now using some version of this concept because for the FIRST time you can play a RAID without having to prepare and schedule it or spend 6 hours in a capital shouting, hopping someone else also has a lame guild and join you.
(If you don't know what public quests are, please search it at youtube, the game developers can explain much better than me - but it basically makes the quest open for everyone in the area, loot is rolled based on how much you helped and you gain influence to gain some nice gear).
The RvR areas are nice, keep sieges are great, very entertaning experiences. The PvP side is well covered and has been really well done.
I waited some time to write this review cause I wanted to test things myself, not only hear about them, to testify. So I must say - I never attacked a capital.
That said, it sounds a BLAST.
My best experiences in my 5 years of WoW where:
outdoors massive PvP, capital raiding (in both offense and defence) and guild vs guild world PvP. The problem is, you usually almost never did that cause there was no prize and everyone want to evolve in MMOs.
In WAR all of those are fundamental parts of the endgame.
I'm playing WAR a lot and loving every minute of it. It's very well polished for a recently lauched MMO.
And yes, it deserves the acronym. It is WAR.