So, it has been a week since I started. I will provide update on where I am and my impression on P2P (dis)advantages for those who are thinking about starting on P2P as well.
Current status
lvl 40 Warden, just finished Yazes shard. Still have all the celebration awards unopened (especially +5 lvl one). Starting Gipat right after this post, rushing towards 45 to get free reincarnation before expiry.
P2P levelling
With a warden I had no problems whatsoever - pet combined with hidden runes (P2P balancing feature, or so it seems from combat logs, since you cant buy runes from cash shop) and exp boost made it a smooth ride. I spent 3 full days(~14hrs each) + 15ish hours during the week to get to lvl40, and it was not as painful as expected. Quests are fairly straightforward and some even have good lore (yes I read world mystery ones), due to exp boost you never need to grind (even Coba) as long as you do all the quests, your patronage is always on and tiers are increased automatically at right levels. Still have to level it though (RIP mirra). I also have 2.4M marks of fate yet to spend atm.
P2P Population/PVP
It is clearly low, but there are definitely people around (<3 warden bro with whom we ran some Coba stuff). A special mention goes to DamerFlinn, empire lvl42 healer who first killed me in Asee-Teph (yay Holy Justice) and then multiple times in every location since. Admittedly, I did always raise war banner as soon as it dropped because "content", and so he was my main source of fun for last couple days - kept me on my toes, made me tune my build for turbo-getaways, etc. Finally, yesterday in Yazes tables have turned and he died for the first time. In the next couple days I hope to continue this table turning trend
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P2P limitations comments (so far)
No talents/rubies/other 'points'
Not a factor since too much changed since I last played anyways
Small population for bosses/dungeons
As warden, I managed to solo all the quest bosses with my caster dps+some heal build, either by tanking/agro managing with pet or bursting down (<3 Shred). For dungeons, mercenaries are significantly more competent than real players hehe.
Mercenaries cost gold
Not a problem since I got more back from items even with full party - example is TT2 with +70G/run.
Respec costs gold - a bit annoying
I didn't need to respec yet, but the cost is reasonable - 180G at lvl40 atm. Admittely you can do 'droplets' style unlimited resets, which I can see being useful, but then it will get expensive on F2P too with weekly expiry...
No lootpet until 30 - midly annoying
I didn't know what I was missing out on until I got it. Then I knew why AOP was saying its hard without it. Made my 'run and spam' grinding easier, but definitely NOT a deal breaker. My fingers quickly got used to pressing/holding Z so its not like you have to manually drag things to inventory - having to do it for a week until you get to Coba is survivable. I can see it being annoying if you are starting a reincarnation though.
Bags - midly annoying
Situation is better than in FAQ - you can get 24 slot one at 15 and 30 slot bag at 30 from banker, and same goes for 36/48 slot bank. Still, full bag was often a problem considering the amount of garbage that drops from mobs. Can't wait for larger ones!
Very few battlegrounds - annoying
This one is definitely bad - there are very few battlegrounds/goblinballs going on and its something I haven't experienced much yet which is a shame. There is way more activity on weekends though, since I just got into one as I'm writing this.
No quest log expander - highly annoying
Multiple times I was forced to pick and choose quests, and then return for more to only have to run back to same place to do them. Very annoying, especially in eljune.
Tips to newbies
Marks of fate are your friend (I didn't know about them until 35...sadface)
Its not always worth it to grind reputation (especially Free Traders/Demon Hunters) - I made it with very little rep gear and ran dungeons 2-3 times instead for some legendaries/xp, rest from quests.
Will provide another update in a week or two