Jef Reahard from Massively wrote his final Day six diary where he puts the early verdict and deal with P2W or not P2W problem.
He has spent in the game about 30 hours and it is more a preview from these hours but not final score. But what he summarize?
The good
Vast open world
AAA visuals, animations, production
Meaningful non-combat gameplay
Large class and skill selection, customization options
Player-driven economy, trading, crafting
PvP-focused and PvP-optional
Group-focused yet soloable in a pinch
The bad
Standard tab/target combat
Standard themepark questing
Limited emotes, no custom emotes
Busy UI
Launch stability issues
The ugly
Those leomorphs
And the most hated or loved issue of P2W?
It could be or couldn't. It is only up to you. But if you want to be the "best" at ArcheAge then yes, it is pay-to-win becuase there are many bonuses which you cannot afford to miss and not utilize.