Before I bought it anyway, I had heard a lot of negative press about AION and how the spammers ruled the servers, lag issues, etc.
But it's really not that way at all. I see maybe one spammer a day (which is less than both WoW and FFXI). The leveling, while time-consuming is also a great avenue for money because unusable drops and items sell quite well to vendors and there's tons of gathering materials everywhere. Almost all equipment is customizable in some form or another, either appearance through dyes or stats wise. Even the players seem to be a lot more friendly.
I have rarely experienced some weird lag spikes, where I'll be walking or flying and it'll "snap" back like 2-3 feet while I'm in a busy city, but I just figured that's comcast giving me hell for being late with the bill last month. Plus lag issues will always exist in some form.
Granted I'm only nearing level 20, so I can't comment on endgame activities or the middle exp "grinds" but all in all, I'm enjoying the whole experience.
Other people should too.