Remember its only a demo version first of all. Secondly the char build is nothing like either game. It is a very solid game that once it comes out could be a really interesting game:
There are six class archetypes that you can choose to build your character from. Any char can be any class or a combination of two classes. This is done by selecting primary and secondary professions.
Char building is flawless. Stat points are not fixed, you can reallocate stats at any time. Skills are trained similarly to Tomes in EverQuest. You either find or buy a skill gem and take these to a trainer to learn the skill on the gem. Classes can use gems from other classes as well. The gem stays charged for 3 hours and you can then recharge them if you so wish. You can only permanently learn skills of your profession, but can use gems of any class.
Movement is very point and click. Left click forces the char to move in the direction of the pointer, right button controls camera movement. Mousewheel zooms in and out.
Travel is very interesting. You have a compass that doubles as a map, on the map, mobs are displayed as red dots. Ther is a map button that expands the map into the travel system. Hotpoints are marked on the map, and to go somewhere all you need do is select the hotpoint you wish to go to. This takes the tedious task of running to various places out of the game.
Zones are pretty similar to most games. There is a slight delay before you zone in. There are various types of zones. Solo zones are instanced zones where you have specific quests given to you that others may or may not have. There are also group only zones, pvp only zones, guild war zones, capture the flag zones, king of the hill zones etc. Every type of zone is geared towards different play styles.
The crafting system is very unique. There is a crafting npc in a city. You go to the npc and he displays a list of items you can have him create or upgrade your current items. Depending on the items you have looted or found in your jorneys, you will be able to craft anything in the list. It is level based. Different cities cater to different levels, noob, mid level, high level etc... Additionally, all gear is level based. You will see 1+ items, 7+ items, 15+ items etc. Unlike other games there are not stat requirements for equipping gear such as str must be such and such, or dex etc. Everything is based on char level.
You go into combat using 8 skills, pretty much like everquest. The only difference is you cannot change skills in mid combat, once you leave a city you are stuck with those 8 skills until you go back to a city, then you can swap your skills.
Targeting is very interesting as well. There is a target ring that surrounds your target. Once you engage your target, you can also then target yourself or other players to heal or whatnot, but you will also continue to attack your initial mob target while doing these other tasks. This makes juggling targets more simplistic than other games.
Char class/level is always displayed overhead. Once you enter a city or group only area, you will see Class1/Class2/lvl below the character name, for example i made a warrior/necro so i had W/N/15 over my head. Not essential but an interesting way to show class designations.
There is an armor dye system in the game for customization.
The graphics were flawless, and on my machine it ran smoothly with only a few instances of warping or attacking mobs from lag distances.
Self death is an auto resurrection system. As you travel you will find resurrection hotspots. Once you cross one of these, they will be the point at which you are reanimated. Once you die you get a 15% life/str reduction per death. All you need do is fight mobs to regain your 15% and eventually the "ress effect" goes away. In the demo i was able to zone and remove this, however I am not sure if this is merely a bug or an oversight that will be corrected.
Additionally, my girl won't touch everquest or any other game I enjoy because they take so much time to learn and dedication to level. Guild Wars is the first game I've seen that she might enjoy playing with me.